Weird Louisiana

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Weird Louisiana
16 March 2010
Kim Ranjbar
NewOrleans.com


I have been a fan of the unusual my entire life. For example, I was endlessly fascinated with books on haunted houses, UFOs, psychic powers, ancient civilizations, geeks, freaks and Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Every year I would beg my mother to purchase the new edition of the Guinness Book of World Records and I would be engrossed (and blissfully grossed out) by the strange, bizarre and grotesque feats of those human beings for days on end. I mean, who really needs fingernails that are more than 24 feet long and why, oh, why would anyone consume more than two pounds of metal a day? Whether or not it made sense, these strange feats always intrigued me. They still do to this day.

When I heard about Roger Manley’s Weird Louisiana, I was immediately interested in the book. Although it isn’t quite as detailed as I hoped, I was still not disappointed by the strange things Manley uncovered. It incited a desire in me to travel this great state more widely and do a little investigating on my own.

Weird Louisiana takes the form of a fun yet informative coffee table book with more than 250 pages of brightly colored photographs which serve as background for each article. Sometimes the contrast between the photos and font colors made for difficult reading, but it didn’t stop me from tearing through the entire book in less than a few hours. I couldn’t put it down!

I was instantly pleased when I opened Weird Louisiana and the very first story was on the “Rougarou,” the local version of a werewolf. I was reminded of how a co-worker of Cajun heritage had told me years ago that if I did something bad, the Rougarou would get me. Fortunately, I now know that singing church music (or keeping a frog in my pocket) is enough to repel the Rougarou if I ever find myself wandering too near the swamps.

Don’t get the idea that all the stories are about mysterious creatures or ghosts and haunted houses. Those stories do occupy a fair share of Weird Louisiana, but there are also a lot of fascinating oddities that only humans could create. For example, when the Sellers’ brothers of Lafayette were bequeathed their father’s house after his death in the late 1850’s, they chose to split the house right down the middle rather than live in it together! Apparently, one half of the house still stands to this day, although it’s been reconstructed to be a whole house again.

n another more recent tale from 1999, the Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Church in LaPlace beheld a religious mystery where a communion wafer dissolving in a jar of holy water transformed into what appeared to be a piece of flesh! Was it truly the body of Christ being consumed by the local congregation? After this phenomenon, a few members of the community believe it’s true.

From astounding historical facts to outlandish local gossip, the amazingly weird tales never seem to end. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by the serial killer known as the Axeman who terrorized New Orleans from 1911 to 1919? Or what about John James Audubon who fabricated much of his own life story, including the fact that he was originally from Louisiana? Or what about the world’s smallest church located in Iberville Parish or Raceland’s mysterious Muffler Man?

One of my favorite tidbits to be found in this long list of off beat and perplexing tales is regarding the story of Judge Perez Drive in St. Bernard Parish. The road was originally named for Judge Leander Perez, but since his mineral rights schemes have come to light where he managed to bilk citizens out of more than $80 million, his reputation has soured. Instead of spending a lot of time and money replacing all the road signs, the officials of St. Bernard Parish decided to rename the road after Melvyn Perez, another local judge with a much more favorable standing in the community.

I could go on and on, relating story after incredible story that the authors of Weird Louisiana managed to dig up, but that would defeat my purpose! This book is definitely a conversation starter and one worth owning. Since reading it I find myself daydreaming about even more discoveries I could make if I went on my own road trip through Louisiana.