It Started out Spooky...Then Became Terrifying

by Travis A.
(New Orleans, LA, USA)

There were around 25-30 dead bodies recovered on my block alone after Katrina tore through New Orleans. I live in a parish called Lakeview, which with the 9th Ward was obliterated by the storm a few years back. I moved into this house from Florida, with my roommate Rusty roughly 8 months ago. I heard how haunted New Orleans was as a city in general, and having never seen a ghost in my life, moving here just made it that much more exciting for me.

I noticed instantly the change around me. I started seeing "shadows" moving in my peripheral vision, ALOT. It didn't really frighten me, just frustrated me. I was getting tired of the constant debate on whether paranormal activity is an actual event, or something we imagine. I work at a couple of old bars in the French Quarter, one dating back to the early 1800's. The more I would see the shadows, the more I would try and provoke an incident. Even going as far as making a bar patron wait for his drink while I went in the back to "yell" at the ghosts. After many frustrating "near sightings" I had just about lost hope that a time would ever come when I would see something that I couldn't logically explain. Hell, even the shadows in the corner of my eye could have been just that...shadows.

The time did come, however. It was around 4:30 am, and the assistant manager of the bar was just walking out the door. I was counting beer in the back and started walking down a hall to the coolers. There was a really old stairway on my left that led up to the office and where we store all our juices. I was looking down at the sheet I was working with when I heard someone start up the stairs at a very fast pace. I thought nothing of it thinking it was Randy (my manager) coming back to get something he forgot. I looked up at the stairs anyway because lets face it, ghosts aren't the only thing famous in New Orleans and I wanted to make sure it wasn't some bum trying to run in and hide for the night. When I looked up the stairs it was almost 3/4 of the way up moving at an extremely fast pace. I saw dark legs and a waist but the ceiling was blocking the top half. Now the way it looked, the legs were very clear. Pants, and I could even make out small shoes. BUT it was all one solid color, like a black mass, like a shadow. I instinctively began running up the stairs after the person still just thinking I was going to either find my manager Randy, or some dude trying to rob me. It probably took 2x longer for me to get up the stairs than it did for this guy. I remember thinking that when I was running up, about halfway I slowed down a pretty good bit. Now I'm no Spartan, but I'm pretty fast. It was just so much faster. Oh, and there was nobody upstairs at all. No exits up there either. (I think that might be a fire hazard)

After that incident I started getting really excited and started researching a bit more of the haunting of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, even going to the Myrtles plantation in St. Francesville, LA to try and catch some ghosts. I have a pretty good picture of something from there but that was all I got. And it's no damn ORB, it's a woman's face looking out the front door of the house. Oh, wait...I can upload it.

Well things have been interesting but now it's starting to suck. I have a lot of shadows that walk by the doors now. It used to be like the ghosts were hiding from me by moving out of sight just when I look. Now it's like they know I know they are there, because they are coming in the house now. The dog STARES at nothing in the kitchen. He's a really smart dog. If I say, "kill it" when he's all posted up at attention, he will go crazy at whatever he is looking at. But when he's posted up in the kitchen and I say, "Kill it" he just whines, as if to say, "he's already dead." I see deep, deep shadows in mid air in the kitchen also.

This morning it went a step too far. I was trying to get back to sleep after being woken up by a very subtle vibration on the bed. I was lying on my stomach with my legs slightly spread apart. Then it felt like someone was pushing down on the bed. I felt the bed sink in the middle of my legs and to the outside of my left leg like someone was leaning over my waist area. Naturally being wide awake, I freaked out and kicked the blankets off and slid to the head of my bed looking around the room and saw nothing. I have to say also that the room just felt weird. I'm not some kind of medium or anything; the room just felt thick, and weird. I lay back down to see if I could feel anything else. I know it sounds crazy or stupid to do but like I said I was tired of debating the fact of their existence. Yes, the running up the stairs was cool and Myrtle's was creepy, but to get a chance to feel something was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

I lay exactly the way I was when I felt it the first time- thinking this would provoke whatever it was to try something else. I pulled a heavy quilt up to around my shoulders and closed my eyes. Not ever 10 seconds went by when I stated to feel my mattress sink again around my legs. The pressure was not on me, but I could feel the bed sinking in. I kept my eyes closed and felt as if whoever was leaning over me stood back up because the mattress that was being pushed below my legs returned to normal. Then I felt and abrupt shake near my waist again just hitting the mattress. I instantly opened my eyes but stayed still. I saw the quilt that was bunched up on my shoulder lift up and fold back...only a little piece of the blanket, not the whole thing. That's when things got really sketchy. When I saw the quilt move I wanted to get the hell out of the bed but I couldn't move. My body got really tingly. I was completely aware of everything. I know I wasn't breathing but didn't feel like I was losing air. My eyes were moving in real time but my body started moving in like SUPER slow motion to a kneeling position in the middle of my bed. I remember getting angry and wanting to just say, "stop" but I couldn't talk. The best way I can describe it is having complete control of your mind and zero control of your body. In other words, it was scary as hell. While I was on my knees it felt like I could feel every single blood cell in my body moving...pulsing. I really felt like I was going to die, because I knew I still wasn't breathing but it didn't hurt. Then I slowly started leaning to my right but I had to be at like a 45-degree angle with nothing supporting the whole side of my body. I was just SLOWLY being laid down on my side. I didn't feel hands holding anything or me like that. If you are on your knees and you lean over to fall your head and body will hit the bed abruptly. My head was so slowly put on the pillow, like gravity wasn't a factor. I really wasn't scared at this point because I knew I had absolutely no control. It was almost like I decided to just go along for the ride. After I was "laid" back down I could still feel this pulsing all through my body. If you ever cut off the circulation of blood to your hand for a while and let it go white, when you let it go you get this crazy tingling feeling...well that's how this all ended. I suddenly got that feeling only ALL over my body at once. Like my blood started flowing again. I felt it the most in my lips. I regained control of my legs and used those bad boys to get the hell out of my room. I just set up a camera in there that has been filming for about an hour now...I hope I get to see something.

This is all true, and I know it's probably just the beginning

St. Louis Cemetery No.1

by Dina
(Los Angeles, California U.S.A)

Back in 2007, my family and I visited my aunt in New Orleans for two weeks. From what I have heard, New Orleans is one of the most haunted cities in America.

One night my brother, Sebastian and I sneaked out of the house and walked to St. Louis Cemetery No.1. Although I was 15 at the time I believed in ghosts and still do. My brother who was 17 wasn't afraid of anything. He had heard literally all the stories of New Orleans unlike I who hadn't heard about St. Louis Cemetery. Sebastian led me into the cemetery and as soon as I was in I was scared like no tomorrow. I kept very close to my brother and made sure he did not leave my side.

I had been following Sebastian for a while then I decided to roam around by myself. Bad idea. As I walked up and down the aisles I came across one tomb that caught my attention. It was Marie Laveau's. I soon realized that my brother was by my side again. And he started to explain to me the story of Marie Laveau. She was the Voodoo Queen.

A couple of minutes after, my brother led me back to the main entrance where I saw a woman wearing a red and white turban. She was mumbling something I could not understand, but very loudly. I approached her slowly not to scare her. When I was fairly close, she turned her head towards me then just vanished. Sebastian came running to me and asked if I was alright. He didn't see the ghost.

To this day whenever my brother and I visit my aunt we make sure to be careful and be with more people. Although I was not hurt it scared the living crap out of me and my brother. He even later on that year told me that he did indeed see the ghost of Marie Laveau that night.