[4] The cemetery contains the remains of early blues and jazz musicians including Babe Stovall, Jessie Hill[5] and Charles "Buddy" Bolden.

The battered remains of Robert Charles, at the center of the 1900 New Orleans race riot were briefly interred there, then dug up, and incinerated.

[citation needed] Later, in 1973, four victims of the UpStairs Lounge arson attack, Ferris LeBlanc and three unidentified males, were buried in a mass grave at the cemetery.

[6] Over the years, Holt Cemetery has been a destination of ghost hunters, with frequent incidents of grave-robbing and reports of Voodoo and Santería rituals.

New burials continue at Holt Cemetery, and the graves show evidence for frequent visits and various cultural materials.