Tag Archives: supernatural

Literary Travel: Haunts of New Orleans

6 Oct

New Orleans’ dark underbelly, supernatural superstition and witching practices are well documented, so in preparation for spooky season and perhaps as you choose something to read, perhaps with a beignet and chicory coffee, you might consider opening one of these titles that explore the city’s devilish dark history – from fires to fever mistreatment, and spiritual tradition mixed with paranormal presences. 

Beyond the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Frenchman Street, the swamp lands surrounding, Café du Monde, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, and even a cemetery tour by day, New Orleans offers another bloodline to explore, one that continues to haunt and inspire today.

Once you venture off the touristy paths, you realize that New Orleans has much more intrigue behind hidden doors, windows shut and bolted from the outside, secret messages, and taboo rituals. So, if you find yourself there, these books could help you understand what ghoul is walking among you, what legend is pulling you in, or what spirit or occult practice is summoning your energy.  

Non-Fiction

Haunted New Orleans by Bonnye Stuart: A tour through the city’s most reputedly haunted addresses, from Garden District mansions to French Quarter courtyards – told through ghost stories from locals. In BCCLS catalog

Haunted New Orleans by Troy Taylor: ghost-lore historian Troy Taylor walks us through the fires, plagues, and violence behind the city’s most famous haunted sites, including the French Quarter, the cemeteries or “Cities of the Dead” History weaves with ghost story. Audiobook on Hoopla.

New Orleans Vampires by Marita Crandle: Written by the owner of the French Quarter’s Boutique du Vampyre, this traces how New Orleans became America’s vampire capital, from fiction works to folklore and real historical studies. It’s the origin story behind the city’s most successful piece of self-mythologizing. In BCCLS catalog. Ebook in Hoopla.

The Magic of Marie Laveau by Denise Alvarado: A hands-on spiritual guide built around the real Marie Laveau’s legacy, offering prayers, rituals, and practices drawn from the Voodoo Queen’s tradition rather than just her legend. Written for practitioners, not tourists. In BCCLS catalog. Ebook in Hoopla. Audiobook in Hoopla.

Witch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, and Hoodoo Saints by Denise Alvarado: A broader guidebook to New Orleans’ occult landscape, including its Voodoo queens, Hoodoo saints, and resident spirits. The title maps the city’s magical practices back to their cultural roots and tradition. In BCCLS catalog. Ebook in Hoopla. Audiobook in Hoopla

The Axeman of New Orleans by Miriam C. Davis: The true story of the early 1900’s axe murderer who terrorized the city’s Italian immigrant community and mailed a letter to the newspaper claiming to be the devil himself. This is a true-crime account of a case that was never solved. In BCCLS catalog.  

Fiction:

The Originals (TV): The Original vampire family – Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah Mikaelson – return to New Orleans to reclaim their faction of the city they built centuries ago, but witches, werewolves, rival vampires await along with an unborn child prophecy. The Originals is a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries. In BCCLS catalog

Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice: Louis de Pointe du Lac recounts two centuries of his life to a modern-day reporter, starting with his transformation into a vampire on a Louisiana plantation by the seductive, Lestat. Their toxic bond results in their vampire-child Claudia. This novel begins Rice’s fictional landscape of New Orleans as the birthplace of American vampire fiction. In the BCCLS catalog.

(Movie and AMC series also available in the BCCLS catalog and Hoopla.)

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice: Neurosurgeon Rowan Mayfair discovers she’s the latest in a centuries-long line of New Orleans witches bound to Lasher, a spirit who has shaped her family since the 1600s. In BCCLS catalog.

(AMC series also available on Hoopla.)

Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson: Told as one long letter from Constanta to the ancient vampire, Dracula, who saved and then possessively remade her. It’s a gothic retelling that follows her from a peasant girl to an immortal realizing her “savior” is also her captor. In BCCLS catalog. Audiobook on Hoopla.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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C.J Tudor’s Terror Tales: Horror Meets Old English Storytelling

7 Jan

When did you become a fan of something? You may not remember the day or time, but you probably remember the location or the product (in this blog, a book). Believe it or not, just 5ish years ago, I was a bona fide scaredy cat. I refused to watch scary movies, or if I did, I went to the 10:00 matinee or watched at home with every light on and my arms wrapped tight around my corgi pillow. 

Still, my chest pounding and the internal screaming of, “Don’t go in there!,” alongside the blood-boiling dread of a supernatural creature wrapping its ghostly tendrils around the protagonist, deeply intrigued me.

So, when did I take my captivation to the next level? Well, I was standing in the Hoboken Public Library, staring down C.J. Tudor’s (now my favorite author) novel, The Gathering. The cover shows a figure walking into a snowy, small town with a deep crimson sky roiling above her. The snow is heavy and high upon the shops. 

Ok, you got me visually. Oh, and then I read the blurb: a detective investigating a grisly crime in rural Alaska finds herself caught in the dark secrets and superstitions of a small town. 

Oh hell’s bells, a small town supernatural horror. As someone who grew up in a Wisconsin town of 999 people, this strummed my heartstrings tight. 

The first scene: a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. 

And who does the small town think is responsible? An ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement.

C.J. Tudor has a remarkable flair for English pub-style storytelling, mixed with the jump scares of American horror and the long-drawn-out dread made famous by Mr. King. 

After just a few weeks, I was on to the next, her first and the one that put her on the map: The Chalk Man. Next up, The Drift. Then, The Burning Girls.

I’m fascinated by the psychological dread exposed in her characters when faced with unfathomable events. She is becoming a master at blending childhood trauma with adulthood responsibilities and spinning a web of horror intermixed with societal questions. It’s not just who will survive or solve the crime, but what will survive. Is it worth it for a population to live on if they undermine and banish another? Is fear tethered to something more profound than just ignorance? What in our past lingers that only absolute terror can bring to the surface enough for us to make a decision? The classic ‘should I stay or should I go’ moment, if you will. 

The Burning Girls: a story about a troubled vicar and her daughter moving to a quaint English countryside town to run the parish, but soon find out the town is buried in worry of, you guessed it, girls who were burned alive and still haunt the town, which is now a TV series, too.  

Horror/thriller/mystery/supernatural lovers, C.J. Tudor must be on your list. 

Which novel will you be checking out? Comment below.

C.J. Tudor’s name is linked to her author page on the BCCLS catalog to make it easy for you to reserve her titles. 

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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