Spirits with Spirits
You don't need a ghost tour or sixth sense to feel the resident souls as you walk the streets of this 300-year-old town, but have you ever been lucky enough to have a real encounter?
In the spirit of the season, here are a few true tales of the many souls who have reached out and touched someone here.
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
941 Bourbon St.
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is said to be one of the oldest structures used as a bar in the United States. Legend says it may have been used by the Lafitte brothers as a base for their smuggling operation.
"When I first moved to New Orleans in 1996, I was a singing cocktail waitress at Lafitte's. Sometimes, I would stay after hours to clean up. I was usually alone downstairs while the owners and bartenders were upstairs counting the money. There were a few times I felt something cold on my neck, but only once did I have a true encounter. One night while sweeping up, I heard someone say, 'Hey, Lesley.' I stopped and looked around. There was no one there. A little while later, when the guys came down, I asked them why they were calling me. 'We didn't call your name,' they said."
Napoleon House
500 Chartres St.
Built in 1797, the building was owned by New Orleans mayor Nicholas Girod, who offered Napoleon Bonaparte residence there in 1821, but Napoleon died that same year in exile on St. Helena island.
According to Sales Manager Beth Sigur, "Several of us have repeatedly experienced locking up and then hearing knocking from the inside. We always end up unlocking the doors to check to see who was left behind, and there's never anyone there."
Manager Chris Montero has heard stories from the original owners, the Impastato family, who operated the building from 1914 to 2015. According to Montero, "Maria Impastato talked about an old lady that can be seen sweeping the balcony at sunset. Other people claim to have seen her too."
Ghost hunters and investigators who have taken time to study the place say that "someone is sitting at the end of the bar constantly," according to Sigur.
O'Flaherty's Bar
Formerly at 508 Toulouse St.
This building is now occupied by New Orleans Creole Cookery, but Irishmen and musicians Danny and Patrick O'Flaherty owned and operated it as a bustling bar filled with Irish music from 1989 to 2005.
In 1806, twice-widowed Mary Wheaton lived there with her newest husband, Joseph Baptandiere, who soon entered a plaçage with a woman named Angelique. After one particularly emotional disagreement, Joseph choked Angelique and threw her from the balcony. While attempting to hide the body, Joseph was seen by a slave boy. Horrified, he went upstairs and hung himself.
According to Danny, "A few months after I took over the building, it seemed like things were always breaking and no equipment seemed to work. Bartenders complained about bottles flying off shelves and other strange occurrences. I knew the stories of Joseph and Angelique, so I decided to go upstairs one night and talk to Joseph. After all, I'm Irish, and we Irish believe in such things. I could feel his presence near me. It was so cold. I said, 'Joseph, we are not here to harm you. You must forgive yourself, so that we can enjoy this building. We only want to play Irish music. Can you leave us be?' After this, things improved greatly."
"Maybe five or six different times, when I sang the song 'Red as a Rose,' a woman would appear on the upstairs balcony," Danny said. "That area was completely blocked off, and no one could get up there. Someone would ask me after the show, 'Who was that woman watching from up there?' I would have to assume it was Angelique."
Backspace Bar (Formerly Evelyn's Bar)
139 Chartres St.
Here is a chilling tale by a newcomer who didn't know this corner's history but ended up finding out about it firsthand.
"When I first moved to New Orleans in 2008, I had a friend who was a bartender at Evelyn's," Chrissy said. "There was this shrine to Evelyn, the owner, Frank's, deceased wife. Stuff would fall off the walls for no reason, and someone would say, 'Oh, that's just Evelyn.' Frank was getting up there in age and was pretty feeble, so when Hurricane Gustav was heading here, he asked me and my friend to stay in the bar to protect it. 'Eat and drink whatever you like.' So we brought in air mattresses and hunkered down.
"This was my first hurricane, and I was not sleeping well," Chrissy recalled. "One night when I awoke because of a really strange noise, I looked in its direction and I saw a bright red light that was kind of swirling, but it wasn't illuminating anything around it. Then, there were these bright figures moving through the light. I was yelling to try to wake up my friend. When she finally woke up, I explained what I saw and said, 'It must have been Evelyn?' And she told me the story of the UpStairs Lounge tragedy, which I knew nothing about.'
Whether or not you believe in ghosts, you owe it to yourself to ask a bartender or resident in the French Quarter if they do. Chances are, they will have something spooky to share.
