When an area becomes overgrown and people forget about it, it only seems natural to re-purpose that area to make for something “better”. But what happens when the area you’re looking to re-purpose is a cemetery? For 135 years, the Girod Street Cemetery was a popular burial ground for both the high society residents of New Orleans and also the everyday man. It was also a favored location for mass graves for the hundreds of people that died from the yellow fever outbreaks of 1850 and early 1900s.

The Girod Street Cemetery was established in 1822 by Christ Church.
New Orleans Historical
It was initially established for Protestant residents of the Faubourg St. Mary community.
New Orleans Historical
Prior to this cemetery, most Protestants had been buried in a section of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

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It consisted of 2,319 wall vaults and approximately 1,100 tombs.
Wikimedia
The Church had difficulties maintaining the cemetery, and it fell into total disrepair. It got so bad that in 1945 the city forbid any further burials there, although illegal burials continued at night for those that were unable to afford proper burials.
The city wanted to use the land so the cemetery was deconsecrated and the remains were removed in 1957 to make way for new development.
Alexander Allison/ New Orleans Public Library
Family members were contacted by the city to allow them to move their relatives, and those that went unclaimed were moved to two different locations: the whites were moved to the Hope Mausoleum and the African Americans were moved to Providence Memorial Park. For years after the cemetery had been demolished, construction workers were finding pieces of bones, buttons, and other scraps of clothing left over from the cemetery.
What was that new development?
Phil Roeder/flickr
If you’re a long time Saints fan, you’ll remember many, many years of disappointment with this team. Legend has it that the reason the Saints had such a run of bad luck (before the Superbowl win) was because the restless spirits of the Girod Cemetery were angry that their final resting place had been disturbed.

While the cemetery itself has been long gone, many say their spirits remain, trapped and angry that their resting place has been disturbed. Did you know about this cemetery? Let us know in the comments below.

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