Shadows Over New Orleans
by
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The men made their way to the southwestern comer of the Quarter, to the little dwelling covered in chipped, pink-painted stucco. Riley knocked; there was of course no answer; then, the door of the cottage next door cracked, gradually opening, and Riley recognized the woman whom had stood in the doorway of Callia' s house the day he had come here. Riley quickly made his way across the short distance and spoke to the woman whom he sensed was eyeing him with a look of uneasiness. "Good afternoon, ma' am. I. . ." The door closed slightly, causing the men to think she intended to close it completely. "No! Ma'am, I . . ." Riley started to say when he was interrupted by her hasty instruction. "I know who you are. I seen you with Callia that day. Now go back to her door, an' keep knockin' so folks won't know I'm here. I can't be seen talkin' to you. Jus' listen b'tween knocks." The three men complied with her instructions. "Callia been took by Marie Laveau. No tellin' what that evil woman gonna do with that girl. He'p her, mister, and you never heard nuthin' from me, you hear?" With that the woman closed her door completely. Riley knocked on Callia's door once more, hesitated, then made a show of shrugging to his companions, whereupon they walked away.
By now Callia' s mind was in a total stupor. She was as walking dead, being led about by her keeper as one with no mind at all, and for all intents and purposes, that was the case. The drugs had done their intended duty well; it was now time for Laveau' s revenge. This was June twenty-third, St. John's Eve, the day when Marie Laveau put on a grand voodoo performance at Bayou St. John. To this the public was deviously invited, thus filling her coffers to overflowing from subsequent sales of voodoo charms. Many drove away believing this to be the extent of Laveau's rituals-and this was the queen' s intention-for she kept the evils done at Maison Blanche secret from the general public. At the conclusion of the dancing, eating and drinking, the proceeding would transition into sexual orgies. Most whites left before this began. It was at this point that Laveau proposed to bring out the drugged Callia, offering her–by way of open sex with all the black men present–as a living sacrifice to Legba. This loa was believed by voodoo practitioners to be the father deity, the guardian of the sacred crossroad gate that divides the spiritual and mundane worlds; the deity of intercession, sacrifice, and sexual potency.
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About the Book
Shadows Over New Orleans,
The fictional account, drawing from the true, hypothesizes how upstanding people can experience the terror of having their lives entangled within the clutches of an evil having the capability to destroy them and all they hold dear.
Nineteenth-century New Orleans, even to the politicians and policemen, was within the grip of Voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau. Her network of loyal spies kept her furnished with information she needed to blackmail the wealthy and thus keep her coffers filled.
Every June twenty-third, on St. John's Eve, an open-to-the- public ritual was conducted on St. John's Bayou where the public was invited (further filling Laveau' s purse) to witness the dancing, eating, and Marie's dance with Papa La Bas, a python representative of Satan.
However, there was more to her credit than met the eye: Maison Blanche, her cottage on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, hid many erotic secrets. And there were the "sacred" rituals held regularly for her faithful believers at their various cottages throughout the French Quarter. . .
About the Author
Shirley Chance Yarbro, having taken time off from her Beneath the Canopy series to write Braddock, a chronological account of the Western migration, has, with Shadows Over New Orleans, returned to the series. Being fascinated with the history of the nineteenth-century, the author draws inspiration from the many people and events of that era which forged the fledgling United States. Visit her website at