The Ranger Online

Issue date: 5/18/06 Section: J School Travels

Media Credit: Mandy Derfler Vampire tour guide Brent Baudean tells the story of Felipe, a man traumatized by captivity by the serial-killer, blood-drinking Carter brothers.

NEW ORLEANS - Walking along the streets of the French Quarter, many will notice no matter what corner they turn, there is always a story to tell in this historically rich city.

The Crescent City is renowned for its laid-back way of life and decadent celebrations such as Mardi Gras.

But come 8:30 p.m. under the clock of St. Louis Cathedral, there is the beginning of a darker story of New Orleans that many have not heard and may not want to hear.

Garden District Tours offers vampire tours of the city's oldest section that dispel and explain the myths of the centuries-old creatures that have piqued the curious and the morbid. They also offer ghost tours.

Brent Baudean, a theater performer since the age of 6 and New Orleans native, presents the tour.

Dressed in black from head to toe with a red mesh undershirt and a blood red ribbon tying back his ponytail, Baudean enjoys the spotlight.

Surrounded by seven tourists - the largest group Baudean has led since Katrina - in Pirate's Alley alongside the cathedral, he begins his tour debunking the folklore of vampires: They are not repelled by sunlight and don't turn into bats.

He jokingly reminds them that they were crazy enough to pay to go on this tour.

"Ignorance is bliss and you paid to take this tour," Baudean taunts his audience who rewards him with laughter.

Baudean highlights the history of vampires with such famous storytellers as Bram Stoker, who penned the novel "Dracula," and former New Orleans resident Anne Rice whose novel "Interview With The Vampire" went on to become a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

As Baudean heads off down Pirate's Alley, he makes the point, "At no point in this tour am I going to tell you to believe in vampires."

He adds that the stories are all based on facts and police reports.

After two blocks, Baudean stops at the house on Royal Street that housed the principals in the film "Interview With A Vampire."

The production spent $1.5 million on the house in the French Quarter and built a replica set six miles away for a key scene in which the house is set afire.

Continued...

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