Saint Louis Cemetery Number One opened in 1789 — the same year Washington became president. It covers roughly one city block with over 100,000 bodies inside, held in about 700 above-ground tombs.
The tombs function as "ovens." New Orleans heat pushes internal temperatures to 150+ degrees. After one year and one day, a caretaker opens the tomb, uses a ten-foot pole to shove the remains to a back compartment called the caveau, and the space is ready for the next family member.
Paul Morphy — the greatest chess player of the 1850s — is buried here. He quit chess forever, descended into paranoia, feared barbers, arranged shoes in semicircles, and died in his bathtub at 47.
Nicolas Cage purchased a nine-foot-tall white cement pyramid here in 2010 for $61,000. Inscription: "Omnia Ab Uno" (Everything From One). Cage previously owned the LaLaurie Mansion, lost it to foreclosure, and bought a tomb next to the Voodoo Queen.
— From the tour: Ghosts, Graves & the Voodoo Queen
