One of New Orleans’ most elusive rum runners was Marie Lavaux Dupre, a Creole spiritualist and midwife who claimed to be the descendant—or reincarnation—of the legendary Marie Laveau, the original Voodoo Queen. By day, she ran an herbalist shop in Treme; by night, she coordinated rum shipments from the Gulf to inland speakeasies.

Her stash was said to be hidden beneath her apothecary, accessible only by a secret tunnel to Bayou St. John. More than once, when federal agents raided the place, the liquor had vanished—no footprints, no bottles, just the lingering scent of cloves and molasses.

Locals whispered she had “called the spirits to move it.” In truth, she relied on a nimble network of children and elders who slipped the goods away during raids, timed to the minute. Dupre was arrested several times but never convicted.