August 02, 2013
In the wee hours of the morning, away from the bright lights and revelry of Bourbon Street, walking the dimly lit streets, it is quiet and the air a bit still, and perhaps you've imbibed on more than a few cocktails. You approach the Ursulines Convent, and look up to see one of the always closed and never seen open board and batten shutters on the attic dormers fly open and shear off the hinges!
There's nothing but an almost thick and inky like blackness beyond the panes of glass"...all intact and none of them broken"...and not a person in sight. There was no sudden gust of wind and the other shutter is not flapping in the nonexistent breeze; it is just perfectly still and opened against the dormer. Your skin starts to prickle as you feel an ominous sensation descend upon and all around you, your pace quickens, and crossing away from the building, turning down another street, you hurriedly make your way away from there. Come to think of it"...this odd sensation when passing this very location is nothing new to you, but you just can't explain why.
It's been said that the Native Americans warned French settlers not to build a city here"...that it was cursed land. With a history that includes 2 great and devastating fires, multiple outbreaks of yellow fever, floods, and other tragic and violent happenings all within the confines of a small area with a large number of occupants; it is of no surprise that New Orleans is considered one of the most haunted cities of America!
Whether your interest is in all things ghostly, haunted, and Voodoo or more historical and academia based, some New Orleans Tour companies have it to offer. You may pass by Hotel Monteleone and hear of their resident guest "Maurice" - a child ghost believed to be from the late 19th century, or stop in The Bombay Club on a tour break and imbibe in the "Sophie" - a vodka and champagne based cocktail named after their resident ghost- a Madame from the 19th century who was known to stand up to men who treated their ladies unkindly. Perhaps you are staying at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel and after arriving late one night you will be helped back to your room by Jewel, one of their four resident spirits, a young "dancing girl" happily fluttering about the property! Or take a walk back in time at the hotel's bar, May Baily's Place of Storyville, where the spirit of one of May's girls known as "The Courtesan" may help mix your cocktail- it is said that she prefers the company of men!
Haunted History Tours has been offering tours in New Orleans since 1995. The Ghost Tour is their flagship tour that started the company, but they have quickly grown- now offering a total of 7 different tours: Ghost, Cemetery, Voodoo, and Vampire Tours in the French Quarter; the Garden District Tour or Garden District Ghost and Legends Uptown; and the unique New Orleans Scandal Tour! With tours beginning from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., there are plenty of options. Visit www.hauntedhistorytours.com for information and schedules.
Take that stroll past the Ursulines Convent and let Jonathan tell you even more of its sinister past on their Vampire Tour. All of the guides are animated, passionate, and extremely knowledgeable about the history they are relaying, and are great story tellers making the history come alive in a way that you will walk away from your tours having had that "wow" experience!
Sidney, one of the Owners of Haunted History Tours recalls this story:
"I was giving a tour several years ago, and there was a single mother and her 7 year old boy on the tour. He was the only child in the group. During the tour, he came to walk along side of me. Often, children on the tour may gravitate towards the guide so I just kept a watchful eye on him as his mother remained near the back of the group. After about 30 minutes, the mother came frantically running up to me wondering where her child was...she said "He was right next to me and now he's gone!" . A bit perplexed, I looked down and said "He's right here next to me" . She looked at him and said "Why did you leave me?" and he replied "Because you were holding that other little boy's hand".
It is believed that most children are natural mediums due to the fact that the "third eye" , or intuitive connection beyond the factual realm, is open still. That they are "pure" and have not yet blocked this connection out of fear or by sensibly explaining away the presence and communication with other world entities that often surround us.
Some of us as adults maintain this ability. Empaths, or "sensitive people" , are those that have a deep sense of "knowing" , are highly intuitive and take on other's feelings and emotions. Depending on openness, this ability can range from this basic connection (knowing) with others that accompany empathy, to highly acute ability that ventures outside of the feelings and emotions of the living and to those of the dead.
Etienne is an empath, and works with Gray Line Tours New Orleans. Gray Line offers 12 different tours in the city- visit www.graylineneworleans.com for information and schedules. One of their tours is the Ghosts & Spirits Tour. Etienne has been known to start his tours tongue in cheek saying "Everything in New Orleans is Haunted!" Which, despite the ever growing market capitalizing on New Orleans reputation as the most haunted city in America, is of course not true. In fact, Etienne says that when Gray Line and he as an empath have done their own investigations, they have found that many of the well known "Haunted" sites and stories have nothing going on! However, a tour with Etienne and Gray Line will lead you through many stories, all researched and based on real and documented people, and combined with the lore passed down through the generations, of the real haunted New Orleans.
On the Ghost & Spirits Tour with Gray Line, you will actually get to go into the spaces believed to be haunted! They are the only tour company that actually goes into 2 of the buildings that are part of their tour, and they are working to have access to more! Newly added to their tour is the Bradford House, currently Little Vic's. While there learning about the body that was discovered buried in the courtyard in the 60's and believed to be 200 years old, you can grab a slice of pizza or cool off with some of the city's best gelato!
You'll also gain access to one of the better known haunting sites, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. According to Etienne, there are 6 entities that spend their unrest at the Bourbon Orleans, particularly in the Ballroom. Opened in 1817 as one of America's grandest ballrooms, it was also later a convent that had an orphanage and tended to the sick during wars and epidemics, and then finally a hotel.
While there, you may be fortunate to catch a glimpse of Giselle in one of your photos! Giselle was a quadroon mistress in the days of the Grand Ballroom, and was very beautiful and wears a lavish red dress. Etienne says that often times when he is there she is very sad and he can feel her off in the right corner of the ballroom. But when she is happy she will be floating up at the ceiling around the chandelier. In fact, there are photographs that have been taken in which the chandelier is oddly blood red, like Giselle's dress!
Lots of times in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel ballroom people think they've been touched- they will feel a tugging on their clothes, have feelings of being poked, etc. For whatever reason, entities are also attracted to energy- batteries, electricity, etc Incidences such as 4 cell phones dying at one time on the tour under the chandelier are not uncommon.
Looking for more Paranormal activity this fall? Take part in "Ghost Camp" , to be held September 12 thru 15 by Gray Line New Orleans in conjunction with the Bourbon Orleans Hotel!
What will be your Haunted New Orleans experience?
There's nothing but an almost thick and inky like blackness beyond the panes of glass"...all intact and none of them broken"...and not a person in sight. There was no sudden gust of wind and the other shutter is not flapping in the nonexistent breeze; it is just perfectly still and opened against the dormer. Your skin starts to prickle as you feel an ominous sensation descend upon and all around you, your pace quickens, and crossing away from the building, turning down another street, you hurriedly make your way away from there. Come to think of it"...this odd sensation when passing this very location is nothing new to you, but you just can't explain why.
It's been said that the Native Americans warned French settlers not to build a city here"...that it was cursed land. With a history that includes 2 great and devastating fires, multiple outbreaks of yellow fever, floods, and other tragic and violent happenings all within the confines of a small area with a large number of occupants; it is of no surprise that New Orleans is considered one of the most haunted cities of America!
Whether your interest is in all things ghostly, haunted, and Voodoo or more historical and academia based, some New Orleans Tour companies have it to offer. You may pass by Hotel Monteleone and hear of their resident guest "Maurice" - a child ghost believed to be from the late 19th century, or stop in The Bombay Club on a tour break and imbibe in the "Sophie" - a vodka and champagne based cocktail named after their resident ghost- a Madame from the 19th century who was known to stand up to men who treated their ladies unkindly. Perhaps you are staying at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel and after arriving late one night you will be helped back to your room by Jewel, one of their four resident spirits, a young "dancing girl" happily fluttering about the property! Or take a walk back in time at the hotel's bar, May Baily's Place of Storyville, where the spirit of one of May's girls known as "The Courtesan" may help mix your cocktail- it is said that she prefers the company of men!
Haunted History Tours has been offering tours in New Orleans since 1995. The Ghost Tour is their flagship tour that started the company, but they have quickly grown- now offering a total of 7 different tours: Ghost, Cemetery, Voodoo, and Vampire Tours in the French Quarter; the Garden District Tour or Garden District Ghost and Legends Uptown; and the unique New Orleans Scandal Tour! With tours beginning from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., there are plenty of options. Visit www.hauntedhistorytours.com for information and schedules.
Take that stroll past the Ursulines Convent and let Jonathan tell you even more of its sinister past on their Vampire Tour. All of the guides are animated, passionate, and extremely knowledgeable about the history they are relaying, and are great story tellers making the history come alive in a way that you will walk away from your tours having had that "wow" experience!
Sidney, one of the Owners of Haunted History Tours recalls this story:
"I was giving a tour several years ago, and there was a single mother and her 7 year old boy on the tour. He was the only child in the group. During the tour, he came to walk along side of me. Often, children on the tour may gravitate towards the guide so I just kept a watchful eye on him as his mother remained near the back of the group. After about 30 minutes, the mother came frantically running up to me wondering where her child was...she said "He was right next to me and now he's gone!" . A bit perplexed, I looked down and said "He's right here next to me" . She looked at him and said "Why did you leave me?" and he replied "Because you were holding that other little boy's hand".
It is believed that most children are natural mediums due to the fact that the "third eye" , or intuitive connection beyond the factual realm, is open still. That they are "pure" and have not yet blocked this connection out of fear or by sensibly explaining away the presence and communication with other world entities that often surround us.
Some of us as adults maintain this ability. Empaths, or "sensitive people" , are those that have a deep sense of "knowing" , are highly intuitive and take on other's feelings and emotions. Depending on openness, this ability can range from this basic connection (knowing) with others that accompany empathy, to highly acute ability that ventures outside of the feelings and emotions of the living and to those of the dead.
Etienne is an empath, and works with Gray Line Tours New Orleans. Gray Line offers 12 different tours in the city- visit www.graylineneworleans.com for information and schedules. One of their tours is the Ghosts & Spirits Tour. Etienne has been known to start his tours tongue in cheek saying "Everything in New Orleans is Haunted!" Which, despite the ever growing market capitalizing on New Orleans reputation as the most haunted city in America, is of course not true. In fact, Etienne says that when Gray Line and he as an empath have done their own investigations, they have found that many of the well known "Haunted" sites and stories have nothing going on! However, a tour with Etienne and Gray Line will lead you through many stories, all researched and based on real and documented people, and combined with the lore passed down through the generations, of the real haunted New Orleans.
On the Ghost & Spirits Tour with Gray Line, you will actually get to go into the spaces believed to be haunted! They are the only tour company that actually goes into 2 of the buildings that are part of their tour, and they are working to have access to more! Newly added to their tour is the Bradford House, currently Little Vic's. While there learning about the body that was discovered buried in the courtyard in the 60's and believed to be 200 years old, you can grab a slice of pizza or cool off with some of the city's best gelato!
You'll also gain access to one of the better known haunting sites, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. According to Etienne, there are 6 entities that spend their unrest at the Bourbon Orleans, particularly in the Ballroom. Opened in 1817 as one of America's grandest ballrooms, it was also later a convent that had an orphanage and tended to the sick during wars and epidemics, and then finally a hotel.
While there, you may be fortunate to catch a glimpse of Giselle in one of your photos! Giselle was a quadroon mistress in the days of the Grand Ballroom, and was very beautiful and wears a lavish red dress. Etienne says that often times when he is there she is very sad and he can feel her off in the right corner of the ballroom. But when she is happy she will be floating up at the ceiling around the chandelier. In fact, there are photographs that have been taken in which the chandelier is oddly blood red, like Giselle's dress!
Lots of times in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel ballroom people think they've been touched- they will feel a tugging on their clothes, have feelings of being poked, etc. For whatever reason, entities are also attracted to energy- batteries, electricity, etc Incidences such as 4 cell phones dying at one time on the tour under the chandelier are not uncommon.
Looking for more Paranormal activity this fall? Take part in "Ghost Camp" , to be held September 12 thru 15 by Gray Line New Orleans in conjunction with the Bourbon Orleans Hotel!
What will be your Haunted New Orleans experience?
