A Death at Mardi Gras

Dead Body Found in the Streets of New Orleans after Mardi Gras Celebration

The spirit of celebration has come to an end here in the city of New Orleans. A woman’s body, drained of blood, was discovered on Pere Antoine Alley, not far from the famous St. Louis cathedral. According to police, the body was spotted around five am this morning. We spoke to Antoine, the runner who was unfortunate to find the body while he was out training for an upcoming race.

“At first, I thought that she was sleeping,” Antoine told us. “She was slumped over on a bench in front of the church. It was dark, and I was hesitant to approach her for fear that she might be passed out drunk. As I got closer, I could tell by the streetlight above me that something wasn’t quite right. Her skin looked pale. More pale than I have seen anyone, just like she was made of chalk.”

People in the city will no doubt be shaken up by this recent act of violence. Already, there has been talk of something supernatural, as to all appearances, this seems to be something right out of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Police have declined to comment on the identity of the victim until the family can be notified, but they were able to give some information.

We spoke to Chief Inspector Derrick Jones, who gave us a little insight into the initial investigation. “The first piece of the puzzle is to figure out how the victim lost all of their blood,” Derrick told us. “There were no bodily fluids on the bench, or on the ground surrounding her,” he added. “We don’t want to give too much information at this time to avoid widespread panic. I have consulted with the Center for Disease Control, and they have confirmed that this was not due to some type of infectious disease,” he added.

Mayor Pamela Horton will give a press conference later today. “We don’t want this tragic event to prevent tourists from visiting our city,” she told us. “No doubt, police will increase patrol throughout the city as we do not want any further instances of this insanity perpetrated.”

Both citizens and tourists are encouraged to take extra precautions when venturing out after dark.

Police Report

On the morning of Wednesday, February 24th, 2023, I was dispatched to Lafayette Cemetery. An individual, by the name of Marie Thomas, called 911 reporting that she had almost been abducted by a stranger with dark hair. “His eyes was red, like they was being illuminated from the pit of hell”, she told me. “When I first saw him walking among the tombstones, he looked me straight in the eye and I felt like I was being hypnotized,” she added. “The longer I stared, the more my strength seemed to drain away from me.” The stranger, she reported, got closer. “Then, he grabbed my head and forced it to the side, exposing my neck. His head bent close to me, getting so close that I could feel his breath on me. I felt the sensation of two tiny sharp pins being indented into my skin. I finally gathered the courage to scream, at which point, he ran off. I haven’t seen him since,” she added shakily.

A few minutes later, the ambulance arrived, and she went to the hospital to be checked for any wounds or bite marks. On my inspection, she looked relatively unharmed, just a bit disheveled. I did not see any bite marks or puncture wounds on her throat. No other evidence was found at the scene. Will need to follow-up with Inspector Davis to see if I can come up with any more leads on this case.

Call-in report to Paranormal Investigations

On Thursday, February 25th, 2023, I received a call from a gentleman named Casper Jones. Casper wanted to talk to me about an experience he had the night before. As he was walking home on Rue Royale (Royal Street), he passed by an abandoned house that has not been lived in for the past fifty years. “There was a light from a candle burning in the window,” he told me. “The wind was blowin', and the rotted curtains was a flutterin’ in the breeze. I stopped for a moment to look, just out of curiosity. In the background, I could hear an out of tune piano playin’ a slow, hauntin’ melody. My instincts told me to turn and run, but I couldn’t resist sneakin’ onto the porch and looking in another window. There I could see him. An old gentleman wearing a top hat. His skin was white like the new driven snow. He played those keys with long fingers. So long they seemed to stretch across the entire keyboard,” he told me. Then he added, “Somethin’ else strange, too. In the light of that candle, it looked like he had two sharp teeth protruding down over his bottom lip. Looked as if his lips was stained with blood.”

After taking down his phone number and address, I, Marla Adams, president of the Paranormal society relayed this information to our investigation team. We do all sorts of things for people here in New Orleans. There are always people sighting ghosts and what not. We have even had a couple of requests for exorcisms that we have done in conjunction with the priests on staff at St. Louis Cathedral. No one, however, has ever called to report an encounter with a fleshly supernatural being. Werewolves? Vampires? Witches? That seems to be the sort of thing for fantasy novels.

My assistant, Julia, did not seem surprised.

“We’ve waited a long time to encounter something like this,” she told me.

We plan to take a team to investigate the house and surrounding grounds tomorrow to see if we can get a clue as to where this creature rests. Also, hesitant to report our findings to the police, as they would find something of this nature too hard to believe.