Marie Laveau: The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans (and a Slavery Disclaimer)

Sara opens with a disclaimer apologizing for sarcastic remarks about slavery in the episode, clarifying she condemns slavery as violent, unethical, and immoral and wants the history taught. Sara and Gina share podcast updates (86 downloads as of Aug. 30, roughly top 25% of new podcasts), ask listeners for five-star reviews to boost visibility and attract advertisers, and thank several listeners by name. They then discuss Marie Laveau’s background through her maternal lineage from Senegal to New Orleans, the complexities of slavery and racial caste terms like “mulatto” and “quadroon,” and Laveau’s upbringing in a matriarchal, Catholic-yet-African-ritual tradition. Marie becomes a renowned hairdresser, counselor, midwife, nurse, and voodoo leader, blending Catholicism with voodoo, leading St. John’s Eve celebrations, aiding prisoners and the sick, and guarding secrets. They cover her relationships, children, death in 1881, tomb pilgrimage traditions, and legends of Marie II and modern sightings, then list sources and explain they are banking episodes due to a busy work season.

00:00 Content Warning Disclaimer

02:39 Podcast Milestones Update

04:25 Reviews and Listener Shoutouts

05:52 Meet Marie Laveau

07:11 Roots in Slavery Era

08:29 New Orleans Changing Laws

10:34 Rita and Marie Birth

11:56 Derogatory Terms Explained

14:11 Matriarchal Upbringing

16:51 Hairdresser to Power Broker

19:55 Marriage and Caste Labels

21:03 Widowhood and New Partner

22:37 Money Myths and Hard Times

23:12 Midwife to Voodoo Leader

24:28 St Johns Eve Rituals

25:10 Legacy Death and Tomb

27:08 Marie II and Immortality Rumors

29:07 Why Men Feared Her

30:34 Sources and Research Notes

32:07 Podcast Scheduling Update

33:08 Life Updates and Farm Event

36:09 Wrap Up and Contact Info

hystericalhysteria.com

hystericalsaragina@gmail.com

Sources

You tube, "Marie LaVeaux-The Real Life of New Orleans Legendary Voodoo Queen" by Darkest Lives, a Bing Video

You Tube, "Marie LaVeaux: The New Orleans Voodoo Queen" by Legends of History

cemeteryneworleans.com "The Real Marie LaVeaux: Truths Behind Her Tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1" 11/1/2025

64parished.org "Marie LaVeaux" by Carolyn Morrow Long, 10/12/2017, updated on 2/9/2021

Britannica

Dame Alice Kyteler: Ireland’s First Witch Trial and the Scapegoating of Petronella de Meath

The hosts of Hysterical Hysteria open with a trigger warning and discuss starting a Halloween “witchy” series, noting historical witch hunts targeted unconventional or wealthy women and drawing parallels to modern “witch hunt” rhetoric. They cover Alice Kyteler (born circa 1263), considered the first woman in Ireland accused of witchcraft and sentenced to burn. A wealthy businesswoman with four husbands—three dying under unclear circumstances—Alice was targeted after husband Richard DeVault’s adult children spread rumors when he left her money. Bishop Richard de la Dread brought sensational charges including demonic sex, secret rituals, and murdering husbands for wealth, despite church-state limits and creditors’ motives. Alice, her son William Jr., and servants were arrested; Alice escaped, but servant Petronella de Meath was tortured and burned in 1324, the only recorded Irish witch burning. William Jr. received penance and a costly roof repair punishment.

00:00 Content Warning

00:12 Catch Up Banter

00:48 Halloween Witch Series

02:29 Why Women Were Accused

04:00 Alice Kyteler Origins

06:25 Husbands One and Two

08:18 Husbands Three and Four

12:14 Money Motive and Bishop

16:56 Arrest and Escape

18:51 Petronella Tragedy

19:33 Willie Punishment Fallout

22:30 Sources and Wrap Up

24:10 Outro and Contact Info

hystericalhysteria.com

hystericalsaragina@gmail.com

historickilkenny.com "Dame Alice Kyteler" no author/date listed

historyireland.com "The Sorcery Trial of Alice Kyteler" by Bernadette Williams

"The Imfamous Medieval Witch Case of Alice Kyteler" Youtube video by Medieval Madness

"The Witchcraft Trial of Alice Kyteler" Youtube, by Footnoting History, hosted by Kristin

Coming Out of the Broom Closet: A Personal Witchcraft Story

The host opens with a content warning about violence against women and explains Gina is off for the day, then celebrates October and Halloween by introducing a month-long plan to cover four historical “witches.” She shares her personal story of identifying as a witch after becoming disillusioned with mainstream religions and reconnecting spiritually through gardening, describing Mother Earth as the feminine divine and paganism as rooted in nature’s life-death cycles. She discusses sensing energy in places, including a negative experience in a stagnant apartment and a visceral reaction at Sachsenhausen, and criticizes religious hypocrisy and harm done in religion’s name while urging nonjudgment and alignment between beliefs and actions. She outlines her rituals and tools (broom, wand, crystals, herbs, spells).

hystericalhysteria.com

hystericalsaragina@gmail.com