Who haunts the Opelousas Museum?

Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center

            Living history roams the Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center, walking among the Clifton Chenier zydeco records, Civil War relics and around the barbershop chair where Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame got his last haircut. There are specters who refuse to leave the 1935 building, whose incarnations included the Sibille’s Funeral Home, a church and the Opelousas Library.

            Director Delores Guillory had no idea of the building’s history when she first started working at the Opelousas Museum. Her first clue came when she was alone in the building, sitting at her desk inside the office.

            “The front door opened and it closed,” Guillory said. “I looked over and nobody came. I looked at the door and there was no one.”

            Guillory even went so far as to check the outside porch and sidewalk and both were empty. When her supervisor returned, she recalled the story. To her surprise, the supervisor laughed.

            “That’s when she told me about it once being a funeral home,” Guillory said.

            Other events followed, including hearing startling noises like something falling from the wall. Once a loud noise emanated from the Civil War room and Guillory smelled cigarettes after investigating.

            Another time she was sitting in the hallway when the back door opened and closed. At first she chalked it up to the security guard who liked to tease her about the ghosts, but when she called him up on the phone, he was the park.

            “I said okay, that was our ghost again.”

The Civil War Room

            Others have experienced sightings as well. One employee spotted something white and whispy moving across her line of sight by the Civil War Room.

            “All of sudden something went across cold cold and she smelled perfume,” Guillory explained. “We told her about the ghosts. The next day she quit.”

            A worker performing community service at the museum halted at the mannequin in the Mardi Gras display, a man bedecked in a long mink and velvet robe. The elaborate robe was created for Nolan Simmons, who reigned as King Orme XLVIII in the 1994 Carnival season in Opelousas. Today, it adorns the mannequin inside a glass case, with a mirror behind so visitors can view all sides.

            “She said I have to get out of here,” Guillory related of the woman’s experience at the mannequin. “She said there’s a bad vibe in here.”

            Some people halt at the front door, feeling the paranormal vibe and refusing to set foot inside, Guillory said.

            Louisiana Spirits paranormal investigators spent an evening in the museum and heard unusual sounds they couldn’t account for, but they did debunk the mystery of the moving dolls in the display cases. The dolls were not laying flat within the cases so footsteps in the hall caused the cabinets to shake and move, said Jennifer Broussard of Louisiana Spirits. Investigator Charles Gardner managed to get one doll to turn completely as he walked in the hallway, he said.

This story was an excerpt from "Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana" by Cheré Coen, published by The History Press.

Ghost in the Grevemberg parlor

    The Grevemberg House in Franklin, Louisiana, was built in 1851 by town lawyer Henry Wilson. He later sold the home to Mrs. Frances Wyckoff Grevemberg, who had lost her husband, Gabriel Grevemberg, in the 1856 hurricane that devastated Last Island or Isle Derniere off the coast of Louisiana. Mrs. Grevemberg and her children lived in the house for many years, then different owners purchased the home until the City of Franklin took over the property in 1948.

            Today, the Greek Revival house is a museum operated by the St. Mary Landmarks Society. Most of the furnishings are not original to the house, but are appropriate period antiques. However, the cypress floors and the downstairs black marble mantles are original.

            The Grevemberg House Museum offers Civil War memorabilia, an iron casket, an extensive toy and doll collection and a large statue of Justice saved from the demolition of the old Franklin courthouse.

            Ghosts have not been reported here, but a psychic visited the museum and claimed an older woman was standing near the center table in the front room, the one housing the Steinway Grand Square piano beneath the portrait of handsome Charles Alexander Grevemberg, who built Albania Plantation in nearby Jeanerette, Louisiana. The psychic claimed the woman found the room nicely furnished, but the pieces were not where they were supposed to be. She hovered by the table and then walked toward the fireplace.

Haunted Deep South is written by travel writer Cheré Coen, author of Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana by The History Press. She writes the Viola Valentine paranormal mystery series under the pen name of Cherie Claire.

Marland's Bridge may be bridge to another world

            Arguably the most haunted area near Lafayette is just outside the town of Sunset, named by railroad workers who finished the job at dusk where the town is now located — or so the story goes. Marland’s Bridge, next to Chretien Point Plantation is the site of a Civil War battle known as the November 3, 1863, Battle of Bayou Bourbeau between Union troops under the leadership of Brigadier General Stephen G. Burbridge and approaching Confederate troops led by Brigadier General Thomas Green. The Confederates took the Union forces by surprise and chaos ensued, resulting in a solid victory for the South.

            The hero of the day was twenty-three-year-old Lieutenant William Marland of the Second Massachusetts artillery. When Texans approached and appeared to be about to capture him, Marland charged the bridge across Bayou Bourbeau. The surprise action forced the Texans to jump off the bridge into the water and Marland escaped. He was later honored with the Congressional Medal of Honor for his brave actions that day.

            Today the bridge is named for Marland, but that may not be a good thing, for folks near and far claim the bridge and area around the bayou as haunted. Locals have reported seeing unusual lights and hearing strange noises near the bridge, plus a woman wearing white has been spotted walking on the bridge — and she’s anything but alive.

            LouisianaSpirits made several visits to Marland’s Bridge and recorded unusual phenomena and “a large orange light crossing the bridge.” The photo is posted on their web site.

            GhostsN Spectors of Breaux Bridge experienced paranormal activity on three occasions at the bridge, including “phantom smells, disembodied voices, sub-zero temperature drops, unexplained free floating EMFs (Electro Magnetic Fields), shadow figures, feelings of being watched, feeling that you are being touched, and growls emanating from unknown origins…,” they reported on their web site.

            “One of our parked vehicles had the head lights and interior lights turned on when all investigators were across the bridge and this phenomena took place at the time we captured an EVP saying ‘get in your truck and leave,’” they claimed on the web site report, along with a recording of the actual EVP. “While walking the area on the anniversary of the battle, an investigator complained of sudden pain in the arm as if she’d been struck with something. After removing a jacket and rolling up a sleeve, a round red mark about the size of a dime was visible. The investigator reported feeling as if she’d been ‘hit’ with something small and it burned like being stabbed with a hot iron. The description of the sensation is similar to that given by gunshot victims. The pain eased after about thirty minutes but the mark lasted a few hours then faded.”
             They have posted paranormal activity — in this case EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena) — on their web site as well.

This was excerpted from "Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana" by Cheré Coen, published by The History Press.