The Bourbon Orleans hotel has plenty of spirits who refuse to check out.
TV medium Chip Coffey placed two flashlights on the desk before him in the ballroom of the Bourbon Orleans hotel. The medium known for A&E’s “Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal” was in New Orleans to promote his latest book, “Growing Up Psychic” (2012 Three Rivers Press—see book review below). The trick was to turn on the flashlights by just a hair, so that they would be turned off but any small movement would turn them back on. Once the two flashlights were in their prime position, Coffey asked the spirits present to turn them back on.
They came on instantly. And then it happened again and again, flickering as if some spirit—or spirits—was having fun. Sometimes they flickered in response to his questions.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Coffey said.
The ballroom of the Bourbon Orleans, a historic French Quarter hotel at 717 Orleans St. in New Orleans, is known for its ghosts. Coffey believed the ones playing havoc with the flashlights were children, spirits others have seen at the hotel. For instance, some have seen the blond girl who plays on the staircase and enters hotel rooms, causing mischief. At one time, nuns owned the building for an orphanage and many children died there in 1888 during a yellow fever epidemic.
The hotel was first built as the Théâtre d’Orléans (Orleans Theater) with an accompanying ballroom, site of the city's Grand Masquerade Balls. It was said that, “these balls made the capitols of Europe envious.” According to a local newspaper the Orleans Ballroom was both, “the ornament and pride of New Orleans,” and “is without a doubt the most richly decorated in the United States."
Later it became the site for the Quadroon Balls, where light-skinned educated African American women were paraded in a ball in the hopes of becoming mistresses to wealthy Creole men through “plaçage,” or a strict social arrangement. Author and historian Grace King wrote, “The Quadroon Balls were the principal diversion for white gentleman.”
In 1825 the grandest of the balls was held at the Orleans Ballroom for the nobleman and Revolutionary Waar hero the Marquis De Lafayette.
In 1881, the Orleans Ballroom was sold to the Sisters of the Holy Family, and became a convent, orphanage and school run by the Second Order of Negro Catholic Nuns.
Now, of course, the Bourbon Orleans is a hotel, complete with fun bar, restaurant, center pool and patio area. The historic ballroom remains, however, the only original structure.
Who Haunts the Bourbon Orleans?
During a quadroon ball, “Giselle” received two contracts to be a mistress to Creole gentlemen. The first died and the other left town so the ghost of Giselle is known to frequent the ballroom, seen around the ballroom’s chandelier or looking forlorn while gazing out the ballroom's windows.
A Confederate soldier shows up as a hazy apparition who floats through the hallways.
Legend has it that a nun committed suicide in Room 644, although the Sisters of the Holy Family have never confirmed such an event. The hotel claims that cries can be heard in this rooftop room overlooking the city and actor James Franco, who stayed in the room during a film shoot, experienced the water faucet turning on and off on its own accord.
I stayed in the room but witnessed no paranormal activity, although a friend down the hall had her television turning on and off all night.
For a spirit of another kind, visit the Bourbon Orleans' Bourbon O Bar serves up the frothy, refreshing Ramos Gin Fizz, invented by New Orleans resident and bartender Henry C. Ramos and shaken six minutes to achieve gin fizz perfection.
Review of "Growing Up Psychic"
Back in the early 2010s, I religiously watched A&E’s “Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal,” in which children having trouble understanding their gifts are brought together and guided by adult psychics and counselors. One of those psychics is Chip Coffey, who appears genuinely interested in helping children understand and live with speaking or hearing unseen entities.
Coffey grew up psychic, although he didn’t fully understand and embrace what he calls a “gift from God” until later in life. His 2012 book published by Three Rivers Press, “Growing Up Psychic: My Story of Not Just Surviving but Thriving — and How Others Like Me Can, Too,” aims to go beyond the TV series, helping children and parents cope with being intuitive.
The book is filled with Coffey’s life story, psychic experiences growing up in a haunted house, tales from children of the TV series and intuitive people Coffey has met. A handy dictionary in the back explains the different types of psychic abilities.
Whether you have children with gifts, experience your own intuitive abilities or are like me, fascinated by those who do, this book is a great, personal guide to the paranormal.
Weird, Wacky & Wild South is written by travel writer Cheré Dastugue Coen, author of "Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana" and the Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire.
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