Where Are We Sleeping Tonight: Iberville Suites at the Ritz Carlton, New Orleans Venturing outside in the day reveals a completely differently New Orleans. The streets are full of local art, there are heaps of antique shops, there is wonderful architecture, buskers playing jazz - this is the New Orleans I was expecting :)
We walked around the city, taking in a wide range of local sights, including visiting the Jackson Brewery where we had pizza for lunch. We booked a cooking class for tomorrow before going on a ghost tour! Waiting in a very interesting pub for the tour to start, we talked to some locals who would love to come to Australia - it is amazing how well loved our country is by Americans.
First up tonight, we started at a convent that had been rumoured to have female vampires boxed in the attic. Basically, a boat had brought all these young girls from France and after the long trip to the States, they had contracted tuberculosis. The wonderful guide gave us a quick rundown on how the symptoms of tuberculosis are the same as one would associate with a vampire, namely pale skin and an aversion to bright lights. Couple with the fact the girls each brought their belongs in a long wooden box that looked like a casket, you can easily see how the locals would start such a rumour.
Our next stop was a house previously owned by Nicholas Cage, one that is considered cursed. It was originally built by a rich Frnech woman who married a doctor who had come last in his class at medical school. The rumoured story is that the couple did unspeakable things to people - he conducted horrific scientific experiments, and she had abused her slaves including how she whipped a small girl who committed suicide by jumping from the 3rd story roof to escape her employers. The girl's ghost is apparently sighted here regularly to the point where the local authorities no longer attend any reports of jumpers or falling people at that intersection.
The guide took us to a traditional VooDoo supplies store and gave us a brief rundown on what real VooDoo compared to what western society has been lead to believe thanks to how it has been used in movies. This has also been reinforced by the tourist shops in New Orleans that stock thinks like fake shrunken heads. The true nature of VooDoo, according to our guide at least, is more of a spiritual religion than what one might call hoodoo.
The last stop on the tour was a haunted hotel which used to be a boys boarding house that burned down. One guest apparently woke up one night having been disturbed by her TV being turned on - she saw a group of boys at the foot of her bed watching the TV. She screamed in surprise and the boys turned around to look at her and screamed at her before disappearing. At another time, a recently married couple had stayed in the hotel hoping to see a ghost, but didn't... until they developed the film from their camera - there was a photo on the film of them sleeping taken from the ceiling looking down at them - freaky or what!!
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