Haunted History

Outer Blog: Checking in at a beautiful restaurant was not what I had in mind when I thought of a haunted history tour. The entrance was a beautiful long archway, constructed of red stones with typical entry way décor of a restaurant, long dark stained benches for customers to relax on while waiting for a table. Upon entering the archway the door to dinning resided on the right which spilled out the delicious aroma of food. The smells wafting past the nose was almost enough to make one eat again, after just having a full dinner. Being differed away from the food and through the archway, led us to a beautiful court yard. The temperament of the weather in the court yard was mirroring the feel of inside so well that I had not even realized there was an open sky above us. Gazing at the beautiful string of lights, fanning out from one point on a wall to reach all the other three walls, was the reason I noticed the open sky above us. Still being surrounded by walls on every side gave a great feeling of seclusion and intimacy, yet also provided a connection with the outside. The setting seemed so strange for what was to come. In such a beautiful romantic place, tragedy struck not only once with several murders in one love quarrel but again with it being a make shift hospice care for those suffering from yellow fever. Hearing the guides soft sweet voice, standing in front of a beautifully lit three teared fountain, surrounded by beautifully textured white walls, made it difficult to imagine the blood shed that happened there. It is even more difficult to imagine hundreds to thousands of residents dying there from an illness as terrible a yellow fever. The blood, the suffering and the death is not something you expect to find in such a beautiful place.

Inner Blog: This experience was very enlightening to me. Once we started to see the change in architecture from industrial style to older architecture I started to feel extremely excited. You can go to any major city and see large corporate buildings jutting up from the ground into the sky, but rarely do you enter a city that has building that have been standing for hundreds of years. Those buildings have a uniqueness that can not be recreated. They own their own story through history. When I get to experience beauty like that my heart is overwhelmed with joy and passion and excitement. What I did not expect to feel when looking at these beautiful buildings was a feeling of sadness and sorrow. Growing up in the US we all learn about the history of slaves, but maybe we don't always learn the details of how those slaves helped to create the most beautiful places around us. The feeling of sorrow and sadness comes from learning tonight that the gorgeous designs may have been laid out by the powerful people of New Orleans, but they were built on the sweat and blood of slaves. It was also heart breaking to hear the horrendous stories of how the Native Americans and the slaves were executed over this town. My thoughts on New Orleans before this were more about the natural disaster that took place here, the celebrations, and the "darker" side of culture such as witch craft, voodoo and the super natural. Tonight learning about the deeper history and conflicts that have happaned here makes it more of a complex place to truly understand. Through the tour tonight I have found a love for this city and deeper desire to understand this beautiful culture and how it has risen out of the roots of catastrophe.