"I will bet my last penny that the person giving this tour is not even a native of New Orleans. This guy speaks toooooo fast and is not a good story- teller. I'm from New Orleans and have always found it amazing how many of the residents of the French Quarter are not even native to New Orleans. And the ones telling the stories are usually quite new to the area. Don't believe these ridiculous stories. It's just to make money." - RedLikeWine
For a period of roughly five years I led tours covering haunted sites of the city of New Orleans. The above video is one of seven-nine stops I tended to visit for the duration of the store, depending on the path I happened to take through the historic French Quarter with my tour group. It was a lot of fun, both for me and my tour group, and I was given a lot of freedom in terms of how I delivered my tour presentation, and that I could choose to dress in period clothing or as something spooky - it was almost like celebrating Halloween every night of the year.
One of the hazards of the job were the local citizens of New Orleans. Drunks from Bourbon Street were a bit of a problem, but the local citizens believed that tourists had invaded their fair city (which heavily depended upon and promoted tourism in order to keep operating the majority of its local businesses) and therefore took their spite out on passing tours and tour guides.
The above quote is a good example of that. I had thought upon leaving New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that I would no longer have to put up with such foolishness, but apparently that just wasn't meant to be. However, I managed to get RedLikeWine to retract her comment with the following reply:
At least 16 other commentors here disagree with you on the quality of my storytelling, but I suppose it's not possible to make everyone happy. No I am not native, and I never claimed to be, but after 7 years of living there I still consider New Orleans to be more my home than the home I grew up in, even though I have not been able to return since hurricane Katrina because I have a family to provide for.
To be a licensed tour guide in New Orleans requires a 70% correct score on the most difficult exam I have ever taken. The exam extensively covers New Orleans history. Unlicensed tour guides face severe fines and/or arrest, consequently few are foolish enough to operate without one. As a licensed tour guide, why would I falsify the history that I studied? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
"Don't believe these ridiculous stories. It's just to make money." Some listeners who take these tours strongly believe in ghosts & paranormal activity; things that the vast majority of people claim are just a bunch of superstitious nonsense. To date nobody has successfully proven the existence of ghosts, but can you prove that they do not exist? Those who do not believe still enjoy these tours because they get to learn about New Orlean's past in an entertaining fashion.
"I'm from New Orleans and have always found it amazing how many of the residents of the French Quarter are not even native to New Orleans." If you are familiar with the history of your hometown, you should know that New Orleans is called a "melting pot" because the French Quarter has historically been home to people of various cultures from all over the world. Because New Orleans is a major port city this is still true today. This melting pot is what attracts people to New Orleans.
Upon visiting RedLikeWine's profile I noticed her About Me section contained this quote "Hope to make lots of new friends here:-)" which prompted me to post a comment on the page stating "You may want to consider changing your tactics." Shortly afterward RedLikeWine's offending comment was removed from the video.
Since I'm not one to just let things go like that, I quickly copied and pasted her comment back into the comment feed for those who might otherwise be curious about my reply. As far as I'm concerned, if someone is foolish enough to make themselves look like an idiot in a virtual environment that I have created, I have the right to keep a record of it for all who visit to see.
I suppose it would be nice some day if these idiots would stop trying to build themselves up by trying to point out the shortcomings (and failing in the process) of other people. I only hope that she does not have offspring who will learn to perpetuate such behavior.
