On the edge of downtown Shreveport, you can find the 127-year-old Logan Mansion, at 725 Austen Place. Over the years These days it is a popular bed & breakfast. What comes next is the big question.
The Queen Anne Victorian house is also haunted – at least according to a decades-long legend that a young girl, neighbor Theodora Hunt, fell to her death from the third floor attic. LSU Shreveport History Professor Cheryl White literally wrote the book on the mansion. She co-authored Historic Haunts of Shreveport with fellow LSUS professor Gary Joiner.
Their research discovered the 11-year-old girl actually died after a sudden illness at Hot Springs, Arkansas, not from a fall in Shreveport. Yet some contend there is a spirit inside the mansion, of a mischievous young girl. Professor White is also curious what effect the haunting legend might have on the sale of the Logan Mansion. “I’m intrigued by the way that particular story continues to draw people there,” began Dr. White, “and has interested people in the building and ultimately may play a factor in its future, you know. When you think about it, I mean how many people want to live in a house that’s said to be haunted? I don’t know.”
What is certain, according to White, is the sad fact that such historical homes are a dying breed. That area of Shreveport was once full of Victorian Queen Anne style homes – most popular from the 1880’s to 1910.
White says she has the very same wish every time the property changes hands “that someone will acquire that property, who first of all recognizes the historical significance of it and is dedicated to preserving that. And number two, has some way of integrating its use into our community so that other people can appreciate it. It truly is an architectural gem of this city.” The 48-hour online auction for the Logan mansion begins at 11:00a.m. on February 12th on a real estate exchange, based in California, known as Crexi. While the bidding will start at $100,000, a previous real estate listing had the asking price of $599,000.
