We are back again this year with our summer series, New Iberia Haunts, with Louisiana Spirits! We are ready to give you the details and share our personal experiences, as well as a peek behind the scenes of paranormal investigations with The Acadiana Chapter of Louisiana Spirits. In 2022, we participated in five investigations with the Acadiana Chapter of Louisiana Spirits. You can click the links below to learn about what happened at each location:
The Sliman, formerly known as The Evangeline Theater
The Old Post Office on Main Street
Centerville Steamboat Inn in Franklin
 Image by Louisiana Spirits |
On Saturday, May 13, I headed to Main Street for my seventh investigation with Louisiana Spirits as part of our 2023 New Iberia Haunts Series. I knew it was going to be a double-header with the team as we were scheduled to hit two top spots on Main Street, Victor's Cafeteria and the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce buildings. I prepared for a late night with my Ghost energy drink (yes, pun intended) and made my way to Main Street in downtown New Iberia.
I originally planned on writing one article for both investigations but the night's activity had other plans for me. Both locations gave us some interesting happenings so much so that I decided to write up each one separately. So for this article, we will focus on what happened at Victor's Cafeteria.
I met up with the Louisiana Spirits team who were already setting up at Victor's Cafeteria and in the process of wrapping up a preliminary walk through the restaurant. I arrived a few minutes after 6:00 pm and introduced myself to Mrs. Kathyrn Huckaby. I immediately loved her spirit and energy! She was excited to have the Louisiana Spirits team there for the first investigation of her restaurant and excited to have Victor's Cafeteria in the spotlight for one of our Main Street investigations. She lead us to the front of the restaurant, we each took a seat and let Mrs. Kathryn tell us her story.
Investigating for the night from the Acadiana Chapter of Louisiana Spirits were Danny, Michele, Jean-Paul, Hunter D., and Hunter L., with Danny and Michele taking the lead. Later in the evening, we also had Mark Boyance, who has been instrumental in lining up investigations for the team in New Iberia, join us with his wife as well as Mrs. Kathryn's daughter and son. We were ready for a full night ahead!
 Inside Victor's Cafeteria on Main Street, New Iberia May 13, 2023 Image by Tracie Ysaguire |
Introductions, Backstory, and Preliminary Walkthrough
Danny asked Mrs. Kathryn a few questions about the backstory and the history of the restaurant, and we were off. As Mrs. Kathryn told us, the restaurant was started by her husband's father in the late 60s. Mr. Huckaby, Victor's father, originally owned a lunch counter a little further down on Main Street and when that closed, the decision was made to move to this building and start a full cafeteria.
When they first opened, they also served lunch and dinner. Mrs. Kathryn told us that she met Victor one night picking up dinner for her mother ... and the rest is history as they say! They have now been married for over 50 years and work together with their son and the rest of their staff. The restaurant is now open seven days a week for breakfast, from 6:30 am to 11:00 am.
Danny had some questions about the artwork paintings inside, specifically the sign at the front entrance that says Pfister's New Iberia's Fine Jewelers since 1897. According to Mrs. Kathryn, the building was a jewelry store before Victor's father took it over in the 1960s and if you look up at the high ceiling over the table area up front, you can almost see the former jewelry storefront. She told us there was also a staircase at one time above the Victor's Cafeteria sign inside the restaurant.
 Danny and Mrs. Kathryn talking about the Pfister's Sign Image by Tracie Ysaguire |  Danny and Mrs. Kathryn talking about the Pfister's Sign Image by Tracie Ysaguire |
It was around this time that Mr. Victor joined us for our preliminary chat and we listened to each of them tell us a little bit about the business, and their experiences, and joked about married life. Mr. Victor said that he has not seen anything specifically while working in the cafeteria, other than some "blips" on the cameras throughout the restaurant. He said they happen so fast, he can never really tell what they are. I say this because Jean-Paul and I actually thought we experienced this exact thing later in the evening, but more on that later.
As we wrapped up our preliminary talks, Danny explained to Mrs. Kathryn how he perceives information intuitively as he does a walk-through. Several members of the team have these spidey senses as I jokingly call them where they are possibly picking up on past energy or former inhabitants of the locations they investigate.
Danny said upon initially walking into the building, he did not feel or sense anything, however, he told me that once he got to the area where the soda machines were, he began to sense something or someone. It was later in the night that he was actually touched on his elbow in this exact location. This spot in front of the soda machines is a key point to remember for later in the article as well.
Danny also told us he was sensing two ladies in the cafeteria. One was an older, short, Cajun lady, sort of a spitfire, with grey hair, possibly in her late 60s. The other lady he was picking up on was an African-American woman, possibly in her late 30s to mid-40s, that may have worked in the building. He felt like since she worked here, she was so connected to the place, that she came back to Victor's after she passed.
Mrs. Kathryn immediately felt that the older Cajun lady was Mrs. Noone, who worked at Victor's Cafeteria for Victor's dad in the 1950s and ran a tight ship. She was in charge of the kitchen and she made sure everyone knew that. Mrs. Kathryn was not sure who the other lady was that Danny could have been picking up on, but we know that since the building was around since the 1800s it could be anyone from past establishments that set up here.
The Investigation Begins
It was around 7:15 pm and we split up into teams with Michele, Jean-Paul and myself headed to the chamber building and Danny leading the rest of the team to the attic of Victor's Cafeteria. We switched up throughout the night between the buildings to avoid having too many of us in one place. There were also no cameras set up for the Louisiana Spirits team that night. We relied on EMF readers, rem-pods, mel-meters, light-up toy balls, Danny's motion detectors, our phones for collecting video and EVPS, and of course.. our spidey senses!
To learn more about the type of paranormal equipment the team uses, click here. You can also connect with and follow Louisiana Spirits on Facebook for some more videos, comments, photos, and insight on what happens after our investigations.
After about 45 mins to an hour, Michele, Jean-Paul and I met up with Danny, Hunter L., and Hunter D back in Victor's. The team shared with us it was fairly active with a few folks getting the sensation of being touched, hearing noises and knocking, seeing shadows, as well as one of the rem-pods going off. Michele was eager to get into the attic and headed to the back of the cafeteria to make her way up there.
 Image by Tracie Ysaguire |
Danny led me, Hunter L., Hunter D, and Jean-Paul through the kitchen talking about what had happened in the attic and he thought he heard a door slam. We immediately begin trying to shut doors, move items in the kitchen, and shut cabinets to see if we could re-create the sound.
We got Mrs. Kathryn to walk to the back of the kitchen with us and explained to her what had happened. Danny was convinced it was a door, but the back doors of the building in the kitchen were locked, both the screen and heavy door. We asked Mrs. Kathryn if she could open them and shut them, and when she did, Danny's face lit up. That was exactly what he had heard!
More than likely he explained, that it was residual energy that he was picking up on. Residual energy refers to hearing or seeing repeated activity in the same location. Examples of residual energy would be hearing footsteps at the same time every night, or seeing someone in a window at the same time every day in a supposed haunted location.
 Mrs. Kathryn and the Team Investigating the Back Door In Kitchen Image by Tracie Ysaguire |
Once we figured out what Danny had heard, most of the team headed to the attic to see if they could capture some more evidence. Jean-Paul and I decided to stay in the kitchen and do an EVP session with our phones while using an EMF reader. We set up right in the middle of the kitchen and introduced ourselves and began asking questions about the former kitchen staff and the food. The EMF reader began to light up to the third light as if someone or something was trying to get our attention. I had my iPhone recording the entire time but was not able to catch any EVP responses or hear any audible responses at the time.
It was now around 8:15 pm and Jean-Paul and I decided to go sit in the office of Victor's. It is rather small, but it's where the monitor is for the four cameras that are set up throughout the cafeteria by the owners. There is a large, very old safe in the office that must have been used while it was still a jewelry store as well as a wall of small card-size drawers. If you are old-school like me and remember the old card catalog filing systems our local libraries used to use, then you will know what I am talking about here.
When Jean-Paul walked in he felt like there was an older gentleman in there checking us out. He told me, "He's pulling tickets." I did not understand what he meant by that so we asked Mrs. Kathryn to join us. Mrs. Kathryn explained that the wall of small drawers was where patrons and clients of the jewelry store kept their prized possessions. More than likely folks brought their items to the jewelers to keep them safe and received a ticket marking their private box. I thought that was pretty cool!
Jean-Paul and I began asking questions again with our recorders running while also periodically watching the monitor in the office. I have found that when we get out of investigation mode and just start chatting, things seem to happen. So, that's what we did. We talked about the food that Victor's served and how we were both hungry at the time and had a giggle at that. It was then I thought I saw a 'blip" and some lights on the monitor. It was the camera that was facing the serving line in the front of the cafeteria, around the soda machine. The light seemed to move from one corner of the camera to another, and Jean-Paul was seeing it too. Then it was gone. To our knowledge, no one was in the front part of the restaurant, and Jean-Paul even took a quick walk to see and no one was there.
The Investigation Continues
We went back to chatting in the office and saw Hunter L. walking through the kitchen headed our way. As he rounded the corner, we both thought we saw someone walking behind him. I assumed it was another part of the team and didn't think anything of it. As Hunter L. walked into the office, he said to us, " I just felt chills." We told him what we thought we saw behind him so he went back to the kitchen and got the chills again. He tried it a third time, walking in the same path as before, and felt nothing. That was exciting!
 Serving Counter in Victor's Cafeteria Image by Tracie Ysaguire |
It was around 9:15 or so and we headed to the front of the cafeteria to sit with Mrs. Kathryn and some of the crew that were with us. Michele, Danny, and Mrs. Kathryn's daughter were still in the attic but there were about 6 of us sitting in the cafeteria just chatting about the building, the history of New Iberia, and telling personal stories from childhood. It was then that Mark decided to place one of the light-up toy balls in front of the soda machines in the serving line.
While everyone was busy chatting, I saw the ball light up. As in previous investigations, the only way these balls light up is if the button on the top is pressed or touched. I immediately went into investigator mode, and begin asking questions.
I asked if it was Ms. Noone that was trying to get our attention. Mrs. Kathryn joined in and the group of us watched the ball continue to light up for another 5 or 6 times. You can watch one of the videos of me asking for responses here. Mark even walked over to the area, sat on the ground, and looked under the machines and serving counter to see if there was anything that could have made that ball light up, but found nothing.
That's a Wrap
There were so many personal experiences during this investigation. Each of us either heard unexplained sounds, saw shadows, got touched, or felt like there was someone next to us trying to get our attention. There was no point during the night where we felt there was anything bad or even scary, but each of us definitely felt that something was going on otherworldly around us. At one point while we were changing up locations from the chamber office to Victor's, I ran into Mark and he said to me, "You need to get back to Victor's! It's popping over there!"
 Mr. and Mrs. Huckaby, Owner's of Victor's Cafeteria in New Iberia Image by Tracie Ysaguire |
I loved meeting Mr. Victor and Mrs. Kathryn and hearing their stories! If you've never been to Victor's Cafeteria on Main Street in New Iberia for breakfast you must give it a try. It is one of the many gems of New Iberia where you can grab a good meal, meet up with a friend, or make some new ones.
If breakfast is not on your menu, but ghost hunting is, then you need to act now! Louisiana Spirits is partnering with four businesses on Main Street this July for the Spirits of Main Street investigation on July 15. They are opening 30 spots to investigate with the team that night and participants will get to visit each locations using the team's paranormal equipment. As of this post, they have already sold 20 spots, so if you are interested you will need to reserve your spot now! For more information, pricing, or to reserve your spot, email Marci Lee with Louisiana Spirits at mlee@laspirits.com.
If you are interested in having the team come to your home or business, or have a recommendation that you would like to submit for New Iberia Haunts, then be sure to send us a message. We will let Louisiana Spirits know and work with you to get your location on the list.
