Cheré Dastugue Coen - Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2013 by Cher Dastugue Coen

All rights reserved

Front cover: Courtesy of Joshua Coen.

All internal photos courtesy of the author.

First published 2013

e-book edition 2013

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.61423.994.9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Coen, Chere Dastugue.

Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana / Chere Dastugue Coen.

pages cm. -- (Haunted America)

Summary: A collection of ghost stories in and around Lafayette, Louisiana-- Provided by publisher.

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-746-0 (pbk.)

1. Haunted places--Louisiana--Lafayette. 2. Ghosts--Louisiana--Lafayette. I. Title.

BF1472.U6C6375 2013

133.10976347--dc23

2013030793

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

For years I was a ghost writer.

Not the person hired to write a book by another, but one who loves to relate a captivating ghost story. Even in my youth I couldnt resist a tale of a haunted house, a strange occurrence, unexplained phenomenaeven UFOs. The paranormal fascinates me.

Perhaps its my journalism background, because not many among our curiosity-driven industry can resist a tantalizing story. Maybe I just wanted a glimpse into the unknown or to incite a chilling reaction from my reading audience. But more importantly, I needed to know why ghosts of the living still haunt a place. I wondered why some appear to hang around homes and buildings while others supposedly roam the countryside and linger in cemeteries. Some claim souls attach themselves to furniture, allowing antique lovers to bring home more than they bargained for. And if people find themselves trapped on this earthly plane, I wondered if it was possible to lead them on to a better place.

After years of writing ghost stories for numerous publicationsnot to mention the endless paranormal shows I watched on TVI found myself more frustrated than ever in discovering who these people are who are haunting South Louisiana, why they are still here and whether we can help them cross over. So many times Ive interviewed homeowners discussing their ethereal specters, and most of the time they are happy to have such unusual guests in their homes, as if they have become part of the family. It makes one wonder if ghosts remain on this plane, perhaps, to aid us in some way. The myriad questions plague me.

The other elusive element of ghost hunting is capturing an apparition with my own eyes. Ive had dozens of unexplained experiences, but like TVs TAPS (the Atlantic Paranormal Society), Ive worked hard to debunk these moments. Because at the end of the day, an unusual noise in an old house could very well be the house settling, kids forgetting to turn out a light or shut a door or a cat crawling up a window screen in the middle of the night hoping someone will let it in.

And yet some things cant be explained.

I used to catch movement in my peripheral vision in our first home shared with my husband and two sons in Baton Rouge when I was a features writer and editor at the Advocate newspaper. A ranch house built in the 1970s, the home wasnt settling, nor did it own decades of fascinating history. But every now and then, I could swear someone moved in the kitchen, like a sudden blur across my line of sight. When I turned the corner, however, no one was ever there.

One day, an author friend came to visit, a woman sensitive to other spiritual planes. She slept in our guest bedroom on the other side of the house, a cozy room where I wrote my novels across a hallway from the kids bedroom. When she joined us for breakfast the next morning, she blurted out, You know, you have a ghost in this house.

While she described a petite, elderly woman who appeared by her bed the night before, my husband and I exchanged nervous looks. My first thought wasnt to question the sanity of my friend but whether I would admit to seeing what might have been paranormal activity in the kitchen.

Instead, my husband beat me to it. Turns out wed been witnessing the same phenomenablurs through the kitchen area as if someone had walked throughbut had both chalked those moments up to our imaginations. Bruce had even seen what had looked like the outline of a woman.

Shes definitely here, my friend had said. She wants you to know that shes watching over the kids.

My husband was and still is convinced the apparition was his mother, who had recently passed when this incident occurred. When I had asked my next-door neighbor about the elderly lady who had owned the home before us, she told me the former owner had passed away inside the house.

Bruce and I never fully captured the apparition apparently watching over our childrenwhoever she wasbut we were happy for her company and wished her well.

When my family and I moved to Lafayette in yet another postmodern ranch-style home, we couldnt image any ghosts inhabiting our suburban property. The only sounds we heard at night were our pets demanding to go in, then out, then in again; the bullfrogs in the coulee out back (thats a ditch for you non-Cajun readers); and the birds at sunrise outside our bedroom window.

Our younger son, Taylor, who was a young teen at the time, had a different experience. He encountered clunking noises in his bedroom ceiling and the feeling that someone had walked up to his bed and stood over him. He swore a teenage girl walked past him down the hallway one night. The computer screen also flashed and the lamp flickered just a few seconds before and there was a rushing of wind sound when the girl appeared, he later told me. When he had followed to investigate, no one was there.

All of this occurred during our fascination with Ghost Hunters on TV, so I tried to find rational answers to the mysteries. I didnt want Taylor to think I didnt believe him, but on the flip side, I couldnt ignore that the TV show might have set off his already vibrant imagination.

Then came two more sensitive friends.

I met Allyson Glynn Schram when she hosted metaphysical classes at South Louisiana Community College in Lafayette. I was invited to discuss my latest book on gris gris bags and show class participants how to make their own version of the magical items. Because Allyson receives messages from spirits, she will be having a normal conversation with you one minute and channeling a message the next. She pulled in an ancestor of mine during a phone conversation once, a man she described as a Lincoln lookalike who had something to do with horses, whom I recognized because of the name she received. I knew of the man, not what he looked like, of course, but that he was a native of France and an early Louisiana census taker and justice of the peace. Because she instigated me thinking of him, I googled his name on a lark. I found an obscure reference to him judging horse thieves in court, something I never knew about before our conversation.

Schram does psychic readings, and curious to see what else she could obtain from Spirit, which is the term she uses for those in another plane communicating with her, I drove to her home in Arnaudville to receive one. One of the many messages she had for me was a vision of a ball of light not far off the ground, traveling through my house. It flowed freely, heading out into the backyard and returning to roam through the house, Schram had said. I had no idea what this meantmy newly deceased dog perhapsbut I began to wonder if my new home had a few balls of energy we couldnt see.