Program

Legends & Lore®

Subject

Folklore, Legend

Location

Russell Hall, 125 Central Ave, Natchitoches, LA 71457, USA

Lat/Long

31.7507099, -93.0928535

Grant Recipient

Northwestern State University of Louisiana

On Northwestern State University, beside Old Bullard Mansion, Caldwell Hall stands as one of the oldest buildings on campus. Legends whisper of a ghostly maiden named Isabella who wanders the building. This girl was once a young beauty with many admirers, but her heart belonged to a man from the east, who came to Louisiana for work. The pair were deeply in love and planning to marry, but his life was cut short in a duel rumored to involve another woman.

Heartbroken, Isabella’s beauty faded. She joined the Sacred Heart Convent on Normal Hill and secluded herself, occasionally wandering the woods late at night, where some say she would rendezvous with the ghost of her lost love. Grief overwhelmed her, and on a stormy night, she took her life in the Old Bullard Mansion’s attic. As she fell, Isabella’s blood-stained hand marked the wall. For years, her spirit wandered the mansion. When the mansion was torn down, it is said her anguished cries echoed across the grounds.

Over time, Isabella’s spirit shifted homes, mostly residing in the campus’s oldest buildings. She’s moved from East Hall to the old music hall to Bienville Hall. Today, she’s believed to have settled in Caldwell Hall. Some even claim to have seen haunting bloody handprints on the walls, a trace of Isabella’s tragic end.