Feature: Ambassadors to the Underworld

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- In this city of the dead, Kalila and Sydney Smith could be called the ambassadors to the underworld. Parapsychologist Kalila and tour entrepreneur Sydney have introduced the curious to some of New Orleans' most sinister secrets.

Halloween holds especial importance in New Orleans, a city that began as a penal colony and still revels in its often bloody past and surreal present. The city's Web site provides a chat room for self-proclaimed vampires; the vampires' bar, the Dungeon, opens at midnight and closes before dawn. In the French Quarter, buildings adorned with ironwork lace seem suspended in time, voodoo shops appear on every other block and tarot card readers set up shop in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. And VoodooFest, held this year from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, is one of the biggest Halloween bashes in the nation, maybe soon to be analogous to Labor Day Weekend at Virginia Beach.

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No wonder then that the city seems so alluring at Halloween, the time when "the veil between our world and the spirit world is the thinnest," Kalila said during an interview with United Press International.

To get a good idea of all New Orleans has to offer visitors adventurous enough to explore the city's dark side, Kalila's book, "Journey Into Darkness ... Ghosts and Vampires of New Orleans," offers an intimate look into the vampire and werewolf cults of New Orleans, as well as the often gruesome particulars of the city's haunted history. But people aren't just limited to reading about these places -- many of the sites described in the book can be visited on one of the Haunted History Tours, a company led by tour founder Sydney Smith.

The book is filled with tales that range from spine-chilling to poignant, and ghosts both friendly and hostile. There is the hideous tale of Madame and Dr. LaLaurie, who tortured slaves in the attic until a fire exposed their actions and forced the family to flee an angry mob. There is the sad story of Julie, the octoroon mistress of a wealthy white New Orleanian who wanted him to make her his bride so badly that she spent the cold December night nude on the roof of the house to prove her love. He found her there the next morning, dead. There is Mr. Green, who accidentally hanged himself while decorating his shop for Halloween and now makes frequent appearances in his former place of business, and the ghost who slapped a foulmouthed workman across the face in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. One of the strangest revelations is of the alleged time warp near a fountain in City Park.

One can also read testimonies from tour guests as well as Kalila about frightening encounters with the supernatural. Late one night Kalila was passing the large, walled Ursuline Convent, the oldest building in the city, when she suddenly felt like she was being "watched by many eyes" and grew very frightened. Rumors have it that inside the convent are trapped a host of vampires, held in by blessed screws. And while writing her book, she was taunted by a troublesome ghost who leapt onto her pillow like her cat and mimicked her husband's voice.

Kalila also discusses the city's vampire and werewolf subcultures. In the 1930s, a young girl led police to an apartment where she and over twenty others had been imprisoned by two blood-drinking brothers. There are photos and personal stories from residents who claimed to be vampires and werewolves, as well as vampiric encounters: stories of a strange young man with pale gray eyes that moved with "abnormal speed." And once, Kalila said, she was followed home by a "psychic vampire" that drained her energy and left her with a scar below her left shoulder blade.

Several times a day, the tours provide opportunities for people to see the places they've read about. The French Quarter Ghost Tour, one of five tours the company gives, meets in front of Rev. Zombie's Voodoo Shop. One of the tour guides, Midian, hands out strings of plastic pearls intended to protect tour guests. "These were blessed by a voodoo priestess."

The tour stops at several haunted buildings, including the Place d'Arms Hotel, once a school where several children died in a fire; the LaLaurie mansion, the Ursuline convent, the Bottom of the Cup Tearoom (former home of the unfortunate Julie); and Lafitte's, a former blacksmith's shop built in the 1720s and the oldest working bar in the country. The Vampire Tour, Cemetery/Voodoo Tour, and the Voodoo/Witchcraft Tour visit other haunted sites. The company's Garden District Tour doesn't focus on hauntings.

Sydney -- a former rock star photographer, actor and courier of singing telegrams -- started the tour to satisfy his own interest in the paranormal. He described himself as "director and producer" of the tours.

"We refuse to deliver a 'boring' narrative of the city's history. We are ENTERTAINING our tour patrons for the two hours that they spend with us," he said.

In fact, the tour is so popular that some have tried to capitalize on its fame by falsely identifying themselves as representatives of the tour. "We have spawned a ton of imitators," Sydney said. Authentic guides for the tour hand out sticky badges and distinct paper fans shaped like a grinning skull, all bearing the company's name.

Though some of the stories are graphic, he said none of the tour guests has fled the tour in fear, but more than 50 have fainted at the same spot: the LaLaurie mansion, where slaves were tortured.

And often, apparitions turn up in photos taken by tour guests, he said.

Some residents of the Quarter apparently don't like the tours, but Sydney said that the tours set New Orleans apart from other cities. "We have a special ambiance here. This isn't 'Mayberry.'"

But New Orleans residents are generally very open-minded about the paranormal peculiarities in their city, Kalila said. In fact, New Orleans' paper, the Times-Picayune, used to regularly run articles about the hauntings from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, she said.

Kalila is also founder of the New Orleans Paranormal and Occult Research Society, which uses psychics and researchers as needed to investigate a situation. The society's site will soon carry books and videos to educate people on the paranormal, she said.

Kalila uses special spirit-detecting equipment during investigations, but has also had paranormal experiences since childhood. "My first remembrance is being in my crib and seeing (someone) in the window."

At times, the psychic impressions she receives have actually made her ill.

"In some areas where there has been extremely violent death, as in a place in the city where many died in a fire, the impression is very intense, and I could actually smell the smoke and burning flesh. I have gotten sick in such intense locations."

Kalila has done most of her research on haunted places by studying old newspapers and police reports stored on microfiche in the library. However, "New hauntings occur all the time," Sydney said. "Death occurs every day."

But many times, people who think they live in haunted houses don't, he added. ... "Other times, our investigations will turn up all kinds of activity."

A revised edition of "Journey Into Darkness" and other projects are in the works.

Kalila knows skeptics will always doubt the paranormal. "Usually, the hard skeptics are very analytical people, and they rationalize any activity they may encounter."

Some people with strong psychic abilities are frightened of the things they see or hear. "Most people are taught as children to rationalize it away. So many believe they are crazy or even possessed."

However, she said anyone is capable of perceiving the paranormal, even those not as innately sensitive as others. "The more you want to see and experience, the more you will. You just have to program yourself sub-consciously."

Asked for parting advice, she added: "Open, listen, watch, and believe. You may start to notice things you've never noticed before."