The Haunted Fleur de Lis Mansion

The mansion's owners date the house to 1824, which would make it one of the oldest buildings in the Lower Garden District. The story most often told about it, though, begins with the Saulet family, whose name is woven through this part of the city: Rene Saulet, the story goes, made this two-story mansion his home in the 1890s. His initials and those of his wife, Marie, along with an intricately molded fleur de lis—the national flower of France—can still be seen woven in the cast iron fencing.

Saulet's wife died in 1894. Later, in 1930, Rene (age 71) and Marie's daughter, Augustine, married and moved to a different corner of the home to live out the rest of her years with her husband. When Rene died shortly after in 1932, Augustine and her husband remained in the corner room until her death—50 years later. To this day, many guests report a strange energy or feeling in this corner.

In 2010, this corner room was renovated into a luxurious guest room, the Fleur de Lis Suite.

The Saulet's sold the mansion to the Verrets in 1961, who continued to use it as a single-family home until 1981. The daughter of the Verret family moved into the home during the 1970's, where she and a roommate resided. The daughter often tells stories of hearing footsteps and doors opening and closing. The old wooden floors creak and moan when you walk across them—they are quite loud, and unavoidable—one cannot sneak across these floors. One particular day, the daughter came home to her dog waiting dutifully in the same hallway that so often seemed to be disturbed by invisible house guests. All of a sudden, the dog jumped to its feet, its tail wagged and he bolted over to an empty corner of the room. Just as suddenly as he had ran to the corner, the dog stopped, whined, and crept back to its resting place along the wall.

These are the types of occurrences that became common to the daughter: often, she would hear footsteps roaming through the rooms. She would run out to tell whomever it was to stop walking around barefooted in the middle of the night, only to discover no one was up and about. All the doors that she shut behind her in the evening were open come morning time.

After the Verrets moved, the mansion became a rental property that changed hands many times. No occupant lasted very long. In 1996, one gentleman (who was renting the premises) even decided that he would try to run a bed and breakfast himself. After just nine months, however, he was forced to file for bankruptcy and vacate the property.

After years standing vacant, the property went up for sale in 2010 and was bought and restored, and Jim and Lauren went on to welcome guests there. Having no experience or knowledge of the bed and breakfast business, the couple still decided to open it to the public. All of the beautiful architecture was intact—the original hardwood floors, plaster walls, and moldings—but everything needed help getting back to its former glory.

Now, the Fleur de Lis Mansion bed and breakfast has become an absolutely stunning living restoration, offering a collection of individually decorated, en-suite guest rooms. Every antique is functional as well as aesthetic; each armoire swings open to reveal flat screen TV's; antique desks hold modern conveniences, but everything fits so perfectly and seamlessly within the home that a guest would be forgiven for thinking they have been transported to nineteenth-century New Orleans.

The Verret's daughter, who experienced the many ghostly happenings while living in the home during the 70's, believes she knows who it is that roams the upstairs floor. When questioned, her mother divulged that an extremely eccentric woman had lived out the rest of her life on the second floor. This elderly woman was seldom, if ever, seen downstairs—and she refused to let anyone come up to the second floor to visit her. Stories circulated that sometimes she was spotted wandering around the second floor, peeking through keyholes and muttering to herself. Everyone came to refer to her as the cat lady because of her tendencies toward strange behavior . . . and because she lived with several dozen cats.

If the daughter's hunch is correct, then the second floor of the Fleur de Lis Mansion is being haunted by a very eccentric old ghost woman. (She lives there still with her several dozen ghost cats). But there are other hauntings, too, that cannot be attributed to just one ghost, especially those in the Fleur de Lis Suite.

Just before the Fleur de Lis Suite was opened to guests, Jim and Lauren had a gentleman visit who had a special affinity for ghosts and spirits—he was a medium. Jim took the medium to the unfinished suite, and the medium immediately stopped in his tracks and began to speak: He claimed to have made contact with someone inside the room. Furthermore, the medium relayed a message from the spirit: That this spirit was deeply, deeply grateful to the Hennessys for pouring so much love and attention into the mansion. That this corner was his favorite part of the house and when he saw what Jim and Lauren were doing to it, he wanted to express his approval.

In 2011, not long after the corner room renovation was complete, a guest came to stay in the Fleur de Lis Suite. She was traveling alone and by her own description a complete skeptic—she knew nothing about the history or hauntings of the mansion and had no interests in ghosts and that sort of silliness. This suite comes equipped with a smart stereo system that is controlled by an iPod.

Late into the night, the guest awoke as music began to pour out from the speakers . . . except the iPod wasn't even plugged into the machine. As she sat upright in bed, the music turned off. She climbed out of bed and headed over to the stereo to check if perhaps the stereo was set to play the radio—sure enough, it was. She switched over to Aux for the iPod and crawled back into bed.

Shortly after, the music switched back on again. And again, when she sat up, the music switched back off. Then, the lamp switched on. She unplugged the stereo and the lamp. She turned back to the bed and the lamp switched back on. Someone, or something, desperately wanted the light on and the music playing.

Eventually, in a firm but gentle voice, the guest thanked the spirit for the music but explained that she was very tired. The stereo and the lamp turned off on their own and the guest was able to sleep through the rest of the night without disturbance. When she came down for breakfast in the morning, Jim and Lauren asked her the common question: How did you sleep? Extremely well, she responded, with great enthusiasm—but if you really want to hear an interesting story, let me tell you what happened last night.

As time went on, other guests began to describe even more supernatural activity. In the Red Room, one couple checked in and began placing their luggage on the sofa and removing their belongings. They placed a beautiful, ornate crystal dish that they had bought while shopping around New Orleans next to their luggage on the couch.

After unpacking everything they needed, they looked back at the sofa. Their crystal dish was missing. They looked everywhere for it, but it was not in the room. Several hours went by and they came back to the room, the dish was now sitting in the middle of the bed.

The husband figured it must have been his wife who moved it. The wife thought it was the husband. When they both came to realize it wasn't either of them, they became understandably concerned. Lauren and Jim went up to the room with the couple that night and got down on hands and knees with them to search the room. All four came up empty handed. The husband, being very gracious about the entire situation, said, "No worries. I insured it. I can always get a new one."

As they exited the room, Jim turned and said, "If there is anyone in here, please return the crystal dish. It's not a toy." And then he left, closing the door behind him.

After about 10 minutes, Jim returned to the room and opened the door. There, centered on the dresser top, in perfect condition, sat the ornate crystal dish.

Looking to book your own stay at the stunning mansion? With its immaculately maintained interiors, exceptional service, and much-reported paranormal activity, the Fleur de Lis Mansion offers a truly unique New Orleans experience. To learn more and make your reservation, visit the Fleur de Lis Mansion website.