Story Archive

Ghost Story

When a fire consumed the LeBeau Plantation house in Old Arabi, a neighborhood at the edge of New Orleans, La., investigators quickly proclaimed arson. The house has been abandoned for 60 years, but the current owners were in the process of trying to restore it. Seven men, aged 17 to 31, had broken in to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, says Col. John Doran of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office. “We all heard the ghost stories while growing up,” says Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann — spirits of long-dead slaves. That led to the men “looking for ghosts, trying to summon spirits, beating on the floors,” Doran said. When that didn’t work, one of the seven, Dusten Davenport, 31, Doran charges, decided to burn the place down. The seven have been charged with burglary and arson. (RC/New Orleans Times-Picayune) ...As usual, the only spirits present were the bottled kind.