Spirits of New Orleans. Kala Ambrose

any evidence of gold and jewels had disappeared. At first, police speculated that the motive was robbery, but this was quickly dismissed as the attacks themselves were entirely too personal. Too much time had been spent on torturing the victims rather than attempting to steal the possessions and make a quick getaway.

      Balcony and courtyard area of the Gardette–LePrete House

      The next morning, the strange ship that had been seen off the coast the night before had vanished with the fog. It was determined that the prince whom the sultan had attempted to escape from had found him in New Orleans. Consumed with revenge, the prince had sent a team of the cruelest, most bloodthirsty assassins, who crept into the port under the cover of darkness and unleashed their fury on the sultan and all those who lived with him.

      Under the next new moon, the hauntings began to be reported at the LePrete home. At first, the sound of music was heard playing, along with the laughter of women. These sounds quickly changed into screams, and some people reported being able to see the women running away in terror from the balconies before they were knocked to the ground.

      The home has reportedly never recovered from the dark events that it witnessed. Many people say that if you walk by the home on a dark moon night, you will hear these shrieks of terror. I walked by the house and found the building to be quiet while I was on the street. I spoke with several local people in the area who told me that they and others have heard the sound of music coming from the building before, and they described the music as not coming from a radio and not sounding like jazz or blues, like one would expect to hear playing in the area. They describe the music as having a ting, ting, ting sound. There are also reports of some local witnesses seeing women in beautifully colored silks appearing on the balcony late at night.

      It would be fascinating to gain permission to tour the building for a couple of hours on a new moon evening. As active as this place is described and with as much bloodshed that reportedly occurred there, it’s very likely that researchers could pick up some interesting EVP recordings. It’s doubtful at this time that permission would be granted, as the home is a private residence that has been turned into apartments for rent. Haunted tours do offer walking tours and carriage rides outside the home, where the guides share the legend and story of the sultan prince. Some of the guides report that people continue to hear spectral sounds, including music, footsteps dancing, laughter, and, at other times, screams, coming from inside the building at night.

       KALA’S TRAVEL TIPS

       The LePrete house is architecturally interesting to see with its beautiful ironwork balconies. Consider taking photos by day and at night in order to capture the look of the building as a souvenir. While doing so, you may end up with a ghostly photo or two.

       Also located on Dauphine Street is the Dauphine Orleans Hotel, which is home to the famous Audubon Cottage, where John James Audubon painted his Birds of America series in 1822. While you’re there, check out May Baily’s, the bar in the hotel named after one of the most famous bordellos in New Orleans, which once operated in the historic red-light Storyville District.

       The port of New Orleans is still one of the nation’s busiest ports, as ships roll in from the Mississippi River as well as from the Gulf of Mexico daily. Many visitors to the city enjoy spending a few days in New Orleans and then boarding one of the cruise lines to see the Caribbean, traveling in a grander style than the pirates and early settlers did on the high seas.

      CHAPTER 5

      Marie Laveau—The Legendary Queen of Voodoo

      “Stir the fire till it lowe

      How like a Queen comes forth the lonely Moon

      From the slow-opening curtains of the clouds,

      Walking in beauty to her midnight throne!”

      —George Croly, “Diana”

      VOODOO ARRIVED IN NEW ORLEANS during the antebellum period, as the people of Africa brought their spiritual practices and customs to the New World. As new arrivals entered the city from Africa, Haiti, and the Caribbean islands, these cultures blended and shared their magical secrets, enhancing them with new ingredients, spells, and practices to strengthen the rituals and incantations.

      Out of this combination of cultures, a new form of Voodoo arose, which differs from the strictly Haitian Voodoo and from the various West African practices. Many refer to this style as Louisiana Voodoo, which focuses on the women as the high priestess and queen of the group who holds court and is recognized as the supreme leader. Items that are unique to the Louisiana style of Voodoo include Voodoo dolls and gris-gris bags, which are bags filled with charms such as botanicals and other organic ingredients carefully selected and blended to bring power, magic, and mojo to the bearer of these bags. Gris-gris bags were made for specific purposes, including attracting love and providing holistic healing. The bags would often include therapeutic oils and medicinal herbs, and the patient would be instructed to wear the bag on their body to allow the oils to seep through the skin into the body for healing. This type of traditional folk medicine was also used in ancient Celtic traditions and other wise woman folk healings throughout Europe. Gris-gris bags were made for money and prosperity, health and wellness, love and relationships, and specially ordered magical bags were prepared for protection, dreams, and luck, as well as to develop psychic powers and to clear and remove negative energy from homes and businesses.

      As these practices grew in New Orleans, the structure of Louisiana Voodoo shifted and changed as it melded into the unique mixture of French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean cultures in the city. Catholicism was the predominant religion in the area. With many similarities between the two religions, including the appreciation of the divine feminine and praying to a variety of spiritual beings for help, over time the Catholic practices were adopted into Voodoo rituals. It was an easy cross-connection for practitioners to align the concept of their helpful spirit gods with the representation of the saints of the Catholic church.