Ghosts at the New Orleans Mint
Mercury
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This article was in the local New Orleans newspaper this morning.
It's not really coin related, it's about the Mint building so I thought I would share.
Link to story
Ghost stories
By R. Stephanie Bruno
Special to The Advocate
Tue, 29 Oct 2013
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If you think ghosts and spirits are a lot of malarkey, you could be right. But there are those who would disagree emphatically, those who say they¡¯ve had repeated encounters with an assortment of apparitions and manifestations.
Jimmie Lee Jackson is one of them.
¡°They are all around us, all the time, here in New Orleans,¡± says Jackson, a police officer with the Louisiana State Museum. ¡°This place is a hotbed of spiritualism. My great-grandmother was from Haiti and she introduced me to clairvoyance when I was 13 or 14. My grandmother from LaPlace was a soothsayer. I have the gift. It¡¯s in my DNA, but it doesn¡¯t have to be in your bones for you to see.¡±
Jackson works in some of the city¡¯s oldest, creakiest buildings ¡ª the Cabildo, the Old U.S. Mint, and Madame John¡¯s Legacy ¡ª where he says he has had the misfortune of seeing apparitions regularly enough that he felt driven to research them and try to find out who they are.
It was Jackson who showed the team of investigators from ¡°Ghost Hunters,¡± the popular Syfy Channel program, around the Mint when they made their visit in 2008.
¡°They didn¡¯t pick up on everything that I do, until they got to the old jail cell,¡± Jackson said. ¡°You have to watch that show and then tell me you don¡¯t believe.¡±
Although the Ghost Hunters¡¯ assessment of whether the Mint is haunted was ¡°inconclusive,¡± Jackson says there is nothing inconclusive about the spirits who have visited him while he has been in the employ of the State Museum for the past eight years.
¡°At the Mint, there are regularly four spirits I come in contact with: two women and two men,¡± he says. ¡°Elizabeth Bell ¡ª I heard her name ¡ª is a black woman, tall and thin, and she looks haggard. I see her every morning between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. She never causes any trouble; she just drifts around on the second floor and sometimes causes a commotion with the lights.¡±
The other woman who visits Jackson regularly is Barbara Quirk, whom he describes as ¡°an old white woman who has a patch over her left eye, and she manifests herself as being crippled.¡± He sees her on the second floor.
If Bell and Quirk are non-confrontational, not so Peter Ackers.
¡°Peter Ackers was 29 years old when he was thrown from a horse and hit his head ¡ª he was committed here,¡± Jackson says. ¡°Wherever he goes, there¡¯s a nasty nasty odor, a foul smell that follows him around. The maintenance crew keeps this place clean so we know it¡¯s nothing like that,¡± Jackson says. ¡°Ackers really stinks up the place.¡±
The fourth spirit that greets Jackson during his shifts at the Mint is either William Roy or Mrs. William Roy. Jackson says it isn¡¯t clear which, but that the spirit ¡°hangs around¡± in the jazz archive area.
¡°Mrs. William Roy was incarcerated here briefly for murdering Mr. William Roy so maybe that¡¯s why it¡¯s hard to tell which one I¡¯m seeing,¡± he says.
Jackson didn¡¯t mention the two spirits most often associated with the Mint: Poor Mumford and his mother. Mumford was a Confederate sympathizer who tore down the Union flag, was judged guilty by Benjamin ¡°Spoons¡± Butler, and then was executed at the Mint for his derring-do.
As Frommer¡¯s New Orleans says, ¡°Fun fact: Ghost hunters say that William Mumford, who met the noose here in 1862, still hangs around.¡±
And what would be an execution without a wailing mother? Even in death, apparently, Poor Mumford¡¯s mum refuses to be separated from him.
Arthur Smith of the state museum staff says that Jackson isn¡¯t the only person who has experienced unusual goings-on at the Mint, or especially at the Cabildo.
¡°We hear from our caterers at the Cabildo in the wee hours, when parties are winding down, they¡¯ll be walking along and suddenly the tray of drinks they are carrying gets flipped up into the air and everything crashes to the floor. That particular poltergeist or whatever it is seems to have a mischievous side and likes to tap on their shoulders,¡± Smith said.
Then there is the Cabildo¡¯s celebrity phantom, the hanging soldier.
¡°The story is that he was a British soldier captured behind American lines during the Battle of New Orleans and jailed here before being hanged in the courtyard,¡± Smith says. ¡°Some people claim to see him hanging there, early in the morning.¡±
In his book ¡°Ghost Stories of New Orleans,¡± Jeff Dwyer confirms that the legend of the hanging soldier at the Cabildo, and adds that there have also been encounters with him on the second floor of the building. Unexplained occurrences increased dramatically after the 1988 fire and subsequent renovation of the Cabildo, Dwyer says, and cites guards who claim to have been ¡°pushed by invisible hands,¡± or felt unseen people ¡°rushing past them.¡± Is it the hanging soldier or the party poltergeist? No one knows for sure.
As for Jackson, he doesn¡¯t care much whether people believe him.
¡°I¡¯m just telling you the way that it is, that there are spiritual entities that are neither here nor there, not in Hades and not in heaven, but right here,¡± he says. ¡°You believe what you want. But be very, very careful if you get it in your head to summon a spirit. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±
It's not really coin related, it's about the Mint building so I thought I would share.
Link to story
Ghost stories
By R. Stephanie Bruno
Special to The Advocate
Tue, 29 Oct 2013
¬ö0
Comments Share on Facebook Share on emailShare on googleShare on redditMore Sharing ServicesPrint article
If you think ghosts and spirits are a lot of malarkey, you could be right. But there are those who would disagree emphatically, those who say they¡¯ve had repeated encounters with an assortment of apparitions and manifestations.
Jimmie Lee Jackson is one of them.
¡°They are all around us, all the time, here in New Orleans,¡± says Jackson, a police officer with the Louisiana State Museum. ¡°This place is a hotbed of spiritualism. My great-grandmother was from Haiti and she introduced me to clairvoyance when I was 13 or 14. My grandmother from LaPlace was a soothsayer. I have the gift. It¡¯s in my DNA, but it doesn¡¯t have to be in your bones for you to see.¡±
Jackson works in some of the city¡¯s oldest, creakiest buildings ¡ª the Cabildo, the Old U.S. Mint, and Madame John¡¯s Legacy ¡ª where he says he has had the misfortune of seeing apparitions regularly enough that he felt driven to research them and try to find out who they are.
It was Jackson who showed the team of investigators from ¡°Ghost Hunters,¡± the popular Syfy Channel program, around the Mint when they made their visit in 2008.
¡°They didn¡¯t pick up on everything that I do, until they got to the old jail cell,¡± Jackson said. ¡°You have to watch that show and then tell me you don¡¯t believe.¡±
Although the Ghost Hunters¡¯ assessment of whether the Mint is haunted was ¡°inconclusive,¡± Jackson says there is nothing inconclusive about the spirits who have visited him while he has been in the employ of the State Museum for the past eight years.
¡°At the Mint, there are regularly four spirits I come in contact with: two women and two men,¡± he says. ¡°Elizabeth Bell ¡ª I heard her name ¡ª is a black woman, tall and thin, and she looks haggard. I see her every morning between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. She never causes any trouble; she just drifts around on the second floor and sometimes causes a commotion with the lights.¡±
The other woman who visits Jackson regularly is Barbara Quirk, whom he describes as ¡°an old white woman who has a patch over her left eye, and she manifests herself as being crippled.¡± He sees her on the second floor.
If Bell and Quirk are non-confrontational, not so Peter Ackers.
¡°Peter Ackers was 29 years old when he was thrown from a horse and hit his head ¡ª he was committed here,¡± Jackson says. ¡°Wherever he goes, there¡¯s a nasty nasty odor, a foul smell that follows him around. The maintenance crew keeps this place clean so we know it¡¯s nothing like that,¡± Jackson says. ¡°Ackers really stinks up the place.¡±
The fourth spirit that greets Jackson during his shifts at the Mint is either William Roy or Mrs. William Roy. Jackson says it isn¡¯t clear which, but that the spirit ¡°hangs around¡± in the jazz archive area.
¡°Mrs. William Roy was incarcerated here briefly for murdering Mr. William Roy so maybe that¡¯s why it¡¯s hard to tell which one I¡¯m seeing,¡± he says.
Jackson didn¡¯t mention the two spirits most often associated with the Mint: Poor Mumford and his mother. Mumford was a Confederate sympathizer who tore down the Union flag, was judged guilty by Benjamin ¡°Spoons¡± Butler, and then was executed at the Mint for his derring-do.
As Frommer¡¯s New Orleans says, ¡°Fun fact: Ghost hunters say that William Mumford, who met the noose here in 1862, still hangs around.¡±
And what would be an execution without a wailing mother? Even in death, apparently, Poor Mumford¡¯s mum refuses to be separated from him.
Arthur Smith of the state museum staff says that Jackson isn¡¯t the only person who has experienced unusual goings-on at the Mint, or especially at the Cabildo.
¡°We hear from our caterers at the Cabildo in the wee hours, when parties are winding down, they¡¯ll be walking along and suddenly the tray of drinks they are carrying gets flipped up into the air and everything crashes to the floor. That particular poltergeist or whatever it is seems to have a mischievous side and likes to tap on their shoulders,¡± Smith said.
Then there is the Cabildo¡¯s celebrity phantom, the hanging soldier.
¡°The story is that he was a British soldier captured behind American lines during the Battle of New Orleans and jailed here before being hanged in the courtyard,¡± Smith says. ¡°Some people claim to see him hanging there, early in the morning.¡±
In his book ¡°Ghost Stories of New Orleans,¡± Jeff Dwyer confirms that the legend of the hanging soldier at the Cabildo, and adds that there have also been encounters with him on the second floor of the building. Unexplained occurrences increased dramatically after the 1988 fire and subsequent renovation of the Cabildo, Dwyer says, and cites guards who claim to have been ¡°pushed by invisible hands,¡± or felt unseen people ¡°rushing past them.¡± Is it the hanging soldier or the party poltergeist? No one knows for sure.
As for Jackson, he doesn¡¯t care much whether people believe him.
¡°I¡¯m just telling you the way that it is, that there are spiritual entities that are neither here nor there, not in Hades and not in heaven, but right here,¡± he says. ¡°You believe what you want. But be very, very careful if you get it in your head to summon a spirit. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±
Collecting Peace Dollars and Modern Crap.
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