Today I visited the resting place of one of New Orleans’ most beloved and legendary gothic authors — Anne Rice.
The cool autumn air whispered through the oak trees of Metairie Cemetery as I walked among marble angels, weeping willows, and shadowed tombs. The sun broke softly through the clouds, and it felt like the perfect All Souls’ Day — a moment suspended between worlds, just as Anne would have written it.
Fans brought flowers, her novels,pumpkins and other mementos , while some wrote letters to her and this was the first photograph I took upon arrival.
The Queen of Gothic Literature
Anne Rice (1941–2021) forever changed the landscape of gothic fiction with Interview with the Vampire, her groundbreaking 1976 novel that introduced the world to Louis, Lestat, and the immortal melancholy of New Orleans’ darkly romantic underworld. The novel — later adapted into a film and TV series — became the cornerstone of The Vampire Chronicles, a sweeping saga that fused philosophy, sensuality, and the supernatural.
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Her stories weren’t merely about vampires — they were meditations on love, grief, faith, and immortality. She brought New Orleans to life as a character itself: humid, haunted, and heartbreakingly beautiful. Beyond her vampires, she also wrote about witches, ghosts, and angels, always exploring the sacred and the profane with her signature elegance and empathy.
The Tomb in Metairie Cemetery
After decades of literary fame and a life spent in devotion to her art, Rice returned to her beloved New Orleans in eternal rest. Her family tomb, built before her death, stands in Metairie Cemetery — a grand white stone mausoleum bearing the name RICE in bold letters above its doors. It is both solemn and majestic, a fitting final home for the woman who gave the city its modern gothic soul.
Inside rest Anne Rice herself, her husband Stan Rice, and their daughter Michele, who passed away tragically at the age of five. Michele was the inspiration for the haunting child vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. After Anne’s passing, her daughter’s remains were moved from California to New Orleans, reunited at last with her parents in the tomb Anne designed.
If you look through the glass doors of her tomb you can see a lovely stained glass window illuminating their resting place with the beautiful phrase: “May perpetual light shine upon them O Lord.”
Stan Rice: The Poet Beside Her
Stan Rice (1942–2002) was not only Anne’s husband but an accomplished poet and painter in his own right. He served as a professor at San Francisco State University and published several volumes of poetry, often exploring the same themes of death and transcendence that Anne wove into her novels. His words — powerful, raw, and deeply human — are engraved on the side of the family tomb, a lasting testament to the love and creative bond they shared.
Standing before their tomb, I could feel the intertwining legacies of their lives — two artists whose work reflected beauty in darkness, and whose love story was as eternal as their characters.
A Gothic All Souls’ Day
My visit today felt like a pilgrimage. The gentle breeze carried the scent of fallen leaves and flowers left by admirers. The marble glowed softly in the afternoon light as crows circled lazily above the ancient oaks. It was peaceful, reverent, and hauntingly beautiful — everything one might expect from a visit to the resting place of New Orleans’ gothic queen.
As I filmed and took photos among the tombs, I couldn’t help but think that Anne Rice would have loved this day — the quiet reverence, the artistry of decay, and the endless inspiration found in the Crescent City’s cemeteries.
In death, as in life, Anne Rice continues to remind us that beauty and darkness are never far apart — and in New Orleans, they dance together forever beneath the shade of the live oaks. 🌙🖤
— by Monique Lula, All Souls’ Day in New Orleans 2025