Haunted Baton Rouge (Haunted America) - Softcover

Steed, Bud

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1609498623 ISBN 13: 9781609498627

Verlag: HISTORY PR, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Historic tales of ghosts and hauntings in Baton Rouge.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Bud Steed is investigation manager for TOPS, The Ozarks Paranormal Society, based in southwest Missouri. Author of Haunted Natchez Trace and Haunted Mississippi Gulf Coast, Steed is an accomplished photographer and he writes a weekly column about ghosts and hauntings. Hope Steed Kennedy is a Baton Rouge native.

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Haunted Baton Rouge

By Bud Steed, Hope Steed Kennedy

The History Press

Copyright © 2013 Bud Steed
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60949-862-7

Contents

Acknowledgements, 
Introduction, 
Is Baton Rouge Haunted?, 
A Brief History of the "Red Stick", 
The Ghosts and Hauntings of Baton Rouge, 
1. The Ghosts of the Pentagon Barracks, 
Sadie's Ghost, 
The Shadow Man, 
2. The Old Arsenal Museum, 
Billy Boy's Ghost, 
The Inquisitive Ghost, 
3. Baton Rouge National Cemetery, 
Spirits in the Mist, 
The Walker, 
4. USS Kidd, 
Below Decks, 
Other Experiences, 
5. Highland Road, 
6. The Old State Capitol Building, 
Pierre Couvillion, 
The Soldier, 
Other Experiences, 
7. The Old Baton Rouge General Hospital, 
The Angry Nurse, 
The Doctor, 
8. The Old State Prison Store, 
The Convict, 
The Yard, 
9. The Spanish Moon Bar, 
Cypress Hollow Tavern, 
10. The Hilton Hotel (Heidelberg Hotel), 
The Cigar-Smoking Ghost, 
The White Lady, 
11. Magnolia Mound Plantation, 
History of Magnolia Mound, 
The Overseer's House, 
The Quarter House, 
The Main House, 
12. St. James Episcopal Church, 
Brigadier General Thomas Williams, 
The Lady in the Pew, 
13. The Old Cottage Plantation, 
14. St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, 
The Cemetery, 
The Gravedigger, 
15. Ghosts of LSU, 
Pleasant Hall, 
The Hanging Tree, 
Conclusion, 
Bibliography, 
About the Author, 

CHAPTER 1

The Ghosts of the Pentagon Barracks

The Baton Rouge Barracks, nicknamed the "Pentagon Barracks" due to the layout of the buildings, were built over a period of about six years, from 1819 to 1825. James Gadsden, a captain in the U.S. Army, designed the two-story brick buildings and oversaw their construction. The buildings were laid out forming four sides of a regular pentagon, with an additional building housing a commissary and warehouse making up the fifth side. The commissary building was torn down not long after its construction due to an oversight in construction that rendered it unstable and unusable; however, the name Pentagon Barracks would live on.

In January 1861, the State of Louisiana seized the barracks and the adjoining arsenal from the Union troops who occupied it in a bloodless attack and turned over the operation of the complex to the Confederate States of America. Confederate troops were housed at the barracks until they evacuated Baton Rouge in April 1862 during the Battle of New Orleans. By May of that year, the barracks and all of Baton Rouge were in the hands of the Union army. The Confederates staged an attempt to regain the city in August. About six thousand Confederate troops attacked just north of the city and were defeated by about eighteen thousand firmly entrenched Union soldiers. The town was damaged badly, and several civilians, as well as numerous soldiers from both sides, including Union general Thomas Williams, were killed during the attack. The Union army would rename the facility Fort Williams in General Williams's honor. By 1884, the barracks were no longer in use by the army. After a resolution passed by the General Assembly of Louisiana, the property and buildings were allocated to Louisiana State University. The school would gain full possession of the property around 1886, and it would remain there until moving to its new campus in 1926. For the most part, the barracks would fluctuate between usage and abandonment up until 1976, when the property was transferred back to the State of Louisiana and then placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Work would begin on the buildings shortly after that, and today they house the Pentagon Barracks Museum, the lieutenant governor's offices and private apartments for the use of state legislators when they are in the city. Lots of stories have circulated about the barracks over the years, and several legislators have moved out of the apartments due to strange occurrences, preferring to obtain their own quarters rather than stay at the converted barracks.

Sadie's Ghost

After the Civil War, the facility and grounds would continue to house American troops and, by all accounts, was the site of the rape and murder of a young black woman referenced only as Sadie. Said to have taken place around 1868, the perpetrator was unfortunately never caught. As the story goes, a group of soldiers was returning from the city after enjoying an evening pass when they happened to hear the bloodcurdling screams of a woman coming from the woods near the barracks. After investigating, they discovered the body of a young black woman, her clothing torn and partially removed, who had been stabbed several times in a rather brutal fashion. The stab wounds were to her lower stomach and genitalia, and her throat had been savagely slashed. Boot prints and one brass button were reportedly found near her body, the button being firmly grasped in her hand as if she had ripped it from her attacker's shirt in the final struggle for her life. The button was recognized as coming from a military uniform, and the barracks were searched in hopes that by finding it, they would find the killer. But the uniform was never found; it was most likely disposed of by the murderer as he fled the scene. The case was closed due to a lack of leads, although I would suspect that given the era in which it happened and the fact that the victim was a young black woman, not much effort was expended to find the killer.

Apparently, the young murder victim, Sadie, wasn't satisfied with the results of the case, because for several years afterward, stories were circulated about a young black girl who could be seen walking the grounds of the barracks, clutching her stomach. Thinking that someone was in distress, a trooper or two would go to investigate only to see the woman fade from sight. One particular incident that was rumored to have taken place was her appearance to the commander of the troops stationed at the barracks. While lying in bed one night, he was awakened by someone standing at the foot of his bed. Thinking an orderly had entered the room due to some difficulty that required his attention, he sat up and asked what was wrong. Getting no reply, he asked several more times, still getting no reply. Aggravated at what he thought was an insubordinate soldier, he got up and struck a match to light the lamp next to his bed. It was in the light of the match that he realized that it wasn't a soldier at all but rather a young black girl. Confused, he finished lighting the lamp and then directed his full attention to the woman. That is when he saw that she was drenched in blood from the waist down, her eyes staring vacantly at him. The legend holds that he rushed to her side, thinking she had been injured and wandered in seeking help, while shouting for his orderly to come help. As he reached her side, she slowly began to fade from sight and took on an almost luminous cast. As both he and the freshly arrived orderly watched in horror, she turned and walked through the wall, disappearing from sight. Both men are reported to have rushed outside, but no trace of the woman could be found. When the men returned to the commander's quarters, no trace of blood could be found on the floors, walls or bedding. This happened for several nights in a row (causing the officer great mental stress, I'm sure), and on the last night she appeared, he had his orderly firmly set in the corner of the room keeping watch. When she appeared, the officer summoned...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: HISTORY PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1609498623
• ISBN 13: 9781609498627
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 123
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar