Number 97 Spend the Night in a Haunted House

Halloween Weekend, 2010

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a big ol' chicken!! That's right; yellow to the core, no spine, scaredy-cat extraordinaire. Many a night has the light been burning in my bedroom overnight while I cowered under the covers after watching a scary movie and we won't even discuss why I needed a change of clothes while visiting Fright Night at Universal Studios! Still, I do love a good scare so I put this item on my list to feed the beast within and what better night to undertake this mission than Halloween!

So here's the plan: I'm headed to New Orleans this weekend to stay in the mansion at Creole Gardens (left). It's a bed and breakfast that is reportedly haunted. I know, I know, I live in one of the most haunted cities in America and there are probably dozens of haunted places here in Savannah but I want to have some fun too. I believe New Orleans is known for promoting gaiety, isn't it? A little research...

A website on haunted houses had this to say about the Creole Gardens:

Ghosts don't like change, and when this building was restored as an inn, 400-pound doors slammed for no apparent reason, and bathroom tiles that had been neatly stacked were found scattered about the floor. One guest reported a clear image of a former slave standing in the corner of the room with arms folded, apparently awaiting orders. Another guest reported a man visiting at night, speaking softly. Housekeepers report dark, flitting blurs, and a feeling of someone watching them.

I also wrote to the owner of Creole Gardens and she gave me some of the history:

Our inn was built as a private house in the 1840's and was the residence of Rev. Benjamin Palmer during the Civil War and thereafter...you can google him and find him on Wikipedia. He was very instrumental in having Louisiana secede from the Union and spent many hours in our drawing rooms planning political decisions with local and national leaders,including Jefferson Davis.

On this trip, I am again accompanied by my friend, Rob, who is a scientist, and does not believe in ghosts. He will be in charge of p'shawing anything I suspect might be supernatural. I gotta tell you, I'm feeling a little nervous about this one, folks. Too many viewings of Legend of Hell House and House on Haunted Hill, I suppose. Packing extra underwear.

November 2, 2010

We left home about 10:15 in the morning and arrived in New Orleans about a quarter to nine. I really, really didn't want to arrive in the dark but it couldn't be helped. The Creole  Gardens was really a charming place. The mansion is painted a cheery bright yellow. There is a pretty courtyard with banana trees, surrounded by rooms that had been slave quarters, which are painted purple, pink and turquoise.

Our room also was very nice. We stayed in Mansion Room number three. We entered through french doors from a private porch into a foyer with a wet bar and refrigerator and then into a stunning room with eighteen foot ceilings, a chaise lounge and a white metal canopy bed. Rob and I are just friends* but there was NO WAY IN HELL I was sleeping alone while we were in a haunted house so there was only one bed in the room. The bathroom had an old-timey clawfoot bathtub and a pedestal sink. Just beautiful!

It was still early and we were hungry so we decided to go out and poke around a little and get a bite to eat. I was getting dressed in front of the mirror of the  open armoire door when...creeeeeeeeek...the door of the armoire closed by itself!!! Rob was standing over by the bed and the windows were closed so there was no wind and the air conditioner was off. Rob suggested that the unstable floor was the cause and that him having walked by a few seconds before it happened caused the incident. Indeed, the floor did wiggle the armoire door a little when you walked by it but no matter how many times I tried to replicate the the event, the  heavy door only wiggled a little.My explanation: Ghost. His explanation: odd floor. What do you think? Here's a video

I just know this:  Had my most skeptical pal not been with me at this point, I would have put everything back in my bag, gotten in the car and made the ten hour drive back home.



This is not a dark, scary ghost,
It is only Rob's jacket that he'd
hung from the bedpost.
 It looked different in the dark

We continued to argue about "the event" while we hit the Saint Charles Tavern for Po' Boys and atmosphere and then I got ready for bed. Rob went to get something from the car and I suddenly realized I was alone in the room. Eeek! I got my mom on the phone and made her talk to me until he came back. She had quite a giggle at this but, since she went to college in New Orleans, she understood and obliged me.



Part of my bedtime preparations

 I did NOT want to go to bed but it was late and I was tired. While Rob was in the bathroom, I took a picture from each corner of the room and them examined the photos carefully for ghostly orbs. All clear. So I hopped into bed. I didn't want to close my eyes but I didn't want to SEE anything either. I kept my eye on the armoire but eventually fell asleep.

I woke up to a BEAUTIFUL Fall day, feeling pretty good about finishing another item on my list and we headed out to enjoy the Big Easy on Halloween weekend. Here are a few pictures of our fun:

On our Halloween night, we were putting on our costumes (Round 2) and heading out to enjoy our last night on the town when I was "haunted" by something I had eaten earlier in the day. It came back from the dead to visit me and I was not feeling so pretty good. I was goin' nowhere! I tried to encourage Rob to go out without me but he stayed in with his sick friend so she wouldn't have to be alone with a ghost. What a pal! I told him that, if I don't have a gentleman friend at the time, he was welcome to be my companion when I stay in the best suite of a 5-star hotel for Number 30 on my list.

     Although we had no major disturbances during our  long weekend  at the Creole Gardens, others did and were passing around pictures of ghosts they had taken during the night in the breakfast room the morning we left. This was a fun challenge but I never want to do it again!



* Saying JUST friends is not to diminish the friend relationship, it was for identification purposes only.