There are actually two voodoo musuems in the French Quarter, and entrance to one gives you free entry to the other.

We went to the voodoo museum on Dumaine Street first. It's not very big at all--only a couple of rooms and a corridor and jam-packed with dolls' pictures, altars, and offerings of the voodoo religion, including Blanche, a huge white python used in the ceremonies. There are a few information boards around that detail aspects of voodoo, but no coherent explanation. In a way, this makes the displays of strange jumbles of religious symbols and gaudy trinkets even more compelling.

The voodoo museum off Decatur Street is more modern. In the airy room downstairs, there's a video about contemporary voodoo practice (and comfortable sofas). Upstairs, there's another collection of voodoo paraphernalia. The displays of bones, crosses, and ribbons still aren't explained, but that seems to be intrinsically voodoo--strange juxtapositions that combine and produce some sort of power.

New Orleans is a big place for voodoo and we thought a stop at the voodoo museum was a must. It was nothing great. But we did learn that many of the icons are the same ones used in Catholic rituals, just with a different name. The rituals like praying to saints is quite similar and likely because New Orleans was settled as a predominately catholic city and then the slaves brought in the African rituals. The museum is not much. It is 2 small rooms of alters and paintings of famous priests and priestesses. The back room plays an informative video about the practice. You also learn voodoo has very little to do with evil acts or wishes.

New Orleans is Madame Laveau’s town. The Great Marie Laveau was born in New Orleans in 1794 and died in New Orleans on June 15th, 1881. A free woman of color, she became the most famous and powerful Voodoo Queen in the world, so powerful that she acclaimed herself the Pope of Voodoo in the 1830s. She was respected and feared by thousands, including the Catholic Church. Today, the Museum of Voodoo stands as a monument to her influence. The museum, of course, is connected to the largest voodoo gift shop in the world. Here you can buy all types of goodies to perform various rituals for good or evil including gris-gris bags, love potions and, of course, voodoo dolls. Queen Margaret (the resident guide to world of voodoo) is available for many different spiritual services if you need more than just herbs and oils. If you have ever wanted to check out the intriguing culture of voodoo, this is the place to start.