A rocking horse moves when no one is near it. A ghost is caught on camera. A witness sees a boy, who died nearly 150 years ago, sitting on a window ledge.
People visiting Destrehan Plantation at night have reported seeing and feeling the presence of ghosts, according to Tracy Smith, the executive director of Destrehan Plantation.
“I was probably skeptical at first,” Smith said. “But now, it’s hard not to believe when you see the images that were captured. I guess you could say I’m a believer at this point.”
The plantation runs a haunted history tour Thursday through Sunday night, with help from NOLA Ghost Riders. The plantation first offered the haunted tours last October and, since then, thousands of people have taken the tour, Smith said.
“It’s very popular, especially this time of year,” Smith said. “It’s the paranormal, it’s the unknown. Some people are skeptics, and some are true believers. But you see things on the tour that are hard to explain.”
He said tour guides and visitors have captured images in photographs that resemble ghosts.
“Somebody captured a picture of [a little boy] sitting on the window ledge,” Smith said. “That’s a weird one to me.”
He said visitors described seeing Lydia, a 17-year-old girl who died of yellow fever in the plantation’s home in the 1800s. Her younger brother also died of yellow fever at the age of 9. Yellow fever, a disease spread by mosquitos, hit New Orleans particularly hard between 1817 and 1905. In 1853, about 8,000 New Orleans residents died from yellow fever, according to NPR.
“There was a lot of death here,” Smith said. “People didn’t die in hospitals like they do now.”
Jean Noel Destrehan, who purchased the plantation with his wife, Celeste, in 1792, owned 56 slaves. The plantation produced indigo and cane sugar. Trials were held on the plantation after the 1811 Louisiana Slave Revolt, the largest in U.S. history. Although no executions happened on the property, slave owners did execute Destrehan Plantation slaves who participated in the uprising.
Trish Burns, a tour guide for NOLA Ghost Riders, said at least 30 people died in the plantation home and over 300 people died on the grounds.
She said people on the tour have seen paranormal things and have been touched by ghosts.
“There’s a spirit in [the house] that is very mischievous,” she said. “She likes shiny things, she likes long hair, purses, she likes to pull on those things. I have been touched [by ghosts] in there.”
The tour includes ghost hunting outside the plantation home with equipment like dowsing rods, K2 meters and spirit boxes. The tour begins at 7:30 p.m. at the plantation. The tour is $69 for adults and $49 for children ages 6 to 11 if they are taking the bus. The bus leaves from VooDooTavern and Poboy’s in New Orleans at 7 p.m. on the night of the tour.
