Taking Advantage of Ghosts

The existence of ghosts and other supernatural beings is dubious to some and unquestionable to others, particularly when it comes to old buildings. But there is little dispute that ghosts (real or perceived) are marketable, and they seem to appear most often around this time of year. Think: Halloween and All Saints Day.

We recently received the following inquiry from a paranormal investigator seeking subject properties:

My name is Marci and I’m the Director of Louisiana Spirits. Our group has been established since 2005. Recently we have been investigating St Mary Parish and have a lot of data and evidence from several locations. The city of Franklin is using our evidence as publicity for tourism to revitalize their city. We are now looking to Lafayette to do some paranormal investigations. We would love to get into any historical buildings or homes here. Have you or anyone else had any experiences in any locations? If you’re interested in a free paranormal investigation or know anyone/owners interested please contact me. [email protected]

Perhaps you have paranormal concerns for your property. Please keep PAL posted, so we might take advantage of your ghosts for a haunted tour next Halloween!

Freetown property owners will soon have one less reason to fear.

Steven Ortte, a property owner in Freetown, recently shared this good news:

I am writing to inform you of some very recent information regarding the flooding of streets in the Taft and Stewart street area. After I purchased my property (about 2 months later) I discovered the reason this area floods with heavy rains. Apparently someone with the railroad thought it was perfectly harmless to fill a 36” public drainage culvert with cement. Years ago, the railroad was experiencing a washout in between the two tracks. When they dug down they discovered a damaged culvert. So in an attempt to shore up the foundation, under the tracks, they placed bags of cement inside the culvert and stacked them very neat and tight, all the way to the top.

The city had known about it when I called to discuss and I kept hearing, over and over, the well-known saying “We are waiting on the railroad”! Evidently they had been waiting for years. So I decided to do something about it with a very uplifting meeting with the railroad, last month. As of today, the railroad has admitted their mistake, they have received one of 2 new 16’ culverts to be installed and I suspected in the next week or so, they will begin installing a 3^rd 36” culvert. Once they have installed it, the city will have to come in and connect the new pipe to existing drainage. From what I have been told this will be very involved with engineering and a custom cement connection/catch basin of some sort.

So Freetown can look forward to some drainage improvements. Not sure how much of the area will benefit from this but I know my property, all of Taft, and probably all of Stewart street, in front of The Quarters, certainly will.