New Orleans Cemeteries
Storyteller Cabin
-The Flaming Tomb Origin
Metairie Cemetery, where Josie Arlington is buried, is an immense, 150-acre graveyard built on the site of an old racetrack at 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. If you drive into New Orleans off Interstate 10 on the Pontchartrain Expressway, you can't help but notice it as you cross the Orleans Parish line. An entire day or two could be spent touring the vast network of crypts and monuments, and it's well worth your time to take a tour when you're in town.
Josie's grave is still there, but as we mentioned in the story, her remains have been removed to another part of the cemetery. But the cemetery did not remove her remains solely because of the influx of curiosity-seekers. The truth is that, after her death, her family squandered the fortune Josie had earned, and they could no longer afford such a lavish grave. So they sold it to another "occupant," strangely enough with the same initials as Josie.
Another myth is that of the red light that would shine upon the grave. Many believe that the light was, in fact, a reflection from a nearby streetlight. Depending on who you talk to, this light was either blocked by the cemetery using shrubs and trees, or was removed entirely. But once Josie's remains were moved and the light was taken away, the ghost sightings stopped.
But Metairie Cemetery has many other stories waiting behind its iron gates. If you'd like to learn more about New Orleans Cemeteries, click here.
We also highly recommend Robert Florence's book New Orleans Cemeteries: Life In The Cities Of the Dead, available now in our Bookshop. It's an excellent guide to all the cemeteries in New Orleans, with numerous stories and photographs.
To learn more about Metairie Cemetery, visit the following sites:
The New Orleans Way of Death
CNN Story on Metairie Cemetery
These guys thought they saw another ghost in Metairie Cemetery.
