Voodoo City

When is an urban legend not really an urban legend? When it's 100 percent true. That's the case with the so-called Devil Man, a horned figure who, according to legend, terrorized New Orleans in the late 1930s. As it turns out, it's not legend at all. It all really happened, in a bizarre, only-in-New-Orleans occurrence that saw the "devil" land in a local jail.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear" and "Dance of the U-boat"Sextile, "Magenta"HOVATOFF, "Creek"Text Me Records / Jordan Blackmon. "Human Heart"

Mona Lisa isn't the only spirit wandering City Park. In fact, she may be one of at least three. We'll talk to City Park personnel about the park's dark history -- and we'll interview one person who says he has had first-hand encounters with the ghosts of City Park.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Jingle Punks, "Speakeasy in Crescent City"Jesse Gallagher, "Hathor Hymnal"Silent Partner, "Space Walk"Odonis Odonis, "Dark Forest"Text Me Records, "Human Heart"Sextile, "Magenta"Wayne Jones, "Spookster"roljui, "Window Demons"

In the first of three loosely connected episodes, we'll look into a handful of New Orleans' urban legends and find out if there's any truth to them.

We retrace the steps of the New Orleans-born presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, visiting the places he was known to inhabit, retracing his local history and looking into what role the city played in his life.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Noir et Blanc vie, "Straight Out Cold"Magic In the Other, "Brooklyn Cool"Silent Partner, "Space Walk"Jingle Punks, "Speakeasy in Crescent City"The Tower of Light, "Contact"Robert Crisp, "Abstract (30 seconds)"

In 2011, French Quarter resident Vincent Marcello decided he wanted a swimming pool. He was in for a surprise. Turns out, his property -- at North Rampart and Toulouse -- was built on the former site of St. Peter Cemetery, the city's very first cemetery, which was closed when St. Louis No. 1 was opened. And, as he learned, however, the bodies were never moved ...Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their music in this episode:Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Jesse Gallagher, "Hathor Hymnal"Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions, "Our French Cafe"The Tower of Light, "Beginnings (Intro)" and "Flecks of Light"

Many New Orleanians grew up hearing fragments of rumors that German U-boats patrolled the waters off Louisiana's coast during World War II. Many of them discounted those rumors as mere myth. As it turns out, though, they're not a myth at all. New Orleans did, indeed, have a Nazi problem during the war. Sonny Downs knows. He had a first-hand encounter with some of Hitler's henchmen -- and he lived to tell the tale.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"The Tower of Light, "Contact"Au.Ra, "Searching in the Mountains" and "Wandering and Floating"Splimis, "Gone Tomorrow"Robert Crisp, "Abstract (30 seconds)"

Also known as "Keelboat Annie," she is New Orleans' answer to Paul Bunyan and Mike Fink, a brawling keelboat captain from back in the days when people were named Huckleberry and Injun Joe. But was there really an Annie Christmas? We dig into the endlessly entertaining legend and trace it to its little-known origin.Many thanks to the following musicians for their songs, which are featured in this episode:Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Cuttlefish Music, "Detective Singer"LexinMusic, "Alice in Dark Wonderland"Wylie Burge, "Gone Tomorrow"John Lawrence Schick, "Living in a Coffin"The Tower of Lights, "Contact"And to CBS Radio Workshop's Old Time Radio clip.

We are thrilled to announce we've just been given the green light from the brain trust here at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune for a second season, and we're already in the process of assembling what we hope will be another haunting trip through New Orleans' darker past. In today's mini episode, we offer a brief taste of some of the topics we're hoping to explore in season two, as well as revealing when you can expect the new episodes to arrive. To keep you occupied between now and then, we also discuss some of the podcasts currently dominating our own playlists. A special thank you to the following musicians, whose songs are featured on this episode: Madified Music, "Whimsical Twilight" Jeff Thall, "Voyager" Sonic Mystery, "Coming Home"

There are many strange and mysterious things to be found in the swamps of Louisiana, but few are stranger or more mysterious than the Rougarou. Over the centuries, the tale of the legendary Cajun werewolf has been the source of nightmares for countless children. More recently, it has inspired everything from a festival to a brand of rum -- and has even earned a mention in the "Harry Potter" universe. But what, exactly, is a Rougarou? And where did the legend get its start? We track down a folklorist as we delve into the world of Cajun cryptozoology. Many thanks to Nick Spitzer for sharing his interview with Ivy Billiot with us. Also used in this episode is a clip from the 1972 film Moon of the Wolf. A special thank you to the following musicians, whose songs are featured on this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear" Density & Time, "Again" Dan Bodan, "Animaux Obscènes" & "Neither Sweat Nor Tears" Jingle Punks, "Back of the Room Hang" Wayne Jones, "Connection" Silent Partner, "Court and Page" & "Mast" The Whole Other, "Ether Oar"

New Orleans is home to any number of ghost stories and ghastly tales. Few, however, are more ghastly than that of Madame Lalaurie, the French Quarter socialite who was literally chased out of town by a mob in 1832 when -- after firefighters responded to a blaze at her French Quarter home -- a number of slaves were found chained in her attic, many showing signs of having been tortured over a long period of time. That’s just the start of the story of Madame Lalaurie, who was portrayed by Kathy Bates in the FX TV series “American Crime Story.” We speak with local voodoo priestess and tour guide, Bloody Mary, about the legend and the dark allure of her namesake mansion, which still stands today (and which was once owned by -- waaaait for it -- Nicolas Cage). Many thanks to the following musicians for their songs, which are featured in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear" The Whole Other, "Beyond the lows" Letter Box, "Far the days come" Puddle of Infinity, "They might not" Jimmy Fontanez, "Our French Cafe" Dan Bodan, "Leoforos Alexandras" Doug Maxwell, "Lost in the forest" Jingle Punks, "Back of the room hang" Silent Partner, "Mast" & "Ether" & "Court and Page"

You can’t say you’ve visited New Orleans if you haven’t visited Jackson Square, the picturesque square that dates to the establishment of the city’s original street grid in 1722. Tourists stroll through it daily, enjoying the sunshine, munching beignets from nearby Café du Monde and listening to the alluring music of ships plying the Mississippi. But if you know the history of the place, you know that everywhere you look in the Square, you’ll find traces of death, from the public hangings that used to take place there, to the legacy of the old Spanish jail that was located just off of it, to the alleged ghosts of Pere Antoine, a longtime rector of St. Louis Cathedral who tried to export the Spanish Inquisition to New Orleans -- and who is said to haunt Pere Antoine Alley just off the Square. We take a field trip to the square for a walking tour that demonstrates how, while it is certainly photogenic, Jackson Square is positively dripping with blood. Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their music, which is included in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear" Wayne Jones, "Connection" & "Retro" Dan Bodan, "Neither Sweat Nor Tears" & "Animaux Obscènes" & "Sunrise Over Big Data Country" Otis McDonald, "Does it float?" Asher Fulero, "Aurora Currents" HOVATOFF, "Peace" The Whole Other, "Ether Oar" Topher Mohr and Alex Elena, "Horses to Water" Aaron Kenny, "Roundup on the Prairie" Puddle of Infinity, "Young And Old Know Love"

A discussion of the famous pirate, who is something of a complicated fellow. On the one hand, he is revered as a hero for his role in helping Andrew Jackson defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans and -- as legend holds -- was welcomed into New Orleans high society. At the same time, though, he set up a massive pirate encampment at Barataria Bay, using it as a launching pad for his dirty deeds, including slave trafficking, throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. So who was Lafitte? A gentleman smuggler? Or a cold-blooded criminal? Talking with UNO historian Dr. Charles Chamberlain (and, of course, paying a visit to the legendary Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, a French Quarter bar), we set out to separate fact from folklore. Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their music, which is included in this episode: Wayne Jones, "Brain Trust" Topher Mohr and Alex Elena, "Horses to Water" Aaron Kenny, "Roundup on the Prairie" Otis McDonald, "Does it float?" Puddle of Infinity, "Young and Old Know Love" The Whole Other, "Ether Oar" Doug Maxwell, "Scraping The Sewer" HOVATOFF, "Peace" roljui, "Window Demons" Asher Fulero, "Aurora Currents" Wayne Jones, "Connection" Dan Bodan, "Neither Sweat Nor Tears"

London has Jack the Ripper. New Orleans has the Axeman, a mysterious figure who in 1918 and 1919 crept into a series of homes and beat people to death while they slept, often with an ax or ax handle found in the home. Then, he upped the ante, sending a letter to The Daily Picayune taunting police and instructing locals to play jazz music -- and loudly -- at midnight on a certain date or risk being slaughtered. That night, unsurprisingly, the music blared. We talk with former Times-Picayune history columnist (and Axeman enthusiast) James Karst about the details of the case, including possible suspects and a theory that it was all the mob’s doing. Thanks to Aakash Gandhi, Max Surla, SYBS, roljui, Dan Bodan, Jingle Punks, Wayne Jones and Unicorn Heads for creating music used in this episode. And thanks to Papa Legba for our theme music.

In 1987, crews working on an expansion of a shopping mall adjacent to the Superdome unearthed a grisly discovery: Bones. Human bones. And lots of them. Turns out, the Dome was built on the site of an old New Orleans cemetery. While efforts had been made to relocate all the remains at the time the Dome was built, it clearly wasn’t a thorough job. That gave rise to the idea in the late 1980s that the Dome was cursed -- and, by extension, so were the New Orleans Saints, who were famously and epically bad up until that point. The team even brought in a voodoo priestess to perform a purification ceremony of the Superdome in 2000. We talk with our graves expert, Mary Lacoste as well as with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Saints columnist Jeff Duncan as we try to answer the question once and for all: Is there a Superdome curse? Thank you to Lee Roservere for creating “Awkward Silences” used in this episode.

Our podcast is called “Voodoo City.” Which means we’ve got to do something voodoo-related -- so why not do it in the context of introducing people to the real Marie Laveau, cutting through the myth to paint a portrait of one of the city’s most fascinating figures and the face of its voodoo legacy. We talk with Bloody Mary, a practicing voodoo priestess and Laveau expert who owns and operates a spirit shop around the corner from Laveau’s onetime home -- and which, as we discover first-hand, just might have a few haunts of its own. Thank you to Lee Roservere for creating “Awkward Silences” used in this episode.