Hollow Hill

New Orleans, LA – ‘Voodoo Queen’ Marie Laveau’s House?

These photos were taken during an April 2005 ghost tour of New Orleans’ French Quarter. This was a time when the Quarter seemed especially spiritually active, a few months before Hurricane Katrina changed everything.

I can recall walking up to an artist just outside the cathedral, and telling her to be prepared to move on short notice.

I explained that I “saw” the image of her being in something like a washing machine, being agitated in the water, and needing to get out before the spin dry cycle. I also told her that I felt certain she was going to be okay, but she’d have to get out.

At the time, I had no idea how prophetic that was. Honestly…? I thought the imagery was symbolic.

The night I took the following photos, we’d signed up for one of the many wonderful (and sometimes theatrical) ghost tours of the French Quarter. On this residential street, the guide explained we were looking at a house that had belonged to the famous Voodoo (or Voudoun/Vodun) queen, Marie Laveau.

In the following photos, arrows point to some of the orbs that seemed most credible to me.

This photo was taken on a cool, dry evening in New Orleans at about 9:30 at night.

The orbs could be humidity or a reflection, but I don’t think so. There’s a certain feeling you get with some ghost photos… and this was one of them.

It had the look of an eerie home of a famous woman whose stories still provide New Orleans with color. I can understand why the tour guide wanted us to believe it was Marie Laveau’s former residence.

The house may be haunted, but it’s probably not one of Marie Laveau’s homes. I’ve researched the addresses associated with both Marie Laveau I and II, and I couldn’t find any connection to this house.

When you take any ghost tour (or vampire tour, etc.) in the NOLA area, it’s important to keep your critical thinking skills engaged.

The facts of some legendary characters – such as Marie Laveau and Madame Lalaurie – have become a lost in the fictional tales built around them.

Nevertheless, this house is charming to look at, and it gave me a slight chill as if something paranormal could be associated with it.

Or, maybe the storytelling abilities of our guide were so good, I was looking for a “good scare” when what I really saw was a wonderful, historical home.

LOOKING FOR TRULY HAUNTED HOUSES?

New Orleans, LA – Gov. Nicholls St. Ghosts

If you take a “ghost tour” of New Orleans’ French Quarter, pay attention to your innate psychic intuition, or your gut feeling. That’s what we did during an April 2005 visit to America’s most haunted city.

nola-715gn-2 — Film photo at Gov. Nicholls’ Street.

new-orleans-715gn — Digital photo – same location, same night, same time.

I’d seen the infamous LaLaurie Mansion on Gov. Nicholls Street; my photos showed very little paranormal activity there. In fact, I saw very few orbs in most of my ghost pictures that evening.

Further up Governor Nicholls Street, while the other tourists were taking photos of a house connected with President Kennedy’s assassination, I turned my cameras (two of them – one film, one digital) towards a home across the street.

This NOLA home is a private residence, which means that you should not intrude on the owners’ privacy. It’s also a site where we see more orbs in digital and film photos than many of the “haunted” sites on the tour.

The history of this home suggests that it was built in 1834 by Gabriel Correjolles, who had moved to New Orleans from St. Domingue (now Haiti).

Correjolles’ son, Francisco, also has a connection to another haunted houses.

In 1826, he designed the Beauregard-Keyes House at 1113 Chartres Street, which is one of New Orleans’ most famous haunted houses.

I’m not sure why this house on Gov. Nicholls Street seems so haunted, and I hope that ghost hunters will not disturb the owners of this home.

However, if you’re on a New Orleans “ghost tour,” try taking photos when your intuition tells you to. Your pictures may be as surprising as mine were. I can see at least a dozen orbs in every photo that I took at this house, although these pictures don’t reproduce well online.

And, for the skeptics: None of the orbs are the moon or a reflection of it. It was not a humid night; most of my photos show few — if any — orbs, even just a few feet away from this house.

While there were probably a few insects in the air, we didn’t see any. These orbs were all too far away to be dust or pollen, especially in the digital pictures, and it was too warm for anyone to use a fireplace.

Most of the orbs are nearly perfect circles. Orbs from insects rarely are; they’re usually skewed ovals.

Like many cities, New Orleans can surprise even seasoned ghost hunters. The ghosts may be where you least expect them. Follow your intuition, your instincts, and your “gut feelings.”

Old Town Katy, TX – Ghosts, Pt 1

In June 2005, we began investigating the “old town” area of Katy, Texas. We began with no reports of ghosts in Old Town Katy, but a gut feeling that it might produce some good orbs.

(Frankly, a lot of my work involves predicting & investigating haunted sites before any other website does. And, as of mid-2005, no other ghost website — and no ghost-related TV show — had reported anything about the ghosts of Old Town Katy.)

So, I was ready to see if my “gut feeling” and my prediction methods (including ley lines) were correct.

I began by looking for clues in Katy’s history.

HISTORY OF KATY, TEXAS

Katy was originally called Cane Island and is about 25 miles west of downtown Houston. It was the hunting ground of the Karankawa Indians through the 1820s.

The town was settled in the mid 1890s. The Katy post office opened in 1896, and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad (MKT – called the “KT”) depot was finished in 1898.

Unfortunately, a lot of the town’s early efforts were swept clean by the Galveston Flood of 1900. (Many people don’t realize how far inland that water spread.)

Most of the early settlers in Katy were farmers. By the early 20th century Katy was best known for its annual rice crop.

In 1934, the discovery well of the Katy gas field was drilled. That led to new business opportunities in Katy and vicinity.

Today, Katy’s population is about 12,000 and growing with upscale developments opening steadily, especially in the Cinco Ranch area.

However, the historic side of Katy is the focus of our early ghost investigations.

All but two of the original Katy homes were lost in the 1900 hurricane that caused the Galveston Flood. We started our research at the oldest buildings with the most interesting history.

Here’s our initial report:

KATY TRAIN DEPOT

Our first stop was the old train depot (5710 Highway Boulevard, near East Avenue and 1st Street). This wonderful old building is being restored by the Katy Historical Society. Only a few of our depot photos show orbs, but those that do are notable.

Here’s a close-up of one of the orbs:

I’m not going to claim that one orb means anything. It’s pretty, and it’s odd that there’s just one orb at a site that feels so connected to its history. However, that’s not nearly enough to say that a site is haunted.

Despite that, the site is convenient, not far from I-10. Also, it’s a quiet area, and a comfortable spot for ghost hunting. So, we’ll continue to explore it.