City of the Undead
Voodoo, Ghosts, and Vampires of New Orleans
LSU Press · Print & ebook · September 13, 2023
From its looming above-ground cemeteries to the ghosts believed to haunt its stately homes, New Orleans is a city deeply entwined with death, the undead, and the supernatural.
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- Who it’s for
- Robin Ann Roberts examines how New Orleans’s supernatural traditions give voice to people silenced by injustice.
- Themes
- New Orleans supernatural traditions, Paranormal stories and the oppressed, Memory of historical injustice
- Genres
- Haunted Places & Mysteries, Mind & Spirit, Southern U.S. History
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Start with this bookAbout this book
From its looming above-ground cemeteries to the ghosts believed to haunt its stately homes, New Orleans is a city deeply entwined with death, the undead, and the supernatural. The reasons behind New Orleans?s reputation as America?s most haunted city are numerous. Its location near the mouth of the Mississippi River grants it a liminal status between water and land, while its Old World architecture and lush, moss-covered oak trees lend it an eerie beauty.
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Complementing the city?s mysterious landscape, spiritual beliefs and practices from Native American, African, African American, Caribbean, and European cultures mingle in a unique ferment of the paranormal. An extremely high death rate in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and a long history of enslavement and oppression have also produced fertile soil for stories of the undead. Focusing on three manifestations of the supernatural in New Orleans?Voodoo, ghosts, and vampires?Robin Roberts argues that the paranormal gives voice to the voiceless, including victims of racism and oppression, thus encouraging the living not to repeat the injustices of the past.
New Orleans Supernatural
Robin Ann Roberts examines how New Orleans’s supernatural traditions give voice to people silenced by injustice.
Come here for
- Voodoo, ghosts, and vampires in New Orleans
- Paranormal traditions linked to racism and oppression
Expect
- Discussion of the city’s spiritual traditions and haunted reputation
- Attention to how stories of the undead address historical oppression
Where it sits
| Haunted Places & Mysteries | 76% |
|---|---|
| Mind & Spirit | 67% |
| Southern U.S. History | 62% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Southern U.S. History
- Pop Culture Studies
- Haunted Places & Mysteries
- Authors
- Robin Ann Roberts
- Publisher
- LSU Press
- Published
- September 13, 2023
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- New Orleans supernatural traditions · Paranormal stories and the oppressed · Memory of historical injustice
- Reading lane
- Southern U.S. History