HGB Ep. 421 - Laura and Oak Alley Plantations

This episode sponsored by Surfshark. Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/BUMP - Enter promo code BUMP for 83% off and 3 extra months free!

Moment in Oddity - The Johnny Cash Tarantula (Suggested by: Jared Rang)

Johnny Cash was known as "The Man in Black," so why wouldn't scientists name an all black tarantula after him? Tarantulas are some of the most unique spiders in the world and there are about 29 species of them in the United States. They belong to the genus Aphonopelma and fourteen of the species in America are entirely new to science with Aphonopelma johnnycashi being one of them. This variety was discovered around 2015. Most male johnnycashi taratulas are black in coloration, hence the inspiration for the name. Also, the scientist who discovered the species, Dr. Chris Hamilton, said the species is mainly found near Folsom Prison in California and who doesn't know the tune "Folsom Prison Blues" made famous by Cash? The johnnycashi taratula is pretty cool, but naming a spider after a famous musician, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin Pardoned

In the month of February, on the 16th in 1894, Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned. Hardin was an infamous gunslinger who was thought to have killed at least 40 people in his time. His first murder was at the age of fifteen and the victim was an ex-slave. Hardin went on the run, but was eventually arrested in Waco, Texas - oddly, for a crime he hadn't committed. He escaped and ran to his friend Wild Bill Hickok who ran Abilene, Texas. Hardin found more trouble here when he shot through his hotel room wall to stop another guest's snoring that had awakened him. The shots killed the man and Hardin was on the run again. He finally ended up in Florida where he shot another man and was arrested. He was spared the gallows and given a life sentence, which he served fifteen years of before being pardoned. He moved to El Paso and became what else, a lawyer. His past caught up to him though and he was shot in the back and killed in a revenge murder.

Laura and Oak Alley Plantations (Suggested by Yvette Tan)

Traveling through the swamp lands of Louisiana is an adventure, not only through nature, but through history. The dank humid air and large oaks filled with Spanish Moss add an air of the creepy. So much is haunted here. These swamp lands were once dotted with large plantations and some of them still exist today. Laura Plantation and Oak Alley Plantation are found near Vacherie, Lousiana. Today, they are museums that one can explore and possibly interact with a few ghosts. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Laura and Oak Alley Plantations!

Vacherie, Louisiana is a part of the St. James Parish and located an hour away from New Orleans. This small town was used as a location for filming the series True Detective. The name means cowshed in French, or what we prefer Dairy Farm, and is home to several former plantations. Little has changed here and most people who live here were born in the area and never leave.

Most people are familiar with the tale of Br'er Rabbit because of Disney's movie Song of the South and the amusement park ride Splash Mountain, which was inspired by the movie. What most people probably don't know is that the tales about Br'er Rabbit were brought over to America from Senegal by slaves and made known to the rest of the world by a neighbor of the Laura Plantation named Alcee Fortier. He visited the plantation in 1870 and recorded the stories of the freedmen still working on the plantation after the Civil War. These stories were passed down in the creole language. They featured the clever rabbit and the stupid fool, said in creole as Compair Lapin and Compair Bouki. Br'er rabbit is indeed a trickster in the stories. These stories were published by Fortier in 1894 as "Louisiana Folk Tales: In French Dialect and English Translation." Eventually they would be adapted into the stories that Disney used for their movie.

But before the stories and before the plantation, there was a large Acolapissa village here. It was named Tabiscanja, meaning long river view, and dated to the early 1700s. There were ceremonial mounds built high above the river and huts were placed at higher elevations as well. This was a small, obscure Native American group that lived in Louisiana and Mississippi and are believed to have spoken a Muskogean language called Mobilian. They disappeared as they merged into other tribes, but a remnant did stay here and would live on part of the plantation until 1915. A little side story here told by the plantation website says that "In the mid-1700s, a Catholic missionary came and chopped down the Acolapissa's 14ft-high, red-painted totem. The priest was upset because the totem was an erect phallus." This totem pole was called a Baton Rouge, which means red stick. SO for those of you living in Baton Rouge, well... Actually, legend claims Baton Rouge got its name from a cypress pole stained red with blood that marked a boundary on hunting grounds between Native American tribes.

Acadian refugees settled here in 1785. They had been run out of Canada by the British in a violent and harsh expulsion. People were burned from their homes and some were killed and this is considered a crime against humanity in line with genocide. The Acadians found refuge in Louisiana and it is from them that we get the Cajun culture. The word Acadien became the word Cadien, which became Cajun. A large area that the Acadians occupied became part of the Laura Plantation.

Guillaume Benjamin Demézière Duparc was the first owner of the Laura Plantation and so it was first called the Duparc Plantation or more specifically l'Habitation Duparc. He had been granted the large track of land by Thomas Jefferson in 1804 for his service during the Revolutionary War. The largest building on the property was the Big House, which was built with slave labor and completed in 1805. There was a raised brick basement and the house was built in a U-shape with a central coutryard flanked on either side by wings. That raised brick basement means that the house was raised high above the ground, supported by blue-gray glazed brick columns and walls. There was an 8-foot deep pyramidal brick foundation underground. A separate kitchen building was behind the house. Much of the house was prefabricated and made from wood and done in the Creole architectural style, but it had unique elements. There was Federal-style interior woodwork and a Norman roof truss. There were no hallways, just two rows of five rooms that opened into each other. The interior was plastered and the outside was stuccoed and covered in several bright hues of red, ochre, pearl and green. The 24,000 square foot house was surrounded by a white picket fence encompassing a large yard for entertainment. The property also had a dairy, smokehouse, blacksmith shop and overseer cabins.

Duparc continued to buy more land until the property covered 12,000 acres. The Mississippi River was only 600 feet away. The main crop was sugarcane, but the land also produced pecans, rice and indigo. Slave cabins lined a dirt road behind the plantation house and this road led to a sugar mill about a mile away. Two families would share a cabin with doors for privacy and they shared a central fireplace. The cabins each had their own gardens and chicken coops or pigpens. There were 69 cabins in all with a separate communal kitchen building and an infirmary. At its height before the Civil War, the plantation had around 186 slaves.

Guillaume Duparc lived at the plantation for four years before he died in 1808 and the property passed to his daughter Elisabeth Duparc. She had married George Raymond Locoul, so the plantation became the property of the Locoul family and eventually passed to Laura Locoul Gore who was the fourth mistress of the plantation. She ran it as a sugar cane plantation and the name of the plantation comes from her first name. She wrote the memoir "Memories of the Old Plantation Home: A Creole Family Album," which wasn't published until 2000.

Florian Waguespack bought Laura Plantation in 1891 and continued the production of sugarcane on the farm. After about a century of production and occupation, the main house and gardens were in disrepair, so the Laura Plantation Company, LLC was established and acquired fourteen acres that included the main house and other outbuildings in 1993. Restoration was done to the French parterre garden, a pecan orchard, the roads and fences, a potager planted adjacent to the original kitchen and vegetable plots were replanted near the surviving slave cabins.

Today, the Big House no longer has the back wings and a back kitchen wing had been added off the back porch. Six of the slave quarters still remain and there is a second house known as Maison de Reprise, which was built for the first female president of the Duparc Plantation. The plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a museum that can be toured that houses many of the family heirlooms from over the years. A fire in 2004 damaged 80% of the Big House and completely destroyed the newer kitchen wing, which was not rebuilt. The rest of the house was restored in 2006.

The Duparc family were Creole and the plantation celebrates this heritage. Creole was about culture, not race, so many different groups are also considered Creole whether they were enslaved or free blacks, white European immigrants, Native American or Acadian descendants. To be Creole meant that you were probably born in Louisiana, spoke Spanish, French and/or Creole and practiced the Catholic faith. French was the main language though, with most Creoles having that as their first language. This culture was very different from the White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant culture that made up most of America. The Creole culture faltered when public eduation was mandated in 1916 and schools were segregated and the French language was deemed a foreign language and English became the mandatory language. The Jim Crowe laws of the 1960s further divided the Creoles into separate segregated groups. Much is still lost today, but a resurgence in Creole food, music, folklore, architecture and traditions has taken place. And Creole was not limited to America. Brazil and the Guianas are recognized as Creole countries and many islands in the Caribbean are saturated with Creole culture.

Plantations conjur conflicting emotions. On one hand, there are beautiful landscapes crowned with gorgeous homes. On the other is the repressive past that found men, women and child enslaved based merely on their circumstance of birth. Many plantations were host to cruelty and witnessed the violence of war and rebellion. Some groups believe these plantations should all be razed. But do these homes simply bear the sins of their owners or can they be a place of healing? For us, as is the case for all history whether good, bad or somewhere in between, there is always value. And when considering the spirits that still remain, simply erasing the past may not serve whatever their connection to the property may be. Laura Plantation is no different than many of the other plantations in the south. Nearly all have ghost stories connected to them. Laura Plantation doesn't seem to want to embrace those stories, but that doesn't make the ghosts disappear.

Our listener Yvette Tan, who suggested this location, has visited Laura Plantation and she said of her visit, "I began to get a headache as the tour group moved from a bedroom to the dining room, the sensation going away after we exited the house through the kitchen. I thought nothing of it. Later, as the group rested underneath a covered bridge on the property, I asked if anyone had experienced anything supernatural in the area. The guide said that though they weren’t allowed to say anything, there have been reports of one of the slaves (sort of like the mayordoma or manager) appearing in the dining room. Imagine the coincidence!" Activity in the home seemed to pickup after the fire and remodeling. People who walk the grounds never fell alone. But other than this little bit of information, that's all we got as paranormal investigations are not allowed. The same can't be said of Oak Alley Plantation that has at least four apparitions on the grounds.

Oak Alley Plantation is less than four miles away from Laura Plantation and is known as the "Grand Dame of the Great River Road." No one knows for sure who planted the huge hundred-year-old oaks that line the eight-hundred-foot path up to the plantation. There are twenty-eight of them spaced eighty feet apart. They predate the plantation by at least 100 years. Historians believe that Oak Alley got its name from riverboat captains who saw the alley formed by the oaks and gave the landmark the navigational nickname. A French Creole named Valcour Aime purchased the land here in 1830 and established a sugarcane plantation. He named it The Bon Séjour Plantation - meaning good or pleasant stay - and Aime became one of the wealthiest men in the South acquiring the nickname "King of Sugar." Valcour Aime had a brother-in-law named Jacques Télesphore Roman who also owned a plantation and in 1836, the men exchanged property. Roman would be the one to build the mansion here and it was constructed with slave labor. The house was completed in 1839.

The mansion was built by George Swainey in the Greek Revival architectural style with a square floor plan. A central hall runs through the middle of both stories of the house. The windows are large and the ceilings high at twelve feet. This design probably helped with cooling the house in the oppressive summer heat. The mansion was built from bricks that were made on site and then stuccoed and painted white as to look like marble. The front has a distinctive colonnade of  28 Doric columns to match the 28 oak trees. The roof was made of slate with four dormers, one on each side of the hipped roof.

The Bon Sejour had a master gardener among its enslaved population of 200 and he was named Antoine and he was brilliant with plants. He is credited with creating the "paper shell" pecan that can be cracked with the hand by using grafting techniques in 1846. These are today known as the Centennial Variety. The original grove was cleared to plant more sugarcane after the Civil War and another original stand on the Anita Plantation was washed away in a river break in 1990. Roman died of tuberculosis in 1848 and his wife Celina took over operations at the plantation. Celina loved spending money and wasn't very good at management and the plantation came under heavy debt she nearly bankrupted the estate. In 1859 her son, Henri, took over, but with the onslaught of the Civil War, the property lost its economic viability - probably because much of the work force was free and left. The plantation was put up for auction in 1866 and sold to John Armstrong for $32,800.

Confederate War veteran Antonio Sobral was the next owner, buying the property in 1881, and he tried to get the sugar cane business going again, but had little success. The Hardin Family owned the property next and they saved the oak trees from destruction by levee work supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers. This was a massive property that had been established by a very wealthy man and it seemed that no one could manage to upkeep the property. It fell into steady disrepair until 1925 when Andrew and Josephine Stewart bought the property. They hired architect Richard Koch to refurbish and modernize the house. The black and white marble floors were replaced with wood and a kitchen would be built in the rear of the first floor. Extra dormers would added to the roof as well. The Stewarts transformed the former sugar plantation into a cattle ranch. Sugar cane would return in the 1960s, however. Josephine planted a formal garden as well. She would continue on at the plantation after Andrew died and when she passed in 1972, she left the property to the Oak Alley Foundation, which opened the property to the public. A garage was turned into a theater and there is still a blacksmith shop on the property as well as the Stewart graveyard. And recreated slave quarters were added to reflect the true history of the property. A slave database project has also been underway to identify all the slaves that had once been on the property.

The plantation has been used as a location in the films "The Long, Hot Summer," "Primary Colors" and "Interview with the Vampire." The series "North and South" also featured the plantation. Today, it is a restaurant and inn offering a tranquil retreat in the plantation country with award-winning food and tours. There are several cottages on the property for stays and weddings are regularly hosted. The "Spirits Bar" is aptly named not only for the drinks that are served, but this property is reputedly haunted by several spirits.

Two of the people who loved this home the most were Jacques Roman and Josephine Stewart and they both seem to still be here in the afterlife. The apparition of Roman has been seen walking around the mansion's galleries by both employees and guests. He is described often in formal wear. He usually vanishes after being seen. Jacques has also been seen wearing grey clothing and riding boots. Josephine spent much of her later years in the Lavender Room and her presence is felt here often. She enjoyed roses and planted many on the grounds, so if she is nearby the scent of roses is usually detected. Sometimes it is so strong as to be overwhelming. She has also been seen looking out of the window of this room. And once an employee outside saw the light turn on in the Lavender Room and a figure glided across the room and then looked out the window that resembled Josephine. Rocking chairs on the front porch have been known to move on their own.

Tragedy was a real thing for the Roman family and maybe it was karma for keeping slaves. Not only did Roman die of TB at a rather young age, they lost a daughter, Marie, after his passing at the age of eleven. Another daughter named Louise developed gangrene after a fall in her wire hoopskirt and her leg had to be amputated. She was so traumatized by the experience that she left and became a nun. And then, of course, the family lost the property. So there is reason for negative residue here. The dining room is the scene of much activity. Silverware and candlesticks have been known to go flying. Jacques wife is sometimes blamed for this, but the spirits of former slaves are thought to be here as well.

Ghost Hunters visited in Season 4 on episode 19, so clearly the place embraces its haunted reputation. Sandra Schexnayder was the house manager at the time and she shared her own experiences. She saw a spirit she called "the lady of the house" on the stairs, while she was seated at the piano. She had locked the house and was just waiting for the last tour to finish up. The ghost was wearing black, she walked to the staircase, stopped and turned to look at Sandra. Sandra stood up to walk towards the ghost and she disappeared. Another woman named Darlene Gravois was looking out the window and she saw a shadow and then a woman wearing an Antebellum costume outside. She thought it was maybe someone for the tour, but there was no one outside when she opened the door. This woman too was in black. The woman in black has also been seen in the large mirror in the hallway. Many people think that this ghost belongs to Celina, the wife of Jacques Roman.

Celina is also seen sitting on a bed in an upstairs bedroom. Sometimes there is just an impression in the bed as if someone unseen is sitting there. Dee Bergeron was a tour guide at the house and she told the guys that she witnessed a candle fall out of the candelabra on the table in the dining room. She put the candle back in the holder and as she turned to leave the room, the candle came out of the holder and shot across the room, hitting a door. Sandra will not go into the attic. She says she usually makes it to the fifteenth step and she just can't go any further because of an overwhelming presence that she feels. The employees also claimed that one night after turning everything off and going outside, all the lights came on. They were too scared to go back inside, so drove away and as they looked back, they saw that the house was dark once again.

During the investigation, Jason caught a heat signature on the FLIR camera on an outside balcony. When Grant went out there, there was barely a heat signature, so it was weird. Steve felt a presence next to him while sitting at the dining table. Jason and Grant both felt a cold spot in one of the rooms as they were talking about other people now owning the property and they wondered if it made previous owners angry since these owners could do whatever they wanted. A flashlight also turned on and off by itself.

The Louisiana Spirits Investigations group has also investigated the property and they captured several EVP. All the activity they captured happened in the attic. Shadows were seen on the walls and someone saw Roman's face in a mirror for a brief moment. One of the investigators also had his arm grabbed rather roughly by something he couldn't see. He dropped his camera from the force. There was one experience in Cottage 4 where the group stayed. They got an early morning wake-up call when there was a loud bang.

These two plantations are beautiful and a reminder of a troubling and interesting past. Are there still spirits that remain from that past? Are the Laura and Oak Alley Plantations haunted? That is for you to decide!

Ep. 391 - New Orleans Absinthe and Ghosts

Our sponsor for this episode is HelloFresh. Go to https://hellofresh.com/bump14 and enter code bump14 for 14 free meals, plus free shipping!

Moment in Oddity - Unexplained Sleeping Deaths Inspired Wes Craven (Suggested by: Justin Rimmel)

Wes Craven claimed that his inspiration for the 1984 film, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" came from the real life aftermath of the Cambodian genocide. Craven had heard the story of a child refugee who refused to sleep because he was terrified that he would die in his sleep because of dreams that he had been experiencing. One night his parents heard him scream out and when they got to his room, they found him dead. This young child was not alone. The Hmong People were from Laos and they had helped the Americans fight back against the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. Many of these Hmong soldiers became refugees who fled to America and during the 1980s many of these young men in their 20s and 30s, died in their sleep with no apparent reason why. One 1981 newspaper article pointed out that the recent death of a 47-year-old Laotian refugee was the 13th nocturnal death among the Hmong since 1978. The only theory medical experts could come up with for the phenomenon was the chemical nerve agents that these people had been exposed to during the war. They thought perhaps the remnants of this exposure had led to the deaths. But there is nothing to support this and why did it only affect men in this way? The Hmong came to believe that they were being punished by the spirits of their ancestors since they had left their homeland. Perhaps it was the stress from these fears that caused heart attacks or something. No one knows, but the fact that a fictional serial murderer like Freddie Krueger was inspired by the death of Laos refugees, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Jones and Morrison Die on Same Day, Two Years Apart

In the month of July, on the 3rd, in 1969 and in 1971, two well known musicians died, exactly two years apart from each other. The musician who died  in 1969 was Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. Jones was a gifted musician who had been the original leader of the group, but years of decadence and drug use caught up to him and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards fired him. Jones was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool three weeks later. Jim Morrison had the been the charismatic frontman and voice of The Doors. He too had issues with alcohol and drugs with mescaline being a favorite due to its hallugenic qualities. He was found dead in a bathtub at a Paris apartment he shared with his girlfriend at the time. The death was recorded as a heart attack although no autopsy was done. Morrison's girlfriend claimed he hadn't been doing drugs, but later recanted that before she died of her own overdose. Not only did Morrison and Jones die on the same day and in a similar manner, two years apart, but they both also died at the age of twenty-seven.

New Orleans Absinthe and Ghosts

The Green Fairy is the nickname for a once illegal liquor known as absinthe. There are a few places in New Orleans where one can get a shot of absinthe. The most famous place is the Old Absinthe House, but there are also the Mahogany Jazz Club and Pirate's Alley Cafe. These locations have not only that spirit, but some human spirits too. We figured, why not put together a legendary drink that claims to cause hallucinations with tales of ghosts? Join us for a jaunt down the streets and alleys of the French Quarter in pursuit of a special fairy and the ghosts connected to it! 

The French Quarter is what most people think of when they think of New Orleans. This is the old part of the city that is full of bricks and cast iron and wrought iron. This was originally founded by the French in 1718. The French Quarter's boundaries stretch from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue and from the Mississippi River northwest to North Rampart Street. When we visited in December of 2020 during the Covid Pandemic, it was relatively quiet. This visit was quite different with many people and the partying that is famous in this part of New Orleans. Bourbon Street was hopping again. And the smells of the city were in full bloom. The French Quarter probably has more spirits per capita than anywhere else in the world. Here pirates mingled with ladies-of-the-evening and politicians, artists, musicians and many other people. This is an area rich with energy and is one of the few places that has several areas where one can get their steampunk on with a shot of absinthe. 

Absinthe

Absinthe is a funky green liquor derived from the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium - from which it derives its name - and herbs that include sweet fennel and green anise. That fact is one reason, I'm not interested in trying Absinthe. I hate the taste of licorice. The other reason is the high alcohol content in this drink.It's between 110 and 144 proof. I'm a beer girl and one shot of this just might be too much for me. Absinthe is usually diluted with water because of that high alcohol percentage. Another name for Artemisia absinthium is Wormwood, which seems fitting based on the fact that Revelation in the Bible claims that a meteorite is going to hit the Earth in the future and cause the water to be undrinkable and the name of the meteorite is Wormwood. Egypt was probably the first region to use Wormwood and this was as a medicinal curative. French nuns would be the first ones to use Wormwood as an elixir in the late 1700s. This perked the attention of a doctor named Pierre Ordinaire and he distilled the elixir into an alcoholic beverage. He wasn't making this to start his own bar, but rather as a medicine. It would be given to French troops as a treatment for malaria. By the mid 1800s, bistros and pubs in France had grabbed hold of this green drink of the French soldiers and started serving it up. The drink soon took on the name la fee verte or The Green Fairy and the 5:00 o'clock hour became the green hour. 

Parisian artists and writers became the champions of the drunk-inducing drink and claimed that it bolstered their creativity. Men like Vincent Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde and Aleister Crowley were proponents of the glories of the Green Fairy. This caused absinthe to become very popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Absinthe made its way to America, specifically New Orleans. Rumors started circulating that Absinthe not only got people drunk quickly, but it had a hallucinogenic effect. For this reason, it was banned in the United States starting in 1912 and Europe soon followed. The Temperance Movement had a lot to do with that. A Temperance Petition in 1907 read, “Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant. It disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country.” In 2007, absinthe could be legally made again, but it is highly regulated to make sure its level of thujone remains less than ten parts per million of thujone.Thujone is a chemical compound that was thought to create psychoactive effects. In high doses it can cause convulsions and is toxic to the brain, liver and kidneys.

The Wormwood Society is America's Absinthe Association and Information Network and they have a collection of historical documents about absinthe. One is a pamphlet published by the U.S. Brewer's Association entilted "‪A Solution of the Temperance Problem‬, ‪Proposed by the Government of Switzerland."‬ It talks about a late 19th century absinthe drinking club and reads, "In 1876 a number of Parisian women formed an Absynthe Club and adopted by-laws prescribing that on the days of meeting the members of the club must wholly abstain from the use of solid food, in the place of which latter absynthe was to be consumed to the extent of the drinker’s ability. This competitive drinking bout had for one of its incidental objects the election of a presiding officer, inasmuch as the member who could drink most without showing signs of intoxication, was declared president of the club."

La Galerie de l'Absinthe

Not far from the World War II Museum, one finds the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. The museum has several exhibits and one of these is La Galerie de l'Absinthe. This is a collection compiled by Raymond Bordelon and is the only one of its kind in the U.S. dedicated to absinthe. The collection features absinthe spoons, absinthe cocktail recipes, and absinthe fountains. Displays cover the history of the drink in general and in New Orleans. Some of the history connected to absinthe includes stories of Vincent Van Gogh being a heavy user of the drink and it is credited not only with helping him with his impressionistic paintings and his liberal use of the color yellow, but also with the removal of his ear. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a heavy drinker of absinthe and even carried a hollow cane filled with absinthe. It is believed to have inspired his impressionistic scenes of the brothels and night spots of 19th-century Paris. And this talk of absinthe and brothels and night spots brings us to our first haunted location.

Mahogany Jazz Club

The Mahogany Jazz Club is located along Chartres Street just a half block down from Canal Street, so basically at the edge of the French Quarter. We passed by it every day while we were there, but it was never open. This had once been the Folk's Lodging House, owned by Fred Folk. Tragedy at this location would begin at this time. There was a young man of 26 named Charles Murphy who worked as a shoemaker in a factory in New Orleans. Murphy came down with a fever that left his body exhausted. He had it for several days and could not shake the illness. His weariness caused his work to decline and he fell into a depression. Mr. Folk went to give him a wake-up call at 6am one morning and the two men chatted. Mr. Folk returned to his downstairs office and Murphy tied a piece of clothing line around his neck and tied the other end to a hook on the wall and hanged himself. Mr. Folk realized a couple hours later that he had not seen Murphy leave and he went upstairs to check on him where he found him dead. This was in 1888.

The next tragedy would involve a man named George Kreis in 1890. This was a guy down on his luck that Mr. Folk befriended. He invited the man who was living on the street to come and stay at his establishment. He also helped George find a job in a bakery. The problem was that George was not a very good baker and he became depressed at his work. With the money he had manged to make, he bought a gun and shot himself at the boarding house. Poor Mr. Folk would end up finding another suicide victim in his lodging house. 

And there was yet another death. The Times-Picayune reported on November 22nd, 1892, “Shot in the Dark: Mysterious Killing on 125 Chartres Street.” This told the story of homeless man Scotty Boyle who made a habit of hanging out near the door to Folk's Boarding House. The article says he was “minding his business when a tall man in dark brown suit approached him. A bystander heard the man in the brown suit get angry and he yelled at Boyle, “I’ll shoot you for fun!” And he did just that shooting Boyle in the face. The man in the suit then fled down Chartres Street. Boyle was still alive, but unable to speak and he died before he made it to the hospital. The killer was never found.

We're not sure what happened to this location through the years, but today it is the Mahogany Jazz Club were patrons can get a drink and listen to great live jazz. But the real treat here is the burlesque show in the back where the Green Fairy is served up. This is a small, intimate venue where patrons get to hear a brief history of absinthe before being offered a sample. The burlesque is very tasteful we hear. The cost is $20 and many claim it to be a hidden gem. Not only do we have the Green Fairy here, but there are stories of ghosts.

Patrons claim to have been touched by something unseen and hearing disembodied whispers and voices. The employees claim that the spirits are nice here. Connie Fry had been a general manager her and told Ghost City Tours, “I’ve had staff members previously that have mentioned actually seeing a figure in the back room…I have had several customers who have mentioned having feelings of things brushing across their shoulder, fingers running through their hair shadows out of the corners of your eyes. Charles [Murphy] turned around and hung himself, so I’m pretty sure he’s one of the spirits that is lingering. We have one who we jokingly call Rebekah because we don’t know her name. But you’ll see a glass move a little bit on the bar or if you’re getting ice out of the ice machine, the lid will drop on your head.  She just wants to let you know that somebody’s here.”

Pirate's Alley Cafe 

Pirate's Alley is an alley that some claim was the scene of pirate commerce once upon a time, but there is actually nothing to prove that and it more than likely was just another alley in New orleans. But it is a cool name for an alley and a cool name for a restaurant. The Pirate's Alley Cafe is located at 622 Pirate Alley. This was originally a royal prison run by the Spanish in the mid-18th century. Jean Lafitte and his brother were imprisoned here for a time. It was eventually demolished in the late 1830s. The building that stands there now was built and eventually became the Pirate's Alley Cafe. Aleister Crowley hung out at this bar and even wrote two of his books here while sipping absinthe.
 
James Caskey writes in his 2013 book "The Haunted History of New Orleans: Ghosts of the French Quarter" that the bar has a poltergeist-like entity whom slams doors, shatters light bulbs and harassed a female bartender by undoing her bra and lifting her top, exposing the poor gal. Employees started leaving out some rum to appease the spirit. A guide for the Haunted History Tours company, Jerry Andersen, shared an experience a woman had on one of his tours in Kalila Smith's book "New Orleans Ghosts, Voodoo and Vampires, Journey Into Darkness." A woman on his tour got upset when she realized that her expensive wristwatch was missing. People in the group searched all around where they had been, but found no watch. The tour continued and the group went into the cafe for a drink. The woman reached into her purse to pay for a drink and found her watch. This was a watch with one of those safety clasps and she never took it off to put it in her purse. She was sure she had been wearing it. Ectoplasm has been captured in a picture around the sign of the Pirate's Alley Cafe.  

Old Absinthe House

At the corner of Bourbon and Bienville Streets, sits the Old Absinthe House. The original building that once stood here was built in 1752, but burned down in the 1788 Great Friday Fire. The only thing of the building after the fire was the fireplace. Pedro Front and Francisco Juncadelia were two Spaniards in the city who wanted to open a grocery store, so they rebuilt on this location and opened in 1806. This store operated for forty years and sold the necessities of life along with tobacco products and imported wines. This location became very important during the War of 1812. General Andrew Jackson met up with the pirate Jean Lafitte right before the New Orleans Battle in 1815 on the second floor. Jackson made a deal with Lafitte to release his men from prison with full pardons if they would fight in the Battle of New Orleans. These pirates were familiar with the lay of the land including the swamps and they were instrumental in America’s victory over the British. And you may remember from an earlier episode that this battle in New Orleans actually never needed to be fought because the war was over.

In 1846, Aleix's Coffee House took over the location. Now, this wasn't your local Starbucks. Or even your neighborhood coffee house. Places that served coffee were called cafes. When they were called a coffee house, that meant something else. This was a house of vice. All kinds of vice. Drugs were readily available and all kinds of liquor. In 1874, the site became The Absinthe Room and mixologist Cayetano Ferrer created the Absinthe House Frappe. The Coffee House had been popular, but the Absinthe House blew it out of the water. This was a location not to be missed. When absinthe became illegal and then Prohibition became the law of the land, the Absinthe House almost shut down. But, of course, it remained open as a speakeasy. It was so popular though that the authorities were well aware it was still running and some of them threatened to burn the building down. The owners moved everything a few blocks down to a warehouse and kept the operation going. Today, that location is the Mango Daiquiri Shop. When Prohibition was repealed, the Absinthe House reopened in its former location.
   .
Many celebrities have passed through the doors from Frank Sinatra to P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman (fun fact: we had a quote of his on the wall in our hotel), Liza Minelli and even President Franklin Roosevelt. The saying here is that "everyone you have ever known or will ever know, eventually ends up at The Old Absinthe House." This location went through a major renovation in 2004, including the copper-topped bar.

There are several spirits that have made the Old Absinthe House their home in the afterlife. The pirate Jean Lafitte must like to reminisce about his role in beating the British during the War of 1812 because his spirit is seen here as a full-bodied apparition on the second floor. And many of his crew members join him as well. Their disembodied partying is heard with laughter and singing and glasses clinking and the sounds of beer mugs crashing to the floor. Some people even claim to have seen General Jackson standing with Lafitte, so perhaps some of this is residual, playing over that important moment in history. A Lady in White wearing a long white dress is seen sometimes and temperatures drop on a regular basis. A child runs across the third floor and doors open and close on their own. Disembodied whispers are heard, chairs move on their own and so do bottles. Interestingly, the ghost of Marie Leveau is seen in the bar. She steps up to the bar as though she wants to order a drink or two. She is also seen looking out of a window on the second floor.

Benjamin Butler was the General of the Union occupying force in New Orleans in 1862 and he was so brutal, people called him "The Beast." He was only rivaled by General Sherman. His father had served under General Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans. He tried politics for a while and was a lawyer, but during the Civil War he managed to get appointed as Brigadier General of Massachusetts militia. He was unscrupulous, ignored authority and completely disregarded military procedures. Although he did nothing to capture New Orleans, he took over charge of the citizenry. He issued General Order No. 28 on May 15, 1862 which read, "As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation." Butler would be removed for this egregious dishonor of the Southern women. Even though he died in 1893 in Massachusetts, his spirit is said to be seen at the Old Absinthe House.

Absinthe is a powerful drink, so its not surprising that three of the locations in New Orleans that serve it are buzzing with spiritual activity. Are any of these bars haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 372 - Andrew Jackson Hotel and Napoleon House

Moment in Oddity - Andrew Jackson's Swearing Parrot (Suggested by: Scott Booker)

On this episode, we are featuring a location named in honor of Andrew Jackson. Most people know he was a great General and was a former President of the United States, but do they know he owned a parrot? A parrot with a very foul mouth. This was an African Grey that originally belonged to his wife Rachel, but when she passed away, the bird became Jackson's responsibility. The parrot's name was Poll and while no one knows for sure where he learned his colorful vocabulary, most people are sure it came from Jackson who was pretty cantankerous. When Jackson died, Poll was allowed to attend the funeral and this decision soon proved to be a mistake. Reverend William Menefee Norment described what happened, "Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house. [It was] excited by the multitude and … let loose perfect gusts of cuss words. [People were] horrified and awed at the bird’s lack of reverence." Many Presidents have had pet birds, but Jackson's was the only one to swear and that, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Sweet Rationing Ends in Britain

In the month of February, on the 5th, in 1953, the rationing of sweets comes to an end in Britain. Oh what a sweet, sweet day! I'm a total sugaraholic. How tragic it would have been to live at a time when chocolate and sweets were rationed. This rationing lasted for ten achingly long years. Sugar was in short supply. Each person was only allowed 12 oz. of sweets a month. Once the rationing ended, long queues formed at confectioner's shops as people enjoyed being able to purchase boxes of chocolates. Many other items had been rationed during World War II. Meat was still being rationed as sugar was taken off that list and wouldn't be removed until July of 1954. A fun fact about rationing, in 1939 researchers at Cambridge University tested how much rationing an adult could endure and they found that adults could survive on amounts of food much smaller than the rations. The test subjects did well, but the increased level of fiber and starch in the diet led to “remarkable” levels of flatulence!

Andrew Jackson Hotel and Napoleon House

We had just one night in New Orleans on a recent road trip and we made the most of it since it was Kelly's first time here. We booked a room at the Andrew Jackson Hotel, had dinner at the Napoleon House - one of America's most famous bars - and took in a couple of the local creepy stores before heading on a ghost tour with Haunted History Tours. Join us as we share the history and haunts of the Andrew Jackson Hotel and Napoleon House.

As the listeners already know, New Orleans is THE destination for paranormal enthusiasts, particularly those who love history. Louisiana was clearly hard hit by two monsters of 2020: hurricanes and Covid-19. As we drove through Lake Charles, very few of the homes were without blue tarps over the roofs. This city on the Gulf was hit by two major hurricanes, Laura and Delta. Trees were shells of themselves. Damage was still evident everywhere and this was December. We continued our trek east as we headed for New Orleans. We drove the bridge across Lake Pontchartrain as we neared the historic city. Kelly got an overhead glimpse of one of the many cemeteries found in the city. The city is home to some of the coolest looking cemeteries with all the burials being above ground. We arrived at the French Quarter around four and lucked out in finding a parking spot right near the Andrew Jackson Hotel. 

The charming Andrew Jackson Hotel fits perfectly in the French Quarter with its iconic wrought iron on the upper balcony. This hotel is two stories with an exterior that is yellow with blue shutters and fronted with flags. The hotel is longer than it is wider. There are rooms both inside the main hotel and then outside along a courtyard that has a fountain, wrought iron tables and chairs and a cannon. Our room was on the far end on the first floor of the courtyard, which was just a bit magical because it was raining. The place is clearly old and in need of some updating, but we weren't here for comfort, we were here for ghosts. Which was a good thing because hot showers in the morning were elusive. The main lobby has an Old World theme with antique furniture and this carried over into our room with 18th century furniture and original wood floors. The real highlight of the hotel is that it is in the heart of the French Quarter, so in close walking distance to everywhere.

The site where the Andrew Jackson Hotel sits has a long history as is the case for the entire French Quarter. The first known building to stand here was used as a boys orphanage. The Spanish Colonial Government that was in control of New Orleans in 1792 was faced with a growing problem as Yellow Fever ravaged the city. Many children were losing their parents to the disease. Orphanages that also served as boarding schools was their answer. Things went well here until the fire of 1794 swept through and badly damaged the building. Stories claim that five boys lost their lives inside. Tracking down the truth on this story is difficult. Some tales claim the building was burned to the ground, while others say that it was one of the few buildings to survive the fire. Whatever the case may be, the energy of the boys who lived here at one time still carries on through the centuries. We'll discuss that in a moment. 

A U.S. Federal Courthouse replaced the orphanage after the fire. Again, we are not sure if the building was just repurposed or rebuilt, but it looked nothing like the traditional courthouse one would expect to see in a large city. The courthouse would be here until just before the turn of the 20th Century. It would have one very famous case that would involve General Andrew Jackson. He was held in contempt of court and charged with obstruction of justice in 1815. Jackson had come to New Orleans in December of 1814 to help defend the city against a British invasion. He declared martial law against the British. No one was allowed to enter the city and no one was allowed to leave. Shortly thereafter, the Battle of New Orleans was fought even though the War of 1812 had already come to an end. Word had not made it to New Orleans. After the battle, Jackson still refused to lift the order and a senator, Louis Louaillier, publicly called on Jackson to stop the order. Jackson's response was to have the senator arrested. When United States District Judge Dominick Hall ordered the senator released, Jackson had the judge arrested.

Jackson eventually lifted the martial law. When the judge was back in court, he charged Jackson with contempt of court and fined him $1,000. Jackson showed up out of uniform and looking shabby, demanded a trial by jury that was refused and eventually paid the fine. Many of the people of the city had offered to help Jackson pay the fine because he was a war hero, but he asked them to give the money to the widows and orphans who had suffered loses during the Battle of New Orleans. Congress would order in 1844 that the money Jackson paid for the fine be repaid to him. This was repaid with interest and Jackson received $2,700. The federal courthouse was demolished in the early 1900s and the building that would become the Andrew Jackson Hotel was built. It was added to the Register of Historic Places in 1965.

The Andrew Jackson Hotel is said to be one of the most haunted hotels in the city. There are several ghosts here reputedly. Obviously, with several boys losing their lives in the fire, there are claims of seeing young male ghosts and hearing the laughter of boys and sometimes even some screaming. It should be pointed out that this is mainly an adult hotel, so children are rarely staying at the hotel. One ghost that is seen most often has been nicknamed "Armand." He is a prankster who likes to wake up guests by either trying to push them out of bed or laughing loudly near their head. They sometimes feel a cold touch on their skin. No one is sure how Armand died, but it wasn't in the fire. Some believe he was thrown from the balcony, others claim he jumped himself. He appears most often in the most haunted room in the hotel, 208.

The former caretaker of the orphanage is seen fluffing pillows and cleaning. Sometimes furniture is rearranged. This was a female housekeeper according to various accounts. Televisions and lights turn on and off by themselves. Disembodied footsteps are heard. And there are some who claim that even the hotel's namesake, Andrew Jackson, has been seen roaming the halls. As for us, we had very little interaction. A recorder was left on all night and only picked up the occasional clicking on and off of the air.We did a brief dowsing rod session without much response. We think we were talking to a woman and wonder if she was the housekeeper or caretaker from years ago.

Jaime S wrote on Tripadvisor: The hotel is old and quaint. Rooms are extremely basic. The location is excellent for French Quarter activities and has an chic courtyard restaurant, Cafe Amelie, across the street. I did not believe in hauntings until I stayed here! They have a history of "friendly" hauntings, but I did not expect to experience anything. However, two nights in a row, we returned to our room to find my clothing moved. The first night, clothes thrown about with some folded in front of the door when we opened it. The second night my pajamas laid out like a person on the bed with a small hobbit door high above the bathroom that was open (it was definitely closed before and we could not reach it). Creepy to say the least...We thought the hotel staff may have been involved to perpetuate the haunted rumor, but they denied it. Also, cleaning staff comes early and leaves early. In the evenings there is only one hotel attendant who mans the desk so it seems unlikely that he would leave his post to mess with my clothes!

We had a ghost tour booked and decided to get some dinner and hit a couple of shops before the tour. Our first goal was to buy a large umbrella due to the rain that we had a feeling was going to be around for the entire evening. After accomplishing that, we hit two shops we were dying to check out, Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo and Boutique du Vampyre. Laveau's House of Voodoo was opened in 1988. This had been Marie Laveau II's house. The shop is full of wonderful things for learning and practicing spiritual and religious Voodoo ceremonies. There are talismans, charms, tribal masks, statues and t-shirts. They offer psychic and spiritual readings. And there are two altars inside, one dedicated to Marie I and the other to Marie II. Make sure to leave equal gifts at each altar, so as not to make either spirit jealous. It is believed that Marie II haunts this location. Visitors claim to feel her icy fingers on their shoulders. Readings are given in a backroom and her ghost has been seen at various times in there during spiritual readings.

At Boutique du Vampyre, Diane picked up the owner's book "New Orlean Vampires, History and Legend." Marita Woywod Crandle opened the shop in 2003. The About Us on the website is wonderful as Marita explains her entrance into vampire life in 1764 in Germany. She moved on to Transylvania and then over to New York and finally settling in New Orleans where her husband was originally from. The truth is that Marita is from Germany and lived in California before transplanting to New Orleans where she and her husband have rescued over 650 dogs. The shop is crammed full of goodness from books to oddities to candles to clothing to make-up to custom fangs to gargoyles, one of which Kelly brought home with us. We also learned about the secret speakeasy from a friend and asked about it while we were checking out. You need to make an appointment due to Covid right now, but it is a great gathering place for weirdos and vampires! We then headed off to find dinner, which is more difficult with Covid. Kelly got to hang out on Bourbon Street on a Saturday night, which was deserted compared to Diane's previous experience there. We finally happened upon the Napoleon House, which had a table available in the courtyard just shy of the pouring rain, which again made it a magical evening. Kelly had the Grilled Chicken and Brie and Diane had Gumbo. (Napoleon House Dinner)

The Napoleon House has stood at 500 Chartres Street for 200 years. New Orleans has passed through the hands of several countries in its history. By the time 1803 rolled around, New Orleans had gone from French control to Spanish and then back to French. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was the ruler of France and he had told Spain that he would not give the territory of Louisiana to anybody else, but he lied. He worked out the Louisiana Purchase with the United States of America. Napoleon was popular in New Orleans, especially with Nicholas Girod, who was the mayor of New Orleans from 1812 to 1815. The mayor owned a mansion at the corner of Chartres and St. Louis Streets. His brother Francois Claude Girod bought the property on October 26, 1798 at an estate auction. Claude passed away on April 28, 1814 and left the property to Mayor Girod. The following year, the mayor was forced to resign over financial issues.

The Mayor decided to renovate the entire second floor of the house and offer it to Napoleon in 1821 as a refuge during his exile. Unfortunately, Napoleon would never make it to America because the British captured him and sent him into exile at St. Helena. Mayor Girod would not give up easily though. He put together a rescue mission and sent a ship to bring the Emperor to America. The mayor would watch for the ship to return from an octagon shaped tower on top of his mansion. The emperor died from arsenic poisoning in May of 1821, before the mission could be completed. Joseph Impastato rented the building for $20 a month starting in 1914 and he opened a grocery store on the first level and lived on the second floor with his brothers and sisters. Eventually "Uncle Joe" as everyone called him, bought the property for $14,000. There was a side room connected to the grocery store and Joe made that into a tavern that continued to run as a speakeasy during Prohibition. Joe was fond of opera and classical music and he would play opera records for customers on his Victrola and as you heard in our clip, that tradition continues today. 

Uncle Joe grew weary of the business after the end of World War II and he handed it over to his brother Peter Impastato in 1945. Peter's son Sal inherited the business when Peter died in 1971. Sal was only twenty-four at the time. Ralph Brennan took over the business in May of 2015. He is a third generation scion of the family known for their New Orleans restaurants. He actually stopped by our table shortly after we were seated. As we left, we snapped pictures of the iconic bar that has writing all over the walls and the beautiful tile entry way with "The Napoleon House" inlaid. The flooring in the bar is a melon and cream colored Carrera marble floor. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Napoleon House is said to have the best muffulettas in town. This is an Italian sandwich made with Italian bread and filled with olive salad, cheese, and a variety of meats like ham, salami, mortadella, and capicola. The restaurant and bar is aldo known for its Pimm's Cup. This is ginger ale mixed with fruit, cucumbers, mint, and a strong shot of gin. This was invented in 1823 by James Pimm, who served it at his oyster bar in London.

There are ghost stories connected to this property. The craziest ones claim that Napoleon himself wanders the building. These stories started in the early 1900s. The second floor had a reception hall at that time and their was a party taking place one evening. Several guests noticed a little man who was strangely dressed like Napoleon. They assumed he was a hired actor for the party and watched him walk around and then enter a coat closet. They waited for him to exit, but he never did. After twenty minutes, one of the guests went up to the manager to express concern that the actor may be in some trouble in the closet. Or getting into trouble in the closet and stealing their stuff. The manager looked at them confused and remarked that no actor had been hired, particularly one dressed like Napoleon. One of the guests worked for the newspaper and he wrote a brief article about the strange occurrence. Before long, the paper was flooded with letters from people claiming to have seen the same man who would disappear into the closet. All of these on different days. And no one had mentioned it before because they assumed he was a flesh and blood actor dressed in a costume. Had Napoleon come in spirit over to the city that had wanted him to come stay so badly?

Other spirits at this location are not nice to those who doubt the existence of ghosts. A woman was walking down the stairs one time and remarked that she didn't believe in ghosts, so this location certainly could not be haunted. No sooner had the words crossed her lips than she felt a hard smack on the back of her head and a heavy push on her back that almost sent her falling down the stairs. A woman ho had once lived in an upper apartment claimed to experience ghosts often. She said, "You get a creepy vibe from it. When you're there by yourself, you feel like someone is there with you, but no one is with you." Lights would flicker, she would get touched while she slept, which woke her up and sometimes be pushed by something she couldn't see. Other tenants claimed to have the same experiences.

An Executive Chef at the restaurant told Nola Weekend that they have three ghosts in the building and that a paranormal group has detected them. These spirits include an old sailor who drinks in the downstairs bar late at night, an old woman who likes to sweep the floor and a young woman who was murdered or died a bad death in the courtyard. The attic was a barracks at one time where sailors lived, so there is a possibility that a sailor might have lost his life here.

Then we were off to meet our tour. Diane's favorite tour company in New Orleans is Haunted History Tours. She had done a vampire one previously, but this time we were doing the traditional ghost tour. We checked in and then had to pop in to catch a classic cocktail to take along. (Tour Hurricane) The original hurricane cocktail was first mixed at Pat O'Brien's bar in New Orleans during the 1940s. There was so much rum in the city, they needed an easy way to get rid of it. While this cocktail has been remade over the years , the original was uncomplicated and had three ingredients: blend of rum, passion fruit syrup and lemon juice. The recipes of today are more complicated with many more ingredients. A typical recipe goes like this:

    1/2 lime, juiced
    2 ounces light rum
    2 ounces dark rum
    2 ounces passion fruit juice or purée
    1 ounce fresh-squeezed orange juice
    1/2 ounce simple syrup
    1/2 ounce grenadine
    Garnish: orange slice
    Garnish: maraschino cherry

Cedric was our tour guide and he was amazing. He had the coolest looking homemade face mask and was dressed in an amazingly creepy costume that we shared on Instagram when we were in New Orleans a few weeks ago. (Cedric Tour) We had a glorious time in New Orleans and can't wait to return for a longer visit. Are the Andrew Jackson Hotel and Napoleon House haunted? That is for you to decide!

Ep. 291 - Jackson Square in New Orleans

Moment in Oddity - Times Beach, Missouri
Suggested by: Jim Featherstone

Times Beach was a town founded in 1925 near St Louis, Missouri. I say "was" because this town was abandoned in 1983. Before the residents had to flee for their lives, Times Beach had a population of 2000.It's origin story is rather unique as its founding and growth were tied to a promotion by the St Louis Star-Times newspaper. The purchase of a lot in this town included a six month subscription to the newspaper. The wealthy of Missouri used this as a summer residence area, hence the beach part of the name. Eventually through the years, the town became home for the lower-middle class, but it was a popular destination along Route 66. The roads in the town were mostly dirt and created a bunch of dust, so in 1971 Russell Bliss was hired to oil the streets. But he sprayed more than just oil on those streets. Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company, Inc had asked a company called IPC to discard toxic waste for them and they hired Bliss to do that. Hmmm, he must have thought. Where could I put this toxic waste? His answer was to mix it with the oil he was spraying on the roads. That toxic waste contained high levels of dioxin. Eventually the scandal was uncovered and the government sued in 1980. Some people left and a flood in December 1982 caused an evacuation of the town. The people were told to not come back because of the dioxin, but one elderly couple refused to leave. The town stood as an eerie abandoned ghost town for years and was demolished in 1992. A full clean-up followed and that toxic abandoned town is now a state park that celebrates the famous Route 66 and that, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Alan Shepard Golfs on the Moon

In the month of February, on the 6th, in 1971, Alan Shepard hits golf balls on the moon. Shepard had become the first man in space in 1961 and this was his return trip aboard Apollo 14, which had launched on January 31st. This mission followed the nearly-catastrophic Apollo 13 mission. The Apollo 14 was the third mission to land on the moon. Shepard had to rig himself a golf club using a head he had brought with him and attaching it to a sample collector handle that resembled a fancy butteerfly net used for collecting rocks. Shepard told viewers, "Houston, while you're looking that up, you might recognize what I have in my hand is the handle for the contingency sample return; it just so happens to have a genuine six iron on the bottom of it. In my left hand, I have a little white pellet that's familiar to millions of Americans. I'll drop it down. Unfortunately, the suit is so stiff, I can't do this with two hands, but I'm going to try a little sand trap shot here." It was hard swinging in the spacesuits, but Shepard managed to connect and send the golf balls flying because of the Moon’s lower gravitational force. The balls flew at least 200 yards. The Apollo 14 astronauts did get back to their task of exploring the lunar surface and they collected 100 pounds of rocks before returning home February 9. A fun fact about that rock collecting is that Earth's oldest rock was found on the surface of the moon. The astronauts at the time didn't know that, but recent research found this to be the case and the theory is that the rock ended up on the moon after an impact billions of years ago launched it all the way to the moon.

Jackson Square in New Orleans

Jackson Square is a magnet for visitors to New Orleans. Centuries of history are represented in the square and this history includes shipping, trade, artists colony, pirates, war and executions. The beautiful St. Louis Cathedral is a popular subject for photographers and Cafe du Monde is a must stop for some world famous beignets. New Orleans is considered one of the most haunted cities in the world, so it should come as no surprise that this iconic area of this historic city is home to many ghosts stories. Join me as I explore the history and hauntings of Jackson Square!

This is another location that I have personally visited. Jackson Square itself is a park with a prominent statue of Andrew Jackson at its center, thus the name. It is one of the only areas in the French Quarter that has grass, but this is not much consolation for dog owners looking for a spot for their dogs to relieve themselves as dogs are not allowed in the park because it is home to a cluster of stray cats. The square is on the Mississippi River, on Decatur Street, between the Jax Brewery Shopping Mall and the French Market, and bordered by key buildings like the St. Louis Cathedral,   Café Du Monde, Muriels, the Cabildo and leading off into Pirates' Alley. Jackson Square was not always known by that name. Long before Andrew Jackson became a war hero during the Battle of New Orleans, this area was called Place d’Armes.

When Louis H. Pilie, a landscape architect from France, designed the layout of New Orleans in 1721, he centered it with this one-block common open market area that originally overlooked the Mississippi River's port across Decatur Street. This location made it perfect for shipping and commerce and it was also used as a military parade ground by both the French and Spanish depending on which country had control of the colonial administration. The square became even more of a central hub with the addition of the St. Louis Church, that would become St. Louis Cathedral after it was rebuilt following the Great New Orleans fire of 1788, and the Governor's Mansion known as the Cabildo. So the seat of government and a church were here. And the Place d'Armes would become the scene of the Louisiana Purchase. The territory land deal was signed in 1803 at the Cabildo and gave the United States 827,000 square miles of land stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The Cabildo would later become city hall and be used for court cases.

Since Place d'Armes was a public meeting area, it makes sense that public executions would be hosted here. These were conducted throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The German Coast Uprising was the largest slave revolt in America and took place in 1811. Following that, three slaves were hanged at the square and the heads of several of the rebels were put up on the city's gates. The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was a huge American victory over the British with Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson leading the American forces. A woman named Micaela Almonester Pontalba was a baroness who was the wealthiest woman in New Orleans and she would lobby for and finance a redesign of Place d'Armes after the Battle of New Orleans into what it is today with an iron fence, gardens, benches and walkways and a new name in honor of Andrew Jackson.

Rabbit Hole: Now that I've mentioned Baroness Pontalba, let me take you down the rabbit hole to talk about her for a few minutes. Her father had become very wealthy working with real estate in New Orleans. When her father died, her mother married her off to a prominent cousin who gave her the baroness title. His family was only interested in her money and got her to sign papers giving her husband control of all her financial dealings. She eventually wanted to divorce and as she fought for separation in 1834, her father-in-law became enraged. He shot her point blank with a pair of dueling pistols at the family chateau in Paris. He hit her four times in the chest and she lost some fingers on a hand, but she survived. Her father-in-law killed himself that evening with one of the dueling pistols. She eventually did get her separation and a New Orleans civil law judge ordered the restitution of her property and she got her money back. She went on to build the Pontalba Buildings on Jackson Square and died in 1874 at the age of seventy-eight.

The area around the square has changed over the years. The streets were closed to traffic to allow for pedestrian traffic and paved with slate flagstone. An open-air artist colony now thrives here with artists using the iron fence to display pictures. Musicians play in the streets and horse-drawn carriages launch from here for tours of the city. The Spanish Colonial Cabildo is now a museum housing unique artifacts, historical documents and revolving displays. The Presbytere is on the opposite side of the cathedral and was designed in 1791 to match the Cabildo. It was originally called Casa Curial or “Ecclesiastical House” and used as housing for the Capuchin monks, but went on to be used for commercial purposes until 1834. The building became a courthouse at that time and eventually in 1911 became a museum, which it is today. Most of the other buildings have apartments on upper floors and shops and restaurants on the street level. The St. Louis Cathedral still serves as a church.

Clearly, these buildings have seen much history and much tragedy. New Orleans oozes with paranormal energy and Jackson Square seems to be a hub for it with many of its flanking buildings claiming to house spirits. Let's take a walk around and see what we find!

Muriel’s Restaurant – One of the best restaurants in town sits at 801 Chartes Street, on the corner of Jackson Square. Food offerings include Louisiana specialties like Jambalaya, Gumbo and other southern fare. The building was refurbished to its former mid-1800s glory and opened in March of 2001 as Muriel's. The history of this property reaches back to 1718. A young French Canadian named Claude Trepagnier moved to New Orleans and was awarded the lot where this building stands. He built himself a cottage, which soon became worth a lot of money when Jackson Square was laid out as the hub of the city. Because of its proximity to the port, there is a possibility that the cottage was eventually used for housing slaves before they were auctioned. Around 1745, the Royal Treasurer of the French Louisiana Colonies named Jean Baptiste Destrehan, bought the property. He tore down the cottage and built himself a mansion. His son inherited the home in 1765, but eventually he lost the home when the family money ran out and it was sold at auction.

Pierre Phillipe de Marigny purchased the residence in 1776 and used it as a home in the city when he visited from one of his plantations that is today known as Fauberg Marigny. On March 21, 1788, the Great New Orleans Fire broke out. The blaze burned 856 of the 1,100 structures in the French Quarter, which included the buildings around Jackson Square and part of de Marigny’s mansion was burnt. The Spanish quickly rebuilt opting for bricks over wood. *Fun Fact: The French had used cypress to build everything because it was the only wood termites didn't eat there.* Marigny sold the damaged home to Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan who returned the mansion to its original grandeur. Unfortunately, Jourdan was a gambling man and in 1814 he wagered his beloved home in a poker game and lost it. The loss was too much for him to bear and before moving out of the home, he hanged himself on the second floor.

Julien Poydras, the President of the Louisiana State Senate and a Director of the Louisiana Bank, moved into the house in 1823, but died a year later. His family stayed on in the mansion until 1881 and sold to Theodore Leveau. The Civil War had hit the Poydras families interests hard as was the case for many plantation owners and much of the wealth had shifted from the French Quarter to the American Sector in the Garden District and Uptown. Leveau kept the house for a decade and sold to Peter Lipari who was an orange baron of sorts. He refurbished the building to its present look. It then housed a series of commercial businesses, most of which were saloons. Frank Taormina bought the building in 1916 and ran it as a pasta factory and grocery store and a restaurant called The Spaghetti Factory until 1974. From 1974 to 2000, it was a Chart House Restaurant and then it became Muriel's Jackson Square.

During all of this time, the spirit of Jourdan stayed with the building and Muriel's has embraced their spirit even setting up a Seance Lounge in the area where Jourdan hanged himself. Employees claim that his specter does not make appearances, but instead is seen as a glimmer of sparkly light wandering around the lounge. He spends most of his time in the Seance Lounges on the second floor. Employees and patrons have witnessed objects moving on their own in the restaurant and whichever ghost is hanging out in the Courtyard Bar, it is pretty mischievous and likes to throw glasses from behind the bar at a brick wall 12 feet across from the bar. I say "whichever ghost" because there are those that believe multiple ghosts haunt the building. And some previous owners did die in the house. Paranormal investigations have been conducted over the years  and disembodied voices have been heard and shadowy figures have been seen. In the Seance Lounge, distinct knocks on the brick wall have been heard as a type of communication. EVP of a female was captured as well. Muriel's not only makes it known that they have a ghost, they always keep a table reserved for Mr. Jourdan and  set it with bread and wine.

Le Petite Theatre du Vieux Carré – Le Petit Théâtre Du Vieux Carré is located at 616 St. Peter Street just off Jackson Square. The theater has called this home since 1922. It doesn't look like a typical theater, but it fits in with the style of New Orleans with wrought iron around its second floor balcony, black shutters and red brick. Le Petit was founded as an amateur theater group in 1916. As it grew in popularity, it was able to purchase the lot on the corner of St. Peter and Chartres Streets. The original building on this lot was built by Don Josef de Orue y Garbea, who was the head accountant of the Spanish Royal Finance Office and Army. Much of the structure was destroyed in the great fire. Three small buildings replaced the destroyed part. The theater removed them and incorporated the rest of the 1790s colonial building on the corner, which kept it with a Spanish Colonial style. Through its nearly century of production, the theater has been known as one of the leading little theaters in the nation. Facing financial trouble, the theater sold to New Orleans restauranteur Dickie Brennan and he opened a Creole Restaurant in part of the space and retired the theater's debt and it continues to put on productions to this day.

As is the case with nearly every theater, this one claims to have a spirit or two running around. There are claims that an actress named Caroline who worked in the theater in the 1930s is here in spirit. She apparently took a tumble over the railing to her death in the courtyard below. She was wearing a white wedding gown as her costume and so she is seen as a Lady in White. There is another ghost nicknamed "The Captain" who enjoys watching productions from his balcony seat. I'm not sure how he ended up here, but investigators claim he was sweet on an actress at the theater.

I really enjoyed the Haunted History Tours in New Orleans and this is the first one I recommend to people when they ask. It is one of the originals and was founded by Kalila Smith. He wrote, "New Orleans Ghosts, Voodoo and Vampires, Journey into Darkness" and in it he talks about a visit to the theater.He actually had his wedding there. He is sensitive and he felt as though there were several entities in the building and EMF readings were very high. Psychics who visited the building told Smith that although there is sometimes the smell of burning flesh in the theater, none of the spirits seem to belong to fire victims. The spirits mainly seem to belong to actors who have returned.

Faulkner House Books – Faulkner House Books is located at 624 Pirate’s Alley, just off Jackson Square, behind the Cabildo and opposite St. Louis Cathedral’s rear garden. The bookstore is owned by attorney Joseph J. DeSalvo Jr. and named for William Faulkner, the American author and Nobel prize laureate. When he wrote his first novel, he was staying in this house in 1925. The house was built in 1840 by the widow of Jean Baptiste LeBranche. The site had previously been home to the French Colonial Prison. It is Faulkner's spirit that is said to haunt the building. People claim to have seen his full-bodied apparition at a desk and the smell of his pipe has been detected.

Pere Antoine’s Alley – Antonio de Sedella was a Capuchin friar known to his flock as Pere Antoine. He was a controversial figure who was strong in his Catholic beliefs. He would help anyone in need whether they were poor, prisoners or slaves. In 1805, he was suspended over a dispute with the vicar-general of Louisiana, but he was so beloved by the people that they elected Pere Antoine their parish priest. The vicar-general's hands were tied and he remained the priest until his death in 1829 at age 81. St. Anthony's Garden behind St. Louis Cathedral was named after his namesake saint and was dedicated in Antoine's memory and St. Anthony's Alley was renamed Pere Antoine Alley for the priest. And it is in this alley where his restless spirit is said to still roam. Visitors to the alley claim to see Pere Antoine’s ghost in the early morning hours, clad in Capuchin black and sandals. Others have seen his full-bodied apparition in St. Louis Cathedral.

Haunted New Orleans Tour's website reported: "One recent account tells of a local woman who was rushing through Pere Antoine’s Alley on a rainy afternoon. Tottering on high heels, she tripped on one of the uneven alley flagstones and fell straight into the arms of a black-robed man with a white beard and surprised expression. He said nothing as he helped her gain her balance; when the woman turned to thank him, the man was gone. The woman further claimed that a sense of overwhelming peace came over her that afternoon and she fully believes she encountered not a ghost, but a saint."

St. Louis Cathedral – St. Louis Cathedral is a beautiful and stunning piece of architecture. This is not the original structure. This is actually the third version of the cathedral, which was originally called St. Louis Church and was named in honor of the French King Louis IX, the Saint King. It later became the cathedral and today is actually anointed as a basilica, but is sill referred to as a cathedral. The first structure here was a simple wooden structure built in 1718. The next church was built from brick and stood 1727 until 1788 when it burned in the Great Fire. The Spanish rebuilt much of what is seen today. Pope Pius declared it a cathedral in 1793. A central bell tower was added in 1819. This was designed by architect Ben Henry Latrobe, who also designed the White House. A renovation was started in 1850 because a larger cathedral was needed. The central tower collapsed, causing the whole cathedral to be redone, loosing much of the original Spanish architecture. However, the new design was solid and beautiful, creating a house of worship that has endured over 150 years!

St. Anthony’s Garden is located behind the Cathedral and its original purpose was as a burial ground. The bones were re-interred in St. Louis Cemetery #1 on Basin Street. Or at least, that is the story. And although this was meant to be a beautiful, peaceful garden, it eventually hosted illegal, deadly duels. After the Civil War, the site became just a garden. Both the garden and the cathdral are said to be haunted. Pere Dagobert hangs out here as well. His apparition has been seen walking with his head lowered down the aisles after worship. The ghost of Madame LaLaurie has been seen in the Cathedral and people believe she is here because she used to worship here in the early 1800s . That's strange since she didn't die here. 

The Cabildo - As stated earlier, The Cabildo was once the seat of government and the name translates as Council. It not only was the scene of the signing of the Lousiana Purchase, but the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson was decided in 1896 that rules that blacks were equal, but separate. The 1762 Treaty of Fountainebleau passed Louisiana from the French to the Spanish and this made the French angry since the trade had been an act of War during the French and Indian War. The French rebelled and the Spanish sent General Don Alejandro “Bloody” O’Reilly to put an end to it. He brought 2,000 troops with him in 1769 and killed the first Frenchman he came across. O'Reilly told the leaders of the uprising that he would like them to join him for a meal at the Cabildo and that he would work with them to settle the dispute. Instead, he handcuffed all the men and led them to the intersection of Esplanade Avenue and Frenchmen Street where he executed them all. And speaking of executions, the Cabildo hosted executions in its inner courtyard. Today, the Cabildo is part of the Louisiana State Museum, housing hundreds of early colonization and 19th-century artifacts including a bronze death mask of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Staff at the museum claim to have had strange experiences, particularly when working in the off hours. They have reported being touched or tapped on their shoulders and finding no one behind them when they turn around. Strange sounds and shadows have also been reported. There are still jail cells in the rear of the Cabildo and this is where most of the activity takes place. Visitors have reported seeing the spirit of a British soldier, who was hanged here because he had been a spy during the Battle of New Orleans. His spirit is seen wandering throughout the building.

An anonymous person wrote on the Haunted Nation website: "My ghost encounter there was actually in the front of the building on the second floor in the long foyer that runs the entire length of the building. I was walking through towards the room with Napoleon's death mask and felt a tug on my left shoulder. I assumed it was my daughter and slapped at the hand on my shoulder. Again my shoulder was tugged hard and I slapped again and said "Stop it!". And turned to confront my daughter. There was no one in the entire front foyer. I was totally alone. Something made me speak out "I know you are there, and it's OK." I then hurried off to find my family. I could not speak about it until we left the building. I felt followed for some time in the museum. I was a non-believer until that happened."

Pirate's Alley - Pirate's Alley is situated between St. Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo. Early in the day, the alley is quiet and seems to honor the posted signs that read: "Quiet: Church Zone." At night, the old lampposts light the way and the alley is filled with noise pouring out from the Pirate’s Alley Cafe and Absinthe House. This street was first laid out in the late 18th century and was called Rue Orleans and was always meant to be an alleyway. It was originally unpaved, but cobblestones were added in 1830. So why is it called Pirate's Alley? Legend claims that the infamous pirate Jean Lafitte worked out of this alley. It was in this alley that they say Lafitte made a deal with Andrew Jackson, that if he helped get Lafitte's brother Pierre released he would aid General Jackson in the fight against the British during the Battle of New Orleans. But the idea that a pirate would operate out of an alley next to the church is pretty improbable.

But then why do people claim to see the apparition of Jean Lafitte in the alley? Is it him or is it another pirate by the name of Reginald Hicks? Heicks had been kidnapped as a boy by pirates and he grew up in their ways. He traveled with Lafitte to New Orleans and fell in love with a girl there named Marie Angel Beauchamp, a beautiful French Creole girl. She got pregnant and Hicks insisted that they get married. The only minister they knew was a German man doing time in the Old Parish Prison. They begged the prison guard to let the minister marry them and it was done by the iron gate along Pirate’s Alley. Hicks was later killed in the war and it is said that his spirit returned to the place of his marriage. People have claimed to hear wedding bells early in the morning and the sounds of ghostly laughter in the alley. Ghostly male singing is heard in the alley as well and some believe it is Father Pere Dagobert visiting this alley too.

Jackson Square is a must see for the visitor to New Orleans. Besides the beauty of the park, the architecture here is fabulous and full of history. And apparently, possibly full of ghosts. Are Jackson Square and its surrounding buildings haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Podcast, Ep. 56 - The Myrtles Plantation

Moment in Oddity - The Mummy of Bishop Peder Winstrup

Lund University is located in Sweden. The school's original benefector and chancellor was Bishop Peder Winstrup. When the Bishop died, his body was preserved with herbs and berries. This caused the body to be mummified. It is so well preserved, that the mummy actually looks very similiar to a painted portrait of Bishop Winstrup with beard and mustache. The University has been studying the mummy for 350 years, cracking the coffin open every few decades. When the casket was opened most recently, an unusual discovery was made as the coffin underwent a CT Scan. Another body was in the coffin. The body was that of a fetus, most likely in the sixth month of development. It was below the feet of the Bishop and had never been seen before. Unbaptized babies were denied a Christian burial back during the Bishop's time, so researchers believe the baby was placed in the coffin as a stowaway, so that it could have a proper burial. DNA tests are being conducted to make sure that...ahem...there is no relation between the Bishop and the baby. A Bishop's mummy so well preserved it is recognizable and concealing the body of a baby for 350 years, certainly is odd. 

This Day in History - First US World's Fair

On this day, July 14th, in 1853, the first US World's Fair opened in New York City at the Crystal Palace. Formally known as the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, this exhibition followed the first such display in London in 1851. The exhibition was meant to display the greatest inventions in the world. A special building was erected in what is now Bryant Park. The building was made from glass and iron and modeled after the building built for the World's Fair in London. It was built in the shape of the Greek cross and had a dome 100 feet in diameter. The Crystal Palace would burn to the ground in 1858. President Franklin Pierce gave the opening address. When the fair closed in November 1854, 1.1 million people had passed through the doors. The grandest industrial achievement of this fair was Elisha Otis' elevator equipped with a safety brake. He demonstrated the invention himself with a dramatic free fall. Three years later the first passenger elevator was installed in a New York City store.

Myrtles Plantation

Southern charm abounds at the beautiful Antebellum Myrtles Plantation. The mansion has been restored to its former glory and houses much of the original architectural and decorative features. The city where it is located has a deep history and once was a very important city in the south. The Myrtles Plantation is considered one of the most haunted places in Louisiana. The story behind the hauntings is tragic and many people claim to have had experiences while staying at the Myrtles, which is now a Bed & Breakfast. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings at the Myrtle Plantation.

The land upon which the Myrtles Plantation was built used to be home for the Tunica Indian tribe. They used parts of the land as a burial ground. Bayou Sara was established on the Tunica Indian land and became a busy port located in a strategically perfect place on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Natchez. The area was considered part of the colony of British West Florida and the Spanish had taken control. Spain governed the area from 1783-1810. This is one of the only areas that did not end up with French influence. Just above Bayou Sara on a bluff, the town of St. Francisville was established. There was good reason for people to prefer to live above Bayou Sara. The area was plagued with fires and floods. St. Francisville soon became the commercial center of the plantation lands that surrounded the town. Many of the structures in Bayou Sara were transferred up to St. Francisville. In 1810, Spain was pushed out and St. Francisville became the new capitol and governed as a Republic for 74 days until the United States annexed the land into the Orleans Territory.

The story of the Myrtles Plantation begins with the Whiskey Rebellion. This push back by American farmers happened after the Revolutionary War when America's government was just getting started. A large debt was run-up during the war and the nation needed a way to pay it back. Some of that debt included paying back those Americans who fought during the war. Congress used its powers of taxation to levy a tax against liquor, the chief liquor being whiskey. Farmers who were distilling their crops into whiskey were angry because they felt like this was taxation without representation and wasn't that what they had just fought against? The protests turned violent making it impossible for the government to collect the tax. The military got involved and soon the rebellion was suppressed, but collection of the whiskey tax was never really accomplished. The whole ordeal led to the formation of political parties and Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party repealed the Federalist Party's whiskey tax. General David Bradford took part in the Whiskey Rebellion leading to his nickname, "Whiskey Dave." He was born to Irish immigrants and owned land in Pennsylvania. He fled to avoid arrest and ended up in Bayou Sara where he bought 650 acres from the Baron de Corondelet. He built an Antebellum mansion there in 1794 and named it Laurel Grove.

Whiskey Dave passed away and his wife was left to manage the property with their son-in-law Judge Clarke Woodruff. Woodruff  had been a student of Whiskey Dave and had married his teacher's daughter. Life for the Woodruffs was tragic. Judge Woodruff's wife died of yellow fever and sometime later he lost two more of his children to the dreaded disease. He remodeled the mansion after buying the property from his mother-in-law who stayed at Laurel Grove until her death in 1830. In 1834, Ruffin Grey Stirling bought the mansion and completed renovations. Stirling would double the size of the mansion. The mansion that people can visit today is a result of the work Stirling did on the house. The veranda was expanded to 125 feet and the ornate ironwork that is so typical of New Orleans, Louisiana and Savannah, Georgia was wrapped around the veranda. The foyer contains examples of open pierced freizework and faux-bois. Faux-bois is the fancy way the French describe fake woodwork. It has roots in the Renaissance. Freizework is a type of molding. The foyer also holds a 300 pound chandelier made from Baccarat crystal. The entrance contains the original hand-painted and etched stained glass and the design is modeled after the French Cross, which was believed to ward off evil. The mansion also features Carrara marble mantels, gold-leafed French furnishings and Aubusson tapestry. The home was renamed to the Myrtles Plantation for the numerous Crepe Myrtles that grow on the property and in the area.

Stirling died of consumption in 1854. His wife, Mary Cobb, managed the property after that and the Stirling family seemed to have as much tragedy as the Woodruffs. Only four of their nine children survived to adulthood. One daughter's husband was mudered on the front porch, shot by a horseman. Mary managed to hold onto the plantation despite the great loses suffered during the Civil War. They were looted many times by soldiers and her investments in sugar plantations went nowhere. She died in 1880, still owner of the Myrtles. Her son Stephen then bought the home. Oran D. Brooks became the new owner in 1886 because the property was too heavy in debt for Stephen to handle. Brooks then sold the house to Harrison Milton Williams in 1889. The Williams family held the property until the 1950s when Marjorie Munson purchased the plantation. The story of hauntings began then, which we will discuss in a minute. The Myrtles continued to change hands until the 70s when Arlin Dease and Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Ward became owners. They did more restorations.

The peace and tranquility that one experiences upon first seeing the mansion is broken by the reported hauntings at the plantation.  The giggles, voices and running of children is heard often at the Myrtles. Another child with long curly hair and sporting a long, has been seen floating outside the window of the game room. She is said to cup her hands around her eyes as she peers through the window. Not surprising considering how many children died here, but, of course, we have our opinions about child ghosts. So perhaps this is residual energy. On the first floor is a grand piano that plays itself, usually repeating the same chord over and over. Much to the dismay of guests, the playing goes on and on through the night. Whenever someone goes to investigate to see who might be playing the piano, they find no one and the playing stops abruptly. It sometimes starts again when they leave. It should be pointed out that sometimes hauntings take on a life of their own and legends are born. One such story surrounds the Woodruff family. Stories have been told that it was not yellow fever that killed three family members. Here is the story that most have heard:

Judge Woodruff took up with a slave girl and began an illicit affair. Her name was Chloe. Chloe got a little too comfortable in the house and one time she was discovered by the Judge's wife eavesdropping on a business deal. Mrs. Woodruff cut off the slave's ear and banished her to the kitchen. The good judge was a womanizer and he quickly moved onto another slave girl. Chloe feared that if she fell out of favor, she would be pushed out of the house and forced to work in the fields. Chloe hatched a plan to get back in good graces. If the Judge's children were to become sick, then she could nurse them back to health and secure her place in the house. She baked a pie and included poisonous oleander leaves. She meant to make the children slightly ill, but her knowledge of herbs and such was lacking and she actually killed two of the three children and Mrs. Woodruff. Chloe had made a mistake in telling her fellow slaves of her plan and so when the children died, the other slaves worried that they would be accused of helping Chloe. So they dragged her from the house, hung her and put her body in the river.

Did this really happen? There is no historical record for it, but an interesting picture seems to indicate that something happened to the slave girl named Chloe on the property. The picture of the ghost of Chloe has become well known and is a very convincing photo. In 1992, the Bed & Breakfast owner was snapping pictures for the insurance company. She was stunned to see what appeared to be a slave girl in one of the photos. The National Geographic Explorer featured the Myrtle Plantation in a documentary and they used the picture in the film. They were convinced it was the real deal. In May 1995, Mr. Norman Benoit who was a patent researchist asked to investigate the photo and after his examination, he concluded that the picture was real and that the figure in the picture was human based on the proportions. The length of the shoulder to the elbow, the length of the elbow to the wrist and circumference of the head were perfectly human.

And there is not just the photo as evidence for Chloe. She has been seen as a full body apparition or sometimes it is just her face that appears before a sleeping patron who is awakened in the middle of the night. There is a haunted mirror in the home. People claim to see handprints in the mirror as though they are coming from within the mirror and many pictures have been taken that back up those claims. Could these be handprints in the wood behind the mirror coming through in photos or are spirits really trapped. We've discussed in other podcasts how it is believed that spirits could become trapped in mirrors.

A ghost in a green bonnet or turban has been seen on numerous occassions and could possibly be the ghost captured on film instead of the one that legend has named Chloe. The movie "The Long Hot Summer" was filmed here and one day the crew moved some furniture around before filming a scene. They left for a bit and when they returned, they found the furniture moved back to where it had originally been located. A gateman once witnessed a woman in a white period dress come through the gate, continue toward the house without acknowledging him and he saw her vanish into the house. He quit that very day.

So many experiences have happened at the Myrtles Plantation that are unexplainable. It is clear that something is happening at the beautiful Bed & Breakfast. Is the Myrtles Plantation haunted? That is for you to decide!