Louisiana

Author Alan Brown guides the intrepid on a dark tour of the Pelican State’s most infamous residents. Louisiana beckons those the world over with its culture and Spanish moss–draped beauty. But that magnetic pull has also summoned a cast of reprobates vile enough to fill a book. In this version of Louisiana, pirate Jean Lafitte and gentlemanly train robber Eugene Bunch go ahead and help themselves to whatever they like, murderous dentist Etienne De Champs is the stuff of dentophobic nightmares, a psychotic killer known as “The Axeman” stalks the streets of New Orleans and a hail of bullets greets Bonnie and Clyde. Indeed, the sadistic Delphine LaLaurie and Voodoo Queen Clementine Barnabet are quite comfortable in this decidedly non-moss-draped history.

Author and historian Chris Dier reveals the horrifying true story behind the St. Bernard Parish Massacre.

As African American men gained the right to vote, white Democrats of St. Bernard Parish feared losing their majority. Armed groups mobilized to suppress these recently emancipated voters in the hopes of regaining a way of life turned upside down by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Days before the tumultuous presidential election of 1868, the parish descended into chaos. Freedpeople were dragged from their homes and murdered in cold blood. Many fled to the cane fields to hide from their attackers. The reported number of those killed varies from 35 to 135. The tragedy was hidden, but implications reverberated throughout the South and lingered for generations.