Logan Mansion revealed

Flickering lights, slamming doors and missing items are just a few of the unexplained events that are sure to raise hairs on the back of your neck during the Historic Haunts of Shreveport tour this Halloween.

An architectural masterpiece full of history, the historic Shreveport Logan Mansion has quite a story to tell, and it has been said that a child haunts the house that homeowners Billy and Vicki LeBrun purchased in 2005.

Located at 725 Austin Place, the Victorian home was built by a local beer and ice distributor, Lafayette Robert Logan, and in its history, it has served as a boarding house, a church, a radio station, and once again, a home. But homeowners, the LeBruns, said there’s one tenant who won’t leave: the ghost of a young girl.

Legends say that the house became a boarding house from 1920-52. Teachers were not allowed to be married and were forced to live in the attic. One of the family’s daughters, 8-12-years-old at the time, went up the winding staircase and supposedly fell to her death from a front attic window.

There are many stories of sighting a little girl in the house by previous owners; objects that have moved; unexplained footsteps; a screen door that latches and unlatches itself, open doors and many more. The LeBruns spoke with the grandchildren of the owner of the home when it was a teacher boarding house, Wade Hampton, and they shared stories of the little girl being seen in the house.

Vicki now keeps a log of the strange happenings in her home and invites scheduled tours to hear the homeowners’ stories and history of the restored Victorian era home.

Just a week before this Halloween, Vicki found herself yet again adding to her paranormal log after unlocking her house door and looking for her keys only moments after placing them on the main dining room table. The keys were found back in her car.

“The ghost stories only play a small part in the house; it just keeps things interesting. Our ghost is always playing games,” Vicki said.

The LeBruns have dozens of stories about their ghost and are sharing them with the public during haunted home tours. Last year, 150 children and adults came for the candlelit inside look on Halloween.

During the tour of the “violet blue” painted house that the LeBruns now call home, guests get the chance to view all 17 rooms of the mansion and even get to experience the attic, the room where the little girl is said to have fallen out of the window.

After climbing up the steep and narrow winding staircase to the 2,000 squarefoot attic, the attic walls hold a story that the homeowners are piecing together one unexplained event at a time. The attic space houses memories of children playing and even a twin-sized bed. Should their ghost need a place to rest, the LeBruns are ready to accommodate, since living in the hospitable south.

There have been several reports of people seeing a little girl in the attic window from the street and in tour photographs.

Equipped with many of the original furnishings, the Queen Anne Victorian 5,000 square foot mansion with the 2,000 square foot attic is worth the visit just to explore a historical slice of Shreveport.

Logan spared no expense in the construction of his home. The original hand-laid parquet floors, stained and beveled glass windows, hand carved woodwork and fretwork, and the massive mahogany grand staircase are still in place inside the LeBrun home.

The floor plan of the house remains exactly as it was when constructed with the exception of the addition of a kitchen on the main floor of the house.

Recently retired, Vicki is excited to continue working on her home and hosting tours, parties, weddings and events at her home. Over the past nine years, the LeBruns have worked on restoring everything in the house with a DIY motto and historical research as a guide.

Just as Logan was set on giving the home the absolute best, so are the new homeowners. The curtains covering the foyer pocket-door are overly long and ornate just as Logan would have decorated with in the 1900s. As curtains were very expensive, this excess material was a visual statement of extravagance by the Victorian wealthy, and the LeBruns desire to authentically replicate and restore as much of the home as possible through their use of antique and original design and pieces.

The focal point of the downstairs entryway is the grand staircase which is adorned with its newel post lamp. The bottom four fixtures of the lamp are electric, and the top is a gaslight. Missing for many years, the lamp was recently found in Arkansas after a “lucky” lead with one of Vicki’s twirling students. Purchased by the LeBrun family and reinstalled, the newel post lamp is back home on the grand staircase.

Upstairs, the master bedroom got a facelift six years ago when Vicki was asked for her home to be a scene in a locally filmed movie, “The Pardon.”

“Our home was the bordello where Toni Jo worked. It was an amazing experience,” Vicki said.

The film crew wallpapered the bedroom and embellished the room with custom drapery just perfect for the Victorian home.

The master bathroom sits beside the master bathroom and is illuminated with natural light shining through the original stained glass window. The claw foot bathtub is surrounded with beautiful history.

The Logan Mansion will once again host its popular haunted candlelight tours Halloween night Oct. 31. Guided tours exploring the house will begin every 20 minutes, 6 to 9 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger. The tours last approximately one hour, and reservations are not necessary.

This unscripted tour of the home allows guests to roam the mansion and speak with staff located in each room about the history and paranormal activity. Paranormal experts will be on site during tours to present and explain pictures of orbs taken in the home and to conduct live EMF readings. Their ghost is sure to make the tour more exciting and memorable, and the tour is a great way for Shreveport to support the continued restoration of the home, Vicki said.

The mansion is also available for club meetings, social groups, bridal and baby showers, adult and children themed birthday parties, weddings, receptions and many other activities. Designated closets are full of vintage clothing for little girls to dress up with for tea parties, and they are also equipped with top hats for little detectives to solve a birthday mystery in the home.

For further information, contact the LeBruns at 459-2285.