Many years ago, I was told the story of the falling picture. The story fascinated me, because I love a good ghost story and there was a local angle. It goes like this:
Right after the Civil War, Ouachita parish was occupied by Union troops. A local man and his brother, along with their families, lived in nice homes along Riverside Drive. The two men refused to support the Union flag. They were promptly arrested and taken away. Before they left, someone took a photo of the proceedings for posterity. Many years later, after the men had passed away, the photo was hung in the home of the family. The family was awakened one night by a loud crashing noise. When they went to investigate, they found the photo lying face down in the hall. There was a widely believed superstition that when a photo falls face down, everyone in the photo will die. Sure enough, the family soon found out that all the soldiers had died….at the battle of the Little Bighorn.
A few years ago, one of the family members presented the above painting to the Genealogy Department. She told us the family name that was involved, but unfortunately, I didn’t write it down! I could kick myself! Newspaper articles describing the above legend never gave the family name either! Anyway, the lady informed us that the above painting was created from the original photo, which was in very bad shape. It now hangs in the front office of the Genealogy Department of Ouachita Parish Public Library.
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 