Family haunting in Louisiana tied to an uncle who kept his wife's corpse
A caller from Austin, Texas, tells a family story they say took place in Louisiana about a hundred years before the broadcast and is still going on. An uncle, said to be devastated by his young wife's death, kept her corpse in an upstairs bedroom for six months while he waited for a glass coffin ordered from New Orleans. He reportedly kissed it nightly and talked to it over a Ouija board. The caller passes on servants' reports of candles that would not light, cold air, whispers, falling objects, and nighttime conversations with another voice. The caller says relatives kept avoiding the room and feeling a cold presence into the 1970s. The caller says the woman is still buried in Metairie Cemetery, that a family member holds the key to the crypt, and that they themselves would go in out of curiosity.
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The story as told
A caller who gives their location as Austin, Texas, tells Art Bell a family story they say happened in Louisiana [quote withheld] and, they say, is still happening. The caller describes an aunt and uncle “several generations removed” who had recently married in or near “cachetta louisiana.” The aunt died shortly after the marriage, in her twenties. According to the caller, the uncle ordered a special glass coffin from New Orleans, was told it would take six months, and wanted her buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. While he waited, the caller says, he kept the corpse upstairs in a bedroom. According to the household servants, he kissed it every night, had them take it out daily in a wheelbarrow to air it, and kept a Ouija board with which he talked to the corpse. The servants, they say, would not clean the room. Candles would not light, cold air blew them out, low whispers were heard, and objects fell. At night, the caller says, they eventually heard conversations between the uncle and “some other voice.” The coffin arrived, and the woman was buried at Metairie Cemetery. The caller says she is still there in a crypt. The caller says relatives who visited the house up until the 1970s would not enter that room and still reported a cold area and a presence. The caller remembers visiting as a child with an aunt who would not walk up the stairs, and says the squeaky wheels of the wheelbarrow were heard at night in the 1960s and 1970s. The caller mentions a portrait the family could not photograph. The caller says the family is not proud of the matter but everyone knows of it, and that one member holds the key to the crypt. Asked whether they would go in, they say they would, out of curiosity.
Reported events, in order
- 0:08
The caller says the story concerns their family, happened in Louisiana about a hundred years ago, and is still happening. The caller says the family would be angry if they knew it was being told.
- 0:25
The caller places the start in “cachetta louisiana” and describes an aunt and uncle from several generations earlier.
- 0:35
The aunt died shortly after the marriage, and the uncle was devastated.
- 0:49
The aunt was in her twenties and had been married less than a year. The uncle ordered a special glass coffin from New Orleans.
- 0:59
He wanted her buried in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, and was told the coffin would take six months.
- 1:20
During the wait he kept the corpse upstairs in the bedroom. According to the servants, he kissed it every night.
- 1:36
Servants were reportedly ordered to take the corpse out and air it in a wheelbarrow every day for six months.
- 1:48
He reportedly had a Ouija board and talked with the corpse nightly.
- 1:52
The caller says it was apparently a jealous ghost. The servants were horrified and refused to clean the room.
- 2:08
Servants reportedly said candles would not light, cold air blew them out, low whispers were heard, and objects fell.
- 2:25
Eventually the servants heard nighttime conversations between the uncle and another voice.
- 2:35
The glass coffin arrived and the woman was buried at Metairie Cemetery. The caller says she is still there in a crypt.
- 2:53
Up until the 1970s, relatives visiting the house would not enter that room and reported that the cold area was still there.
- 3:22
The caller recalls visiting as a child with an aunt who would not walk up the stairs. The squeaky wheels of the wheelbarrow were reportedly heard at night in the 1960s and 1970s.
- 3:25
The caller says there was a portrait the family could not photograph.
- 3:37
The caller says the family is not proud of it and will not talk about it, but everyone knows. One member holds the key to the crypt.
- 3:58
Asked whether they would go into the crypt, the caller says they would, out of curiosity, having heard about it all their life.
Claims
Each claim is labeled as something the person telling the story noticed (observation), what they made of it (interpretation), something others told them (hearsay), or something the host said (host statement).
- hearsay· 0:08
The caller says the events happened in Louisiana about a hundred years before the broadcast and are still happening.
- hearsay· 1:20
According to the caller, the uncle kept his wife's corpse upstairs in a bedroom of his house while waiting for a coffin.
- hearsay· 1:20
According to the household servants, as the caller reports, the uncle kissed the corpse every night before going to bed.
- hearsay· 1:48
The caller says the uncle had a Ouija board and talked with the corpse.
- interpretation· 1:52
The caller says [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 2:08
According to the servants, candles would not light in the room, and cold air blew them out.
- hearsay· 2:15
According to the servants, low whispers could be heard in the room.
- hearsay· 2:17
According to the servants, objects would fall in the room.
- hearsay· 2:25
The servants eventually heard nighttime conversations between the uncle and another voice.
- hearsay· 2:35
The caller says the woman was buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans and is still there in a crypt.
- hearsay· 2:53
Relatives visiting the house up until the 1970s would not enter that room and still reported a cold area there.
- observation· 3:11
The caller says they visited the house as a child with an aunt. This is the only part of the story they say they saw themselves.
- hearsay· 3:22
The caller says the squeaky wheels of the wheelbarrow used to air the corpse were still heard at night in the 1960s and 1970s.
- hearsay· 3:25
The caller says there was a portrait in the family that they could not photograph.
- hearsay· 3:46
The caller says one family member keeps the key to the crypt.
- host statement· 4:29
The host states, as a general rule, that evil things lurk in dark basements.
Scores, with reasons
An AI model gave these scores using a fixed set of scoring rules (scoring-v1). They are editorial judgments and rough guides, not the odds that anything paranormal happened. How scoring works.
The story is consistent and specific, but it is largely a family legend passed down through generations, with only a small firsthand piece. The score for closeness to the source is therefore low, even though structure and calibration are decent.
Evidence for and against
- Concrete specifics: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, Shreveport, a glass coffin, a six-month wait, a crypt, and a key.
- Orderly time order, from the marriage and death through the coffin's arrival, the burial, and later family visits.
- The caller repeatedly credits details to others rather than claiming them themselves: [quote withheld] “The servant said,” “they still said.”
- The core events are an inherited family story “several generations removed,” with no named source for the servants' reports.
- The caller's only firsthand part is a childhood visit. The cold, the presence, and the sounds are consistently reported of other relatives ([quote withheld]).
- Ordinary explanations for old-house drafts, candle behavior, and night noises are not addressed in the transcript.
- The place name “cachetta louisiana” is uncertain in the transcript.
- It is unclear who is speaking when the caller's location is stated.
- The story spans about a century, so different parts rest on different, unnamed sources.
- 0:27
- 1:20
- 3:58
What the model inferred (not said on air): A weighing of the parts of the scoring guide. The judgment that most of the detail is inherited rather than witnessed is an editorial inference from the caller's own phrasing.
Only the caller's word is present, but it includes names of places and objects that could in principle be checked. Nothing was checked, and the story is capped as secondhand.
Evidence for and against
- Specifics that could in principle be checked are given: Metairie Cemetery, a named crypt, a key held by a family member, and a portrait said not to be photographable.
- Several witnesses are claimed across generations (servants, relatives, the caller's aunt).
- No photograph, recording, document, or grave record is examined on air.
- The servants' reports and the relatives' avoidance are told, not shown.
- No second witness speaks on air. The host supplies only his own reactions.
- Whether the named cemetery and crypt match anything that can be verified is outside this transcript and was not checked.
- 3:25
- 3:46
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing the score in the 11 to 25 range applies the scoring guide. Calling the specifics “checkable in principle” is an inference about the details given.
The macabre keeping of a corpse, and the dead wife's presence pressing on a home for decades, make this genuinely unsettling, though no physical threat is reported.
Evidence for and against
- A corpse kept in an upstairs bedroom for six months, kissed nightly, and taken out in a wheelbarrow.
- Servants horrified and refusing to clean the room.
- Cold air, blown-out candles, whispers, falling objects, and a voice answering the uncle at night.
- Relatives avoiding the room and feeling a presence for decades.
- No harm, injury, or threat to any living person is reported.
- The caller treats the idea of going into the crypt with curiosity rather than fear.
- The host's closing remarks are humorous, which softens the tone of the call.
- The caller's emotional tone is not assessed and is not used in scoring.
- 1:20
- 2:06
- 2:53
What the model inferred (not said on air): The creepiness rating is a judgment of how a listener would react to the story, not a claim about what happened.
The setting and the strange events are familiar. But the corpse-keeping, the wheelbarrow, and the wheelbarrow's sound still being heard into the 1970s make the story distinctive compared with stock haunting stories.
Evidence for and against
- A glass coffin specially ordered from New Orleans and a six-month wait.
- The corpse aired daily in a wheelbarrow.
- A voice reportedly answering the grieving husband at night, and the wheelbarrow's squeaking wheels reportedly heard decades later.
- A portrait said not to be photographable.
- The strange events in the room (a cold spot, whispers, falling objects, footstep-like sounds) are familiar ghost-story elements.
- The [quote withheld] frame is common.
- How new the story is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from a single short call.
- It is unknown whether the wheelbarrow detail is older than the caller or was added in retelling.
- 0:59
- 1:36
- 3:22
What the model inferred (not said on air): This provisional score reflects a reading of the content. The published value would also include how rare the story is within the archive, which is not worked out here.
Scoring confidence 0.68 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's own word, mostly passing on an inherited family story, with a stated childhood visit to the house; Claimed but unexamined items: a crypt at Metairie Cemetery, a portrait said not to be photographable, and a crypt key said to be held by a family member; No documentation, photograph, or recording examined on air; No second witness speaks on air. The originality score blends the model's score (72) with how rare the story's details are across the archive. This method is still provisional.
Ordinary explanations to consider
These are possibilities only. None is a finding about what happened.
- An old, drafty Louisiana house could produce the cold air, blown-out candles, and faint, unclear sounds attributed to the room. · The caller says [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- A family story retold across several generations can pick up and settle on dramatic detail without any single original witness. · The caller says the story is [quote withheld] and “several generations removed.” The caller tells it as [quote withheld] in the family.
- People who already know the story and expect the room to be disturbing may take ordinary house or farm noises at night for the sound they expect. · The caller says [quote withheld] The relatives already knew the story and would not enter the room.
What stands out
The corpse is not merely kept. It is reportedly kissed nightly and taken outside in a wheelbarrow to air for six months, and the squeaking of that wheelbarrow is said to have been heard at the house in the 1960s and 1970s. The glass coffin ordered from New Orleans, the crypt key held by a family member, and a portrait said not to be photographable give the story an unusually specific, inherited set of objects.
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