New Orleans Urban Legends

When is an urban legend not really an urban legend? When it's 100 percent true. That's the case with the so-called Devil Man, a horned figure who, according to legend, terrorized New Orleans in the late 1930s. As it turns out, it's not legend at all. It all really happened, in a bizarre, only-in-New-Orleans occurrence that saw the "devil" land in a local jail.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear" and "Dance of the U-boat"Sextile, "Magenta"HOVATOFF, "Creek"Text Me Records / Jordan Blackmon. "Human Heart"

Mona Lisa isn't the only spirit wandering City Park. In fact, she may be one of at least three. We'll talk to City Park personnel about the park's dark history -- and we'll interview one person who says he has had first-hand encounters with the ghosts of City Park.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Jingle Punks, "Speakeasy in Crescent City"Jesse Gallagher, "Hathor Hymnal"Silent Partner, "Space Walk"Odonis Odonis, "Dark Forest"Text Me Records, "Human Heart"Sextile, "Magenta"Wayne Jones, "Spookster"roljui, "Window Demons"

In the first of three loosely connected episodes, we'll look into a handful of New Orleans' urban legends and find out if there's any truth to them.

We retrace the steps of the New Orleans-born presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, visiting the places he was known to inhabit, retracing his local history and looking into what role the city played in his life.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Noir et Blanc vie, "Straight Out Cold"Magic In the Other, "Brooklyn Cool"Silent Partner, "Space Walk"Jingle Punks, "Speakeasy in Crescent City"The Tower of Light, "Contact"Robert Crisp, "Abstract (30 seconds)"

In 2011, French Quarter resident Vincent Marcello decided he wanted a swimming pool. He was in for a surprise. Turns out, his property -- at North Rampart and Toulouse -- was built on the former site of St. Peter Cemetery, the city's very first cemetery, which was closed when St. Louis No. 1 was opened. And, as he learned, however, the bodies were never moved ...Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their music in this episode:Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Jesse Gallagher, "Hathor Hymnal"Jimmy Fontanez/Media Right Productions, "Our French Cafe"The Tower of Light, "Beginnings (Intro)" and "Flecks of Light"

Many New Orleanians grew up hearing fragments of rumors that German U-boats patrolled the waters off Louisiana's coast during World War II. Many of them discounted those rumors as mere myth. As it turns out, though, they're not a myth at all. New Orleans did, indeed, have a Nazi problem during the war. Sonny Downs knows. He had a first-hand encounter with some of Hitler's henchmen -- and he lived to tell the tale.Many thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs in this episode: Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"The Tower of Light, "Contact"Au.Ra, "Searching in the Mountains" and "Wandering and Floating"Splimis, "Gone Tomorrow"Robert Crisp, "Abstract (30 seconds)"

Also known as "Keelboat Annie," she is New Orleans' answer to Paul Bunyan and Mike Fink, a brawling keelboat captain from back in the days when people were named Huckleberry and Injun Joe. But was there really an Annie Christmas? We dig into the endlessly entertaining legend and trace it to its little-known origin.Many thanks to the following musicians for their songs, which are featured in this episode:Aakash Gandhi, "Forest of Fear"Cuttlefish Music, "Detective Singer"LexinMusic, "Alice in Dark Wonderland"Wylie Burge, "Gone Tomorrow"John Lawrence Schick, "Living in a Coffin"The Tower of Lights, "Contact"And to CBS Radio Workshop's Old Time Radio clip.