Bree

If If I had known the Duchene mansion was haunted prior to being hired for a maid's position, I probably never would have applied there. I grew up on the bayou and swear I thought I'd heard every ghost story in town. This house in huge and reportedly the most luxuriously furnished in all of New Orleans.

I am only one of the six maids working here. I hear the others speak of the beautiful ghost they call Bree though none of them can honestly say they have seen her.

Mr. Duchene told the story of how Bree came to haunt the mansion once when I first hired on. I thought he seemed a bit uneasy telling it but he swore that it was true.

Bree was only nineteen years old when she hired on as the first maid here. She was young and very beautiful. It was no surprise to anyone that she developed a crush on the handsome and wealthy owner of the mansion. Mr. Duchene's wife was a beautiful woman but reportedly not without her problems. She was a very jealous woman who soon caught on to the mild flirtation that went on between her husband and the maid.She dismissed Bree without notice nor any explanation for that matter. As the story goes, Bree reportedly packed her bags, made her way down the hallway to the staircase then lost her step just as she reached the head of the stairs. Bree tumbled downward falling to her death. Some say she fell. There are others who believe she was pushed from behind by the jealous wife.

At night Bree walks up and down the staircase now. Sometimes, she rearranges the pictures in the hallways. There are often feather dusters found on the staircase that none of us have left there. There are many other strange things that happen in this place at night, all of which get blamed on Bree. I have witnessed them myself but I have never seen Bree. All I know is when I climb the staircase and get close to the top, I feel a cold chill there. In fact, the reason I am even telling this story at all is because I am seriously thinking of resigning here. I swear this very evening when I went upstairs I felt so cold and as I reached the top step I felt a hand brush my face and a woman begin to weep. I was alone and stood there stunned for what seemed a very long time. I never saw Bree but I am sure now it was her.