I shot this with my Looxcie Cam while on a haunted history tour of New Orleans. Muriel's
restaurant, located in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the shadow
of St. Louis Cathedral, is reputed to be heavily haunted. Originally, a
structure stood on the property that was used to hold slaves as they
came off the boats, before going up for auction. Jean Baptiste Destrehan
purchased the property, tore down the modest structures and built a
magnificent home upon it. In 1776 Pierre Phillipe de Marigny purchased
the residence and used it as one of his "city homes" for when he came
into town from his plantation on the outskirts of the town, On March 21,
1788, the Great New Orleans Fire started on Good Friday and burned 856
of the 1,100 structures in the French Quarter, including a portion of
the mansion. Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan purchased the building from
Marigny and restored the home to its original grandeur. A compulsive
gambler, he wagered his beloved home in a poker game in 1814 and lost.
The shock of the loss was so intense, before having to vacate the
premises and hand over his beloved treasure, he tragically committed
suicide on the second floor. Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan is
reputed to haunt Muriel's as a sparkly light wandering around the
lounge. He reportedly is known to throw glasses across the lounge if a
token offering of bread and wine is not put out in his honor.
The
tour guide in this video seems to be confused on the name of the ghost
involved. He refers to him as Phillipe Devereux and says he was the son
of the man who restored the mansion. This, according the current owners
of Muriel's, is not the case. The person who restored and subsequently
lost the mansion to a gambling debt was Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan. The guide most likely confused the lineage of owners and replaced "Destrehan" and "Devereaux" as well. The tour guide also mentions that the building once served as a school, but the official history of Muriel's does not mention this.
View the video for yourself, as the guide does tell the story well, even though he gets some of the finer details wrong.
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