Ghost Stories Straight Outta New Orleans

Anne Rice's old house in Garden District

A few weeks ago I went to New Orleans with my husband.  We both never been, so were especially excited about the food, culture, and haunted history.  We took several tours, and even saw Anne Rice's old mansion.  The ghost tour was by far our favorite.  Of all of the stories, two stand out.
Ghost Story One:
Omni Hotel-A young couple who lived in the French Quarter was the most recent of the gory stories our guide had to tell.  Zack and Addie refused to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina.  They soon became a millennial fave among young people as the two love birds drank and drugged their way through every reality TV/MTV special.  No one was aware that Addie was probably bipolar and Zack suffered from PTSD.  The couple constantly fought, broke up, and then reunited.  After their last fight, Addie 'left' and Zack proceeded to get loaded at the Omni Hotel.  He charged up over a thousand dollars and then jumped off of the roof.  The police checked out his apartment.  Addie's blood was splattered all over the bathroom, her head was boiling in a pot, and her torso was cooking in the oven.  Other body parts were chilling in the fridge.

Ghost Story 2: LaLaurie Mansion
This was my favorite story over the course of the vacation.  American Horror Story fans know all about Delphine LaLaurie as interpreted by Kathy Bates during the Coven series a few years back.  Sadly, the fictional version was not that far away from the truth.  Delphine LaLaurie married Doctor LaLaurie, both of whom were stinking rich.  They had a staff of twenty-five slaves within their New Orleans mansion.  If you saw the mansion, you'd wonder why so many slaves.  The beautiful house sat on a small piece of property.  The tour guide said that a city house the same size would warrant four or five slaves.  
The LaLauries loved to entertain.  Their staff of twenty-five slaves was constantly changing.  The turnover attracted several whispers among high society.  Also, Madame LaLaurie hit her slaves in public which was against a city ordinance back in those days.  Finally the evil this married couple participated in was revealed during a party.  
There was a fire.  The fire department ordered the LaLauries to open the iron attic door which they refused.  The fire department and then the police department hacked it down and discovered a first rate horror show.  Slaves were tied up with their intestines, some were nailed to the wall, others were hacked up with their extremities sewn in different places on their bodies.  Some were impaled or set up to be impaled, etc.  The list of gruesome torture went on and on. Anyway, the police took too long to arrest the LaLauries and they got away.  Later on, more slaves both dead and alive were discovered in between the 2nd and 3rd floor boards.  The house is said to be the most haunted house in America.

The man slammed the door in our face because we would not pay 20.00 cover

Many people have owned the house, but only for short amounts of time.  Currently, a billionaire owns the place, but hardly ever stays there.  Before the current owner, Nicholas Cage owned the house.  He lost it by not paying the property taxes.  Believing he was cursed, he consulted with a psychic and was told he had to be buried next to Marie LaVeau, the famous Voodoo priestess.  He paid the family members next to LaVeau to move their relatives and bought his future tomb. My husband and I drove over to the cemetery the next day to see Cage's and LaVeau's tombs.  The man slammed the door in our faces because we would  not pay an 'entry fee' in a public cemetery.  BTW-Nicholas Cage has also been implicated as a real time traveler, but that's another blog posting.
Love New Orleans!  Hope to someday go back!

Better pic of Cage's pyramid tomb-total Illuminati-ish!