Mystery Location No. 72: October 29, 2017

First Clue: red

The Old Capitol, designed by James H. Dakin in a style he called "castellated gothic," stands on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The capitol opened for business in 1850 and in 1859, the statehouse was featured and favorably described in De Bow's Review, one of the most prestigious periodicals of the day. Just three years later, during the War of Northern Aggression, the capitol was captured by hostile forces and while it was occupied by the Yankees, the building was seriously damaged in two separate fires. In the 1880s, when the old statehouse was being renovated, the famous author, Mark Twain, who, for some unknown reason, hated our little capitol, wrote: "It is pathetic enough that a whitewashed castle, with turrets and things – materials all ungenuine within and without, pretending to be what they are not – should ever have been built in this otherwise honorable place; but it is much more pathetic to see this architectural falsehood undergoing restoration and perpetuation in our day, when it would have been so easy to let dynamite finish what a charitable fire began, and then devote this restoration-money to the building of something genuine." Today, the Old Capitol has been fully restored and houses a museum.

One of Louisiana's most colorful lawmakers, Pierre Couvillion of Avoyelles Parish, served as a member of the state house of representatives and senate from 1834 to 1852. Described in biographical records as a "gargantuan" man standing more than 6-feet tall with "a body well-proportioned to that height," Couvillion relied on his powerful, domineering physical attributes to intimidate opponents. But he also had a flip side and was able to switch on his "irresistible personality" and "entrancing storytelling ability" to endear himself to family, friends and constituents. He vehemently opposed the corrupt banking practices of the day, lobbying vigorously to protect the interests of the common man. According to some of the unreliable ghost stories, Couvillion died of an apoplectic fit on the senate floor and this is the reason his spirit haunts the Old Capitol – this is the tale those two frauds Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson repeated when they investigated the building on their sham Ghost Hunters show. Actually, Couvillion died at his home two months prior to the start of the 1852 session. He became outraged and experienced some sort of fit bringing on a heart attack after learning some of his fellow legislators were eliciting financial favors from the banking establishment at taxpayers' expense. He is buried in Avoyelles Parish, however, his grave marker has deteriorated. Many believe his ghost continues to haunt the Old Capitol because he wasn't able to voice his outrage over the deplorable behavior of some of his fellow legislators.