In historical places like St. Augustine, Florida, San Francisco, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana, ghostly specters cause the air to fill with clanking chains, ominous footsteps, and tortured screams in homes with colorful pasts.

St. Augustine

The city of Saint Augustine offers its haunted houses against the backdrop of a turbulent wars. First the Spanish wrested Florida from the native American Indians, and then the Spanish in turn had to fend off the French and the English. Florida became a state of the United States in 1821, after years of bloodshed.

St. Augustine is known as the oldest city in America, and one of its most enduring ghost stories is about Catalina, a Spanish aristocrat who was displaced from her home (at what is now a restaurant at 46 Avenida Menendez) when the British gained control of St. Augustine in 1763. Years later, Spain regained control of the area, and Catalina returned as a young married woman, to reclaim her family home. She died six years later, having had little time to enjoy the legacy that was her home.

As the story goes, the house burned in 1887, part of a sweeping fire that ravaged St. Augustine's bay area. The home was rebuilt to resemble the original and has served as a series of restaurants where owners and employees have reported seeing Catalina, dressed in white, passing through corridors. Another ghost, that of a man dressed in black, has appeared to diners downstairs, say some. Others report fires mysterious starting in the fireplace when no one is around or takes credit for having started one.

San Francisco

Built in 1926 in the Spanish Revival style, the San Francisco Art Institute has an enormous bell tower that has been the site of many ghostly doings.

Reports of other-worldly presences began in about 1947 when a student, moonlighting as a night watchman, lived in the tower to save money. Immediately upon moving in, he heard footsteps, doors opening and closing, lights turning on and off, and other signs of life, but when he investigated, no one was there. Over the years, others reported the dimming and flickering of lights and so forth, but with decreasing frequency until the hauntings were all but forgotten.

In 1968, when the tower was being renovated as a storage area, several students thought the ghost had returned with a sinister vengeance. Several near-fatal accidents occurred with such frequency, that the workers in the construction areas refused to carry on. A seance was held to dispel the malevolent spirit. Legend has it that it was during the seance when it was revealed that the school had been built upon a graveyard. An historian later confirmed that a cemetery had been demolished to accommodate the school when it was built.

Due to seismic fluctuations in the area, the bell tower is closed to the public and no new sightings have been reported since.

Lombard Street

One of San Francisco's most popular unofficial attractions, to the annoyance of residents is Lombard Street, known as the "crookedest street" in the world.

At 1000 Lombard, strange disturbances went on during the late 1960s.

In residence at the time was jet-setter Pat Montandon who was giving a party when she was cursed in front of her guests by a tarot card reader. He was enraged that she failed to bring him a drink and cursed her and her house.

Following the party, a series of personal misfortunes befell Montandon, which caused her to eventually move out of the house. Disturbing phenomena included freezing cold spots in the house, the appearance and disappearance of blood stains on the ceilings and presences that would drive her dog mad with barking. Doors would also appear to lock themselves.

Included in events which can be documented by others were the mysterious deaths of three people. Two friends of Montandon's committed suicide in the home, and Montandon's secretary and friend Mary Louise Ward, was found dead after a fire broke out. However, there was no sign of smoke inhalation in her lungs, and it was determined that she died before the fire broke out. Firefighters had a tough time getting to her because the bedroom doors had been locked from the inside.

According to her own account, Montandon had an exorcism performed on the house. Since then, Montandon has enjoyed a distinguished career as an author, speaker and activist for peace.

New Orleans

Two of New Orleans' most notorious women lived at the same time and most probably knew of each other. Socialite Madame Delphine Macarty LaLaurie and Voodoo Queen Marie Lebeau were at the height of their fame in mid-1830s and both haunt New Orleans to this day.

Madame LaLaurie lived in a fashionable home on Royal Street with her doctor husband, until one day in 1834, a fire broke out. Neighbors came rushing to help the beautiful young woman save her precious belongings from her well-appointed house, yet in the melee, none of her servants could be seen helping. Fearing the servants were trapped, neighbors entered the home, and somehow found a few dead and near-dead slaves. News accounts of the time accused the LaLauries of using the slaves in fiendish medical experiments of some kind.

While Madame LaLaurie was known to be gentlewoman and charitable to others, she did have a record for cruelty. Once, she had been fined by the city for having cowhided and chased a young slave girl to the upper balcony where she fell to her death.

While historians disagree whether or not Madame LaLaurie was involved in the medical torture of slaves, she nonetheless escaped an angry mob who was all too willing to believe the worst of her. New Orleans residents visiting abroad reported seeing Madame LaLaurie living in France in luxury.

Sightings include glimpses of the young slave girl who is seen wandering the private courtyard where she had fallen, and some have reported seeing Madame LaLaurie, resplendent and defiant, walking in front of her former home.

Queen of another kind of society was Marie Leveau, the most famous of New Orleans' Voodoo priestesses. Leveau was born in the 1790s, and grew to be a shrewd manipulator of people. Raised as a Catholic, Leveau was a freewoman of color who moved among the powerful families of New Orleans. Her most famous exploit was helping one family's son escape a murder conviction. In exchange for charming the courtroom to turn the verdict, Leveau asked for the family's home on the Rue St. Anne. When the man was found not guilty, she was awarded the house. She exploited the wealthy and powerful by learning their secrets via their slaves and servants who ran to her with their masters' and mistresses' latest doings. Her ability to know what was going on in every household made others believe she did indeed have supernatural powers.

This fascinating woman also had a heroic side, and was so helpful during the Battle of New Orleans in tending the sick and wounded that she was one of the few people of color invited to attend the funeral of General Jean Humbert, one of the Battle's heroes.

In later life, she gave up her role as Voodoo Queen to a successor and reverted back to Catholicism. She died in 1881, and her tomb is still visited by the curious today.

Reports of sightings of Marie Leveau have been made all over the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Published: October 31, 2002

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.