FEAR FACTS: The Bizarre Tale of the Sultan’s Massacre House of New Orleans Located in the world famous French Quarter of New Orleans, the Gardette-LePrete Mansion is one of the most photographed mansions of the many beautiful buildings and houses found in the city. It also is one of most notorious of the many reportedly haunted structures in a city known for its many haunts. Legend has it that in the late 1800’s the mansion was rented to a brother of the Sultan of Turkey. The young Turk was known for his wild and sumptuous galas. Early one morning after one of these parties the young prince’s harem, guards and all his guests were discovered murdered after passersby noticed blood spilling down the steps to the mansion’s entrance and notified the authorities. The police arrived and discovered blood splattered all over the walls and floors of the house from bodies that had been hacked into pieces by swords or axes. In the garden behind the mansion the brother of the Sultan was found buried alive with his arm reaching out from the ground for help. The history of the mansion started in 1836 when Joseph Coulton Gardette, a dentist from Philadelphia, hired an architect to build a home for him in New Orleans. When completed it did not yet have the rows of wrought iron balconies it would become famous for. It was painted pink and featured a half basement with windows and an elevated first floor. Just three years later in 1839 a wealthy Creole plantation owner named Jean Baptiste LePrete purchased the home. It was he that had the beautiful balconies added, and he used the mansion as his home when he and family came to New Orleans for business and pleasure. The Civil War brought on the decline of LePrete’s fortune which prompted him to rent the building out. One of the tenants was a young Turk named Prince Suleyman who brought gold with him from his home country. He proceeded to turn the mansion into his own palace complete with a harem of beautiful girls and young boys to choose from. He redecorated, covering the windows with heavy draperies and filling the air with incense. The premises was patrolled by Turkish guards in wide, billowing pants cinched at the ankle. They were armed with curved swords known as scimitars. It became common knowledge that the young prince liked to partake in orgies of all kinds, and even in a city known for its unconventional ways, his behavior was considered outlandish and hedonistic. To this day the murders remain unsolved, but there is speculation that either pirates were after Prince Suleyman’s gold or, as most believe more likely, the Sultan ordered the attack on his brother and the execution of the others because his brother, the young prince, had stolen the gold from the Sultan himself. Proof of this lies in the legend which states the police found the prince in the garden alive but mutilated to forever feel the effects of his thieving actions. He was also dressed in traditional Turkish funeral attire meaning he was dead to the Sultan and to the rest of the royal family. Whether this legend is true or not, residents still report unexplained activity occurring in the house to this day. Some claim they see men in Oriental garb wielding swords in different areas of the the mansion. They also report hearing the sounds of running in the hallways along with terrified screams as if the night of the massacre is being re-enacted. Passersby also report hearing screams emanating from the house and smelling whiffs of burning incense as they walk by. One mansion owner reported being awakened one night and seeing the figure of a man at the foot of her bed. The figure began to move around to the side of her bed, and she panicked turning on the light on the nightstand. She was astonished when she found that no one was in the room with her. There is also a tree in the garden that grows horizontally out from under a latter addition. The legend associated with this tree is that it marks the spot where the young Turkish prince was buried alive. The tree itself is now trying to crawl out from under the bricks and to scale the wall to the street. I suggest you take a trip to New Orleans yourself. Be sure to include the Gardette-LePrete Mansion on your itinerary to form your own impressions of the Sultan’s Massacre House.~ Mary Jo VPI
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:39:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015