Haunting of the Octoroon Mistress
The Haunting of the Octoroon Mistress is a ghost tale about the haunting of a house on 734 Royal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Background The haunting of the Octoroon House is founded on nineteenth-century cultural etiquette surrounding race in New Orleans. The term Octoroon is used for people in New Orleans in the nineteenth century that were 1/8 Black and 7/8 white. These octoroons were known as Creoles of color. Relationships between octoroons and elite Creoles of New Orleans were prohibited, but young men commonly had strong attractions to octoroon women because of their beauty. Because of different social statuses, Creole men and octoroon women were prohibited from marrying. Octoroon balls were used as a way for rich Creoles to obtain an octoroon mistress. Creole men and octoroon women used these balls to form relationships where they mutually benefitted. Most of the men had families aside from the octoroon mistresses and would often keep their affairs a secret. Synopsis of the Legend Supposedly, an octoroon woman named Julie occupied the Royal Street house in the 1850s. Julie met and fell in love with a very handsome and rich Frenchman. To the Frenchman, Julie was just his secret lover. But