Though Marie Laveau's legend has been somewhat difficult to prove, she is often described as New Orleans' most famous voodoo queen. Born around 1794, she worked for wealthy white families and was thought to be all-knowing and mystically powerful, melding Roman Catholicism with a belief of African spirits. She also happened to have a snake named Zombi. But it has been suggested that Laveau used moles in the various households she worked in to get information about people that she could use to make her appear omniscient. At the time of her death in 1881, the New York Times wrote, "To the superstitious Creoles, Marie appeared as a dealer in the black arts and a person to be dreaded and avoided."