"New Orleans is a gumbo of Voodoo and Halloween."
-- Jerry Gandolfo, aka "Mr. Voodoo"

Spiritualists, Voodoo practitioners and the owners of "little shops of horror" are all welcoming New Orleans' second favorite holiday (behind Mardi Gras, of course). Among them is Jerry Gandolfo, who runs the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. We stopped in this week to see what kind of business he's been scaring up. Tourism has been sluggish this fall and Jerry hopes Halloween raises his business from the dead. But don't be mistaken, his museum is more than just a tourist trap. A good number of voodoo believers and practitioners stop in to call upon the spirits to intercede on their behalf. They pick up Voodoo dolls, Gris-Gris bags, pray at the Voodoo altar and of course pay homage to the 19th Century Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.

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Jerry hopes you'll fall under New Orleans' spell and help bring tourism back. But if you can't make it, you can still be here in spirit. You may spot Jerry tonight on Nightly as Mike Taibbi reports on the business of Halloween. Or... click here to get a first look at an episode of "Sci-Fi Investigates," which visited New Orleans this summer to report on the city's mysterious Voodoo culture.

Photo: Voodoo dolls on display at the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. Photo by Steve Majors.