French Quarter Clues

by Eva Pohler

  Tanya’s face brightened. “Oh, my God! Where’s Audubon Park?”

  “According to this website, it’s in uptown, about thirty minutes away.”

  Ellen climbed from the couch and slipped on her shoes. “Is the tree marked?”

  “It’s on Google Maps,” Sue said. “What are you doing?”

  “We need to drive out there tonight, while it’s dark, so we won’t be seen,” Ellen said.

  “And do what?” Sue asked.

  “Dig up the devil child,” Ellen said. “Come on, guys. Get your shoes on. Let’s go.”

  “What?” Tanya looked at Ellen like she was crazy.

  “Do you think there will be anything left to dig up?” Sue asked. “It’s been nearly two hundred years.”

  “There has to be,” Ellen said, grabbing her purse from the kitchen counter. “Otherwise, the spirit of Marie Laveau wouldn’t be after us to find it.”

  “But we don’t have any shovels,” Tanya said.

  “Walmart does,” Ellen pointed out. “Sue, can you find the nearest one?”

  “On it.” Sue tapped on the screen of her phone. “But think about this, Ellen. The child could be anywhere beneath that tree. We could be digging all night. We need to ask Delphine Lalaurie to guide us.”

  “Good idea,” Ellen said. “Let’s get our gear from the main house. Tanya, bring the dousing rods and Delphine’s diary. Sue, you grab the salt. We should take along our camping chairs, too.”

  Sue grabbed the carton from the kitchen counter. “Okay, but you don’t expect me to dig, do you?”

  “Of course not,” Tanya said. “If we’re really going to do this, I’ll do the digging.”

  “I’m just kidding, Tanya. Of course, I’m going to dig.”

  Ellen lifted her chin and guffawed. She laughed so hard that her belly hurt.

  Sue gave her a hurt look.

  “Sorry,” Ellen said, feeling hysterical. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at all of us. None of us is really equipped for this, but I love that we’re doing it anyway.”

  “For Tanya,” Sue said.

  Ellen smiled, still feeling a bit hysterical. “For Tanya.”

  Tanya’s eyes filled with tears again, and, this time, they fell down her cheeks. “Thanks, guys. I owe you big time.”

  “Yes, you do,” Sue said as she slipped on her shoes. “Now wipe those tears and let’s go. Walmart is on the way.”

  They went to the main house to get their chairs and some of their other gear and then hauled it out to the bay, where the rental was parked. They loaded up the vehicle and climbed in, Ellen drove while Sue navigated from the back seat.

  As Ellen turned off Chartres and headed east, she said, “You know we’re not just doing this for you, Tanya. We’re doing this for Cornelius and for Maria Nunnery, for the devil child and for Marie Laveau, so they can find peace. You don’t owe us anything for helping. You’re helping them, too.”

  “In fact,” Sue said from the back seat. “You’re helping more than any of us, even if it wasn’t by choice.”

  Ellen almost said, “And you have the most to lose if we fail,” but, fortunately, she caught herself.

  “Thanks, guys,” Tanya said. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m fluent in French.” She chuckled. “And when this is all over, I want to finish reading Delphine’s diary. I want to know what really happened on April 10, 1834.”

  “Me, too,” Sue said. “I hope Delphine reveals what the real plan was—the one that Rachel didn’t follow.”

  “Me, too,” Ellen said.

  Twenty minutes later, they entered Walmart and headed straight to the garden center in search of shovels. They picked up flashlights and batteries, too, and, at Sue’s insistence, a dozen glazed donuts and bottles of cola, to keep their energy up. Tanya, the healthy one in the group when she didn’t have a ghost attachment, insisted that they also take bottled water.

  At the checkout, the cashier—a young man in his twenties with a round belly, glasses, and pretty, green eyes—arched a brow as he rang up the shovels.

  “Burying a dead body?” he asked playfully.

  “Something like that,” Sue said.

  The young man’s eyes widened. “I hope not.”

  “I’m just kidding,” Sue said. “We’re treasure hunters.”

  The cashier furrowed his brows. “Treasure hunters, huh? Along the river, or what?”

  “Yeah,” Ellen said. “Along the river. Our metal detectors went wild this afternoon, so we’re going back tonight to dig deeper.”

  “Okay,” he said with skepticism. “That’ll be eighty-four twenty-seven.”

  Tanya handed over her credit card, and, as they left, the cashier said, “Good luck.”

  “Thanks,” Tanya said.

  Sue added, “We’ll need it.”

  Ellen took Tchoupitoulas Street toward East Drive for about twenty more minutes and turned right. She hadn’t gone far, just past the tennis courts, when Google Maps indicated that their destination was on the left. Ellen pulled into a spot on the edge of the park, glad the place seemed deserted.

  The three of them unloaded their gear and hauled it, along with their camping chairs, across the grass toward the tree. There was a little light from the moon and stars and a distant lamppost—enough to make out the silhouette of the tree and of the wooden fence behind it, but not enough to clearly see the path ahead of them. They used their flashlights to guide them.

  Ellen had expected there to be a breeze this close to the river, but the air was hot, humid, and still.

  “Is that the zoo over there?” Tanya asked, pointing her flashlight beyond the Tree of Life.

  “Yep,” Sue said. “Can’t you smell it?”

  “Is that what I smell?” Tanya asked. “At least it’s not me this time.”

  “Not you,” Ellen said. “Cornelius.”

  “Right,” Tanya laughed.

  “That’s supposed to be the giraffe exhibit on the other side of that fence,” Sue said. “The website said that if you climb up the tree, you can get a great view of it.”

  As they grew close to the old oak, Ellen stopped to shine her light on it. “Wow. Look at it.”

  The thick trunk and its mass of gnarly roots appeared to be at least thirty feet in diameter, and the twisting, knobby branches spread out more than a hundred and fifty feet, drooping all the way to the ground in places.

  “What if the devil child is buried beneath those roots?” Tanya asked. “Oh, God. I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Let’s set up the séance,” Sue said. “And try to have a positive attitude.”

  They unfolded their camping chairs and placed them in a circle. Sue made a line of salt around them and lit the candles at the four cardinal points, while Ellen put donuts and cola (offering for the spirits), along with Delphine’s diary, on some paper towels in the circle’s center. Tanya positioned the EMF detector, EVP recorder, motion sensors, and geophone vibration sensor around the perimeter of their circle. Ellen grabbed the video recorder, and Sue took a reading on the thermometer.

  “Ready?” Ellen asked.

  “Ready,” Tanya said.

  “Let me just finish this donut real quick,” Sue said before stuffing the last bite into her mouth. Then she took a swig of her cherry coke. A few seconds later she nodded. “Okay. Ready.”

  “Recording,” Ellen said.

  “It’s eighty-eight degrees,” Sue said.

  Ellen pointed the camera at Tanya. “Tanya, why don’t you take the lead on this one?”

  “What was that sound?” Tanya asked. “I heard something in the tree—like an animal or something.”

  “Probably a bird or a squirrel. Try to ignore it,” Ellen said. “Go ahead and start.”

  Tanya nodded and took a deep breath. “Spirits of the other realm, we mean you no harm. We are looking for Delphine Lalaurie, who died around 1858. Delphine Lalaurie, we call upon you to help us find the devil child, which you buried beneath this tree
in 1832. We have your diary, hoping you will sense it, along with our offering of food and drink. Follow the light of our candles and allow your diary to pull you to us. Madame Delphine Lalaurie, we call upon you for help and guidance.”

  “Delphine Lalaurie,” Sue said. “Marie Laveau once threatened to curse you, and maybe she did curse you. She’s also cursed my friend, sitting here with us. If you don’t help us, she could die.”

  “Sue,” Ellen interrupted, noticing Tanya’s tears welling up again.

  “It’s okay,” Tanya said. “I’m okay.”

  “Please help us save our friend from Marie Laveau’s curse, as you once tried to save yourself and your children,” Sue said. “Delphine Lalaurie, please show us where you buried the devil child.”

  “Delphine Lalaurie, are you here?” Tanya asked. “If so, please give us a sign.”

  After a minute passed and nothing happened, Tanya picked up the dousing rods. “Calling Madame Delphine Lalaurie. If you’re here with us, please move the tips of these rods closer together.”

  They watched the rods in silence, but nothing happened.

  Tanya shook her head and whispered, “I don’t feel anything.”

  Many minutes passed as they sat in their camping chairs in the sticky night, calling out to the spirit of Delphine Lalaurie. The candles flickered a few times, but it seemed more likely to have been caused by a slight breeze than a ghost. Ellen was trying to stay optimistic, but she could sense that Tanya was feeling desperate.

  “Guys, this isn’t working,” Tanya said when nearly an hour had passed, and it was approaching midnight. “What are we going to do?”

  “We’re not going to give up,” Ellen said. “That’s what we’re going to do.”

  “Try speaking in French,” Sue suggested.

  Tanya held the rods parallel and repeated her speech in French. Still nothing happened.

  The sound of approaching footsteps startled Ellen and her friends, and they all turned their flashlights in the direction they were coming from.

  “What’s going on here?”

  It was a security guard. Ellen hadn’t expected the park to be patrolled this late at night.

  “We’re having a séance,” Sue said. “A paranormal investigation.”

  “Is there a problem officer?” Ellen asked, pointing her camera at him.

  “You can’t have those candles lit out here,” he said. “You’re going to have to put them out.”

  “Oh, no,” Tanya said. “We need them to stay lit.”

  “It’s okay, Tanya,” Ellen said. “We can work without the candles.”

  Ellen and Tanya got up and blew the candles out.

  “It’s okay if we continue, isn’t it?” Ellen asked the security guard. “As long as we keep the candles unlit?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the officer said. “I hate to ruin your fun, but it’s the law. You could start a fire out here, and then we’d all be in trouble, especially those animals on the other side of the fence.”

  “We didn’t think about that,” Sue said. “Please accept our apologies.”

  “No problem,” the officer said. “But just know there’s a $500 for anyone who lights a flame of any sort that’s not in one of the grills in the picnic area.”

  “Yes, sir,” Ellen said. “Thank you.”

  The officer bid them good night and then headed back toward the road, where his patrol vehicle was parked.

  “Should I start digging?” Tanya asked. “I don’t think we’re going to get any spirits without the candles.”

  “That’s not necessarily true,” Sue said. “We can use our flashlights. Now, come on. Don’t give up so easily. We can stay out here all night, if we need to.”

  Ellen pointed the camera at Tanya. “Begin again.”

  Tanya repeated the same speech, calling out to the spirit of Delphine Lalaurie. When she got tired of talking, Sue took over. Another hour past without any sign. Ellen was getting worried that they would have to start digging and keep digging all night.

  “I don’t think Delphine wants to help us,” Tanya said. “Even if she can hear us, she doesn’t want to help Marie Laveau.”

  “You could be right,” Ellen admitted.

  “Let’s try calling the slave who dug the hole for her,” Sue said. “What was his name? Bastien?”

  “Good idea!” Ellen said.

  “But we don’t have anything of his,” Tanya pointed out. “Do you think it would work?”

  “We should try,” Ellen said. “We may as well.”

  “I wish we knew his last name,” Sue said. “Okay, here I go.” She cleared her throat. “Spirits of the other realm, I’m looking for Bastien, a man who lived in this area and was the butler for Madam Delphine Lalaurie in the eighteen-hundreds. Bastien, if you can hear me, we mean you no harm. We’re here to help bring peace to the devil child, named after Marie Laveau’s father, Charles. According to Delphine’s diary, you dug the hole the child was buried in. If you can hear me, please give us a sign.”

  A cry rang out in the dark night.

  “What was that?” Ellen whispered.

  “An animal, I think,” Sue said.

  “I don’t think we can count that as a sign,” Tanya said.

  “Bastien,” Sue said aloud. “Please give us a sign, something we’ll know came from you.”

  One of the flashlights flickered and then went off.

  “Was that a sign?” Tanya whispered. “Or did we buy bad batteries?”

  Ellen moved the camera in the direction of the flashlight that had gone out. Through the lens of the camera, she saw a dark shadow standing there, outside of their circle.

  “Guys, I think I see something,” she said. “Bastien? Is that you?”

  The silhouette of a person emerged from the shadow as one of the other flashlights flickered and went out.

  All three of them gasped.

  “They couldn’t all be bad batteries,” Sue whispered. Then, aloud, she said, “Bastien, if you can hear me, please show us where the devil child was buried.”

  “You can show me by moving the rod tips closer together as I move toward the spot,” Tanya said.

  Ellen saw the silhouette of a man step from the edge of their circle and leap to where a thick branch of the tree touched the ground. The shadowy figure pointed to the ground before it disappeared.

  “Did you guys see that?” Ellen asked, trying to keep from shaking the camera with her trembling hands.

  “See what?” Tanya asked.

  “I felt something,” Sue said. “What did you see?”

  “He pointed to the ground over there, where that branch dips down,” Ellen explained.

  “Seriously?” Tanya asked.

  “I promise that’s what I saw,” Ellen said, turning off the camera. “Let’s start digging!”

  They each took a sip of their drinks before grabbing their shovels and moving to the spot where Ellen had seen the ghost disappear.

  “You do the honors, Tanya,” Sue said. “You break ground.”

  They all laughed. Ellen felt both ridiculous and profoundly important. Once Tanya drove her shovel through the earth, the others got digging, too.

  “This ground is much easier than the rock and clay we have in San Antonio,” Ellen said.

  “Thank God,” Sue said. “Digging through rock would take all night.”

  “It still might take us all night,” Tanya said. “Who knows how deeply Bastien buried the child, or how much the terrain has changed since 1832. They may have added layers of topsoil when they created the park.”

  “Not this close to the tree,” Ellen pointed out. “It would have killed it.”

  “Or, there could be nothing left of the child’s remains,” Tanya said before she drove her shovel into the ground.

  After she’d dug out two or three scoops of dirt, Sue dropped her shovel. “I’m getting my chair. I think I can do this better sitting down.”

  Ellen and Tanya rolled their eyes at each other as t
hey kept digging. Sue took her time getting her chair. Then she plopped into it and used her feet to stick the shovel into the earth.

  “Well, I guess this wasn’t a good idea after all,” Sue said. She climbed to her feet.

  By that time, Tanya and Ellen had already made a hole about two feet deep. The deeper they went, the harder the ground seemed to get. Tanya stopped to catch her breath. Ellen returned to their circle to get their drinks. The hot and sticky air wasn’t helping.

  “I think I’m getting a blister,” Sue said as she tossed a shovel of dirt behind her.

  “Take a break,” Tanya insisted. “I can do the digging.”

  Ellen handed them each a bottled water. She guzzled half of hers down before she dropped it on the ground and returned to her digging.

  “I hope we’re not just wasting our time and energy,” Tanya said. “If y’all want to rest, I can keep going.”

  “You’re the one who should rest,” Sue said. “You don’t look so good.”

  “I am feeling a little dizzy,” Tanya admitted.

  Ellen grabbed Tanya’s shovel from her. “Sit down and take a break.”

  “Maybe for a few minutes.” Tanya sat in the chair Sue had brought over from their circle. “Gosh, it’s so hot.”

  Sue went and brought the other two camping chairs closer to their digging site. “Why don’t we all take a breather.”

  “Thanks, Sue.” Ellen sat down and finished her water.

  “It’s too bad Michael Rouchelle couldn’t be here with us tonight,” Sue said. “It might be more fun to watch him dig than to do it ourselves.”

  Ellen chuckled. “We wanted an adventure, didn’t we?”

  “Well, maybe not quite like this,” Sue said. “I’d rather Tanya’s life not be on the line.”

  “Sue!” Ellen chastised.

  “It’s okay,” Tanya said, wiping her eyes. “Sue’s right. This might have to be the last haunted house I flip with you guys. It’s gotten to be too much, you know?”

  “Don’t say that!” Ellen said with wide eyes. “Seriously, Tanya. We’ll get through this.”

  Tanya covered her face and sobbed.