Discover this Cajun and Creole city where ghost stories abound . . . photos included! The Hub City boasts a multitude of spirits and specters, from those lost in Civil War skirmishes and fever outbreaks to those souls that simply can’t say goodbye. Today, they wander the halls of bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants and linger along back roads and cemeteries. Pirates are rumored to guard buried treasure, and ancient French legends hide in the swamps, bayous, and woods. Join journalist and ghost seeker Cheré Dastugue Coen as she visits Lafayette’s haunted sites and travels the countryside in search of ghostly legends found only in South Louisiana.

Stories of ghosts and strange happenings at these historic Southern homes—with photos included. Louisiana plantations evoke images of grandeur and elegance, but beyond the facade of stately homes are stories of hope and subjugation, tragedy and suffering, shame and perseverance and war and conquest. After sixteen workers axed most of the Houmas House’s ancient oak trees, referred to as “the Gentlemen,” eight of the surviving trees eerily twisted overnight in grief over the losses wrought by a great Mississippi River flood. An illegal duel to reclaim lost honor left the grounds of Natchez’s Cherokee Plantation bloodstained, but the victim’s spirit may still wander there today. A mutilated slave girl named Chloe still haunts the halls of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville. In this book, Cheryl H. White and W. Ryan Smith reveal the dark history, folklore, and lasting human cost of Louisiana plantation life.

Contains over seventy tales of ghostly hauntings from each of the fifty United States and Canada.

Reproduction of the original: Strange True Stories of Louisiana by George W. Cable

Powerful attraction in one small bag Cultures worldwide have long incorporated small bags containing herbs, stones, and other sacred items as part of their belief systems, whether to ward off evil, protect them while traveling or to attract positive elements into their lives. Egyptians carried amulets for protection, Native Americans wore medicine bags filled with healing herbs, and African Americans collected “sticks, stones, roots and bones” inside flannel bags and called them “mojo” or “gris gris.” Gris gris and sachet bags are, in essence, a prayer or magical spell you can carry with you. Magic’s in the Bag explores this history, plus offers 75 simple spells to create your own gris gris bag, including bags for prosperity, safe travel, contacting spirits, protection and more. You’ll get tips on which plants to use, what stones are appropriate, what spells work best for phases of the moon — even how to grow a gris gris garden! Jude Bradley is a writer, editor, producer, and teacher. She also works as a spiritual consultant, using card readings, mediumship, and energy guidance in her practice. Jude lives in the Boston area. A native of New Orleans, Cheré Dastugue Coen is a freelance journalist, teacher, and author of both nonfiction books and a paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire.

Learn about the ghosts that haunt Louisiana’s capital city in this collection of spooky stories and photos . . . With yellow fever, Civil War battles, murders, and tragic accidents staining its history, it is no wonder that Baton Rouge is rife with tales of ghostly visitors. Highland Road has had so many reports of Civil War soldier sightings that the local police department sent out an officer to track one down. Spirits crowd about in the stately grounds of the Magnolia Mound and Old Cottage Plantations, the Old State Capitol building and the new, and even the USS Kidd. Unlikely spots like the Guaranty Income Life and Broadcast Building have plenty of hair-raising stories of their own; the cafeteria used to be a morgue. Now you can explore the Red Stick’s eerie past with paranormal investigator Bud Steed—as he uncovers the city’s most chilling tales.