Nicolas Cage’s Mysterious New Orleans Tomb
Nicolas Cage is making history by building his own Pyramid Tomb in one of New Orleans’ most historic and supposedly haunted cemeteries.
In 2010, the 62-year-old National Treasure actress bought a piece of land in the St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery, where the city’s first mayor, the legendary Queen of Voodoo Marie Laveau, Étienne de Boré, and other illustrious personalities were buried. He constructed a 9-foot-high white pyramid tomb. Based on GQ’s March 2022 profile, the mausoleum is reported to have been bought for $20,000.
The rumour going around is that the Pyramid Tomb serves as an indication that Cage wants to be buried there. However, he has never been very direct about it. There is indeed no label on the building, and thus its identity remains hidden from view. On the other hand, its design is an ode to monism, which is the Latin phrase “omnia ab uno” (“Everything from One”).
This tomb has taken up the centre of attention in this famous cemetery and has become a source of fascination. According to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, even people who do guided tours of the grave area are baffled.
Cage’s tomb is said to draw curious visitors who often leave red lipstick marks on the white pyramid. The St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery, where Nicolas Cage’s tomb stands, is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and overlooks the graves of the city’s first mayor, Étienne de Boré, and Marie Laveau, the legendary Queen of Voodoo.
Nicolas Cage Reveals Why He Built His Mysterious Pyramid Tomb
Nicolas Cage hasn’t really spoken much about the Pyramid Tomb himself. He decided to not talk about the gravesite in his 2022 interview with GQ, saying, “I’m not going to talk about that.” Nevertheless, when asked about it repeatedly, he said to the journalist whom he had taken to the site, “Well. You can talk about it.”
The profile reported that Cage’s tomb was built shortly after his father, August Coppola, died in October 2009.
“I understand that in certain parts of the Far East, if you make plans for your death, you bring luck and have a healthy life. Furthermore, preparing death plans is just a wise thing to do, as a family is freed from the pressure of arranging the last rites after the death,” said the actor. “Who would like to have to cope with all that when someone has expired?”
He has also mentioned his strong bond to New Orleans.
Nicolas Cage’s Enduring Love for New Orleans
Elsewhere in the same conversation, he talked about the place as where he “started to perceive deeper into the romantic sphere”, further saying, “It’s a town that can be a bit sinister. The dark side has been around here in a really obvious way, and the truth is we both recognise I’ll probably never leave New Orleans anyway.“
“New Orleans made me a grown man, shall we say,” he revealed to The New York Times back in August 2019. “Of course, the place will always remain dear to me even if there are aspects of the city that could get pretty wrong.”
As weird as it sounds, it seems as if the pyramid is special to Nicolas, although, at the moment, he is keeping its details a secret. In February 2020, he was captured on camera at the location holding hands with a female. She turned out to be none other than his spouse, Riko Shibata. After their date, they exchanged wedding vows a year later.
He made reference to the visit through an interview with GQ in July 2021: “When you start a new love, you’re supposed to show them the places to which you go, you know,” he said. “This is my old neighbourhood, and I grew up in that house.”
Nicolas Cage’s LaLaurie Mansion Connection
He said, “While in Japan, through my meeting with Riko, I would have gone to visit a set of places that were really very dear to her, the shrines in Kyoto. New Orleans kind of resembled another city I grew up in, so it was important for me not only to bring a new city but also to introduce a whole new culture to my girlfriend.”
The pyramid is among the few pieces of land in New Orleans with historical significance that Nicolas Cage has possession of. Nicolas Cage was responsible for buying one of the French Quarter’s most notorious buildings, the LaLaurie house, in 2007. The estate is associated with the infamous Madame LaLaurie, a 19th-century society woman who has left her property as a place for her slaves to suffer at the cruel hand of their masters. Cage finally decided to move out of the house after it was foreclosed upon him by the bank; in fact, that was two years after he bought the property. Locals believe the house is full of ghosts (as per an article published locally by WGNO).
About his decision-making process for the LaLaurie house buying, Nicolas Cage shared his thoughts in a September 2014 interview with Vanity Fair.
Nicolas Cage’s Haunted Mansion Sparks Bizarre Curse Rumours
He once lived in what is commonly regarded as the most haunted house in the United States.
”The LaLaurie home in New Orleans was formerly Madame LaLaurie, a prominent 19th-century socialite and murderer,” he explained, pointing out that he thought ‘a great American horror novel’ could be based at that house. He did not even finish the book.
In the absence of official sources, but through a story published by New Orleans Historical, they reported LaLaurie had most likely been interred where Cage has his pyramid.
There were even whispers that his ownership of the home gave the actor a jinx that made him buy a burial lot in the cemetery as his safeguard. That, however, was dismissed by a GQ magazine reporter, who said that a cemetery tour guide was the one who put an end to the rumours and the other tales by calling them “a load of malarkey”.
His tombstone, or “cage-like” memorial, has been one of many odd ways Cage has commemorated or even spent money in his acting life. He has several such bizarre spending items, among other unconventional purchases.
Nicolas Cage’s $150 Million Spending Spree Revealed
PEOPLE recently said that Nicolas Cage at one time spent approximately $150 million on lavish luxury purchases to make an impressive collection. His expenses at the time included 15 residences, two islands, an expensive dinosaur skull, one Lamborghini car, various pet animals, and one rare superman comic book that is an antique.
Also, the actor owned Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel in New Orleans before he sold it as yet another unusual property to his collection. Among other things that he bought was a 40-acre private island, which it was claimed was selling for $3 million at one time. In 2006, news headlines also came for Cage because it was suggested that he spent a total of $20 million on the four luxury yachts.
Sarita was a yacht which was reportedly fitted with a jacuzzi and a gym and had a room that could hold 12 people.
In essence, these purchases give us a picture of Cage’s lifestyle, where a high level of splendour is his daily norm – a lifestyle that, among other rare collectibles and luxury boats, has him spending on the purchase of historic buildings and private islands.
