New Orleans - Part One - 2007 The Beyond Series Supernatural Inspiration

I am writing two parts to New Orleans because I loved it so much I went for the second year running. So 2007 trip I stayed at The Sheraton. Very salubriously posh and on a short walk away from the French Quarter, which is where we wanted to be. There was a gym and hotel pool on the roof and I spent a couple days there just chilling and sunbathing, which was gorgeous.

I had been put on the 45^th floor or something ridiculously high like that, I couldn’t look out of the window without suffering vertigo or panicking about low flying aeroplanes! But the rooms were just amazing and sumptuous. Sinking into the double beds (two of them) with more pillows than any sane person required, soft white cotton sheets in billowing fluffy duvets and a fluffy fleece throw to boot. Ahh luxury.

The only problem was we had to change rooms because the door lock kept jamming and we had to travel back to the reception in a super-fast express lift that actually missed the first twenty floors out because I guess the designers of the hotel didn’t think twenty floors warranted extra speed down to the ground floor!

So I got a new room, even higher up! I complained about my vertigo, but the hotel was virtually full, so as compensation I was given a key to the VIP lounge. Now THAT’S what I’m talking about. Free breakfast, free dinner canopies and champagne in a sumptuous lounge overlooking the city and the Mississippi. Brilliant. Yes, I could cope with the height!

As I went to explore the French Quarter for the first time, I was overwhelmed by the humidity and we had to stop at a coffee shop on Decataur. This was before we found the Café du Monde. I wrote about this in Lycan Lamia because I loved it so much and I would sit outside and have beignet (square donuts dipped in icing sugar) and freshly squeezed orange juice while buskers would serenade the customers eating outside by the river.

I went on a tour around the French Quarter on a horse and carriage and stopped off at the oldest tavern in the US and had a Tornado Volcano cocktail as we continued the tour through Jackson Square. I also went on a Ghost Tour and Voodoo Tour around the Quarter.








Some of the stories I remember were quite gruesome, men believing in voodoo to the point where they die of unknown illnesses, a rich merchants wife who used her slaves to torture and drink their blood… (Nicholas Cage apparently now owns the building) and murderous intent at a tavern, then saved by a ghostly spirit.




The best one I went to was a restaurant and at the back was a ghost table laid out for two poltergeists. They believed that by laying food wine and candle at the table every night they prevented paranormal activity in the restaurant. The table was very creepy and a feeling of foreboding and being watched by some malevolent spirit.

I loved it so much we went for a meal there one night to get a closer look at the table and see if could see any ghosts. I was so inspired I wrote several chapters to the Daryavaush Paranormal Investigation team meeting there and performing a voodoo ritual in another landmark St Andrews Hotel, which is known as the most haunted hotel in Louisana. I never stayed there, but I would like to if I ever return.

I also went on a few tours. The first was a tour of the Garden District, which I travelled to on a traditional American tram car or trolley bus. It was so lovely to finally be pointed out all the major landmarks in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches trilogy. I saw the Lafayette cemetery, Anne Rice’s actual home, her second home she used just to house her doll collection and which is now Nicholas Cage’s other New Orleans home and the house used to film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.




The homes were huge and elegant. I loved it here and I decided if I ever became very rich I would buy a place in the Garden District. After the tour I found the most incredible cheese cake shop and café. The portions were so huge one didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day!

 The cruise on a traditional Mississippi steam boat, The Natchez was amazing. I ate a delicious traditional cajun meal, drank bourbon and danced to a live band for a very traditional New Orleans evening.

A trip to New Orleans cannot be complete without visiting some Plantation Houses.




This was where the very rich lived, huge sprawling mansions with cotton plantations at the back of the house, the land leading all the way down to the river. Every house had its own slaves, housed in slavery huts out the back yard. I visited the Oak plantation which was used in Gone with the Wind and Interview with a Vampire films, which is how I always imagine plantation houses to look, all white washed panelling, tall pillars and Grecian style porches.

But also saw on the tour the Laura Plantation, which was a large wooden bungalow on stilts in case of Mississippi flooded. There were two staircases, one for men and the other for women, because their dresses were so wide, it prevented men seeing the women’s ankles when they walked up the staircase and therefore keeping their decency and reputation intact. Oddly women owned the plantations and the Laura was passed down to the eldest daughter. The bedroom was the office and all meetings of business were held in an opulent bedroom with the female head of the household.

I booked on a Ghost, Vampire and Voodoo walking tour around the French Quarter at night which was very atmospheric - this is Pirate Alley and I think you'll agree looks quite spooky and I think was used as a scene in Interview With A Vampire, but more about that in my next New Orleans Blog.
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