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pcurrytravels · 7 years ago

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Thoughts: New Orleans (Part VI)

Upon disembarking from the boat, we saw that the Audubon Aquarium was still open for another thirty minutes. Given that it was only around the corner from Spanish Plaza, we quickly walked over and, despite being repeatedly told we’d only have twenty minutes, just went on ahead and took a look around…………only to leave fifteen minutes later. Having been to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and the Aquarium of The Bay in San Francisco, maybe I just wasn’t judging it fairly. Or maybe I was, because those two blow this one out of the water (pun not intended……but it’s still pretty funny that I used this phrase to describe an aquarium of all things).

One thing the Audubon Aquarium has going for it is being themed around aquatic life in The Americas. There were sections dedicated to nautical life in and around the Caribbean, the Amazon, the Arctic, the Great Lakes and of course, the Mississippi. That’s also where things stop being interesting pretty much. It’s very small, which is odd because the building looks so large from the outside, and the only exhibits that really caught my eye were the piranhas, the catfish (mostly because I’ve never seen live catfish before) and the albino gator. I’d honestly suggest skipping this one entirely, unless you’ve never been to an aquarium before.

Anyway, my phone was dying, and I was musty anyway, so we went back to the hotel room to recuperate. I took a shower, charged my phone and relaxed for about an hour before heading back to the French Quarter. There were about two hours before the Haunted History tour began, so I grabbed some more beignets from Café Beignet as a snack before we hung out on Bourbon again for a little bit.

Even though the history, culture and food were all a higher priority for me than nightlife, I do regret not really taking part in New Orleans nightlife. On Bourbon alone, there’s just so much variety in the nightlife. There’s many different options available, from jam-packed party bars no larger than a booth (see: Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop), to bawdy strip clubs (see: Rick’s Cabaret and Hustler Hollywood), to classy, historical cocktail lounges (see: Old Absinthe House), to tacky, touristy daiquiri shops (see: Tropical Isle and Cat’s Meow) to small live music clubs (see: Bourbon Heat and Funky Pirate), there really is something for everyone there (compare this to The Strip in Vegas where you’ll be treated to an endless amount of mega-clubs, poolside day-clubs and “ultra” lounges that all require one of your limbs to get in, all charge a kidney for drinks, all have disturbingly similar décor and all play the same music). And that’s just Bourbon. I saw a number of venues that caught my interest in not only the rest of the Quarter, but Marigny, CBD, the Warehouse District and the Garden District as well.

I was honestly having a blast just walking down the street and looking in the window of the various bars and lounges; it was only 6 P.M., and they were all already in full swing. I heard so many styles of music. Jazz (be it Brass, Dixie, BeBop or Smooth), R&B, Funk, Bounce, EDM, Blues, Zydeco, Hip Hop, 70s and 80s throwbacks, Top 40, Rock, Ska, Caribbean, Latino…..you name it, they got it. Of course that’s to say nothing of the BEAUTIFUL happy hours and drink specials all over the place. I learned my lesson about having a few drinks before walking around in the heat the hard way on the Cemetery tour, so I refrained from taking part this time, but boy oh boy was I tempted. Let the good times roll/Laissez les bon temps rouler indeed!

Okay, let me take a look at my smartphone watch again. Oh, it’s 7:30 already!? Well then, let’s head on down to Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo Shop for the Haunted History Tour!

There’s a number of ghost tours in New Orleans, all of which varying in quality (based on what I’ve been told anyway), but I could already tell we had picked one of the better ones. Both the shop and the sidewalk in front were overflowing with people. There was a long line, which would be broken up into groups of twenty or so for each tour guide. The sun was setting on the Quarter, and with Sarabelle as our guide, we were off.

Our first stop was in Pere Antoine Alley. It was here where our guide gave us the rundown on investigating ghosts and the supernatural, complete with plenty of witty banter. Yes, Sarabelle was VERY funny, and the humor was a nice touch indeed, even though it didn’t really help make the stories any less horrific.

Moving on, Pere Antoine Alley is along the side of the St. Louis Cathedral; so-named as a dedication to Antonio de Sedella, a beloved Capuchin friar who served as parish priest from 1805 until his death in 1829. Now, local lore states that said alley is haunted by a friar, but whether it’s Pere Antoine or someone else is up for debate. Said alley was also the location of a funeral procession for the six, executed leaders (whose corpses were left to rot in front of the St. Louis Cathedral for WEEKS, mind you) of the brief rebellion which took place against the Spanish Inquisition, wherein another friar known as Pere Dagobert loudly sang the Kyrie. It’s been said that during the early-morning hours, or whenever it’s raining, you can hear the sound of the Kyrie, sometimes accompanied by the sight of a Capuchin monk in this very alley.

From there, we walked down Chartres to Hotel Provincial. Old-timey, quaint, elegant and VERY haunted. What’s the story behind this one, you ask? Apparently, a portion of it served as a military hospital during the Civil War………yeah. I’m pretty sure we all know that war-related injuries tend to be the sort that require surgery and sometimes even amputation. I also don’t think I need to explain the horrors of surgery and amputation in the 1800’s. Basically, anyone who knows the backstory of this place and chooses to stay there on purpose is crazy.

This site in particular is very susceptible to a paranormal phenomenon known as time-warping (I personally think the FQ as a whole has a predisposition towards that actually, but more on that later). Our guide alerted us to a number of reported instances where guests took the elevator, only for the doors to open to the sight of an 1860’s era hospital. People have also reported seeing confederate soldiers writhing in pain on the floor, mysterious blood stains on towels and bedding and even women in mid-1800’s clothing standing on the balconies, likely apparitions of the soldier’s widows.

I feel that I had an experience of my own just walking past; see that photo above? Yeah, I was standing perfectly still for it, and it still came out blurry AF. I took about ten photos of this place and ALL of them came out like that. Maybe my phone’s camera was just acting up. But then again, the lens of a camera is much more infallible than the eyes of a human. Also, while I am very much a believer, mind you, I think I need to give the skeptical part of my brain a bit of thanks. After all, our next stop of the tour was Louisiana’s very own gate to hell the infamous mansion on the corner of Royal and Gov. Nicholls. Widely referred to by locals as merely “The Haunted House,” this was once the home of a demon in the shape of a woman known as Delphine LaLaurie.

Another character you all may know from American Horror Story: Coven; like Marie Laveau, many liberties were taken with her story (the scenes filmed in or around her “house” actually made use of the Hermann-Grima House……..not that I blame them one bit for not using the real thing). That being said, in regards to her story and what really happened, it’s actually pretty difficult to tell where the legitimate facts stop and the sensationalized scandal begins as it is.

As you can see, I did provide a link to a video that gives a basic rundown of what happened, but truthfully speaking that’s one of about twenty different versions of the story I’ve heard over the years. Long story short, she was a local celebrity who threw lavish parties in a big gray house on Royal Street during the 1830’s. Suddenly, a fire broke out in 1834 and it’s revealed that she’s a madwoman engaging in extreme mistreatment of her slaves. The whole town is outraged (yes, you read that right, Delphine was regarded as a special kind of evil even by the standards of antebellum-era Louisiana) and she skips town in the dead of night as a result. Shortly after she left, neighbors began to report hearing screams and cries from the empty house at night; claims which still persist to this day.

The news reports from the era which regard said event are in one of two categories: a highly scandalized and exploitative version of events as seen in the New Orleans Bee, or a brief rundown that gives very little detail as seen in the Times-Picayune. In each version of the story I’ve seen and/or heard, the only details that remain consistent are a young slave girl jumping to her death after LaLaurie chased her around with a whip for brushing her hair too hard, the house fire, said fire being started by a slave who was chained to the stove, a horrific sight in some room on an upper floor, and the LaLauries fleeing shortly afterward. Beyond that, the details widely vary.

In our tour guide’s version of the tale, we were told that the slaves were never seen at the parties, which contradicts what I read previously about how each party seemed to have a different set of slaves; each individual slave rarely ever being seen more than once. And that’s only one of many discrepancies. Honestly, this is a story that was highly sensationalized from the get-go, and it’s only gotten even more exaggerated and over the top over the years, so you can’t get mad about it when the actual truth of what happened has simply been lost to time.

After the events of 1834, Madame LaLaurie was never seen or heard from again. General consensus is that she fled to Paris, but it’s been speculated she may have been hiding out in either Mobile, Alabama or some town across Pontchartrain like Slidell or Covington under an assumed identity. There’s even evidence which suggests she may have discretely returned to New Orleans at some point, if the nameplate and possible burial vault in St. Louis No. 1 says anything. After all, she really did love her house.

Over the years, the house has been used for many different purposes. At first, it went through a revolving door of owners, none of which staying for more than a few months. There was one man who mysteriously turned up dead in the house actually. In the 1870’s, it served as a segregated school for black girls (…….I would say something witty here if I wasn’t rendered speechless), only to shut down a year later thanks to numerous girls complaining about getting scratched and bruised by “that woman.” After that it’s been the location of a number of establishments, most notably a music conservatory, a furniture store and a saloon; all of which quickly failed (gee, I wonder why). In the 1890’s, most of the mansion was converted into apartments; first as low-income tenement units, largely occupied by Italian immigrants and briefly a homeless shelter before becoming luxury apartments in the 1950’s, although the first floor would still be occupied by a revolving door of businesses until the late 20th-century when it was reconverted to a mansion. The revolving door of owners persisted; Nicolas Cage bought the home and started living there in 2007……shortly before his career tanked and he went bankrupt, leading to foreclosure in 2009. Just a coincidence? Could be……but it’s not like this house has had a good track record with any of its tenants over the last 180 years.

These days, it’s owned by an oil tycoon from Texas who hires interior decorators and caretakers to furnish and maintain the house but otherwise does nothing with it. Basically, the “Haunted House” just stands there looking pretty (in the eeriest way possible) and that’s it. Then again, what with past business tenants and residents reporting apparitions of naked men in chains and frightened children pleading for help, a dubious black liquid oozing out of the walls and even the vengeful spirit of Madame LaLaurie herself roaming around, would you want to stay there? Let alone enter?

I tried to take a few pictures but night had fallen, and they all came out way too dark to see anything. As did most of the pictures I had taken after this point ( although I did catch some strange, green and/or blue colored mist within said darkness in a few of them......makes you wonder). In terms of lighting, aside from Bourbon Street and the vicinity of Jackson Square and the French Market, the French Quarter is VERY dark at night. It really did feel like I had stepped back into the 1800’s, and was also why I abstained from going there at night for most of my trip. Not trying to get drunk down there alone, lest I either get mugged or unsuspectingly walk into a time warp of my own.

Whilst spooked by the darkened Quarter, we came upon an unassuming Creole townhouse at 823 Orleans, one of many homes in the area fronted by a gallery held up with poles that are adorned with decorative, protruding trimming of sorts, named “Romeo spikes” in the local lingo. However, they’re anything but romantic; there’s a very gruesome story behind how they got that name, and this property is where it took place.

The story goes that one night, the man who owned this house wanted to take his family to dinner, but his daughter claimed to not be feeling well, so she stayed home while he and his wife went about their way. Upon arriving at the restaurant, he realized he forgot his wallet and quickly went home to retrieve it, only to find his daughter in bed with her boyfriend. Startled, the boyfriend quickly ran out and jumped over the balcony……..only to get stabbed in the hip by one of the spikes. Not able to support his weight, the spike ripped through the entire side of his abdomen, pulling out his intestines in the process, before he fell to this death. It’s alleged that sometimes a shadowy figure can be seen dangling off this gallery from afar, only to vanish if one takes a closer look.

After that, we took a little break. I talked with Sarabelle for a little bit, particularly asking about the Gardette-LaPrete House, only to learn that the tale of a sultan and his harem moving in, only for them to get massacred a few weeks later, is totally fictional (sad face). There’s no news reports of such a thing happening nor is there any record of a sultan ever living at the property. Even then, I still have to ask how such a story came about in the first place. I doubt such a tale would just sprout out of thin air, but moving on, during the break I walked over a block to Bourbon only to see a rowdy second-line in front of Laffite’s Blacksmith Shop.

While tapping my toes to the second line, I peered inside Laffite’s Blacksmith Shop for a moment. Built in the 1770’s, and one of the few structures in the Quarter that survived the 1788 fire, it was originally a blacksmith shop (obviously) that also doubled as a base of operations of the pirate Jean Laffite for a time. Currently a bar, evoking an old-timey feel, it’s lit only by candles, and is also very haunted. Granted, it’s utterly packed with people so not a good location for investigating, but it has long been claimed that the spirit of Jean Laffite himself can be seen blending in with the crowd, only to disappear when spotted; in addition to being the hiding place of a demon who wanders around with disembodied red eyes.

After our little break, we then headed over to the Voodoo Spiritual Temple on 826 Rampart. In a bit of more recent history, we learned about the couple who resided in the upstairs apartment ten years ago, Zack and Addie. They first garnered attention during Hurricane Katrina, being two of a handful of people in the French Quarter who didn’t evacuate. They’d assist in cleanup efforts, would provide food and other necessities to those in need and helped prevent the various businesses in the area from being looted.

As soon as things went back to normal in New Orleans, things immediately went downhill for the couple. They’d regularly binge on drugs and alcohol, going on to argue and fight as a result. This all persisted for a year until one night where Zack committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the Omni Royal hotel. In his pocket, a note was found that pleaded with the authorities to go back to his apartment and check on his girlfriend (***WARNING*** very graphic details ahead).

And that they did, they entered the apartment, only to find that no one was there………until they checked the kitchen. Inside the oven, they found arms and legs. The pot on the stove contained a human head. Inside the fridge was a large bag containing a torso. Zack had killed, dismembered and attempted to cook Addie. Although cannibalism was widely speculated, a suicide note found in the apartment suggests that Zack was trying to think of a way to dispose of her body and turned to cooking it as a last resort.

The apartment has remained unoccupied ever since, although it is available to rent, and the resident priestess of the Voodoo temple downstairs does offer tours. Apparently, no one’s even bothered to change the stove and the refrigerator ever since that grisly incident took place (…….*shudder*). It’s theorized that a sort of demonic entity has long lurked the premises, and said being is what ultimately drove Zack mad. Even I couldn’t shake the feeling of something with evil intentions staring at me from the darkened windows of the upper floor apartment.

Next, we were taken to a gallery that has paintings of a blue dog on display. Although the artist claims that they were painted as a tribute to his dead dog, it’s widely believed to be a depiction of a creature from Cajun and/or rural Louisianan folklore known as the Rougarou. Like a cross between a werewolf and a wendigo, it is a beast that wanders the swamps and the bayous, and if bitten, you will become one yourself. Granted, there’s no real haunting (or even much fact) behind this one, it’s likely just a story Cajun elders told children so they’d behave, but it was still neat to learn about either way.

Our tour concluded in the alley on the other side of St. Louis Cathedral, known as Pirates Alley. One of many alleged hangouts of Jean Laffite, it’s said that his ghost wanders this location as well. With the lighting on the Jesus statue in the cathedral’s courtyard casting an ominous shadow on the backside of the building, it was here where Sarabelle bid us adieu. From there, well, we were hungry, so we made our way over to Café Maspero.

Café Maspero was delicious, if not necessarily mind-blowing. I had appetizer-size bowls of both gumbo and jambalaya, and it did feel good to finally try these two dishes I have long been fond of in their place of birth. My mom ordered a muffaletta. I had a bite and I honestly just thought it was too much going on, but she liked it. Once we were finished and I washed it all down with my Voodoo Doll daiquiri, we then made our way back to the hotel to rest up for our last day in New Orleans. And I honestly didn’t want to leave.

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leupagus · 8 years ago

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Goddamn I’ve gotten a lot of Summer Album recs!

So my concern that not enough people would come forward with awesome recommendations has been blown out of the water, as you’ll see from this list. I haven’t listened to a tenth of these yet — just compiling the list took me a hella long time —but I will be adding to this on the regular as more people send me contestants for Summer Album 2017. In the meantime, if any of y’all are looking for something new to try, give one of these 100 recs holy shit a try!

[Note that the parenthetical is the person who recced it; the album and performer aren’t necessarily in order bc to be honest? I don’t know a lot of these and I’m not always sure which is which. Whatever, you’ll figure it out.]

Royskopp — The Inevitable End (mrspeelisreadingthings)

Seventh Tree — Goldfrapp (mrspeelisreadingthings)

puberty 2 — mitski (trashbagcouture)

Muse — Black Holes and Revelations (orestes-swimming)

The Dandy Warhols — The Capital Years (orestes-swimming)

Tracy Chapman — Tracy Chapman (thegollux)

Everything Under the Sun — Jukebox (posner)

Mountain Goats — Transcendental Youth (tygloch)

Mountain Goats — Beat the Champ (tygloch)

Strange Trails — Lord Huron (extraneousaccessories)

Storm Front — Billy Joel (extraneousaccessories)

Ariana Grande' — Dangerous Woman (no-giraffes)

The King is Dead — the Decemberists (shadaras)

Chupacabra — Imani Coppola (paybysea)

Throwing copper — live (paybysea)

Mer de Noms — A Perfect Circle (paybysea)

Little Things — Toby Lightman (paybysea)

Missy Higgins — On A Clear Night (paybysea)

Greatest Hits by Waylon Jennings (paybysea)

Great Big Sea "Sea of No Cares" (history-gurl)

Rogue Taxidermy — days and daze (deliciouscocacola)

Little Joy — Little Joy (eameseames)

Johnny Clegg and Savuka's Heat, Dust and Dreams (ntj254)

Churches — Every Open Eye (justanxietyasks)

RIOT — Paramore (justanxietyasks)

Paramore — Paramore (justanxietyasks)

Humanz, from Gorillaz (roguewen) [note: this was semi-recced; reccer notes that the album mostly prompted a re-listen to…]

Plastic Beach — Gorillaz (roguewen) [actual rec]

IS — Hey Ocean! (yellowwallsbluesky)

ZZ Ward — til the casket drops (sharasbae)

Waiting for You — Gordon Lightfoot (enter-remiges)

Dessa — Parts of Speech (enter-remiges)

Dessa — A Badly Broken Code (enter-remiges)

Late for the Sky — Jackson Browne (enter-remiges)

Raising Sand — Robert Plant and Allison Krauss (bluesmoothie4u)

Smith Street Band — More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me (thisisaboutnotbeinginclass)

Sting— Nothing Like The Sun (kiranovember)

Odd Blood — Yeasayer (magnesiumqueen)

E-MO-TION B Sides — Carly Rae Jepsen (magnesiumqueen)

Treats — Sleigh Bells (magnesiumqueen)

Rush — Black Gold (telarna)

Florence & the Machine — Ceremonials (telarna)

Racine Carrée — Stromae (flightofmorning)

Delerium- Nuages du Monde (zjofierose)

Basia Bulat — Heart of my Own (zjofierose)

Basia Bulat — Tall, Tall Shadow (zjofierose)

Coralie Clement — Bye Bye Beauté (zjofierose)

Ane Brun — It All Starts With One (zjofierose)

First Aid Kit — Stay Gold (zjofierose)

Charming Hostess — Punch (zjofierose)

Balkan Beat Box — Balkan Beat Box (zjofierose)

Gin Wigmore — Gravel & Wine (zjofierose)

PJ Harvey — Let England Shake (xenophonique)

Radiohead — Amnesiac (xenophonique)

Laurie Anderson — Big Science (xenophonique)

Arcade Fire — Reflector (xenophonique)

Camille — Le Fil (xenophonique)

Les Charbonniers de l'enfer — La traversée miraculeuse (xenophonique)

Brahms/Glenn Gould — 10 intermezzi (xenophonique)

Lhasa de Sela — The Living Road (xenophonique)

Portishead — Third (xenophonique)

Stromae — Racine Carrée (xenophonique)

Basement Jaxx — Kish Kash (xenophonique)

Steve Reich — Tehillim (xenophonique)

Jean Leloup — La vallée des réputations (xenophonique)

Modern Love — Matt Nathanson (departingthetext)

Paul Simon — Graceland (jellyfishfire)

Paul Simon — Rhythm of the Saints (jellyfishfire

Gold Motel — Gold Motel (missbuster)

Gold Motel — Summer House (missbuster)

Hybrid — Elsiane (ellyfishfire

Watsky's — x Infinity (andimneverhere)

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness — Zombies on Broadway (tofeelnew)

Empires — Orphan (tofeelnew)

Basia Bulat — Heart of My Own (things-with-teeth)

Basia Bulat — Oh, My Darling (things-with-teeth)

Lucius — Wildewoman (things-with-teeth)

Nataly Dawn — How I Knew Her (things-with-teeth)

All Eternals Deck — Mountain Goats (queerlullaby)

Transcendental Youth — Mountain Goats (queerlullaby)

Taking the Long Way Around — the Dixie Chicks (mythologicalmango)

Float — Flogging Molly (teapotdragon)

Speed of Darkness — Flogging Molly (teapotdragon)

Joyful Rebellion — k-os (rob-anybody)

Yes — k-os (rob-anybody)

Massive Attack — Mezzanine (alwaysneverneviditelny)

Emotion — Carly Rae Jepsen (disturbuniverse)

Green Day — American Idiot (underorange)

Lost On You — LP (jellyfishfire)

Siempre Hay Salida — Pistolera (disturbuniverse)

Shinedown — Sound of Madness (queenklu)

Lake Street Dive — Bad Self Portraits (goblinish)

Poe — Haunted and (owlsongsandgoblinlaughs)

Poe — Hello (owlsongsandgoblinlaughs)

Poe — Extraordinary Things [though apparently it's not "legally" by her? IDK] (owlsongsandgoblinlaughs)

Cashmere by swet shop boys (disturbuniverse)

Indian Summer by Carbon Leaf (meretricula)

Bleachers — Gone Now (fandompope)

Harry Styles — Harry Styles (fandompope)

Mountain Goats — Goths (fandompope)

At some point I’ll add some of the comments as to why people have recced these, because they’re all amazing — and please don’t be discouraged that I haven’t responded to your recs privately, it’s because I want to save all the amazing comments for when I listen to each album and with the way tumblr works, that... doesn’t happen.

#ONE HUNDRED ALBUMS I am not gonna be able to listen to all of these in the next week or so #but I'm gonna listen to all of them I SWEAR #summer album contest #sweet sweet jamz

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