As a native of New Orleans, tales of ghostly visions around the French Quarter and stories of the legendary voodoo queen, Marie Laveau fascinated me. Even though as a child I had some trepidation and fear of things that go bump in the night, the curiosity of how those stories became such a part of the New Orleans culture kept me avidly searching for any information I could get my hands on.
I read books about haunted history, loved watching spooky movies with my family and friends to get a good scare, and of course, visited all the local haunts in New Orleans regularly.
As I grew older and got busy building my adult life, ghost stories took a back seat. Although, I did pass that paranormal curiosity on to all four of my children. With my older children, we gathered around each week to watch GhostHunters, tried to find ways to scare each other during the week for a good laugh, and toured the haunted Myrtles Plantation. When my twins were born, we of course welcomed them into our spooky little family sharing all the spooky stories of New Orleans with them.
I have lived in Acadiana for over ten years, and stories of the Rougarou, the haunting at T-Frere's, and Mary Jane's Bridge once again piqued my curiosity in all things paranormal. My now teenage twins and I have done some ghost hunting for fun around Acadiana scoping out local haunts to see what, if anything, we could get as evidence. And I have never been on an official ghost hunt... until now.
I am excited to be invited this weekend to be a part of an official paranormal investigation right here in New Iberia! The Acadiana Chapter of Louisiana Spirits, a dedicated group of serious professional and analytical individuals, will be conducting training for paranormal professionals and investigating The Sliman Theater on Main Street this weekend.
 Image by Tracie Ysaguire |
Need a little background on this historical building? Well, according to The Historical Marker Database, The Sliman Theater was one of the buildings that came out of the rebuilding efforts after the Great Fire circa 1899. Most of the downtown area was lost in the blaze, but many of the buildings we have now in our downtown area are because of the heroic efforts of the local fire departments at that time.
Owned by the Theodore Sliman family, the building opened in 1930 as The Evangeline Theater to be one of the city's first movie houses. The building went through a renovation in the 1940s and was refurbished to its current appearance. The Evangeline closed in the 1960s and remained empty for over 30 years. It was donated to the City of New Iberia in 1994 by the Sliman Family and is now known as The Sliman Theater.
 Image by Louisiana Spirits |
Louisiana Spirits, founded in 2005, offers its services free of charge to residents in Louisiana who may be dealing with paranormal activity in their homes or businesses. They take a professional stance, keep their investigations confidential (unless otherwise specified by the client), and use state-of-the-art technology, personal skills and abilities, and professional training to help guide clients to a feasible answer in their paranormal situations.
I have attended a few events at The Sliman Theater and have always been mesmerized by the inside and outside of this historical building. I love the interior brick walls and always wondered what those walls would tell us if they could talk. I am hoping that Saturday night they will!
If you are into all things paranormal and want to learn more about my experience during this investigation, be sure to come back next week as I give a detailed report. I am ready to be trained and learn from the team as we go into this investigation this weekend. Any evidence or information that is gathered during the investigation will be shared by Louisiana Spirits on their website and social media channels after the event, so I will be sure to share those links and info with you as well.
Stay tuned if you dare!
We concluded our New Iberia Haunts series last summer with Louisiana Spirits at some amazing locations around New Iberia but we are always open to investigate more! If you are interested in having an investigation done at your business, reach out to us at mackidnewiberia@macaronikid.com and let us know.
Here are the details of the investigations from our 2022 New Iberia Haunts series:
New Iberia Haunts: A Paranormal Experience Part Two: Ghost hunting 101:
What happened at the The Sliman Theater with Louisiana Spirits
New Iberia Haunts: A Paranormal Experience Part Three: Ghost hunting 101:
What happened at The Essanee Theater with Louisiana Spirits
New Iberia Haunts: A Paranormal Experience Part Four:
Ghost hunting 101: What happened at the Old Post Office on Main Street
New Iberia Haunts: A Paranormal Experience Part Five:
Ghost hunting 101: What happened at The Centerville Steamboat Inn in Franklin
