Underneath New Orleans, Louisiana Lies A Creepy Yet Amazing Cemetery
By Jackie Ann|Published January 27, 2017
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Jackie Ann
Author
Louisiana native and LSU Alum (Geaux Tigers!), Jackie has lived in Louisiana for over three decades and currently lives in New Orleans. She's been writing for OnlyInYourState since 2016 and can often be found with a coffee at her side, dreaming of her next adventure.
When an area becomes overgrown and people forget about it, it only seems natural to re-purpose that area to make for something “better”. But what happens when the area you’re looking to re-purpose is a cemetery? For 135 years, the Girod Street Cemetery was a popular burial ground for both the high society residents of New Orleans and also the everyday man. It was also a favored location for mass graves for the hundreds of people that died from the yellow fever outbreaks of 1850 and early 1900s.
The Girod Street Cemetery was established in 1822 by Christ Church.
The Church had difficulties maintaining the cemetery, and it fell into total disrepair. It got so bad that in 1945 the city forbid any further burials there, although illegal burials continued at night for those that were unable to afford proper burials.
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The city wanted to use the land so the cemetery was deconsecrated and the remains were removed in 1957 to make way for new development.
Family members were contacted by the city to allow them to move their relatives, and those that went unclaimed were moved to two different locations: the whites were moved to the Hope Mausoleum and the African Americans were moved to Providence Memorial Park. For years after the cemetery had been demolished, construction workers were finding pieces of bones, buttons, and other scraps of clothing left over from the cemetery.
If you’re a long time Saints fan, you’ll remember many, many years of disappointment with this team. Legend has it that the reason the Saints had such a run of bad luck (before the Superbowl win) was because the restless spirits of the Girod Cemetery were angry that their final resting place had been disturbed.
While the cemetery itself has been long gone, many say their spirits remain, trapped and angry that their resting place has been disturbed. Did you know about this cemetery? Let us know in the comments below.
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