Ghosts Taught Me to Cuss in French

Jennifer grew up in New Orleans, so she was already accustomed to ghosts. But even after she left her haunted home town, the ghosts continued to bug her. Sometimes they scolded her, sometimes they teased her, and sometimes they just taught her how to swear. This is also our first official video episode of the Homespun Haints podcast! Watch it right here:

Of course, you can still access the audio-only version through your podcast player, should that be your preference.

Today’s guest got fast-tracked to an interview because she’s a Patron of HH! If you feel moved to help support our show, you too can become a patron at patreon.com/homespunhaints. There are even benefits at the free level of membership.

Haunted Bars in The French Quarter

Jennifer told us a story about her experience at The Morgue Bar in the French Quarter. The Morgue Bar used to be located at 626 St. Philip Street in New Orleans. The building served as a morgue during the yellow fever epidemic in the 1850s. In the Summer of 1853, nearly 1/5th of the city’s population suffered and died from the disease.

The Morgue Bar

The same building later became The Morgue Bar & Lounge. Not just named for it’s previous use, the bar was wholly morgue-themed, embracing its macabre history, as New Orleans tends to do. During its operation as a bar, patrons and staff often reported strange occurrences, such as refrigerators mysteriously unplugging, and toilets overflowing for no apparent reason.

The Crow Bar

The Morgue Bar was unfortunately more of a tourist spot than a fun place to hang out, although it wasn’t not fun, being surrounded by spooky stuff. At the time, Diana preferred another bar just a couple blocks over on Decatur, called The Crow Bar. That one was an actual goth club. A legacy goth club, dating back to the 1980’s. A New Orleans legend, in its own right. So goth, in fact, that when they offered free admission on Halloween night to patrons in costume, Diana’s costume (as the character Death from The Sandman comic) was deemed too pedestrian, and she had to pay a cover.

In an interesting bit of French Quarter goth trivia, the former owner of The Morgue actually purchased The Crow Bar, and renamed it The Whirling Dervish.

Haunted Nottoway Plantation

Today’s guest also had a personal story from when she visited Nottoway Plantation in her youth. Nottoway, the largest antebellum plantation mansion in the South, is notably haunted. The most well-known ghost is called Miss Josephine. She’s suspected to be one of the daughters of the original owner, John Randolph. In life, Josephine never married, and remained at Nottoway until her death. Visitors and staff hear her footsteps, and catch glimpses of a figure in a white gown.

The Louisiana plantation is so haunted, it was featured on Discovery Channel’s “Ghost Lab.” Fortunately, most of the property’s spirits are friendly. Well, friendly to adults, at least. Perhaps young Jennifer’s admittedly bratty behavior was just enough to send Miss Josephine over the edge.

Ghost Tour in Galveston, TX

After leaving insanely haunted New Orleans to end up in slightly less haunted Texas, for the first time Jennifer didn’t feel constantly haunted. She must’ve missed that feeling, as she sought out local ghostly tourism opportunities. She wanted to share that Eddy Specter’s Ghost Tour really is the #1 haunted afterdark activity in Galveston, TX. Find out more at facebook.com/eddyspecter.

Video Episodes of Homespun Haints

Well Hainted Loves, what did you think of Homespun Haints’ first video episode? Did you enjoy getting to watch our shocked reactions to our guest’s spooky Southern ghost stories? We’d love if you left us a comment on YouTube about what you thought. While you’re there, you might want to subscribe to our YouTube channel, because we are working behind the scenes to bring you more video content soon. Stay tuned, and hopefully you’re already having a spooky day!