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Spirits of the Bayou: Sanctuaries, Cemeteries and Hauntings
Do you love strolling through cemeteries and listening to the call of the ravens? Or perhaps floating along the forbidden bayous in search of haunted legends?
Imagine such a trail that begins in New Orleans, a stroll through the most elite cemeteries, a tour of the world's finest cityscapes inside the cities of the dead. And their final abodes dressed in an eclectic musing of ancient Greece and Rome designs dashed with exotic lines of India, Egypt and the Orient.
Then a step inside another world, one of pauper graves with crooked wooden crosses shaded by great oaks and long strands of weeping moss. Equally rich in their own unique heritage and traditions of Africa and the Caribbean.
Tavel south along the coastal towns, all filled with their own country churchyards, centuries-old tombs and a romantic lair of emerald forests rising from dark-stained waters.
Across the gnarled canopies of cypress are the jubilant melodies of exotic birds and the haunted echoes of hawks hunting their prey. Follow a trail of forbidding beauty veiled by dark shadows and marbled pools of light, it's Louisiana's own brand of a tropical paradise.
The author's vivid photography opens the doors to ancient temples along New Orleans’ own St. Charles Avenue. Discover the trill of that first moment entering a castle of faith, the immense artistry and then the blissful silence, Burst brings you there in a delightful mix of her poetic prose and stoic photos.
Each turn of the page leaves you wanting more, more of the soulful spirits that fill the churches and synagogues.
Step inside the nineteenth-century communities, many leaving their homeland to start a new life, bringing with them their own faith and culture. And how ironic, they too battled nature's wrath with floods and hurricanes, never giving up, rebuilding the town's beating heart time and again.
Spirits of the Bayou is the second book in the Louisiana's Sacred Places series. A trail of beauty, history and mystery, and with every chapter a travel section with links so you too can travel your own trail.
Imagine such a trail that begins in New Orleans, a stroll through the most elite cemeteries, a tour of the world's finest cityscapes inside the cities of the dead. And their final abodes dressed in an eclectic musing of ancient Greece and Rome designs dashed with exotic lines of India, Egypt and the Orient.
Then a step inside another world, one of pauper graves with crooked wooden crosses shaded by great oaks and long strands of weeping moss. Equally rich in their own unique heritage and traditions of Africa and the Caribbean.
Tavel south along the coastal towns, all filled with their own country churchyards, centuries-old tombs and a romantic lair of emerald forests rising from dark-stained waters.
Across the gnarled canopies of cypress are the jubilant melodies of exotic birds and the haunted echoes of hawks hunting their prey. Follow a trail of forbidding beauty veiled by dark shadows and marbled pools of light, it's Louisiana's own brand of a tropical paradise.
The author's vivid photography opens the doors to ancient temples along New Orleans’ own St. Charles Avenue. Discover the trill of that first moment entering a castle of faith, the immense artistry and then the blissful silence, Burst brings you there in a delightful mix of her poetic prose and stoic photos.
Each turn of the page leaves you wanting more, more of the soulful spirits that fill the churches and synagogues.
Step inside the nineteenth-century communities, many leaving their homeland to start a new life, bringing with them their own faith and culture. And how ironic, they too battled nature's wrath with floods and hurricanes, never giving up, rebuilding the town's beating heart time and again.
Spirits of the Bayou is the second book in the Louisiana's Sacred Places series. A trail of beauty, history and mystery, and with every chapter a travel section with links so you too can travel your own trail.
374 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 10, 2016
82 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Burst
8 books15 followersI love getting lost inside old cemeteries, just me and my camera exploring every headstone and every cracked crevice. And I love the drama of thunderstorms as they slowly crawl across the graveyards...yes, I'm a confessed taphophile, a lover of cemeteries with a passion in photographing and writing about historic churches and their cemeteries.
It is here inside these gothic abodes that the dead continue their story. The funerary architecture brings to life the religious and artistic history from New Orleans to the haunting bayous across southeast Louisiana. It's a ghoulish art exhibit with shadowed headstones sharing epitaphs of beloved children, prominent aristocrats and fallen war heroes.
My book, Louisiana's Sacred Places: Churches, Cemeteries and Voodoo, brings to life a trail of history and mystery with the New Orleans' cities of the dead, backroad churchyards and the calling of spirits in a Voodoo ceremony.
Print and eBook available on Amazon, Smashwords, and signed copies at http://www.deborahburst.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 6, 2022
Quick read with tidbits about different locations in the Greater New Orleans area. Includes churches and cemeteries and a few stories about urban legends. Lots of history on the area and prominent citizens on both the North and South shore.
February 27, 2017
Last year at the 2016 New Orleans Book Festival I had the pleasure of picking up Spirits of the Bayou and meeting the author, Deborah Burst. Unfortunately, I missed her talk earlier in the day, but I did get my book signed later in the day. I was hopeful for a entertaining read, and Spirits of the Bayou did not disappoint.
It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but in Spirits of the Bayou Deborah Burst displays her unique gift for evocative and moving writing that matches, perhaps even surpasses, the beauty of her photography. The combination of Burst’s words and photographs draws the reader into the haunting atmosphere of the sacred sites on Southern Louisiana. The sites Burst introduces will rarely if at all garner the attention or appreciation enjoyed by more well-known sites like New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral and St Louis Cemetery #1. Instead Burst brings life to the passed over and unnoticed places that challenges a would-be visitor to go beyond tourist boundaries and into the communities who treasure these places.
Each chapter explores Southern Louisiana’s houses of holy, wanders the oak shaded cemeteries, and illuminates the legends that still haunt bayou country. Burst’s love and reverence for her home and the people who share it both past and present shines through each chapter. Not only does Burst write the history and her own experiences of each site, she shares the voices and stories of the people who love and care for them today giving each chapter a chorus of authentic and endearing voices.
Spirits of the Bayou introduces the reader to the haunting landscape of Southern Louisiana. It can be enjoyed in the comforts of home, or perhaps even better as a guide for the wanderer. This book is only the second in Burst’s Sacred Places series, and I look forward to seeing where she takes us next.
It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but in Spirits of the Bayou Deborah Burst displays her unique gift for evocative and moving writing that matches, perhaps even surpasses, the beauty of her photography. The combination of Burst’s words and photographs draws the reader into the haunting atmosphere of the sacred sites on Southern Louisiana. The sites Burst introduces will rarely if at all garner the attention or appreciation enjoyed by more well-known sites like New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral and St Louis Cemetery #1. Instead Burst brings life to the passed over and unnoticed places that challenges a would-be visitor to go beyond tourist boundaries and into the communities who treasure these places.
Each chapter explores Southern Louisiana’s houses of holy, wanders the oak shaded cemeteries, and illuminates the legends that still haunt bayou country. Burst’s love and reverence for her home and the people who share it both past and present shines through each chapter. Not only does Burst write the history and her own experiences of each site, she shares the voices and stories of the people who love and care for them today giving each chapter a chorus of authentic and endearing voices.
Spirits of the Bayou introduces the reader to the haunting landscape of Southern Louisiana. It can be enjoyed in the comforts of home, or perhaps even better as a guide for the wanderer. This book is only the second in Burst’s Sacred Places series, and I look forward to seeing where she takes us next.
February 27, 2021
Spirits of the Bayou: Sanctuaries, Cemeteries and Hauntings (Sacred Places Book 2)
It’s not usually necessary to repeat the book title as sentence one in a review but I think I’d like to try to keep in mind the suggested topic of the book. It is called book 2 but there is not actually a book with this title designated as book 1. I suppose something else the author wrote covers what is lacking in this, book 2. It is odd that Catholic Churches in New Orleans are not mentioned at all. Had I taken this topic on I would have definitely used the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish churches. Catholic and Protestant life was so important in early New Orleans. Histories always cover Vieux Carre (French and Spanish Catholic) contrasted with outlying areas (Protestant).
That said, the best part of the book for me was the section dealing with Jewish beliefs and burial practices. That was very interesting.
Many parts dealing with New Orleans may only interest locals. The first part of the book covers churches that non locals are probably never going to see. The rest of the book is a hodgepodge of things not always related to sanctuaries, cemeteries and hauntings.
My last issue (sorry) is the overuse of odd fonts and colors. The worst is the parts written in light grey on white (hard to read). The photos are nice and more of them would be better.
Ok book, but not for me.
It’s not usually necessary to repeat the book title as sentence one in a review but I think I’d like to try to keep in mind the suggested topic of the book. It is called book 2 but there is not actually a book with this title designated as book 1. I suppose something else the author wrote covers what is lacking in this, book 2. It is odd that Catholic Churches in New Orleans are not mentioned at all. Had I taken this topic on I would have definitely used the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish churches. Catholic and Protestant life was so important in early New Orleans. Histories always cover Vieux Carre (French and Spanish Catholic) contrasted with outlying areas (Protestant).
That said, the best part of the book for me was the section dealing with Jewish beliefs and burial practices. That was very interesting.
Many parts dealing with New Orleans may only interest locals. The first part of the book covers churches that non locals are probably never going to see. The rest of the book is a hodgepodge of things not always related to sanctuaries, cemeteries and hauntings.
My last issue (sorry) is the overuse of odd fonts and colors. The worst is the parts written in light grey on white (hard to read). The photos are nice and more of them would be better.
Ok book, but not for me.
April 6, 2021
Eclectic presentation of several aspects of the NOLA region, this book proved to be entertaining and informative. Author-photographer Burst guides the reader to churches, cemeteries and bayous of historical importance with personal anecdotes, making this book easy to pick-up and read whenever I was relegated to sitting and waiting for short periods. It is an inspiration for a future road trip through southern Louisiana, expanding plans and widening experiences.
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July 4, 2017Another excellent book by Deborah!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews