Miss Celie sits in her New Orleans courtyard circa 1885.

Miss Celie's Spa Orleans Back in 1883, Miss Celie Brune, a lively Creole woman, pampered New Orleans' socialites at her Maison de Beauté. The salon was located in a parlor of the Rooming House owned by Mlle. Lizzy Agnes Francais. Lizzy, the eccentric widow of an indigo baron, spent most of her life traveling. It was during these journeys, with Miss. Celie as her nursemaid, that they discovered the great European Spas. Returning to New Orleans, they recreated those opulent surroundings in the home she was given by Lucien Mansion, a free man of color.

Story by Keith West-Harrison

 

A luxurious way to relax and refresh one's appearance, she attracted many of the prominent Storyville Madams. The building was bequeathed to Miss Celie in 1890 by Lizzy upon her death. Reborn, Miss Celie’s Spa Orléans, again pampers her clientele in the Grand French Quarter Manor. But the location is haunted they say quite openly.

Leo Herbert still stakes claim to this house, years after his passing. He has been seen, heard and felt by many a guest as well as the owners for years as his spirit makes its way around the house.

Leo died from health complicates to due to emphysema. I was not surprised to learn this one morning after I heard heavy breathing in my room where the office now sits. I was hearing a raspy like sound in my room that would not go away. I thought it may have been the air conditioning but I could differentiate between the two and was a little uneasy. I spoke with PJ the next morning and she confirmed that Uncle Leo has died of emphysema. I was not alone in experiencing some sort of spirit like activity. Was this really the ghost of Uncle Leo? Or another ghost perhaps? Or was it just our imaginations and a creaky old house?

A gentleman who had stayed in Chelsea one night awoke the next morning to tell PJ he saw an old man sitting in one of the Victorian chairs in his room. He admitted he had imbibed on Bourbon Street but was not by any means drunk. He preceded to tell her he saw the man clear as day and then when he rubbed his eyes and looked back, the man was gone! This guest described his visitor in such perfect detail that PJ showed a picture of Uncle Leo to him who exclaimed, "That’s him."

Lights go on and off, toilets flush, water faucets run, items disappear, only to mysteriously reappear hours later. The contractor working on the house laid his saw down and couldn’t find it when he returned to work the next day. He searched high and low then finally retrieved it in the garden, sitting on a cement slab that had the name Leo carved in it!

A maid was cleaning Chateau one morning and the door slammed shut. She could open it to no avail. The contractor was called and he had to take the door off of its hinges to free the maid. No reason was found for the sticking door. That was blamed on Uncle Leo too.

Leo is really a harmless ghost. He doesn’t show up as often as he did in the early 90’s I’m told. I guess he’s used to the idea people enjoying his home! Uncle Leo’s picture is hanging in the hallway near the door to the living room if you’d like to see what he looks like. That way you’ll be able to recognize him if he happens to visit you!

history of this haunted New Orleans building www.oldevictorianinn.com/history/index.html