NEW ORLEANS, LA. – Rampart Street is one of the lesser-traveled streets by tourists but located only a few blocks from World famous Bourbon Street.
It hosts several well-known destinations such as Louis Armstrong Park, Congo Square, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, the 2nd most visited cemetery in the United States only behind Elvis’s Graceland, it is the final resting place for Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau & Delphine LaLaurie and the Murder House.
Yes, you read correctly, the “Murder House”, an apartment space on the second floor of what is now Bloody Mary’s Haunted Museum and Voodoo Shop. Prior to the current occupant, the building housed another Voodoo Queens business.
After a fire occurred on the lower level, Mary took over the building and with a lot of hard work and determination cleared the rubble and created what is now one of the most memorable experiences your will ever have.
The bottom of the building features a Voodoo doll bar, Pharmacy to create Gris Gris bags, handmade candles, numerous herbs, cases full of interesting items including alligator bones, crystals, jewelry, books, just about anything you would need for assistance with Love, Protection, Money, Luck, and more, just ask and something can be made personally for you.
As you go through the doorway behind the pharmacy area, you will see the beginning of the Haunted Museum with alters for various interests, a restroom where you can see a mirror if the door is open and you may say “Bloody Mary” three times in it, a Séance area with actual rituals, Psychic readings can also be scheduled, a wide variety of artifacts, some related to Voodoo, are throughout the museum.
Then there is the showcase containing personal items of the infamous Voodoo Queen herself, Marie Laveau, which includes her gun, knife, cross, stones among others.
An opening with a stairway leads up to the second floor, also known as the “Murder House”, currently called the “Haunted Attic” and it also includes a haunted doll nursery.
The Murder House story is one of those that sounds like it is directly out of a horror movie, with gruesome unbelievable events that happened, but the difference is, this story is true. According to Mary, there are 13 ghosts known by name upstairs. Zack and Addie are the most well-known.
Both were bartenders in the French Quarter and that is how they met and formed a relationship and fell in love. Addie was an artist from the North where she had a less than desirable life especially with men, in addition to that, she was Bipolar. Zack was a war veteran and suffered from PTSD. According to friends of the two, they were also known to get in some big arguments.
Hurricane Katrina made the two famous as numerous publications wrote about their survival of the deadly storm that 1833 people lost their lives in. See Addie and Zack decided to ride out the storm when it came through, two of very few individuals that did, as the French Quarter was empty, after all this was a Category 5 storm.
When the storm was over, getting back to normal life was tough on both. They turned to drugs and alcohol to help numb the reality of everything. Addie would decide to start out fresh and getting a new place to live was needed.
The two had saved many tips, so the funds were used on an apartment she found located above the famous Voodoo Temple owned by Priestess Miriam, which is now the Haunted Museum owned by Voodoo Queen Bloody Mary. Addie gave the owner a deposit for the rent, but she made sure it was only herself on the lease agreement, as she had found out that Zack was cheating on her.
Zack did eventually find out about this being done with the lease. Days later he was drunk and did the unexpected, he murdered Addie by strangulation. This happened on October 5, 2006. 12 days later, Zack would take his own life by jumping off of the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, landing on the roof of the parking garage.
He left the apartment keys and a note in his pants pockets along with his dog tag from the Army. The note was written as follows: “This is not accidental. I had to take my own life to pay for the one I took. If you send a patrol car to 826 N. Rampart, you will find the dismembered corpse of my girlfriend Addie in the oven, on the stove, and in the fridge, and a full signed confession from myself…Zack Bowen”.
At the crime scene, the police found a journal with the following written in it: “Today is Monday 16 October 2 a.m. I killed her at 1 a.m. Thursday 5 October. I very calmly strangled her. It was very quick.”
“Halfway through the task, I stopped and thought about what I was doing. The decision to halt the first idea and move to Plan B (the crime scene you are now in) came after awhile. I scared myself not by the action of calmly strangling the woman I’ve loved for one and a half years, and then (desecrating) her body but by my entire lack of remorse. I’ve known for forever how horrible of a person I am — ask anyone — and decided to quit my jobs and spend the 1,500 cash I had being happy until I killed myself. So, that’s what I did: good food, good drugs, good strippers, good friends and any loose ends I may have had. I didn’t contact any of my family. So that’ll explain the shock. And had a fantastic time living out my days … It’s just about time now.”
See during those days that lapsed, Zack stored her body in the bathtub, then he cut and sawed her into several pieces. Her head was found in a pot on the stove, her legs and arms in a roasting pan in the oven, her feet and hands in another pan on the stove, and her torso in a plastic bag put in the refrigerator.
Some rumored that there were vegetables cut up and that he was looking to eat her. This is not true, and confirmed as no evidence present from the autopsy. Bloody Mary thought that there may have been some spices found, but again no intentions of Zack looking to do any acts of a cannibal.
“Paranormal Lockdown” did an episode here and noted cold drafts and feeling a presence, especially in the bathroom. I myself have also experienced a strong presence in the apartment, including pressure and movement making my body sway back and forth.
Others have experienced coldness, orbs, walls feeling like they were moving in among other things. Remember there are 11 other known spirits besides Addie and Zack, so it could be any one of them interacting and trying to communicate.
Bloody Mary respects the spirits of Addie and Zack and the others that she communicates within her “Haunted Museum”.
Bloody Mary’s Tours, Haunted Museum & Voodoo Shop are located at 826 & 828 N Rampart St, New Orleans, Louisiana.
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