Spooky Halloween Post: Louisiana's Real-Life Ghost Towns

Radley Balko | October 31, 2006

Last month I went down to Mississippi for a hearing in the Cory Maye case.  Because the hearing was in Poplarville, near the Louisiana border, I stayed in New Orleans and drove into Mississippi along I-10.  That also happens to be a section of the coast that was socked pretty hard by Hurricane Katrina.

I didn't really notice much the first time I made the trip.  I drove out in the morning.  It was light out, and I passed by neighborhoods, apartment complexes, strip malls, and big box stores, and didn't really pick up on what I was actually seeing.

On the way back, it was nearly dusk.  That's when I noticed that though it was only about 8pm, none of the buildings along the Interstate appeared to be lit.

The next morning when I drove back to the Mississippi for the second day of the hearing, I took a closer look, and snapped a few photos (apologies for the quality -- I took them from the car as I drove by).  As you can see, there are still entire neighborhoods, shopping centers, malls, and apartment buildings that are completely abandoned.  Suburbanite ghost towns.

What's weird is that because most of the destruction was done by water, from a distance it appeared that everyone had simply left otherwise normal-looking towns.  If you hadn't known about Katrina, it would appear that entire populations of people had simply vanished.  Signs are still intact.  Cars still sit abandoned in the street. 

The creepiest sight was an abandoned amusement park.  According to the highway signs, it was a Six Flags.

I took some pictures in the less-depressing (but still nowhere near what it once was) French Quarter, too.  Those are posted here.  The Katrina-themed t-shirts they're selling on Bourbon Street show the city at least has a sense of humor about its demise.