St Roch Cemetery & Chapel

One of New Orleans’ more interesting cemeteries, and arguably the most eccentric chapel, is dominated by a necropolis and ‘relic room’ that’s a great example of the old Catholic practice of offering fake body parts to the healing power of a sacred site. You’ll see all sorts of ceramic body parts (ankles, heads, breasts), prosthetics, leg braces, crutches and false teeth hanging from the walls. these are ex-votos, testaments to the healing power of St Roch. The chapel has been appropriated by syncretic voodoo worshippers as well, and if you take a picture inside, floating orbs may appear in your photo, which could be spirits of the dead, or manifestations of saintly healing power, or dust.