Haunted Baton Rouge

With yellow fever, Civil War battles, murders and tragic accidents staining its history, it is no wonder that Baton Rouge is rife with tales of ghostly visitors. Highland Road has had so many reports of Civil War soldier sightings that the local police department sent out an officer to track one down. Spirits crowd about in the stately grounds of the Magnolia Mound and Old Cottage Plantations, the Old Capitol and the New, and even the USS Kidd. Unlikely spots like the Guaranty Income Life and Broadcast Building have plenty of hair-raising stories of their own; the cafeteria used to be a morgue. Explore the "Red Stick's" eerie past with author and paranormal investigator Bud Steed as he uncovers the city's most chilling tales.

Bud Steed is an author, researcher, investigator, and explorer of strange and lost legends; if it's strange, weird or kind of scary, you can bet he's probably interested in it.

Bud has been actively researching and writing for eight years (at the time of this writing) and has written and published six books, five of which were reviewed and accepted for inclusion into the Library of Congress based on their folklore and historical content. Those five books are the Haunted Natchez Trace, the Haunted Mississippi Gulf Coast, Haunted Baton Rouge, Haunted Northwest Arkansas, and Haunted Ft Smith and Van Buren. Additionally, Bud has two other books published, each the start of its own series. Ozarks Ghosts and Hauntings is the first book in America's Ghosts series, and Lost Treasures of the Ozarks is the first book in America's Lost Treasures series.  

A lot of the content within his books is historical as it relates to the particular story or legend; you could say that he's kind of a self-described "history geek" as it's his opinion that each ghost story, each legend or strange occurrence, has its roots buried somewhere in historical fact. Researching the history behind the story gives us a better sense of why the legend or ghost sighting started in the first place and allows us to separate the fact from the fiction; hopefully, that will lead us down the twisting turning path to the truth.

Bud has been researching the paranormal for over thirty-eight years and has investigated in both Europe and the United States. He is the founder of Backroads Paranormal, a group dedicated to investigating and researching historical sites, and the co-founder of Infinity Paranormal Research.

Currently, Bud resides in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Southwest Missouri with his amazingly patient wife Jennifer, four great kids, and two Pitbull's named Dixie and Clyde.