New Orleans is haunted by them: spirits of the original French settlers, devout Catholic Spaniards and the first freed West African slaves. Their cultures have blended into a city where visitors can feast on muffulettas from the French Market (sandwiches of ham, salami, mozzarella and green olives), dance on Bourbon Street to the music of Fats Domino, and still feel like they're at home with sugar-dusted beignets from Café Du Monde.

Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau is one spirit worth visiting here, according to Cathleen Grant of New Orleans Spirit Tours.

“She's a cultural icon here in New Orleans,” said Grant. “She died in 1881, and even today, over 100 and some odd years after her death, people continue to make pilgrimages to her grave.”

Grant and eight other New Orleans locals guide visitors straight to the source on the two-hour Cemetery and Voodoo Walking Tour. Curious walkers will step quietly up to the grave of Laveau, which is decorated with the offerings of voodoo pilgrims. Brave souls will also visit Priestess Miriam, who performs African bone readings and offers spiritual guidance as the leader of an authentic voodoo temple.

“You won't see her sticking pins in dolls or cutting heads off of chickens. It's not an exhibit,” said Grant. “It's a living, breathing, working temple.”

The tour takes in one of New Orleans' 42 cemeteries, the St. Louis Cemetery, the oldest in New Orleans. Now you may have seen cemeteries elsewhere, but they probably aren't like those in New Orleans, which are, by the way, called Cities of the Dead. In New Orleans, tombs are above ground. If they weren't, coffins would likely float away because the city's water table is so high and it is actually below sea level in elevation. On the tour of the St. Louis Cemetery, visitors will learn about the city's unusual burial methods and read tombstones engraved with “dead” languages unique to the rich cultural heritage of New Orleans.

“The jazz music, the Creole food, the Southern Gothic stories … of course, New Orleans is the back drop for all of that. There's something very spiritual about it, which is why we're called Spirit Tours,” says Grant.

Cemetery and Voodoo Walking Tours depart twice daily from the Royal Blend Coffee & Tea House at 621 Royal St. Call toll free 866/314-1224 for more information on these and other Spirit Tours. Or visit the Web site at www.neworleanstours.net for coupons good for $3 off the regular ticket price of $15.

Contact the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitor's Bureau at 504/566-5011 or visit www.neworleanscvb.com for information on additional tours.