29: Vampires of New Orleans's (Pt. 2)

New Orleans has always belonged to the night.

In this episode of Let’s Talk Spooky, we step into the gas-lit streets of the French Quarter to uncover the vampire legends that took root in the city’s earliest days—where European superstition, colonial fear, and scandal blurred the line between myth and history.

We trace how Old World vampire folklore crossed the Atlantic and embedded itself in New Orleans, shaping burial customs, whispered convent legends, and tales of blood-drinking figures who walked openly among society. From the unsettling story of the Carter Brothers to the infamous legend of Jacques St. Germain, these vampires were not creatures of castles—but of parties, parlors, and disappearing acts.

This episode explores how fear of the undead reflected real historical anxieties about death, disease, and identity in one of America’s most haunted cities—and why New Orleans remains inseparable from vampire lore to this day.

Pour yourself a drink, lock the doors, and walk with us into the dark.

 📚 Sources & Further Reading

Historical & Folklore Sources

• Davis, Wade. Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie. University of North Carolina Press.
• Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality. Yale University Press.
• Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. 1928.
• Lecouteux, Claude. The Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan Mind.

New Orleans–Specific Sources

• Kendall, John S. History of New Orleans. Lewis Publishing Company.
• Campanella, Richard. The West Bank of Greater New Orleans: A Historical Geography.
• New Orleans Historic Collection (archival essays and folklore references)
• French Quarter historical walking-tour records and preserved oral histories

Jacques St. Germain & Vampire Lore

• Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters.
• Ellis, Bill. Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture.
• Contemporary newspaper accounts referenced in late-19th-century New Orleans archives

Cultural & Pop Culture Context

• Skal, David J. V Is for Vampire: An A to Z Guide to Everything Undead.
• Nina Auerbach. Our Vampires, Ourselves. University of Chicago Press.

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Until next time…

🖤 Stay Spooky