New Orleans, 1919: where did the haunted houses go?

What the paper reported

For years the grand old mansions of Constance Street, Magazine and St. Charles Avenue stood empty, “uninhabited except by bats,” their yards overgrown, with tales of ghost-walking keeping every tenant away. Then the 1919 housing squeeze hit, and the paper reported that the spooks had been “crowded out.”

Exhibit A · Transcription

“Haunted Houses” Are Now Occupied

What has become of the familiar “haunted houses” of New Orleans?

There are three answers to this question. But the real answer is: The acute housing shortage has wiped out the old “haunted houses.” Families are living in them and are probably just as satisfied as in any other houses which have never had any “spooks.”

As a matter of fact the old houses of Constance street, Magazine, and even of St. Charles avenue, not to mention other locations which have been noted for examples of fine old deserted mansions, uninhabited except by bats for many years, do not compare with homes where modern facilities are concerned. But in the housing squeeze just now that has become almost a secondary matter.

“Haunted” Houses Left Vacant

Many supposedly “haunted” mansions have stood in a neglected condition, rank grass growing over their yards and between the flagstone paving for years, the awe of the neighbors and the bugbear of the younger element. There has been no lack of tales of ghost walking and “spirits” in these old places, and in consequence to secure tenants was impossible.

Transcribed from the page image, spelling and punctuation as printed; line-end hyphens joined. Checked word by word against the Library of Congress’s OCR text (see the verification record). The subhead “Haunted” Houses Left Vacant is printed mid-column.

Newspaper

Bogalusa Enterprise and American

Published in

Bogalusa, Louisiana

Headline

“Haunted Houses” Are Now Occupied

Date

November 13, 1919

Page

4

Permalink

www.loc.gov/resource/sn88064055/1919-11-13/ed-1/?sp=4

Source

Library of Congress, Chronicling America. Public domain (published 1919).