From antebellum days, there is the story of an enslaved woman of mixed blood who wanted to be married to her master, a Creole aristocrat. He was opposed to this; but he said to her if should could spend a night naked on the rooftop of his home on Rue Royale on a cold December evening, he would marry her. Because it is usually cold and damp in the city in December, he felt this was impossible and that she would not even seriously attempt it.

One night, the master had a friend over to play a game of chess. They passed the evening conversing and drinking absinthe and brandy; then they continued to play chess inside the warm house. But onto the rooftop stepped the slave. There she stayed throughout the entire cold and windy night without any clothing. By dawn, the visiting friend had gone and the master went to find the slave whom he though would still be in bed asleep. But she was not to be found. Startled, he went to the roof. There he found her dead, killed by the cold.

Two ghosts are now seen at this house. The nude ghost of the slave is said to appear on cold December nights on the rooftop, and the vision of a morose man is seen seated in a chair near a window. There he plays chess, solitaire.

These old houses on the Rue Royale, which is just behind the Cathedral, are quaint and elegant works of architecture. I could see the Spanish lace nearby, the elaborate wrought iron on the balconies, and the myriad shops and sidewalk artists painting. But, despite the street's charms, spending a December night on the rooftop there would indeed be an ordeal.

Source: Ghosts of New Orleans, Parascope