High Strangeness at Mardi Gras | New Orleans Ghost Stories

2/21/2023

Marlene and Henry discuss all things spooky and strange surrounding Mardi Gras, better known as Fat Tuesday.

STORIES:

Origins of Mardi Gras
The Murder of Delia Harris
Mardi Gras Duels
The Casquet Girls and the Vampires
The Story of Claude le Beau and Cecile
The Haunted House on Lafayette Square

Dionysus was made from a human mother and a god. For the Cannites he was known as the god of rebirth.

The celebration of Mardi Gras came to North America from Paris, where it had been celebrated since the Middle Ages.

In 1699, French explorer Iberville and his men explored the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico. On a spot 60 miles south of the present location of New Orleans, they set up camp on the river's West Bank. Knowing that the day, March 3, was being celebrated as a major holiday in France, they christened the site Point du Mardi Gras.

But Mardi Gras’ roots predate the French. A possible ancestor of the celebration was the Lupercalia, a circus-like orgy held in mid-February in Rome. The word “Lupercalia” was likely derived from “lupus,” the Latin word for "wolf."

The festival began at Lupercal Cave, which was believed to have been the home of the wolf that raised Romulus and Remus. The Luperci (the priests of Lupercus) got naked and slaughtered male goats and a dog in the cave. They ritualistically smeared themselves with blood in the process. Then, they skinned the goats and took a nude tour around Rome’s Palatine Hill, hitting women with strips of fresh goatskin in order to enhance their fertility. This ritual might have been connected in some way to the sexual goat-god Pan, who, according to Ovid, was also celebrated during Lupercalia.

A weird figure often found in Mithraic temples is a naked lion-headed figure which scholars based on dedicatory inscriptions for altars as being Ahriman, a demonic figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon.

Some historians even think Lupercalia had a match-making element, for which men would draw the names of women out of a jar in a sort of sex lottery. Sometimes, the couple would only stay together for the festival, but occasionally the match would lead to marriage.

Dionysus was made from a human mother and a god. For the Cannites he was known as the god of rebirth. During the roman empire, in the springtime they had a celebration long before the birth of Jesus for Dionysus, which was known as a god of revelry, and his followers as revelers.

This ties into the Saturnalian cults or mithric cults. Mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from about the 1st to the 4th-century A.D. Constantine was originally a believer in Mithras.

A weird figure often found in Mithraic temples is a naked lion-headed figure which scholars based on dedicatory inscriptions for altars as being Ahriman, a demonic figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Two serpents encircle the body, it has four wings and scepter in its hand. It stands on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross.

On the Spring Equinox, the Druids would parade about with an ox and then sacrifice it, and bathe in its blood to cleanse themselves or atone for their sins, which is familiar to the worship of Mithras. In the Bible there is mention of the worship of the Golden Calf, known as Baal.

Much of the Mardi Gras traditions date by the rites of Mithras

In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile). It lasted until 1709.

In 1710, the "Boeuf Gras Society" was formed and paraded from 1711 through 1861. La Promenade du Boeuf Gras was a centuries-old tradition during Carnival, in which a large ox supplied by a prominent local butcher was decorated and paraded through the streets of Paris in the days leading up to Lent. The procession was held with a huge bull's head pushed along on wheels by 16 men. Later, Rex would parade with an actual bull, draped in white and signaling the coming Lenten meat fast. This occurred on Fat Tuesday. Ultimately the livestock would be killed, and the meat given out to the populace.

In the late 1700s pre-Lenten balls and fetes were held in New Orleans. Under French rule masked balls flourished, but were later banned by the Spanish governors. The prohibition continued when New Orleans became an American city in 1803, but by 1823, the Creole populace prevailed upon the American governor, and balls were again permitted. Four years later street masking was officially made legal.

The adoption of Mardi Gras colors and anthems dates back to the late 19th century

Most of the balls were organized by “Krewes” or private social clubs where the members remained anonymous. Most Mardi Gras krewes today developed from private social clubs with restrictive membership policies. There are about 78 present day.

In 1985, the Krewe of Dionysus was formed. This ties it into the true meaning of Mardi Gras, which is a god of wine, debauchery and inspired madness.

In 1872, a group of businessmen invented a King of Carnival, Rex, to preside over the first daytime parade. To honor the visiting Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff, the businessmen introduced Romanoff's family colors of purple, green and gold as the Carnival's official colors. Purple stands for justice; gold for power; and green for faith.

This was also when the Carnival's improbable anthem, "If Ever I Cease to Love," was cemented, due in part to the Duke's fondness for the tune.

Fletcher Heath shot his partner and killed his mistress in a fit of jealousy

THE MURDER OF DELIA HARRIS

Mardi Gras revelries were afoot in New Orleans in 1842, when a "revolting murder" was committed in Richmond, Virginia.

Fletcher Heath shot Carter Wells his partner, in a room over William Wallace's store. This was a place where they held faro games. The attack was prompted after Wells went to the theater with Heath's mistress.

Heath shot Wells behind the ear twice while he was preparing a drink. The balls passed through the roof of his mouth and lodged in the outer corner of his right eye. He ran into the street, crying, "I'm shot, I'm shot!" He was taken a physician's house where the balls were taken out. Afterward Wells was taken back to his boarding house, and he was in critical condition.

Heath fled on a cross street near Carey. He came to a house on the corner of Tobacco Alley and Virginia Street. He broke a hole in the panel of the door and crawled through it. With a bowie knife he attacked his mistress Delia Harris. He severed three fingers from her left hand, and broke her right arm in two places. He hit her twice on the left side of her head, splitting it open.

Delia Harris was a pretty mulatto girl and "chere amie" of Heath who was a gambler by profession. He escaped the city, and officers arrested him at Jarratt's, a watering place about 30 miles from Petersburg. He was heading to Texas. Three days later on February 5, 1842 he was sitting in a jail cell.

The newspapers described him dressed in "grey pants, a black frock coat, black satin vest linen bosom and collar, black satin stock and high shoes. He wore black kid gloves and a black overcoat with a green suitout. He was 5'10", weighed about 130 pounds and was about 25 years old. He had dark eyes and long black hair. His complexion was livid, with a long face, sharp feature, and cheeks sunken below prominent cheek bones."

In April, 1842, Heath was found guilty of the attempt on his friend’s life, but sentenced to only two years in the penitentiary, however the trial for the murder of Delia Harris was pending.

A witness who testified during the trial described the evening of the murder this way:

Bennett Scott called as witness testified that he went to the house where the prisoner (Heath) and one Carter Wells lived, and there he played a game of cards with the prisoner, Wells being absent at the time. That the prisoner shortly left off playing, and went to mending a pair of pantaloons. That during this time, witness asked the prisoner where Wells was, and the prisoner said he had gone to the theatre.

The prisoner then said to the witness, 'Do you know that I would kill two persons this night if I came across them? If I had had a half pint of brandy, I would have done what I intended to do, at Bradley's, and it would have been all over with them.

That the prisoner had before been talking of Carter Wells and Delia Harris, and said they had been together at Bradley's that evening; he said that Wells and himself had rode out together that evening, and stopped at Bradley's, where Delia Harris then was.

That the prisoner said, he would not mind killing any person; that he had once before shot a woman at a ball in Petersburg, and shot at a man in a bar room. That the witness, on the same evening, before this conversation between himself and the prisoner, had seen Delia Harris and Martha Gilliam going to the theatre, and had mentioned this to the prisoner, which he supposed was the reason [Heath] came to speak of Delia Harris.

Next the attorney called Carter Wells as witness. He testified that Heath had told him to tell Delia Harris she must not let him in if he came there the next day, because he would kill her if she did.

Bella Union Hotel, California

.Fletcher Heath was tried in November, 1842 for the murder of Delia Harris. He was found guilty of murder in the first degree after the jury deliberated for only 30 minutes. He was sentenced to hang on December 23.

Then he was granted a new trial.

In September, 1843, he escaped from the jail at Henrico County. A $100 reward was posted for his capture. He and two other prisoners had cut locks and chains, and then dug a hole in the walls of the jail.

The last clue given of his whereabouts was in October, 1843 where he was believed to have booked passage to New York from Norfolk, Virginia.

Carter Wells died in 1850, 8 years after the shooting. He was 32 years old.

In 1895, the Richmond Dispatch recollected the crime, and reported that it was believed Heath escaped with the help of his family who lived in Petersburg, and were well-to-do-people. He lived a long time in Florida and then went to California from New Orleans.

A Virginia resident, who lived in San Francisco in the fall of 1892, said he is saw Fletcher Heath dealing faro in the Bella Union saloon many years before.

Duels were fought due to insults caused during the merriment of Mardi Gras celebrations.

DUELS
On June 8, 1842 it was reported in the Freeman's Journal (Ireland) about a fatal duel in France, "On the last Mardi-Gras, February, 8, some ladies at Foix in the Arriege were grossly insulted in the streets during the evening by a man in a mask and domino. On the following day this disgraceful conduct having been attributed to a young man named Seguela. M. Vergnies, part of whose family had suffered from it, accosted Seguela and after some severe language, struck him on the face. A challenge was given, but from some obstacles the meeting could not take place before March 5, when Seguela received his adversary's ball in the head, and after lingering eleven days in great agony expired.

M. Vergnies and the four seconds were prosecuted, and brought to trial at Foix, on the 24th. They were all acquitted on the criminal charge, but the court decreed that Vergnies and his two seconds should pay 3,000 f. as damages to the family of Seguela.

Duels resulted after even the slightest insult

On the eve of Mardi Gras, February 6, 1845, H.F. Hatch had a misunderstanding with a William Augustus Jackson, 27, from New York at the hat room of the St. Louis Ballroom. They exchanged blows, Hatch returned 15 minutes later with a knife and stabbed Jackson several times. Jackson was the nephew of Judge Jackson, and apparently the argument was over some alleged insult received in the ball room. The mayor who was attending the ball arrested Hatch.

On April 7, 1845, Hatch was found not guilty. It seemed that Jackson had trod on Hatch's toes. Hatch asked his name, the other replied, "I am a gentleman, my name is Jackson; I am a nephew of Judge Jackson and staying at the St. Charles Hotel."

There were accusations of a fixed trial but nothing came of it.

Casket Girls were brought to several French colonies in the New World

The Casket Girls and the Vampires
In Louisiana’s early days the French population was entirely male because the colony fell under the jurisdiction of the navy department, and conditions were considered too dangerous for women and children. When Louisiana was established in 1699, the population was just 82 men and boys, 13 of whom listed their occupation as buccaneer.

Most of the men were coureurs de bois ("runners of the woods") who engaged in the fur trade with Indians. In 1704, acting governor Sieur de Bienville became concerned that the coureurs de bois were losing their Christianity, by spending so much time with the Indians and marrying Indian women. He also worried about their loyalty. If an Indian war erupted, on whose side would the coureurs de bois fight?

Bienville’s solution was to bring good Christian women to Louisiana for the men to marry. The filles à la cassette (translated in English as “casket girls”) is the name given to French girls sent to French colonies in the New World, to serve as a basis for the establishment of colonist families. They derived their moniker because of the trunk they each carried overseas from France, which contained their belongings.

It later became a matter of pride on the Gulf Coast to show descent from them. The first casquette girls reached Mobile, Alabama in 1704, Biloxi, Mississippi in 1719, and New Orleans in 1728. Eventually over 700 casket girls would be brought to the New World from France.

The Casket Girls earned their names from the small caskets they brought with their belongings inside

Prior to this, women were supplied to the colonists by raking the streets of Paris for undesirables, or by emptying the houses of correction. The prostitutes were branded on the face with the fleur de lys.

The Bishop of Quebec on order of the French King carefully selected each casket girl for their reputations, age, and pure values so that they could contribute positively to the quality of the community. They were recruited from orphanages and convents and although poor, were guaranteed to be virgins. The Ursuline nuns had arrived from Rouen, France the year before, and they were tasked to chaperone the girls until their marriage. They were young women usually sixteen or younger.

Of the 700 that were sent throughout the years, 88 girls came to New Orleans. Records indicate that all found husbands, even one who "looked more like a soldier on guard duty than like a young lady."

Rumors later swirled that some of the girls were vampires, and the third floor of the convent where they stayed was haunted by them. It was said the doors and windows were bolted shut by nails that were blessed by the pope to seal them inside.

Another story is that in 1978, two paranormal investigators or reporters who camped out in front of the Old Ursuline Convent at 1112 Chartres St. were found dead. Their bodies were exsanguinated and the crime remained unsolved.

However the nuns did not complete their convent until 1752, twenty-five years after the casket girls arrived, so this story is not accurate. Also the so-called caskets were the size of a small piece of luggage where each girl carried their personal belongings. There were no reports of murders of investigators or reporters as described during those years.

The Ursuline Convent is said to be haunted by ghosts and vampires

Perhaps the Ursuline Convent is not haunted by vampires, but it does have a reputation for otherworldly occurrences.

During a restoration job worked were shocked by what they found inside the walls. Countless bones filled the outer areas and even underneath the foundation of the wall. Immediately the remains were brought to a lab for testing, with the hope they belonged to animals. This was not the case. When the lab results came back, it was discovered that the bones had actually belonged to children and infants.

Knowing that the Ursuline nuns once ran an orphanage on these grounds, is it possible that perhaps these were the victims of infant mortality rates or disease? Yellow fever epidemics occurred almost every single summer in New Orleans, and in the midst of these epidemics, thousands of people lost their lives. The elderly and the young were most susceptible to the grip of the American plague, and it only makes sense that perhaps the nuns (seeing no other recourse) buried the dead along the barrier of the property.

While it’s difficult to say how the bones came to be placed along the walls, it might come as no surprise that the spirits of these children (or others who once lived or were educated at the convent) still haunt the property today.

Reports of hearing children’s laughter coming from the front garden of the Old Ursuline Convent (even in the dead of night) have been told on numerous occasions. The museum is closed for the night and there are no children on the grounds at that time of night. Locals living in the surrounding buildings have heard and seen what looks and sounds like small child-like apparitions playing on the front lawn.

Romeo catchers on balconies

CLAUDE LE BEAU
In 1838, a story was told of Claude Planowe known as Claude Le Beau who lived in a house below Canal Street during the late 1700s. He was said to "never look on a woman but to win her, and never won, but to destroy."

After his attempts at seduction he would disappear from the city of New Orleans. He had no associates or friends, and none could tell where came from or where he went. His only companion was an old woman who acted as cook and housekeeper. She knew all his secrets.

It was rumored that he was connected with Lafitte. He appeared to be a good Catholic, and would visit the Ursuline Convent, pretending to be pious but mostly it would be to see the French or Spanish maidens being guarded there.

On a spring day in April, he saw a beautiful girl named Cecil Claire praying. He followed her home, and the next night as she was walking on the banquette, she was kidnapped by four men in masks and taken to the crone Tabine who worked for Claude.

The girl's mother and the townspeople searched for her, but she could not be found. Two months later Claude struck the old woman, and in vengeance she told the police of what he had done. The girl's skeleton was found handcuffed in a low dark room in the left wing of Claude's house. She had been starved to death. Claude was hung, and the ghost of Tabine the crone can be seen wandering the streets.

This could explain the reason for Romeo Spikes or Romeo Catchers, which are placed on balcony poles. Young women usually lived on the second floors of the houses in the French Quarters, and the spikes were used to deter Romeos from climbing up to their rooms in the middle of the night.

There are many references through the years of "The Haunted House" in New Orleans. This is the story of that house