Saturday, October 31

Halloween Surprise!

Charlaine Harris was in town over the weekend. She was the Guest of Honor at last nights Anne Rice Vampire Ball and had a book signing today the Garden District Book Shop.
She was only signing two books, so I had to pick two out of my five hardbacks to get signed. Many of you might be guessing 'Who is Charlaine Harris?', but you may have heard of HBO's True Blood - she writes the books about Sookie and that series.

The signing was from 1 to 3 pm and we got there a little after 1 to then wait in line for TWO HOURS, but it was fun people-watching since many dressed up for the event.
One of the many tattoos being given out.
P.S. Y'all like my Halloween Tree?

My 2009 Halloween Costume is...

Hera
(known as Juno to the Romans)
Her very name translates as the "Great Lady" and more than any of the other Greek goddesses, the goddess Hera reminds us that there is both light and dark within each of us. Summed up and dismissed as a shrew and a nag, Hera was in fact the most powerful of all the Olympian goddesses. She's a symbol of the struggle for women's power and equality in a still prominently patriarchal world and also represents the power of women to stand for what they know is right, even in the face of societal disapproval and scorn.
*** Pictures to Come ***

Happy Halloween

Friday, October 30

New Orleans’ TRUE Dark History

Delphine Macarty Lalaurie, also known as Madam Lalaurie, was a socialite and sadist in New Orleans in the 1800s. After several neighbors saw her cowhiding a young servant girl in the mansion's courtyard, rumors began to spread around town that Mme. Lalaurie treated her servants viciously. One young girl had been brushing Mme. Lalaurie's hair in the upstairs bedroom. The young servant hit a snag in Delphine's hair, causing Lalaurie to become enraged. The girl ran away from Delphine, rather than be subjected to her punishments. By several accounts, the servant girl jumped to her death from the roof when cornered by Mme. Lalaurie. She was quickly brought into the Lalaurie Mansion, but not before being observed by neighbors, who would file a complaint. The neighbors would later assert that the young girl was carried into the courtyard late that night, and buried inside the well. The legal situation was handled by Judge Caponage, a friend of the Lalauries, who had visited the house on a previous occasion concerning the welfare of the Lalaurie servants. The Lalauries' slaves were taken away, and the Lalauries fined a mere $300. (Although some of Lalaurie's relatives quickly "bought" them back and quickly sent them back to her.) On April 10, 1834, during another party, a fire broke out in the kitchen of the mansion. The kitchen, as was the norm in Spanish mansions, was separate from the home and located over the carriageway building across the courtyard. The firemen entered the building through the courtyard. To their surprise, there were two slaves chained to the stove in the kitchen. It appeared as though the slaves had set the fire themselves in order to attract attention. However, the biggest surprise was to be found in the attic, where the fire brigade was directed by the other slaves. The door was bolted, and the fire brigade had to use a battering ram to open the door. What they found would make their stomachs wrench; inside the crawlspace attic was the stench of death. Dozens of disfigured and maimed slaves were manacled to the walls or floor. Several had been exposed to gruesome medical experiments. One man looked as though he had been victim of some bizarre makeshift sex change. Another was trapped inside a small cage, where her arms and legs had been badly broken and then reset at odd angles, making her appear as some sort of "human crab." Another woman had her arms and legs removed and patches of her flesh had been sliced off in a circular motion to make her appear as a giant caterpillar. Some had their mouths sewn shut and had then starved to death. Others had their hands sewn to different parts of their bodies. One woman had her entrails pulled out of her stomach at was secured to the floor by her own intestines. Most of the victims were found dead. The ones who were still alive died shortly after. As the discoveries were made, a mob gathered outside of the Lalaurie Mansion, demanding justice of the Lalaurie's, but not before Delphine escaped by horse and carriage to Bayou St. John, where it is said she paid the captain of a schooner to carry her across to Mandeville or Covington. Many claimed they escaped to Paris. Others say they remained on the outskirts of New Orleans.
The house now-a-days is owned by none other than Nicholas Cage.

Thursday, October 29

Halloween Hints

My Halloween outfit is coming together quite nicely.
Can you guess who I'll be?
Hint # 1 : This person has two names, b/c of one - many people believe that the most favorable time to marry is June.
Hint # 2 : This person is known mostly for their vindictive nature.
Hint # 3 : This person has large beautiful eyes and the peacock is their symbolic animal b/c it has iridescent feathers that resemble "eyes"
Any guesses?

Wednesday, October 28

'Tis the season...

...well, in New Orleans at least. Halloween, or as many New Orleanians refer to it, "the other Mardi Gras" hits the city in full force this weekend. My Halloween Plans:
Frenchmen Street, Marigny
Continuing their Halloween tradition as one of the biggest celebrations, Lower Decatur Street and Frenchmen Street has become the place to see and be seen on Halloween night. Live music in the clubs and on the streets and costumed revelers everywhere. Throngs of partygoers, including locals and tourists, take to the streets donning elaborate costumes all night.

Tuesday, October 27

Boo Carré

Over the weekend, I went to the first annual Boo Carré Halloween and Harvest Festival in the French Quarter. It had everything from: picking pumpkins, trick-or-treating, and dancing to live music; encountering vampires, Mardi Gras Indians, Living History Project zombies; there were ghost tours and scavenger hunts, a vampire film festival, and even a mock-Funeral Procession; you could view a harvest fashion show/costume contest, sip cider while sitting on a bale of hay in the French Market, or watch pumpkin carvers prepare for the pumpkin procession (where wagons and carriages delivered carved and decorated pumpkins from the Farmers Market to Washington Artillery Park for a lighting on the steps across from Jackson Square). Lots to choose from and it was three full days of spooky Fall'ish events!

Monday, October 26

Who Dat!

Something non-Halloween related...
Sunday’s (October 25) game drew more viewers in New Orleans than the past two Super Bowls, usually the most-watched TV event of the year. The 46-34 win against the Miami Dolphins was what EVERYONE was talking about today. Being non-defeated and ranked # 2 in the 2009 NFL Power Rankings: Week 7 isn't too bad!

Sunday, October 25

Only in New Orleans

Another Holiday. Another reason to have a Parade. My 80's costume inspiration. Marni's Victorian look and Amie's Vampiress look (san teeth)
They had some amazing Halloween throws and I was lucky enough to catch a skeleton goblet which I ended up using for the rest of the night.



Funny enough that my costume for next weekend is quite different.
It's like Project Runway in my apartment right now with fabrics and ribbons thrown everywhere. It's a homemade look that I'll hopefully have completed by Halloween.

Saturday, October 24

"Throw Me Something, Monster !!!"

The Krewe of Boo New Orleans’ Official Halloween Parade!
The parade will feature 14 floats, high school marching bands, Halloween-themed throws, a cast of New Orleans-inspired spooky characters, dance teams and even a troupe of vampires (a vampire ballet group) in town for the Vampire Film Fest, which is making its New Orleans debut today through Monday at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center.
* Pictures to Come *

Friday, October 23

Harem of Horror

The imposing pink building with black iron-lace "frills" on the corner of Orleans and Dauphine streets has dominated the French quarter for more than 150 years not only in height, but in legend and mystery as well. Although a plaque by the entrance calls it "Le Prete House," (spelled Le Pretre by some) it is more commonly referred to as "The Sultan's House" by native New Orleanians in honor of the exotic ghost believed to inhabit it. Over the many generations the building has stood there, it has run the full circle from riches to rags and back again - from a luxurious town mansion of the 1800s to a dilapidated tenement of the mid-2oth century and now to a proximity of its former glory, as one of the most charming buildings in the present Quarter. La Prete was one of these who lost much of their fortune and found that he was forced to rent out his wonderful home. His tenant was a mysterious Turk who claimed to be a deposed Sultan of some distant land. The Turk brought with him a fortune in gold and established a line of credit at all of the banks. He used his wealth to transform the Creole house into an eastern pleasure palace. The doors and windows were covered and blocked, heavy incense filled the air and men patrolled the grounds with curved daggers in their belts. The iron gates around the property were chained and locked and the house became a virtual fortress. What no one suspected, was that the brother had fled to America with large quantities of gold and jewels as well as at least half a dozen wives that he had stolen from his elder brother, the sultan. So it was that the brother, self-proclaimed as a sultan, moved in with his fabulous treasure and his bevy of sensuous maidens and set up house in Oriental splendor where he was known to entertain quite lavishly on occasions. One fateful night, however, goes the story, the gay laughter suddenly turned to frenzied shrieks and the merrymaking to noisy confusion, when a band of assassins, believed to have been sent by the rightful sultan to avenge the wrongs done him, burst in on the party and, with merciless swords, cut down the upstart. There is also some question as to the whys and wherefores of that horrendous crime. Although the majority of people accept the version that the foul deed was done by the sultan's hired henchmen who had tracked down the younger brother from Turkey to New Orleans in a sworn vendetta, others argue that the real culprits were closer to home, mainly the very crew of the ship which had brought the wayward Turk and his stolen cargo to port. For a long time afterward, people insisted that an occasional tinkle of Oriental music or the faint odor of heavy incense would come floating out of the house, and some declared that they heard shrill, unexplained screams coming from different parts of the huge four-story mansion. Over the years, the "sultan" himself has been glimpse walking around the rooms, appearing and disappearing without a word, as if still bewildered by all that happened there.

Thursday, October 22

Cities of the Dead

Enter any New Orlean's cemetary gate and you will be greeted by decorative, rusty ironwork, and blinded by the sun bleached tombs. Crosses and statues on tomb tops cast contrasting shadows adding a sense of mystery. Votive candles line tombs on holidays to remind you the Dead have living relatives that still care. New Orleans has always respected the dead, but this isn't the reason the tombs of departed loved ones are interred above ground.
Early settlers in the area struggled with different methods to bury the dead. Burial plots are shallow in New Orleans because the water table is high. Dig a few feet down, and the grave becomes soggy, filling with water. The casket will literally float. You just can't keep a good person down! The early settlers tried by placing stones in and on top of coffins to weigh them down and keep them underground. Unfortunately, after a rainstorm, the rising water table would literally pop the airtight coffins out of the ground. To this day, unpredictable flooding still lifts an occasional coffin out of the ground in those areas generally considered safe from flooding and above the water table.
New Orleans' graves were kept above ground following the Spanish custom of using vaults. The walls of these cemeteries are made up of economical vaults that are stacked on top of one another. The rich and wealthier families could afford the larger ornate tombs with crypts. Many family tombs look like miniature houses complete with iron fences. The rows of tombs resemble streets. There are 42 cemeteries in the New Orleans area with many interesting, fascinating stories. You will notice that flowers, votive candles and hoodoo money (coins left for favors) are left at many of the notable graves. At 90%, New Orleans holds the largest percentage of above ground burials in America.
New Orleans cemeteries have a decidedly European look and feel, but are unique in the look and layouts that the Creoles and later ethnic groups decided were important as they were developed. This gives the city's cemeteries a personal nature that is purely New Orleans.

Wednesday, October 21

VooDoo - Marie Laveau

No study of ghostly tales or strangeness in New Orleans would be complete without mention of Marie Laveau, the unchallenged "Queen of Voodoo" in New Orleans. This mystical religion is as big a part of New Orleans as jazz, Cajun food and Mardi Gras. Before you start thinking that Voodoo is something of the past however, you should be aware that the religion is as alive today as it was in the days of Marie Laveau. On a recent trip to New Orleans, one can visit no less than 4 Voodoo shops and a Voodoo museum, plus many different Voodoo priestesses! But there has been no practitioner of Voodoo greater than Marie Laveau and no look at the religion in New Orleans would be complete without a mysterious glimpse of the woman who made it so famous. And at the ghostly tales which keep her memory alive today..... The actual religion of Voodoo, or “Voudon”, originated from the ancient practices of Africa. Voodoo came about most likely in Santo Domingo (modern day Haiti) where slaves devoted rituals to the power of nature and the spirits of the dead. The term “voodoo” was probably adapted from the African Fon spirit, “vodu”.For many enslaved Africans, such spiritual traditions provided a means of emotional and spiritual resistance to the hardships of life. In time, slaves from the Caribbean were brought to New Orleans and they brought Voodoo with them.
She is referred to as the Queen of Voodoo. She was born in 1783, to Marguerite Darcantel, a slave from Haiti and Mistress of a wealthy plantation owner, a Frenchman, Charles Laveau. She bore her father’s name and was a free woman of color. She was raised within the strict guidelines of the Catholic Church. A devout Catholic, she went to mass everyday of her life. She was a dark skinned woman with long black hair that she frequently wore in a single braid making her look much like an Indian or a Gypsy, probably adding to her mystique. In 1819, she married Jacques Paris, a native of Santo Domingo. He died a short time later and she was to be referred to as the “Widow Paris”. She later became mistress to Christophe Glapion with whom she had numerous children. Some accounts speak of her having as many as 15 children, it is believed however that she actually only had three daughters, one of which was also named Marie.
Marie Laveau was a hairdresser who, in 1826 became intrigued with the first New Orleans Voodoo Queen, Sanite DeDe. She began to study herbs and the secrets of the Voodoo religion. In spite of her attraction to Voodoo, she never abandoned her Catholic roots. She saw similarities between the two, particularly, between the Voodoo Loas and the Saints. Both demi-gods under one Supreme Being, each having a specific purpose. She incorporated the use of candles and Holy Water in Voodoo rituals. It was because of this “blending” of religions that the White Creole Catholics began to find Voodoo a bit more palatable. Actually, the church was conned into believing that the Voodouns had converted to Catholicism! By the 1830’s, Marie Laveau was the Queen of Voodoo and Voodoo once again was practiced inside the city limits.
She retired as Queen in 1875. Although throughout her reign she was feared by many a New Orleanian, when she died at the age of 98 in 1881, many people believed she was a saint. She is buried in St. Louis Cemetery # 1. Thousands of visitors flock to her grave site each year to make a wish or give thanks for wishes granted. Offerings of food, money, cigarettes or anything else that someone might deem of value can be found place at the foot of the grave.
Countless stories of Voodoo murders still crop up throughout New Orleans today.

Tuesday, October 20

Scrying Mirror

Halloween is the time of year when many believe the barrier between the living and those who have gone before becomes thinner and more transparent, and when spells for Halloween are thought to have particular resonance and power.
Those who celebrate Halloween's deeper history believe strongly in its traditions and rituals, and even those who do not believe in witches and the supernatural appear to have a wish for there to be some truth in the superstitions. People like to be beguiled by "what if."
For centuries, there have been rituals performed by young women at this time of year to find out who their future lover will be, and no doubt performed just as frequently by young men although they don't appear to be mentioned in the books that cite these practices.
Scrying is the practice of looking into a reflected surface such as water or a mirror, to divine the future, and one of the most enduring scrying rituals has been for a young woman to go to her mirror at midnight, light a candle and comb her hair. It was believed that if she concentrated silently on asking who she would marry, she would see an image reflected in the mirror of her future life partner.
There are many variations on this superstition; some suggested that she should simply allow her mind to open to the universe so that she would receive a mind image of her future lover's face. An alternative to reflections in a glass was use the reflective properties of water as a scrying mirror. A woman would take a lamp to light her way to a moonlit pond or stream, and then leaning over the bank at midnight to see her reflection in the water she believed she would see the face of her future lover.