Hannah: 0:00

When I do Bigfoot, you're going to have to tell the story of what happened to you and Joe on the trail this weekend.

Rob: 0:06

Oh yeah, well it was really windy and the trees are cracking and everything and Joe says oh, you want to grab a log and hit a tree and see if Bigfoot will respond.

Jess: 0:19

And did he?

Rob: 0:20

No, because we didn't even do it.

Jess: 0:22

It wasn't big fun, it was the wind.

Hannah: 0:25

You don't know that, you don't know that.

Rob: 0:27

Have you been listening to Mordom Musings with Neil and Megan?

Jess: 0:31

I have. They are hilarious, they are.

Rob: 0:33

Yeah, so just give a big old shout out to Neil and Megan.

Jess: 0:37

I creeped their Instagram or Facebook and I really want to know why he has a lot of guns and wears tactical gear.

Rob: 0:46

Really yeah.

Jess: 0:46

So if we could find that out, maybe him and I could be friends you want me to text them. Yeah, I mean, you guys are buddies now.

Rob: 0:53

Yeah, we are.

Jess: 0:55

He likes to think our rhymes.

Hannah: 0:59

Okay, hello Wanderers. I'm Hannah and I'm Jess, and this is Wicked Wanderings, hello Jess.

Jess: 1:36

Hello Hannah, how are you Good? How?

Hannah: 1:38

are you? I'm very happy to be home. Yes, I bet, after my travels down the East Coast. Yes, today, though, we're going to talk about them. Butters, do you like vampires?

Jess: 1:52

Yeah, what does that mean? When I think of vampires nowadays, it's like glittery in the sun and moody Edward.

Hannah: 2:05

No, and I do get into Twilight a little bit because, I'll be honest, twilight got me into vampires when I was a teen, so I can appreciate what Stephanie Meyers did I really do but I have always loved vampires. They have always fascinated me for what kind of creature they are. Like I said, twilight did have a big part in this. But I went beyond boys at Sparkle, right, like I don't want them to Sparkle, I want them to burn in the sun, like I want them to be devilish, like come on. So I loved Van Helsing and the book Dracula.

Jess: 2:39

I've never read it. Oh my gosh, it changed my life.

Hannah: 2:41

I read it back when I was, I think, in my early 20s. I would read it again. It's on my shelf, very excited so. Yet Dracula is amazing. I loved it. I would in our little book club. I would totally read it again. I have watched Blade and Dawn of the Dead. I loved Vampire Diaries and also True Blood.

Jess: 3:00

Ooh, okay, yes.

Hannah: 3:01

You love True Blood. Who doesn't love Eric? Yes, you right, you're right.

Jess: 3:05

Oh, I don't normally go for Blondes, but I definitely would go for him that Viking like unholy look.

Hannah: 3:12

Oh my god. Calm down, Hannah. So, needless to say, I was very excited to do an episode on these creatures of the dark. Very excited. The lore of vampires has been around for centuries and apparently they're dating back to the Egyptians. Really, Definitely yes. Definitely yes I thought that was interesting too. Cultures all seem to have men that use blood as a way to feed, and I want to look at a couple different stories surrounding New Orleans, louisiana, ooh, and the stories that sucked me in Get it, get it Okay.

Jess: 3:44

Come on, guys, that's what he said. Come on, guys, just kidding.

Hannah: 3:49

Ursuline Convent 1727 was a place where nuns took a group of girls from France under their wing, hoping to marry them off and improve society. These girls were known as the casket girls because of the casket-shaped boxes they were traveling with Interesting. The story goes that these girls were transporting vampires and that, while the girls were turning into vampires themselves, the men who died on the voyage died because of the vampires. Now the nuns still felt an obligation to these young women, so they sealed them in the third floor attic with holy screws, probably dipped in some type of water, bolted into the shutters to keep the men. It is said. On some nights the windows have popped open, since the vampires are trying to get out.

Hannah: 4:32

Now let's look at what facts we have to back up or speculate this lore. And I did want to say that for my research I read New Orleans Vampires History and Legend by Marita Vovaad Crandall. Are you going to quote it? End. I quote I will be quoting at the end which. So what I really appreciated about this book was that there was a forward that was done by Brahms Stoker's like great-granddaughter, who I wrote Dracula originally. So I was like, okay, this girl knows what she's talking about. Yeah, a man named Pierre-Lamone D'Ibreville sorry, my French is lacking founded the colony of New Orleans in 1699. He begged the French government to send him women because he needed to get these men basically settled so we could be colonized. They just needed to get fucked.

Hannah: 5:23

Basically get them fucked, give them a meal so they come home at night. It's basically what that means. They're so simple Food and sex. You know Exactly. Apparently, a good portion of these men were French-Canadian and they were woodsmen, which makes sense, yeah they were men. Some women came on a ship, but it was not enough, so more were sent, and while they were still French, they were not what you called desirable. So all these women were French, but some were high society, some were not so high society.

Jess: 5:53

I'm kind of curious what the standards were.

Hannah: 5:56

Not very high because, according to the book it says, some women came of their own free will. Okay, with the promise of crops, friendly natives and a comfortable life. Okay, cool. It's some dick when we see it. It was depicted as a paradise of sorts, but others were kidnapped and forced bound and changed the new world, and some were. This happened to them because of crimes such as murder, prostitution and thievery, so early human trafficking?

Jess: 6:29

Basically, yeah, absolutely.

Hannah: 6:31

Yep. Some of them had gonorrhea or other diseases.

Jess: 6:35

I mean who doesn't?

Hannah: 6:36

am I right and hence in the war, sorry.

Jess: 6:40

I'm shutting up now, I'm listening.

Hannah: 6:42

You don't have to shut this whole point with podcast. Hence the Lord. There was talk of much death, so it may not begin. And because of the vampires, it could have been because the gonorrhea, though, is untreated or syphilis, and you know.

Jess: 6:56

What's their brain and died? Yeah, I wonder if gonorrhea blood had different taste to the vampires. Yes, I mean really.

Hannah: 7:05

These are all things to consider if you watch either true blood or vampires, you know the blood tasted different depending on if you had a disease, so kind of like pineapple, Pineapple. Let's continue, If you know you know, obviously it was not working to just send anyone, so they sent the ship of casket girls. These girls were most likely orphans and they were feed to cassette, meaning girls with small dowries or valuables. But when the people heard cassette they thought casket, until the story starts unfolding. Oh, okay.

Hannah: 7:44

These girls were actually in Louisiana before the Ursula and none had their home built it wasn't the complete until 1734. This is why I really appreciated about Merida was that she Kind of went into the history of it and was like, okay, like how can I explain this? And Since these were cloistered nuns, when they transferred to their new home they should have done it in a manner so they were covered. These nuns marched to their new convent with their students in front of them because they were teachers, and with only some of the highest nuns under canopies, which was kind of like unheard of the time. So like they had some of the higher nuns have with the canopies. They had their students in front of them but they actually, like, were allowed to be seen. They were kind of like I don't know feminine of sorts. Now this is also where the legend could keep going, because the nuns could have easily Covered coffins hiding the vampires. But there still remains the question why is the third floor bolted shut?

Hannah: 8:42

The attic was arranged to house orphans as well as storage. There was also another room that was all brick, so it was easier to clean because they housed the insane. The room had a Dutch door so that items could be passed through, but the nuns had no fear of being hurt. So I'm picturing I guess I really don't understand what a Dutch door is, but I'm thinking one that's like cut in half Maybe. Is that a Dutch door? Yet Rob's not, I guess had yes, so I'm gonna assume yes.

Hannah: 9:07

Even though the legend can be explained away by facts, it is still interesting that if a hinge is blown or unbolted, they fix it right away and people have seen peering eyes from the third floor. So even though the timeline was off right, mm-hmm, even though they said, okay, we're all about, these ones are about teaching and helping the women of society, and that they did try to help the insane, there is still this lore around why is the attic bolted shut and people are seeing peering eyes out of the third floor? I appreciate that she was trying to give facts around it, but there's still that Mysteriousness about it?

Jess: 9:45

Yeah, like why that's not the case? Why is it bull to shit?

Hannah: 9:51

Well, I did end up calling my brother about this because I had a couple of questions, just because he's brilliant when it comes to history. And I texted him later and I was like I need to go to New Orleans, like I need to go, I know it's gonna be hot, but I can deal.

Jess: 10:07

So basically, that's trip number 10 that we have planned with Jonathan Probably.

Rob: 10:13

Or Johnny, we're just volunteering volunteering him, voluntelling Mm-hmm.

Hannah: 10:19

The author Voivod Crandall, and the reason I'm saying Voivod is because, even though it's spelled W-O-Y-W-O-D, she said that's how it's pronounced. So said the legend can happen with the correct facts. Her story goes like this the Casca girls did travel from France to New Orleans with sister Gertrude. Sister Gertrude was also traveling with a very dangerous vampire. Okay, sister Gertrude kept these girls under lock and key to keep their virtue, but was also to keep the vampire at bay. People died and the girls were weak, which happens on voyages such as these. But this could have been because the vampire had been feasting on them the whole trip Because, as we know, vampires don't eat all your blood, right, okay, they don't. Upon arrival to New Orleans, the girls were vampires. They already turned. They found vagrants and prostitutes to eat and sister Gertrude was sent back to France. Now I think of sister Gertrude, by the way, as a the principal that's in Matilda.

Jess: 11:22

It's been years since I've seen that. Oh my God, miss Trunchbull.

Hannah: 11:27

Yes, Trunchbull. Yes, that's how I picture sister Gertrude.

Jess: 11:31

Ew, yeah, she's ooh.

Hannah: 11:34

The king found out what sister Gertrude did and sent her back to New Orleans. But he sent her back as a cat, for her eternal damnation would be to rally the casket girls, give them to the nuns to hide and find rats around the city for the girls to eat. Because that's what cats do? They like Nice, right, mm-hmm. The adequacy news is a way to educate them but also keep them away from people, and sister Gertrude can still be seen as a black cat circling the property. Cats are evil, so it would make sense. I know I don't like cats, I'm definitely a dog person Like look at, look at Devus. I can't see girl Kentyn needs to be the mascot of Wicked Wandering she does.

Jess: 12:11

we should put her on a hoodie.

Hannah: 12:12

By the way, I am asking Rob Wanderers to do dog jackets for Wicked Wanderings. Yes.

Jess: 12:21

Come on, they could promote us. They could I mean, and how many people would I mean? I would buy a dog jacket over.

Hannah: 12:29

Like do you have what three dogs? I have two. Why don't I think you have three? I mean oh.

Hannah: 12:33

Dave. Right, I'm sorry. Sorry, Dave, that's funny. 1903, new Orleans. A new man is in town, jacques Saint-Germain.

Hannah: 12:46

This man is known for his lavish parties and he was quite a socialite. He frequented clubs and often had women on his arm. He loved to tell stories of his travels across the world. He told people he was a direct descendant of Comte de Saint-Germain, who was a friend and servant of King Louis the 15th. Rumors started spreading that he looked so much like his ancestor, and Jacques did not change people's minds. The parties he hosted were always catered, including the diningware, which was odd because back then the plates and utensils were a sign of your wealth and family name, because they would have them actually like, engraved. Another odd thing was he never ate during his dinners. He loved to watch people enjoy themselves while drinking what looked like red wine.

Hannah: 13:33

Several months after his arrival, a woman jumped from his balcony claiming she had been bitten by a vampire. She was rumored to be a prostitute and the police told Jacques don't worry, come in the morning, it's too late for you to come down now to do a statement. He never showed and when they entered his home, it seemed he had vanished and left most of his belongings, the officer found open but corked wine bottles with a mixture of wine and human blood. He was never seen again. Now time to move on. Let's talk about Comte Saint-Germain, who he was supposedly looked like. We aren't exactly sure about his true origins, but he was likely born in Bohemia to a prince and princess and then was given to the care of a Medici.

Jess: 14:18

What's that?

Hannah: 14:19

Oh girl, you don't know the Medici family from Italy. No, oh, my God, part of me wants to call John and say what the Medici's are about. Frame no 01 Hi, hi, John, Do you have time for one question?

Johnathan: 14:39

Yeah sure, what's the topic?

Hannah: 14:41

So so I'm doing my vampire episode and I brought up how that comp Saint-Germain was given to the Medici family and Jess is like what's that? And she has no idea who the Medici family is. So I didn't know if you could give us like, maybe like a one minute spiel on who they are.

Johnathan: 14:57

Yeah, so quick. Medici family were a very powerful family in Italy think late Italy ages, through the Renaissance. Their headquarters were in Florence, but as they grew in terms of the scope of their power, fueled by the wealth that they garnered from their, their, their loans and their banking enterprises, they began moving in more political circles. Eventually they were named the Dukes of Tuscany, later the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, and we have to remember that this is a period of time where Italy is not a country, it's basically just a peninsula made up of multiple different smaller kingdoms. So they became eventually the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Think of it as like the local highest level of authority for the area of Tuscany In Italy. They did extraordinary well in increasing their influence over courts of Europe by marrying either having daughters of other courts of Europe marry their sons or having their daughters marry into other courts. So some of the most famous are Catherine de Medici, who later became a queen of France, marie de Medici, who also became queen of France at a later generation.

Johnathan: 16:33

They had multiple posts in the family. They they're kind of interconnected with most of the major ruling houses. One Medici daughter married into the Habsburgs, and so they're really an extraordinary family Now. So the gentleman that you're talking about was the last Grand Duke of Tuscany. Hannah, remind me of his name.

Hannah: 16:57

Count de Saint-Germain.

Johnathan: 17:00

No, that was his ward. John Gaston was the last of the Medici in this sort of respect, so he was like the last Grand Duke of Tuscany from the Medici family and then later the house of Lorraine took over the Duke of Tuscany. So John Gaston, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, was the he basically took and this was not unusual in his time but he took over the education of such a man and Johnny it's. That story is true.

Hannah: 17:38

And Johnny also. You know we talked about Catherine de Medici. She was also involved with Mary Queen of Scots because it was her son that was married to Mary Queen of Scots for a while, correct?

Johnathan: 17:51

I think you're right about that.

Hannah: 17:52

Okay, I feel like the, the meta cheese are just as big as like the Roman offs, like they, they have such a big part of history, mm hmm, so, johnny, thank you. I'm sorry if we caught you off guard, but I was like John can see it better than I can.

Johnathan: 18:09

Absolutely. I'm happy to just making my day, so thank you.

Jess: 18:13

Yeah, you always know so much. Yes, he's so smart, we need you back. We do need you back, I mean.

Johnathan: 18:19

I literally just came back a couple of weeks ago from Italy and the whole time we were in Florence. It was all meta cheese is meta cheese at. And when I was young I think it was like seven I read like the salvatational book called the rise and fall of the house of meta cheese, which is so well worth reading. It's a little bit in the places it could be a little misogynistic. It's an older book. Some places it's very homophobic and it's much older book. But it's the foundations of like. Where does the meta cheese family come from and how did they rise to power and where does the power and the money go? At the very end of it, the very end of it, is all about John Guttstone who took over the education of the club San Germain. Is again that story is true with your? Is that story about San Germain speculated?

Hannah: 19:08

But can we be honest, like what seven year old is reading about the rise and the fall of the meta cheese family?

Johnathan: 19:15

I think there's some of us out there, but and lobotomies.

Rob: 19:19

I would be only wondering.

Hannah: 19:21

That's true. Yeah, so, john, you were talking. I remember when we were talking, when I was writing this episode originally because I was something I brought up in the podcast about how I have to call you and talk to you about certain things, like about how they had their names inscribed on silverware and how it was very odd that the the Combs in Jermaine didn't have that kind of thing. Anyways, especially since his family was supposedly so big, um, you had mentioned about how the person in the Medici family that took care of St Germain was probably part of the LGP, lgbtq plus community.

Johnathan: 19:58

Oh yeah, that's the. That was the last Medici Grand Duke of Destiny, John Guttstone.

Hannah: 20:04

Yes and I saw it interesting because when you were mentioning the book that you read um very, very anti gay and everything, I just thought it was interesting that you had brought that up to me.

Johnathan: 21:44

Yeah. So it's very well known that um, uh I'm just going to call it guest John, because that's a little easier than John but um, uh, it was a very uh flavored homosexual at a time where you really couldn't be Um. He basically hated his wife and his wife hated him. They lived for a long time, I think um in northern Europe somewhere, I don't know enough about that, but um, she didn't want to come back to Tuscany and he did, and there was a lot of fighting going on during their marriage. They never had any children, which ended the line for the Medici's um in terms of rule in Tuscany.

Johnathan: 22:23

Um, but he lived in some extraordinary splendor, at a Renaissance palace called the Pity Palace, which is, um would have been considered kind of at the outskirts of Florence, but it's now very much part of Florence. Um, it was one of the places that I had to go see Um when we were in Florence in a big extraordinary. But there's all of these interesting stories about um, his lover, and this feels like it's own episode. But, um, and then, by the time that you know, uh, john got older and the lover got older. The lover would basically be a pimp finding younger, very handsome men to entertain the Grand Duke uh in his ailing years, and they used to like run rampant um through the palace and uh spend all sorts of money and steal things and break things.

Johnathan: 23:11

And um, people would say, like that was the alternative court. Uh, cause he wouldn't keep a court of like other nobles around him, which was, you know, part of the course. He would just keep all these very handsome young men and let them do what they wanted. Um, so really interesting character, um, but I feel like that um, you know great queers of history could be his own episode. It's not weird, it's a little weird, but not wicked.

Hannah: 23:38

So well, I I thank you. I'm sorry I caught you so off guard with this, but I knew you could explain it really well.

Johnathan: 23:47

No worries.

Hannah: 23:47

And thank you.

Johnathan: 23:49

Go back to spreadsheets, but so good to hear from all of you All right.

Hannah: 23:53

We love you.

Rob: 23:53

We'll talk to you later Love you all, bye.

Hannah: 23:56

Bye. He was also known to tell great tales about conversations with Cleopatra and Queen of Sheba. When talking about his parties. He would not eat and enjoy watching others enjoy his food. Since he had much wealth, having monogrammed utensils would have been something for him, but he went by many names, so he may not have had them done, because it would have been hard to pick which. That was interesting.

Jess: 24:20

I should have just put the whole alphabet.

Hannah: 24:23

Upon his death. You would think he would be the type of guy to have a lavish ceremony and burial, but he had nothing to his name, only some everyday items. Was this the way for him to start again, in an inconspicuous way? I mean sure. 1932, a young girl breaks free from her captors, the Carter Brothers. When the police arrived, they found other victims tied to chairs, with wounds on their wrists where they were sliced open. The police waited for the brothers and they were caught apparently asking the police for death. During this time, if the brothers were vampires, they went from roaring twenties to the Great Depression. People went from being everywhere to being nowhere.

Jess: 25:03

I like they were starving.

Hannah: 25:06

One place that would be good for a vampire to frequent would be the barber shop. The barber shop was known for bad hair follicles, to cleaning open wounds, to broken bones, which I didn't know this. This is why the barber pole has red and white, so people know they can have their bloodlet, which was sometimes done with leeches. The blue was apparently added later in the states, for patriotism, of course.

Hannah: 25:28

America Fuck yeah, with this, vampires could get blood without harming anyone. But with the change in what barber shops do, blood has become less scarce. In the no harm department, it was said the brothers were killed, most likely by hanging, for being serial colors and placed in the plot for those whose bodies had no family In these plots. After a year and a day, it is said, the body is mostly decomposed. So whatever is left over, they take a pole and swirl it all together and push it to the back. Supposedly this is where the saying I won't go into touch that with a tenfold pole comes from. Interesting yes, so they push all the remains to the back so they can add someone else. When it came time to push the brothers remains back, they weren't there and it is said that the brothers are seen in a balcony overlooking the people of New Orleans with their next victim Creepy, creepy.

Hannah: 26:20

The culture of vampires has changed dramatically over the centuries From being silly pamphlet stories of gross creatures, the now sensual, desirable yet dangerous Eric from True Blood, yummy. Around 5,000 individuals identify as vampires in the United States and have people that donate their blood for reasons such as it's a good friend or they think they need it and they want to give it a sexual favor. Oh God. So I am going to read part of a story and I am going to quote, and here I quote so the author of the book before she. So she has a what she calls a boutique in New Orleans and also kind of like a vampire bar that she's in charge of in New Orleans, and she had this really strange experience and I you just can't not say it the way she wants you to say it. So, basically, she's pouring wax to make these candles and the first place that they had was like down this really weird like hallway into a building and up these stairs so it's not like something you could easily see from the road. And she also had this dog she called Elks, who, like, would alert her if someone was coming in because her back was turned. She can see anybody.

Hannah: 27:40

So she saw this man come in and he had this like walking cane. So she mentions that he looked Greek or Italian, but she said then he appeared to be what she would consider Romanian. His cane was elaborate and ornate silver handle was attached to a lovely wooden stick and he maneuvered about the room with grace and then he asked her do you have the history of the vampire? She says. I was so pleased that he finally spoke and I almost knew what he would sound like before any words come out of his mouth. He spoke what sounded like a Romanian accent, not put on by any means, but a true accent. He did not care if I noticed or not. And then she mentioned like we don't have that book, we only have authors that we can get signatures for. And then he says I know people who would be very interested in this.

Hannah: 28:31

At that point I started to talk, but I have no idea what I was saying. I was probably trying to take his comment as a compliment, thinking he was pleased by what he saw. I was trying to smooth things between us over, as I felt he didn't care for me one bit. I didn't really think he was happy with the items in my shop at all. I think he was intrigued with the idea of the shop in general. Had he been a vampire, he might have considered it a compliment to himself. So then she goes on to say that he doesn't buy anything.

Hannah: 28:57

He walks back through the door and where she was standing she could see the street and she saw that her now husband was walking into the shop. She was like great, he'll run into them, like he'll know what I'm talking about. So the soon to be husband comes in and she's like, oh my gosh, did you just see that guy that left? And he's like what are you talking about? And he's like there was this man that came in and he looked like this with a cane and he was like there was no one that came to the shop. I don't know what you're talking about. So she was saying like I have a feeling I'm going to see this person again and I think he was a vampire or a ghost or a ghost. But I just thought it was such a cool story, yeah, so I thought it was a good ending.

Jess: 29:38

That is a very good ending. Thanks, hannah, that was very interesting.

Hannah: 29:42

I hope it was Jonathan, even though I was not here for taking a phone call.

Jess: 29:45

Last notice poor thing, he was very caught off guard, yeah gotta keep it exciting, I suppose All right Wonders, thank you, don't get your blood sucked Bye Thanks for listening today.

Hannah: 29:58

The show wouldn't be possible without our amazing producer and editor, Rob Fitzpatrick, who works tirelessly behind the scenes to bring you the best content.

Jess: 30:06

And a special thanks to Tyga Soundprod for providing the captivating intro music. Cinematic intro 24.

Hannah: 30:13

And of course, we can't forget the hauntingly beautiful outro music, Rhino's Theme, composed by Kevin.

Jess: 30:18

MacLeod. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple and YouTube. Your feedback means the world to us.

Hannah: 30:31

Also be sure to follow us on Instagram for behind the scenes glimpses, updates and more thrilling content. You can find us at Wicked Wanderings Podcast.

Jess: 30:39

Thank you so much for listening and being part of our Wicked Wanderings community. We appreciate each and every one of you.

Hannah: 30:46

Stay curious, keep exploring and always remember to keep on wandering.