Ghost Hunters an Investigation of the South

Lizzy zipped her bag and threw it over her shoulder as she heard the sound of a horn. “I’m coming,” She yelled as she double checked to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.

After turning out the lights and locking the door she walked down the steps and tossed her bag to Steve who placed it in the back.

While Steve was putting her bag up Lizzy hopped in the back seat with Tango and fastened her seat belt. As Steve got back into the drivers seat she greeted them with a cheery “Hey ya’ll.”

“Hey,” Dave returned her greeting with a lopsided grin while Brian and Steve started laughing.

“What?” Lizzy asked completely oblivious to what they found so funny.

“You did not just say yall” Steve said as he wiped the tears of laughter from his face.

“Yeah, what of it?” Lizzy asked as her cheeks turned pink.

“You just sounded so…country” Steve said which caused Brian to snort, which made Steve laugh harder.

“Why Steve, you mean to tell little ole me that my sweet southern belle charm isn’t working on you fine young Yankee gentlemen,” Lizzy asked in her best Scarlet O’Hara impression causing the guys to laugh even harder.

Finally after the guys had reduced their laughter to the occasional snicker Lizzy leaned down to grab her purse. As she did this Dave got a good look at the back of her shirt and busted out laughing again.

“What is it now?” Lizzy asked as Brian turned to get a look and Steve eyed Dave through the rearview mirror with an amuse smile.

“Y-yo--your shirt!” Dave finally managed to gasp between laughs.

Lizzy looked down only to realize what shirt she was wearing, “Of course I just had to wear this shirt on today of all days.”

“Why? What does it say?” Brian asked in confusion. The shirt looked normal to him.

“It say’s: Only Southern Belle’s know the true meaning of ya’ll.” This cause both Steve and Brian to join Dave in his laughter.

Lizzy rolled her eyes and tried her hand at changing the subject, “So where are we headed?”

“We are headed to the Lalaurie House in New Orleans,” Steve answered noticing what she was trying to do.

“No way! I have always wanted to investigate there, but I didn’t think it was open to the public,” Lizzy said as she leaned up and grabbed the back of Brian’s seat.

“It wasn’t but the owners recently began to renovate and while they were renovating they found a shallow grave filled with bones and have had quite a bit of activity since; so they called us,” Steve answered

“With that house’s gory past it’s no wonder they are experiencing things,” Lizzy stated.

“What do you mean gory past?” Dave asked

Lizzy looked at Steve’s reflection in the rearview mirror, “You want to fill him in on the history?”

Steve smiled, “sure.”

Brian grabbed the walkie and pushed the button, “Hey you guys listen up, Steve is gonna fill us in on the history of the Lalaurie house.”

After a beep Grant’s voice rang clear, “we’re listening.”

Steve tapped the steering wheel as he began, “The story begins in eighteen thirty two when Dr. Louis Lalaurie and his wife, Delphine moved into their Creole Mansion located in the French Quarter.

They soon became known as a well respected and prominent family. Madame Lalaurie was especially known for her extravagant parties and soon became known as the most influential and beautiful French-Creole woman in the city.

Back then if you were invited to her home you were considered to be part of the New Orleans elite, a title most Orleanians would die for.

Every thing was quiet for a few years; business as usual until one of their neighbors witnessed something odd from the stairs of her home. It was Madame Lalaurie chasing one of her girl slave with a whip. She chased the girl to the roof where she jumped to her death.

This incident sparked many roomers about the family most centering around the fact that slaves frequently came and went from the Lalaurie home; in fact most went into the home never to be seen again.

These rumors led many of the families to begin to avoid the Lalauries and then in April of eighteen thirty four a fire broke out in the kitchen of the Lalauries home; it was believed to have been started by one of the slaves. Neighbors and firefighters rushed into the home trying to save whatever they could and when the fire was put out the firefighters made a frightful discovery in a secret room in their attic that Madam Lalaurie had claimed was a storage room; It was a torture chamber.

They found more than a dozen slaves there, chained to the wall in a horrible state. They were both male and female. Seriously, this woman was sadistic. She sliced body parts off, ripped finger nails off, sewed mouths shut, poked eyes out, and even drilled a hole in one mans head so she could use a stick to stir his brains.

Some were strapped to makeshift operating tables and some were confined in cages made for dogs. Human body parts were scattered around and heads and human organs were placed haphazardly in buckets Most of the slave s were already dead but the ones that were alive were either close to death or severely disfigured.”

“What happened to the Lalauries? Were they arrested?” Dave asked with a rather disgusted look on his face.

“A mob was formed but by the time they reached their home the family was long gone. There are three theories about were they went. The first is that they moved to France, the second is that they live in the wooded area around Lake Ponchatraine, and the third and is that they were smuggled to a near by town and hidden there by family.”

Just then Lizzy spoke up, “I believe that they were smuggled to a near by town and hidden there by family. I find it the most believable because some of the Lalaurie’s family owned Greenwood plantation in St. Fransisville and they were the ones that originally bought Madame Lalaurie’s slave and sold them back to her when she lost them the first time and a journal believed to be Madame Lalauries was found in a secrete room in the attic when the current owners were renovating the place.”

As Lizzy fell silent Grant’s voice pored out of the walkie, “Hey Steve you didn’t mention anything about that.”

Steve grabbed the walkie, “That’s because I didn’t know that part. In fact Lizzy how did you know that?”

Lizzy blushed, “ Well, for starters I’m a bit of a history geek, but in this case I was head of the prom committee my Junior year and Greenwood Plantation was offered to us as a venue for free. When it came time to decorate we ended up spending all night there and a few odd things happened so the owner told us all about Madame Lalaurie.”

“What kind of odd things?” Steve asked

“Footsteps, flickering lights, the sound of chains rattling, whispering and moving furniture,” Lizzy listed off.

“So do you believe the place was haunted?” Dave asked

“It could be, but then again it could have been the owner’s idea of a joke. I mean what better way to scare a bunch of sixteen year old kids? We were in an old creepy plantation house at night, add in a ghost story about a sadistic plantation owner who tortured slaves and you officially have a group of terrified teens. I just always assumed that was what it was. ”

Steve tapped the steering wheel as if in thought, “That place sounds interesting. Lizzy before we leave do you think you could get me the contact information for the owners of Greenwood?”

“I can do better than that; when we visit the Myrtles I can take you to the place, it’s only a few miles from there and I know the owners have wanted someone to investigate it for a while now.” Lizzy replied

“Really? That would be great.”

xxxxxxx

A few hours later as they pulled into the city of New Orleans Lizzy leaned up in her newly acquired front seat and smiled, “God I love this city. The history is rich, the food is good and the party never stops.”

Dave who had taken over as driver laughed, “I take it you come here often.”

“As often as I can; which is usually once a year for mardi gras. My brother’s father-in-law owns a little one bedroom apartment over on St. Charles and every year we come down to catch some beads.”

Dave glanced over at her, “you don’t strike me as the party girl type.”

Lizzy laughed, “Oh I think you’d be surprised. I love to have fun and mardi gras is the best place to have it. I’m not a big drinker though; I chose to be sober when men in masks throw big bags of beads at me. I learned that the hard way, when I was eighteen I had one to many margaritas and this guy decided to throw an entire bag filled with about fifteen pounds of beads to me. Let’s just say my hands missed it but my nose didn’t. I ended up with a bloody nose and a black eye.”

Dave laughed, “Ouch that must have hurt.”

“Yeah, needless to say, I haven’t been drunk since.”

As Dave pulled into traffic he turned to Lizzy, “So how did you gain an interest in the paranormal?”

“I’ve always been interested in it but never believed it actually existed until one day in my freshman year of college my roommate asks me to visit the Myrtles with her. She was doing a paper on the history of it and didn’t want to go there alone so I agreed. When we got there I got this odd feeling of heaviness and as we entered the house I began to smell lavender and I don’t mean faint. The smell was so overpowering that it gave me a headache so I asked my roommate what she smelled and she said all she smelled was a fait musky smell that you would get at any old house. So I shook it off and we began the tour and then I heard footsteps on the stairs. I looked around no one was on the stairs and no one else acted as if they heard them so again I shook it off but then as we entered that first bedroom to the left of the front door I started to smell the lavender again and this time it was so strong that I had to go outside. When the tour was over my roommate stuck around and asked the tour guide a few questions as she locked up so I headed to the car to wait and from were I had parked you could see the window of that first bedroom and as I was staring at it trying to figure out where that smell came from the curtains just lifted up. I still remember it like it was yesterday they lifted from right to left as if some one had pulled them aside to peak out but no one was behind them and that part of the house was shut down for the night so I know no one could have been in that room. After that night I was no longer a skeptic and from then on it just seemed like if something paranormal was going to happen I was the one who was going to experience it. Since then I’ve had a knife pick up off a counter and fly at me, I’ve been slapped, I’ve had peas mysteriously appear in dressing I was making, and most recently I was staying with my friend and the entire night I heard footsteps as if some one was pacing right in front of my bed,” As Lizzy finished up they pulled up to their hotel.

As Dave got out Lizzy turned around in her seat to wake Steve and Brian up, she nudged Steve first then Brian, “Hey sleepyheads wake up.”

Steve started, “Are we there yet?”

“Actually we are,” She replied as she leaned over farther and nudged Brian again this time harder.

Brian shifted as he began to mumble, “ mnnmmnmnm pink bunny slippers,”

Lizzy and Steve looked at each other and busted out laughing effectively waking Brian.

“What are you laughing at?” Brian asked as he rubbed his head where it had been resting against the glass.

Lizzy clutched at her stomach trying to catch her breath, “bunny slippers?”

Brian began to blush as he climbed out of the vehicle. Steve and Lizzy gave each other one last conspiratal grin as the climbed out to join the rest of the TAPS members.

When Jay noticed everyone was there he spoke up, “Alright guys tonight is free so get something to eat and get some rest. We start the investigation tomorrow. Brian and Tango will be sharing room 523, Lizzy will be in 525, Steve will be in 536, and Grant and I will be in 560.”

xxxxxxxxxx

As Steve was getting settled into his room he heard a knock at the door and was quite surprised to find Lizzy standing behind it, “Hey Lizzy, what’s up?”

“Dave, Brian and I are off to paint the town red want to join us?” She asked with a smirk.

“Sure, just let me grab the keys,” Steve said as he turned around to get them.

“If your talking about the car keys there’s no need; we will be walking.”

“Walking? But the French quarter is on the other side of town. We would be crazy to walk that far,” Steve stated.

Lizzy smirked, “It’s closer than you think, trust me I’ve made the walk plenty of times I should know.”

Steve grinned, “Lead the way.”

xxxxxx

After checking a few places out the group decided to head to a little place on Bourbon Street to grab a few drinks and to play some pool.

After a few beers Brian was well on his way to being tipsy and was finding his shot to be quite difficult to make. Lizzy figuring she had plenty of time until her turn decided to head to the bathroom. As she made her way around the dance floor she bumped into someone and as she turned to apologize she froze.

There standing in front of her was her past; someone she had tried so hard to forget. Turning on her heel she hurried back to the guys and grabbed Dave’s arm, “I’m not feeling so well so I’m gonna head back okay.”

As she let go of Dave’s arm and headed for the door Lizzy felt her chest begin to tighten and found she couldn’t breathe, just as she started to black out she felt her hands connect with the saloon style doors and as she stumbled out she leaned against a pole trying her best to catch her breath as tears silently streamed down her face. As she began to gain control of her breathing she felt someone’s hand on her back causing her to tense up.

“Lizzy? Are you okay?”

Lizzy relaxed, it was Dave. She wiped furiously at her face to hide the evidence of tears and turned to face him, “I’m fine Dave, just a little queasy. I’m just gonna head back to the hotel. You should go back inside and have some fun with the guys while you can,” She said trying her best to smile.

“Lizzy you’re shaking like a leaf. What’s wrong?” Dave asked

The concerned look on his face caused a fresh wave of tears to fall.
When Dave noticed the tears he silently gathered her in his arms and began to whisper soothing words as he rubbed her back.

Once Lizzy gathered herself once more she lifted her head, “I am so sorry. I’m normally not like this.”

“It’s okay; you want to tell me what happened?” Dave asked as they started walking back to the hotel.

Lizzy sighed, “Remember how I told you that story about getting hit with the bag of beads?”

“Yeah, What about it?” he asked

“Well while it is true that I was hit by it, that not exactly how I got the bloody nose and black eye. J.D. my ex did it. He was my first real boyfriend and when he asked to tag along I thought it was a good idea. Boy was I ever wrong; as soon as we got here the problems began. He became really physical with me especially when I refused to sleep with him and then on Saturday the real trouble began; that night we were on Bourbon Street and he had had a good deal to drink and some guy whistled at me from one of the balconies and then threw me these really nice beads. J.D. ripped them from my neck and began to yell at me and the next thing I know he hits me so hard that I blacked out. When I came to J.D. was gone and my head was lying in some guys lap. He turned out to be a friend of mine from U.N.O. it was lucky really that he happened to be there because if he hadn’t there is no telling what J.D. would have done."

"Tonight was the first time I’ve seen J.D. since that night and I don’t know I guess I just panicked. You know you’re the first person I’ve told that to,” Lizzy said with a sigh.

Dave stayed silent for a while as he tried to wrap his head around this information. Finally he spoke up, “I glad you trusted me with that and I’m not surprised you reacted the way you did. I just wish he was here now so I could give him a piece of his own medicine.”

Lizzy laughed, “That’s very sweet of you but not necessary. I’m mostly over it but seeing out of the blue like that kind of freaked me out.”

As they continued towards the hotel Lizzy’s stomach began to growl causing Dave to laugh, they decided to order a pizza once they got back to her room.

xxxxx

After consuming an entire large pizza and two six-packs of coronas both Lizzy and Dave had some how ended up on Lizzy’s bead watching old episodes of Friends. At some point Lizzy had laid her head on Dave’s shoulder and Dave had put his arm around her. When Lizzy glanced up at him she caught him looking at her and began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” He asked

“It’s just, you were always my favorite.”

At his confused look Lizzy continued, “On Ghost Hunters you were always my favorite. You are so good at what you do but I also think you’re really sexy.”

Now it was Dave’s turn to laugh, “Lizzy I have to tell you a secrete,” he said as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“I think you’re really sexy too,” He whispered.

As he leaned up a bit Lizzy stared at him. They were almost nose to nose now, “You’re going to kiss me aren’t you?”

Instead of answering he gently cupped her cheek with his hand and lightly brushed his lips to hers. The last thing Lizzy remembered before falling asleep was the feeling of his lips against hers.