Midnight Zines Cafe

THE HAUNTED JOURNAL

Welcome to the website of the (free to readers) on-line version of THE HAUNTED JOURNAL. We are located in the heart of the Deep South--New Orleans. This site includes information regarding our publications (excerpts & guidelines for submissions), information about small press writers & writing/ publishers & publishing, a long list of informative and interesting links, and lots of tidbits about New Orleans. It is the home of horror writers, Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite; many mystery and scifi writers; endless gothic-styled southern mansions; ghosts and haunted houses; voodoo shoppes and museums; European- styled cememteries with the above-ground tombs; Leilah Wendell's Westgate House of Death Gallery/ Museum; and creepy swamplands surrounding the metropolitan area. There is even a resident Big Foot in the Honey Island Swamp north of the city on the opposite side of Lake Pontchartrain, the largest lake in the world.

We are open to submissions on a regular basis. Contributors are able to select to be included in our printed versions only, on-line versions, or both. Each publication includes: essays, commentary, articles, reviews (books/zines/films), interviews (writers/publishers/artists/ photographers), poetry, fiction, artwork & photographs. (For THE HAUNTED JOURNAL we welcome anyone with stories to tell about their encounters with ghosts and haunted houses.) We will be including a guidelines page. Meanwhile, e-mail for details to the address below on this page.

All classifieds are free-of-charge (any size/length accepted) for the printed versions of our publications. We don't include ads on our websites. Instead we include a list of links on each site. We welcome ad exchange with other publishers. We also welcome link exchange. Plus we welcome review and interview exchange with other publishers both on and off the net.

We welcome e-mail or letters of comment. Let us know what you enjoyed on our site and what you would like to see more of.

If anyone contacting us cannot send their submissions via e-mail, let us know and we will furnish a mailing address.

To send submissions or request guidelines via e-mail contact:
zinester@zworg.com
All other inquiries should be sent to: zinester@buzzle.com

Cemetery photograph by Harold Tollison taken for FULL MOON PUBLICATIONS. We will be including many more such photos.

NOW READ: A real life ghostly encounter in the New Orleans infamous French Quarter!

GHOSTS in the FRENCH QUARTER

by Lucinda MacGregor

In the early 1970's I lived for a time on Royal Street in the famous (and sometimes infamous) French Quarter (also known as the Vieux Carre) of New Orleans. A friend of mine owned a bookshop on Royal. There were two floors. The second level was divided into two parts--one of which was part of the shop and the other was the owner's old living quarters that he vacated years before. I needed an inexpensive place to stay in the Quarter since I was working at my mother's book & curio shop located nearby. (I also worked two other jobs at hotels one of which was in the Quarter and the other the famous historic St. Charles Hotel that was later demolished to make room for a parking lot--the Historical Preservation Society evidently wasn't around in those days or had no influence to save the hotel.) My friend agreed to let me stay in his old quarters.

One night after the bookshop closed, I began hearing noises all around the place. At first I wasn't sure what it was. I had never heard anything like it previously. I finally realized that the noises were large cockroaches (New Orleans having been built over swampland is a natural place for cockroaches to breed). Suddenly, while I stood in the middle of the studio apartment area I was bombarded with roaches flying across the room. They seemed to be coming from all directions at once! I immediately ran out and down the stairs to call a friend whose father owned a pest control company. She said she would come right over. That meant I had to wait about forty-five minutes as she had to travel from a fairly long distance. I wasn't about to return upstairs.

Meanwhile, a little later I heard a loud clicking noise coming down the stairs. It was one of those darn huge cockroaches! Instinctively I ran to the front door and opened it waiting to see what would happen next. The cockroach made its entrance and ran across the floor making a b-line for the front door. I moved back out of the way so it could go through the door. After exiting the door the cockroach hopped down the steps and made its way along the sidewalk off to wherever cockroaches go.

My friend finally arrived about an hour later and sprayed the place. It was the kind of spay that left no residue of odor, so I stayed ther for the rest of the night. (Knowing what we all know nowadays about insecticide, I shouldn't have stayed.) She promised I wouldn't see any more roaches that night but would find a lot of dead ones the next day. Well, she was as good as her word. I did a lot of sweeping and
cleaning up.

But, that was not the end of it. Several weeks later I heard more strange noises and I investigated them enough to know that this time it wasn't roaches. One night after the bookshop was closed while I was downstairs using the telephone I heard what sounded distinctly like several boxes being knocked over upstairs. I checked it out but couldn't find any boxes out of place. I then dismissed the noise and went back to my phone conversation.

The next night I heard the same kind of noise while downstairs. Now, this was getting more than a bit disturbing. Once again I investigated and discovered nothing out of place. Later that same night I was sitting reading on the bed upstairs. It wasn't so late I couldn't still hear an occasional group of people walking by and talking loudly outside but it was late enough that I rarely heard any more vehicle traffic outside. For the most part things were quiet. Suddenly a folding screen, standing across the room, started rocking violently back and forth. I then heard an intense clawing sound as if a cat was running its claws down the screen. Meanwhile, I backed up against the brick wall totally petrified with fear. I couldn't move. I just waited for the screen to stop rocking. It did (what seemed eternity but the whole event probably didn't last more than a minute). I just kept staring at the screen waiting for what would happen next--.
Well, I waited again for what seemed a long time but was about forty minutes. I slowly got up and walked over to move the screen aside to I could look at it in the direct light. I expected to see claw marks on it but there were none! I then checked the door that led to the roof and the door downstairs. Both were locked.
I decided to call a friend who lived down the street and ask him to come over. I noticed then that it was one o'clock.

My friend arrived just a few minutes later carrying an antique gun from the Civil War era! We checked the door to the attic again. Then we checked the attic and a small area that led to the other side of the attic that was part of the beauty parlor next door. Both doors were locked. We thought at first that there might be some way a cat might have entered the premises but we couldn't find one anywhere. And the place was not known for having rats.

My friend stayed and we talked until daybreak. After that I decided to get some sleep until my other friend, the bookshop owner, came along to open up. I decided right then to move out.

I called an inexpensive local mover later the same morning to schedule him to come over and move my console tv out. The place was furnished so I didn't have much and was able to move out the rest of my things in a friend's car. Despite the inconvenience I moved back to my parents house indefinitely.

During the next several years I talked to four individuals who previously lived in that studio apartment in the bookshop--one was my friend the owner, the next was an acquaintance who lived there before moving into an apartment across the patio in the back of the building, an artist friend who once lived in the studio apartment for a while, and a former boyfriend (still a friend) who also stayed there for a couple of years.
All of them told me basically the same story. They experienced strange occurrences there but never bothered to tell anyone about it. They were afraid people would laugh at them. The only difference between what happened to them and what happened to me was that they only heard strange noises and could never find out why any of it happened. I also learned that there was a story rumored around the Quarter for many years that someone was murdered on the patio and someone committed suicide by jumping off the roof. I understand that it had something to do with some tragic love affair. These buildings date to pre-Civil War times.

In 1989 I stopped by the old bookshop to see how it had changed. My friend relocated his shop to another part of the Quarter and someone moved in and opened up an occult shop in its place. I asked him if any strange things ever happened to him since he moved in. He told me about the previous owner and how she was terrorized by something in the place, got very ill, had to move out and sell the place. After he moved in, he noticed the same cold spots she spoke of (something I never noticed) and occasionally some strange noises occurred. He decided to perform his own rites of exorcism (he's a practicing Druid priest). Since he did that he hasn't heard any more strange noises and the cold spots disappeared. Now I was always skeptical about things that go bump in the night, but we pretty much concurred that perhaps since the only individuals who experienced the worst occurrences in the place were female (myself and the previous owner) that evidently whatever was there probably held a resentment against females. All of the others were men and what problems they experienced were very mild. The only other answer might be that both she and I are extremely in tune with whatever entities existed there. Now that's something I would rather not think about--!

I will always remember what happened to me in that old French Quarter apartment. Though I have lived in several others, I never noticed anything odd, but I will say that the Quarter has a special atmosphere. It has a very haunted atmosphere. The old buildings have been maintained pretty much as they were built. The entire area mostly looks like something where time stood still for a few hundred years. It reminds visitors of something they would encounter in Paris. It has a reputation for being haunted. After all, this is the city where writers such as Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy Collins, and several more have based their vampire, ghost, and witch novels. Many mystery writers have written endless stories and novels about scandals and murders in the French Quarter (as well as other areas of the city such as the old historic Garden District and the variety of old European-styled cemeteries with above-ground tombs). Many of these writers reside in New Orleans. The atmosphere gives them much incentive for creativity. The history of the French Quarter is full of tales about ghosts, pirates such as Jean Lafitte, infamous murders, the selling of slaves in the slave markets, voodoo practioners such as Marie Lavou, Voodoo Queen and her daughter who followed in her footsteps. I can't bear witness to the truth of those stories but I can state, without a doubt, that what occurred in that old bookshop did indeed happen because it happened to ME!

MORE TO COME!

Meanwhile enjoy our recommended links:

Ghost & Paranormal sites--

http://www.ghostresearch.org/
Ghost Research Society--Spooky!

http://www.connexions.co.uk/culture/
Culture, Myths and Legends of Cornwell

http://ghosts.org/
Ghosts.Org

http://www.scottishghosts.de.vu/
Scottish Ghosts and Phantoms

http://ghostsofthenortheast.150.com/
Rob's Kirkup's Ghosts of the North East

http://www.cleaverproperty.co.uk/strange/thame/ghost.html
Strange Thame

http://www.cleaverproperty.co.uk/strange/thame/witches.html
Strange Goings-on in the Thames Valley

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/hauntedplaces/index.html
Haunted Places in the UK

http://www.ghostwatchuk.org/
Ghost Watch UK

http://www.steveospage.com/ford/
Christopher Ford -- Amateur Paranormalist

http://www.isc-durant.com/jsturch/
Ye Olde Shoppe of Ghosts

http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~fair/phenomena.htm
Phenomena On-Line--Fascinating stuff!

http://www.geocities.com/~glycerin/
Lunar's Paranormal--Interesting

http://www.camalott.com/~brianbet/ghosts.html
Ghosts: The Page That Goes Bump in the Night

http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/
The Shadowlands: Ghosts and Hauntings

http://gothic.vei.net/hollywood/hhome.htm
Hollywood Hauntings

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/4383/
Chingle Hall

http://www.derbycity.com/ghosts/ghosts.html
Derby Ghosts

http://www.crown.net/X/GhostStories.html
Ghost Stories & Folklore

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/2767/index.html
Bourbon Street Stories & Jazz

http://www.themoonlitroad.com/
The Moonlit Road--Lots of ghost stories and much more! Well done.

http://www.southernghosts.com/
Southern Ghosts

http://www.swlaghost.com
Southwest Louisiana Ghosthunters Society

http://www.ghostweb.com/index.html
Ghost Web of International Ghost Hunters Society--Very informative.

http://users.itsnet.com/~peachy/
Graveyard Shift--Ghost stories and more! Entertaining.

http://www.mindspring.net/~jangler/
Shades of Night: Web of Horrors--Ghost stories and other horrors.

Cemetery Sites For Gothic Enthusiasts--

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/6157/CemeteryLinks.html
New Orleans cemeteries

http://www.best.com/~gazissax/city.html
City of the Silent--cemeteries

http://www.catacombe.roma.it/welcome.html
Rome catacombs

http://www.sirius.com/~dbh/mummies/
Museo de las Momias (Museum of the Mummies) in Guanajuato, Mexico--Interesting

http://taphophilia.com/
Taphophilia (cemetery photogaphy)

Gothic & Horror Sites--

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/5775/
The Cathedral of Tears--Gothic site with cemetery photos

http://www.calldei.com/~recangel/index1.html
Recursive Angel--Gothic site--Interesting

http://.members.tripod.com/~hollowsoul
Follow Me Into The Abyss--Gothic--Interesting

http://members.tripod.com/~hollowsoul/impure.html
Enter Into Impurity--Interesting

http://www.toolcity.net/~ffrank/
The Sickly Taper--Gothic literature

http://www.siue.edu/~vjoller/gothic.html
Literary Gothic

http://www.violetbooks.com
Violet Books--Gothic and other weird literature

http://wwwperso.hol.fr/~vampyre/
Vampyres unVeiled (in English & French)--Interesting site

http://www.drjack.com/black_orchid/
Black Orchid--Gothic

http://www.slashpalace.org/PensiveAngel/Award/
SlashPalace--Gothic--Interesting

http://www.algonet.se/~uziel/index.htm
The Gates of Silent Memory--Well-done and the background music is good!

http://www.obscure.org/~sighs/mehitobel.html
Mehitobel's Words from the Willows: Dark Fantasy and Literature--Fascinating

http://gothic.vei.net/lordruthven/ruthven.htm
Lord Ruthven--Nicely done!

http://www.white-wolf.com/Home.html
Horror/scifi/fantasy publisher of books and roleplaying games, etc.--Entertaining stuff

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/corridor/5582/
The Classic Horror & Fantasy Page--Nicely done

http://home6.swipnet.se/~w-60478/
On-line Classic Horror & Fantasy Fiction--Nicely done

http://hudson.idt.net/~arneil/horror.htm
The World of The Macabre--Interesting

http://www.house-of-pain.com/
House of Pain--Fantastic Gothic, Horror, Occult (and more) links! BIG!

http://www.deancharles.clara.net
Dr. Blood's Video Vault--Outstanding site devoted to the horror genre--includes film reviews, on-lin zine, goth models' photos, chat section, and much more!

http://www.drcasey.com/literature/
The Cabinet of Dr. Casey--Horror Literature--Lots of stuff here!

New Orleans Gothic Sites--

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/6966/
Shadowplay--Gothic site with lots of info on the New Orleans goth scene

http://www.sekhmet.org/~puck/no-gothic/
New Orleans Gothic List

http://www.gothic.net/~vein/guide.htm
Courtney's Guide To New Orleans--Goth info included

http://www.lowlife.com/sheila_marie/nolanet.htm
New Orleans Net.goth

Paranormal, Gothic, Vampire, Horror, Occult, etc. Search Engines--

http://www.paraseek.com/
PARAseek.com--The Paranormal Search Engine

http://www.newageinfo.com/res/welcome.htm
New Age Web Works Link Index

http://www.avatarsearch.com/
AvatarSearch-Search Engine of the Occult Internet

http://www.banzai-net.com/ouija/index.html
Ouija Search

http://www.darkserene.com/links/
DarkSerene

http://www.blackpages.net/hosting/
BlackPages

http://www.horrorfind.com
Horrorfind

http://www.deathndementia.com
Death and Dementia

MORE TO COME!