I visited New Orleans when I was 21. It was the 90’s and Ann Rice’s "Interview With The Vampire" was everywhere. I was a huge Nine Inch Nails fan, and my only goal was to go to New Orleans and meet Trent Reznor. My boyfriend at the time and I, along with two close friends headed out to explore this unfamiliar city.
We quickly realized that Trent Reznor, despite owning a house there, was nowhere to be found. I don’t remember a lot about this trip except walking down Bourbon Street with beads flying at us from every direction ( we didn’t have to flash). Ann Rice’s house was beautiful, and Jimmy Buffet was a huge deal, with his signature drink, The Hurricane, which was basically made of alcohol and sugar. The most memorable thing about that trip was an infamous quote from my friend Binzy "There are 2 places Trent Reznor has never been, my house and this club. Let's fucking go."
We quickly realized that Trent Reznor, despite owning a house there, was nowhere to be found. I don’t remember a lot about this trip except walking down Bourbon Street with beads flying at us from every direction ( we didn’t have to flash). Ann Rice’s house was beautiful, and Jimmy Buffet was a huge deal, with his signature drink, The Hurricane, which was basically made of alcohol and sugar. The most memorable thing about that trip was an infamous quote from my friend Binzy "There are 2 places Trent Reznor has never been, my house and this club. Let's fucking go."
Fast forward 20 and here I am traveling again and excited to revisit this city. I had a completely different idea of what I would see vs what the reality is. It’s 2022. We all just lived through a pandemic and that brought on so many challenges to everyone. This city also went through some of the most devastating events in history, Hurricane Katrina followed by Hurricane Ida just one year later. (I just want to pause for a minute and have a minute of silence for all the human and animals lives lost during the hurricanes.)
As I researched my trip, I talked with several friends who frequent New Orleans and I also joined a bunch of New Orleans groups on Facebook. I also reached out to a friend in Texas to get some idea of where to stay and what sights he and his partner recommended. (Check out the.glass.coffin on Instagram.) I gathered up all of my information and headed out to experience this city once again.
As I researched my trip, I talked with several friends who frequent New Orleans and I also joined a bunch of New Orleans groups on Facebook. I also reached out to a friend in Texas to get some idea of where to stay and what sights he and his partner recommended. (Check out the.glass.coffin on Instagram.) I gathered up all of my information and headed out to experience this city once again.
On my list of things to do was a cemetery tour. I had just recently returned from a trip to Los Angeles to see my best friend. We had visited several cemeteries and paid tribute to many actors that have now passed on to the next realm. I have always felt very peaceful in graveyards and cemeteries. I have lost a lot of loved ones and I always felt as though when I visited their grave sites I was paying tribute to their memory. It was always as positive of an experience as you could have considering the heartbreaking circumstances. The point of this is that when I booked a cemetery tour in New Orleans I thought we were going to see some sights and pay tribute, but it quickly took a very dark turn.
I know several paranormal investigators. I feel that with a lot of things in life people approach situations differently. The paranormal investigators that I associate with are trying to help people who are residing in a place that has some sort of dark entity there. The investigators go in and try to calm the noises and other activity to help ease the minds of the owners of the property. In my personal experience I don’t feel as though these certain investigators I know are trying to antagonize the spirit or be disrespectful at all. However, something just didn’t sit right with me when we were in the cemetery and the tour guide was telling people to walk all around and try to get these spirits to appear and then was giving the crowd copper sticks for people to just yell out questions to the spirits.
Whenever I go to a cemetery or graveyard I say a little prayer in my mind. I tell the spirits I mean no harm, that I come in peace and I thank them for letting me visit. I touch nothing and I do not disturb anything. I am extremely mindful of where I am walking and also try to stay on the walk ways and not walk across the actual grave. I often leave offerings if felt drawn to do so as another way of showing gratitude. On this particular tour I literally saw a tourist rolling on top of a strangers grave site. I just felt like this behavior was so disrespectful.
The burial process in New Orleans is very unique. They place your body in a biodegradable bag and place it in an above ground tomb which is sealed for one year and one day. Due to the high temperatures the tomb essentially cooks the body and breaks everything down to “dust”. Then the remains are swept into a holding space so more bodies can be placed inside the tomb. Due to the burial process in New Orleans, if there is a heavy rainstorm bones can wash out of the tombs and onto the walkways. This particular night at the cemetery a bone had washed up onto the sidewalk. I saw tourists touching the bone that had washed out. None of this was acceptable behavior to me. It is so important to teach the people to respect the cemetery. The guide went on to talk about what happened during Hurricane Katrina. I felt as though trying to "bother" the spirits there was just in bad taste.
I know several paranormal investigators. I feel that with a lot of things in life people approach situations differently. The paranormal investigators that I associate with are trying to help people who are residing in a place that has some sort of dark entity there. The investigators go in and try to calm the noises and other activity to help ease the minds of the owners of the property. In my personal experience I don’t feel as though these certain investigators I know are trying to antagonize the spirit or be disrespectful at all. However, something just didn’t sit right with me when we were in the cemetery and the tour guide was telling people to walk all around and try to get these spirits to appear and then was giving the crowd copper sticks for people to just yell out questions to the spirits.
Whenever I go to a cemetery or graveyard I say a little prayer in my mind. I tell the spirits I mean no harm, that I come in peace and I thank them for letting me visit. I touch nothing and I do not disturb anything. I am extremely mindful of where I am walking and also try to stay on the walk ways and not walk across the actual grave. I often leave offerings if felt drawn to do so as another way of showing gratitude. On this particular tour I literally saw a tourist rolling on top of a strangers grave site. I just felt like this behavior was so disrespectful.
The burial process in New Orleans is very unique. They place your body in a biodegradable bag and place it in an above ground tomb which is sealed for one year and one day. Due to the high temperatures the tomb essentially cooks the body and breaks everything down to “dust”. Then the remains are swept into a holding space so more bodies can be placed inside the tomb. Due to the burial process in New Orleans, if there is a heavy rainstorm bones can wash out of the tombs and onto the walkways. This particular night at the cemetery a bone had washed up onto the sidewalk. I saw tourists touching the bone that had washed out. None of this was acceptable behavior to me. It is so important to teach the people to respect the cemetery. The guide went on to talk about what happened during Hurricane Katrina. I felt as though trying to "bother" the spirits there was just in bad taste.
The most interesting place I visited was the Museum of Death. It had a lot of memorabilia from serial killers on display. Charles Manson’s prison shirt, letters from Jeffrey Dahmer, clothes from Aileen Wuornos, various original tools that morticians used, and Dr Kevorkian’s suicide machine. The most shocking piece was a picture of Nicole Brown Simpson’s crime scene. That image definitely made me sad. For all the souls lost from violence may you Rest In Peace. The staff was very nice and I liked that they burned Palo Santo inside the store front so you were cleansed when you left. Overall the place was educational and definitely not scary.
Now, On to my own personal paranormal experience, which happened at the Hotel Lamonthe.
This building is so unique and beautiful. It’s very old but I liked that they kept the vintage look to it while making sure it was clean with modern touches. The first night I was sitting in the hot tub all alone and I saw someone walk across the courtyard, just quickly passing from one side of the trees to the other. I didn’t think anything of it, as I figured it was just a worker. The next morning while talking to the housekeeper she informed me that no one was working at night and that I saw the spirit that lives there that often crosses that path during the night.
When I went upstairs to the room to go to bed, I just kept noticing that the middle bedroom that I had to cross over to get to the back bedroom where I was staying was significantly colder then the rest of the rooms. I got into bed and tried to sleep. I dreamed of a baby wrapped in a old yellow fleece blanket. It was scary and had dark energy and was on the floor between the wall and the bed. I literally said in my dream, “No we aren’t doing this,” meaning whatever you are trying to show me I want no part of it. I didn’t have any other nightmares in that room after that. I later found out that there are several spirits still lingering in the rooms of that hotel.
The last night of the trip I switched hotels to The Haunted Hotel. This hotel is known for the ad murders that took place there. Ironically I had an amazing experience there. The rooms were clean and cute and the staff was so accommodating. I got the best nights sleep there. I also did a photo shoot with Zakk Conner late at night outside on the balcony walkway. As we were setting up to shoot the worker yelled up to me that he liked my outfit and for us to have a great time. As we started shooting I glanced down and the worker was in the office working on his own art and it was just a beautiful experience of 3 people just vibing and creating art.
When I went upstairs to the room to go to bed, I just kept noticing that the middle bedroom that I had to cross over to get to the back bedroom where I was staying was significantly colder then the rest of the rooms. I got into bed and tried to sleep. I dreamed of a baby wrapped in a old yellow fleece blanket. It was scary and had dark energy and was on the floor between the wall and the bed. I literally said in my dream, “No we aren’t doing this,” meaning whatever you are trying to show me I want no part of it. I didn’t have any other nightmares in that room after that. I later found out that there are several spirits still lingering in the rooms of that hotel.
The last night of the trip I switched hotels to The Haunted Hotel. This hotel is known for the ad murders that took place there. Ironically I had an amazing experience there. The rooms were clean and cute and the staff was so accommodating. I got the best nights sleep there. I also did a photo shoot with Zakk Conner late at night outside on the balcony walkway. As we were setting up to shoot the worker yelled up to me that he liked my outfit and for us to have a great time. As we started shooting I glanced down and the worker was in the office working on his own art and it was just a beautiful experience of 3 people just vibing and creating art.
With each journey I take, it isn’t just about being a tourist and taking pictures. I learn so much about myself as a person. I learned a couple significant things on this trip. Just because people survive tragedy doesn’t mean you can’t feel their pain and sadness. I do believe that spirits are always around us, and it’s OK to acknowledge them. Even though the pandemic is in a very different state than 2 years ago, its effect devastated cities that rely on bars and restaurants for income. The restaurant and bar industry was completely destroyed. Please be respectful to these hard workers. Please understand that everyone’s jobs are important in lives. Treat each other with kindness and ALWAYS TIP!
The world is still going through a very difficult time in history it costs nothing to be kind to one another. The news does NOT show the reality of what is really going on in certain places. It was NOT safe to just walk around. Tt was NOT safe at night. Common sense and being alert was definitely a priority while visiting there. I pray for better times for everyone.
Until next time, Hugs n hisses
Jenny
The world is still going through a very difficult time in history it costs nothing to be kind to one another. The news does NOT show the reality of what is really going on in certain places. It was NOT safe to just walk around. Tt was NOT safe at night. Common sense and being alert was definitely a priority while visiting there. I pray for better times for everyone.
Until next time, Hugs n hisses
Jenny
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