New Toulouse

On my ghost stroll today, I found signs of Halloween at several places in New Toulouse. Pazzo has some demonic-looking horses outside the stable, and Belle has cute creepy stuff—not to mention the Banana Gallery, which really has a celebration going. The fun fair is more fun then ever with a scarecrow, and at Ravenstask’s house there was a green ghost hovering over the pumpkins.

Out in the swamp I didn’t see too many decorations, except at my Swamp Manor Inn, where some ghosts seem to have moved in. How do I do Halloween? I dance with the ghosts and the zombies all night long.

The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight. She publishes books by various authors; find them at her reading cafe on Shotgun Row. She also operates a tattoo parlor in Gloryville, at the corner of Royale and Rossignol.

One morning, from the balcony over my cafe at la Coquette, I spotted something new across the street. My curiosity became so strong that I had to take my coffee with me for a stroll. On Shotgun Row, we seem to have a sweet, slightly creepy toy museum.

Belina’s Little Toy Box Museum seemed totally invaded by mice when I peeked in. They live in the dollhouses and on the shelves. Adorable rag dolls are sitting around, watching them intensely. Outside in the garden, several happy little bunnies hopped around.

I really love the garden here. To sit outside on the veranda, feeling the wind in your hair and watching the lovely tree’s leaves swaying reminds you that it’s a good day to be alive (or undead, depending on your preference).

Visiting the toy museum made me think of another place here in the city. In Gloryville, right across from the St. Louis Cemetery, there is a dime museum called Professor Inglewood’s Grand Observatorium. The sign outside says, “No children or unaccompanied women” and “Not for the faint of heart!”

Of course this means I can’t share any photographs from inside, but I’m fascinated by the preserved mermaid and all the other strange mummies here. On the walls you’ll find ghost photographs, drawings of dissected bodies, and other interesting stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many skeletons and skulls in the same place. Indeed, it’s a nice place to go before bedtime to conjure those special cozy, scary dreams.

• Belina’s Little Toy Box Museum, #3 Shotgun Row
• Professor Inglewood’s Grand Observatorium, #6 Basin Street

The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight. She publishes books by various authors; find them at her reading cafe on Shotgun Row. She also operates a tattoo parlor in Gloryville, at the corner of Royale and Rossignol.

At this time of the year, I always get an urge to discover spooky things. And this morning I hit the jackpot. The first thing I spotted was a mysterious corpse in the pigpen at Pazzo’s old Spanish stable. And the pigs looked fat. I wonder if we ever will see him again.

At Lin Laundry at the south end of Shotgun Row, the Halloween pumpkin was a kitty!

Next to the laundry is Missedabracket Salvage, where a nice Cthulhu was hanging on display. When I went to visit him, I swear someone threw pumpkins at me!

I ran for my life to hide in the Maison Rose, and then I saw that a new business, the Mud Bowl, had moved in there. The dead fish looked nice.

Quite calmed by the friendly skeletal fish, I strolled down the road and found a pair of cute, tiny skeletons hanging in the food stall at Carousel Park.

This made me hungry, so I went to Bijou Impromptu, where my spirit fed upon the short Frankenstein movie playing there. That put me in a romantic mood, so I went for a quick visit to the bayou to roll in the catnip, and at the Cloche du Chat, I found the cutest pumpkins I have ever seen.

Suddenly longing for the rooftop party that the Krewe of Bast (my krewe!) are throwing this weekend, I took my tubcopter to Gloryville and got myself a preview of the goodies.

Keep it spooky!

The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight. She publishes books by various authors; find them at her reading cafe on Shotgun Row. She also operates a bookstore and tattoo parlor in Gloryville, at the corner of Royale and Rossignol.

Bayou has changed so much recently. There is now the wonderful Fifolet, the backyard venue where I heard Bohemian and Zippedy Zabelin perform some great music. (Zippedy Zabelin, aka “Dr. Zip,” will give a concert there this Saturday at 1:00 PM.) Fifolet makes me not miss Swamp Manor so much. It is a great place to just hang out. I always enjoy watching the puppet theater, and the cats seem to enjoy it too.

I heard a rumor about a new establishment and decided to go check it out. I found it at the east end of the railroad tracks: the soup kitchen of the Cloche du Chat, in an old church building. The sign told me that there was free food and that I could go upstairs to make a wish. Upstairs was a bell that I couldn’t resist ringing. It gave me a fish!

Sitting at the nice desk on the porch was very relaxing with the view of the bayou outside. I wrote a note to Cybele Snowpaw, the proprietor here, asking her some questions that she was kind enough to answer:

Welcome back. Niki told me you used to live here years ago.

Thanks muchly! And yes, that’s right. I washed up onto the banks of the bayou in days of yore—and after having a great time shooting zombies and drinking from barrels and being slumped on porches, I became a wandering recluse for reasons only guessed at. I’m still guessing.

Is there a reason this soup kitchen is a church?

Well, apart from the abandoned church having already popped up and then gone peregrinating and then decided to return by special summoning—he who was and is and always shall be Fatty the King of Kitties, decided to annex it to his boundless realm. And by his grace (and at the kind suggestion and through the bountiful arts of Miz Nikita Weymann), he decreed that there should be a place where wanderers and dreamers and ne’er-do-wells can all nap and chase their tails after receiving a bit o’ some steaming potage to soothe the savage hungry beast within.

Miss Cybele Snowpaw

There is no life without kitties. Also—to bear tribute to he who was and is and always shall be (etc.) Fatty the King of Kitties. He came from parts unknown to rule for eight auspicious years (as has been recorded in worthy books of history), and then he succumbed to kidney degradation deriving from a poor but preferred diet of curried garbage, leaving many loyal hearts bereft. Now, thanks to la Cloche du Chat and his remaining retinue and his beneficence, a tasty but health-giving meal of jambalaya and raw seafood is available to all.

Nice touch with the church bell that gives wishes and fishes. How come?

Oh, thank you. Well, Fatty, in his most recent lifetime, was a great granter of wishes. He himself was a wish granted, or rather he decided after turning up and taking over that he was exactly what one would wish for—and now that all the catch belongs to him in his present expanded being, he figures that no one who appeals to him for their heart’s desire should leave without a fish in the hand, that being better than two noisy birds in the bush. And about the bell, well, he’s just a big old romantic who loves a good sonorous thing in a pretty golden form.

I guess I have a new place to relax, one where I feel safe. See you on the bayou!

The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight. She publishes books by various authors; find them at her reading cafe on Shotgun Row. She also operates a bookstore and tattoo parlor in Gloryville, at the corner of Royale and Rossignol.

Today I went on a walk in the city to view some art. At Miss Bee’s gallery at Red Drum Place, Maison de la Femme Impatient, I see that Lilyday Darkstone has brought her art back to New Toulouse. Her painting Heartstrings seems to be longing for the cemetery just outside the window. I really like Lilyday’s paintings. They are so soulful.

In this gallery there are also paintings by Miss Bee herself. She is accepting orders for custom paintings, and her gallery will show and sell other artists’ works on commission.

Galerie Wikifoo, on Rue de Woodget, also has several new pieces on the walls. Mr. Wikifoo has recently hung Trick Fell Asleep and others that I have never seen before. He has a pair of horses in the gallery garden. I wonder if he has them there for inspiration.

Across from the Ascension Cafe is Galerie Diabolik, highlighting risqué photographs and paintings from different eras. Miss Ulva Gloom specializes in the forbidden and is showing very special pieces. I found a marvelous octopus among the French postcards and vampire-themed art.

Just behind the gallery is Cinema Diabolik, now showing the surreal short film Ghosts Before Breakfast. New Toulouse’s other cinema, Bijou Impromptu, is showing The Musketeers of Pig Alley, starring Lillian Gish. Both of the cinemas in the city present films that really satisfy my eye for art.

Next to Bijou Impromptu is the Green-Eyed Fairy, which has the most secret art gallery in New Toulouse. I’m talking, of course, about the nudes in the “smoking lounge.” In the more public area upstairs, you can find art by Bryn Oh and several others, and in the main room downstairs there is a very impressive collection of photos of famous musicians. I am very fond of the art deco posters in there too.

Our lovely city is full of art. In fact, there are so many places with art here that you should definitely devote some time to an art stroll.

The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight. She publishes books by various authors; find them at her reading cafe on Shotgun Row.

When I woke up this morning I could hear the party music playing, and I knew it was the day of the Samedi Gras parade in New Toulouse and I had a date with my friends in the Krewe of Bast. Oh my, was it a blast! And I didn’t have any of those blackout moments for the first time I can remember!

Photo credit: Jane Moreaux

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When I finally got out of bed this evening and took a stroll in the city, I found Miss Nikita at the land office staring at all the unopened mail. She slipped me the following comment with a scowl on her face: “I’m not opening all this mail! And Yvonne is on vacation too. Hey look, this envelope is stamped OPEN IMMEDIATELY, CONTAINS BRIBE.”

Not only will the mayor have lots of work on his hands when he returns from lazy time, but he might also get a little shock. Jimmeh closed his cinema and went traveling, and instead we have got a lovely psychic cafe and curiosity shop in that spot, run by the Whitefalcons. In fact, the whole block has changed.

If this arouses Mayor Godenot’s curiosity over what else is new in the city, he might also notice the Cuban lady ZunZun Clarity’s guest exhibition at Azucar Gallery.

When I met the artist, she told me that she mixes in her own art with well-known art from Cuba, but the audience has to guess which art is hers. I have no idea how long this exhibition is going on, so if the mayor does not see it while checking up on his city, he may miss it.

It must be fun and exhausting to be mayor in a city that changes a lot over just a few days, and also very exciting. I find it interesting, anyway. Every day here is like an adventure.

The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight. She publishes books by various authors; find them at her reading cafe on Shotgun Row.

For three weeks in November, parapsychologists, spiritualists, and amateur ghost hunters descended upon New Toulouse in search of ghosts for the Beacon Spiritualist Institute’s registry of Louisiana hauntings. With 2,720 ghosts reported, New Toulouse is the most haunted place in Louisiana by a considerable margin.

Liza Veliz runs a cafe across the street from the project’s headquarters. Asked if she met many out-of-town ghost hunters, she said, “So many, it was unbelievable—a real little invasion.”

Being a ghost herself, Miss Liza acted as the local “spectral liaison” for the project. Did any of the hunters try to hunt her? “Yes, several! They just hugged me and said, ‘I found a ghost!’”

Travelers from as far away as the Wastelands came looking for specters, and local business and community leaders offered rewards.

The Still House saloon saw lots of visitors as well. The tavern’s owner, Blake Palmer, says some of them ceased hunting there and commenced drinking instead. And a few decided to stay in town. “Ms. Fern Barker,” said Palmer, “came here for the ghost hunt, and now she owns the land beside my saloon.”

Gigi Lapin lives on the bayou with her pet crawfish, Jimbo.

Everyone knows Louisiana has plenty of ghosts, but a society in Lafayette is out to count them. The Beacon Spiritualist Institute is building a repository of ghost sightings and stories from all over the state.

“Let’s make sure the ghosts of New Toulouse are well represented,” said Miss Yvonne Follet, who is coordinating the local effort, based in the parish land office, where she works as assistant to Mayor Godenot.

Miss Liza Veliz added, “I hope every ghost is treated with respect, by the people who now share their homes and by the visitors seeking their stories.” Being a ghost herself, Miss Veliz has been appointed spectral liaison for the project.

Several local businesses and community members are offering rewards for participation. If you would like to help find ghosts and gather their stories, go to the land office to obtain a ghost hunter’s kit. The Haunted New Toulouse project runs from November 1 to 22.

Jack Mondieu knows spirits.

I went to talk to the lonely guy at the customs shack by the docks. I was wondering what he thinks about all the time when he’s at work. He told me amazing things.

“Yesterday,” he said, “I saw a merman swimming by. When I asked him where he was going, he said nothing. Maybe fishmen don’t have ears.”

He looked off into the middle distance. “One time I saw a naked couple arguing in the French Market. They were not open for conversation either. In fact, you are the first one to talk to me, about anything other than cargo, in a while,” he said, smiling.

“For a while there were girls coming to the docks and dressing up for parties, as if this were their boudoir. Well, I didn’t mind.” He smirked and drew his hand over his cheek. “But then they didn’t come back anymore. I guess they found a better place to change clothes.”

He said, “That Jack crawls by sometimes when he’s had too much whiskey—that’s pretty fun to watch. And the little silent frog lady in her very nice outfit, she is fun too. She dances. Other than that, nothing much happens around here. But thanks for asking.” He smiled and went back to reading his book.

The Ghost of Liza Veliz fell in love with New Toulouse at first sight. She publishes books by various authors; find them at her reading cafe on Shotgun Row.