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NEW ORLEANS – Sailors from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) explored the haunted history of New Orleans’ French Quarter with a tour sponsored by the ship’s Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) April 25 during the ship’s participation in Navy Week New Orleans.
Navy Week New Orleans is a weeklong celebration and collaboration with the community of New Orleans and six ships representing the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy.
Events throughout the week allow people in the area to meet Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, as well as witness firsthand the latest capabilities of today's maritime services. It also allows Sailors and Marines to learn more about the famous southern city with deep roots into American history and tradition.
The “ghost tour” highlighted some of the mysterious and gruesome details of New Orleans’ history and served as a walking tour through some of the oldest parts of the city.
“I’ve heard about some of the darker things that have happened in this city,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Ryan Shaffer. “I wanted to come out and see for myself if there are really ghosts floating around.”
Jude Desnoyer, the manager of MWR events aboard Wasp, said he arranged the tour because he’d gotten a lot of interest from Sailors on the ship.
“A lot of feedback from Wasp Sailors said they wanted to go on some sort of haunted ghost tour,” said Desnoyer. “I researched it and saw high ratings of ghost tours of Bourbon Street.”
During the tour, the tour guide described commonly reported phenomena throughout the city, including a sound heard in Jackson Square.
“It starts as a low moan, and rises to an outright shriek,” said the tour guide, who goes by the character name “Tiger” for the tours. “It will make your blood run cold and the hair on the back of your neck stand on edge. It’s not a sound that anyone of you actually wants to hear.”
Tiger said no one has been killed at Jackson Square for more than 160 years, but locals believe the sound is “the residual haunting of a convicted traitor begging an unseen executioner to put him out of his misery.”
Sailors who attended the tour said they enjoyed listening to the stories and seeing a different side to the city.
“Some of the past history is very creepy,” said Shaffer. “Its almost doesn’t seem real that so much has happened in just the past 200 years.”
Desnoyer said he was pleased with the reactions from the Sailors and Marines who have attended the tours so far and he hopes the tours have served as a conduit for the community’s history and heritage in addition to being fun.
“MWR events have been met with a lot of positivity and people are really excited about it,” said Desnoyer.
For more information, visit: www.navy.mil/local/lhd1 or https://www.facebook.com/NolaNavyWeek.
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.26.2015 18:36 |
| Story ID: | 161314 |
| Location: | NEW ORLEANS, LA, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Wasp Sailors explore haunted side of New Orleans, by PO1 Rawad Madanat, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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