Beyond The Grave Podcast: Recent Episodes
Beyond The Grave
From the editors of New Orleans Magazine and Renaissance Publishing, Beyond the Grave is a new seasonal podcast bringing the macabre and spooky history of New Orleans to light.
We all know the Pontalba Buildings that run along the sides of the St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square, but do you know the story of the woman who built them?
The Baroness survived death, a barrage of bullets and much adversity before leaving her mark on New Orleans and beyond!
What do a Kansas City business man, Chicago millionaire and a railroad tycoon all have in common? Death, poison and Minnie Wallace.
But was this New Orleans Creole beauty really a cold-blooded killer? Or was she just unlucky in love?
An immortal vampire that found his way to New Orleans? Some believe that the mysterious former New Orleans resident Jacques St. Germain and the infamous Comte de Saint Germain share more than just a bloodline...
"When I die, I'm going to take the whole town with me." What is the story behind this haunting message? And who was Julia Brown?
On this Halloween, our friend Poppy Tooker shares all of her ghostly encounters at the popular Tujaque's Restaurant. From drag queens to child ghosts, Poppy has a story for everyone!
As if 1930s Depression Era New Orleans wasn't stressful enough, two brothers terrified New Orleanians as they fed their way through the French Quarter. Though caught, hanged and buried; years later the bodies of John and Wayne Carter mysteriously disappeared. Were they really the Vampire Brothers after all? And if so, where are they now?
In December 2015, Lisa Walley Staggs posted on her Facebook page that a "tree" had been lit on a random floor of the abandoned Charity Hospital. Abandoned since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the typically dark building sported holiday cheer, but why? Who or what was in there?
In 1927, a gruesome and murderous scene was found as police entered 715 Ursuline Street in the heart of the French Quarter and found two young women, expertly butchered and placed into traveling trunks. The suspects? The women's husbands, brothers named Henry and Joseph Moity. This week's story includes murder, "lady fingers," a prison escape and more!
Though made famous by author Anne Rice with tales of vampires and witches, her noteworthy New Orleans home at 1239 First Street in the Garden District has a much longer and more ominous past. The Greek Revival-style house was built in the 1850s and spans a sizable 9,000 square feet of living space, perfect for the dead that still inhabit the property amongst the living.
Sources/extras:
https://touringlouisianaplantations.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/brevard-rice-house-new-orleans-la/
http://www.historyshomes.com/detail.cfm?id=860
Historical Marker Database: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=51523
http://old-new-orleans.com/NO_Rosegate.html
Legend says the New Orleans Superdome was built atop the former Girod Street Cemetery, which was established in 1822 and housed 1,100 tombs. Is this the reason why, at their inception, the Saints never had a winning season? Was the curse ever broken? Do the living and the dead chant "Who Dat" in harmony on game days?
Story Aid:
ESPN article by Mike Triplett
Girod Street Cemetery:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girod_Street_Cemetery
http://www.oakandlaurel.com/blog/the-last-moments-of-girod-street-cemetery