Strange Shreveport

Uncommon attractions in northwest Louisiana

January 23, 2015 12:00 AM

Photo by Chere Coen

There’s a lot of weirdness going on in Shreveport these days.

There are ghosts in the Municipal Auditorium, a taxidermy museum that couples stuffed animals with the danger of ignoring the coming rapture, and an over-the-top Victorian bed and breakfast that screams relaxation among the frills. Visitors can zip-line over dozens of live alligators or enjoy a great steak dinner at a general store/service station that moonlights as a casino.

It’s definitely a fun getaway for those who love the weird and unusual, with plenty of great dining options to round out a stay.

Walk on the wild side

There’s so much reported paranormal activity in Shreveport and its sister city of Bossier that the Syfy channel’s Ghost Hunters has filmed episodes there. The crew searched for the ghost of Elvis in the Municipal Auditorium, a theater once home to the Louisiana Hayride radio show and where Elvis Presley first garnered an avid following.

Many who have worked in the building swear there is something unnatural—and not alive—lurking in its shadows but are doubtful the ghost in question is the King of Rock and Roll. Because the circa-1920s building was once used as a military site, people theorize that the ghosts hail back to its earlier incarnation, explained Chris Jay, public relations and social media manager at the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau. Jay was used as a source in the Ghost Hunters episode.

Higher on the spook scale is the nearby Oakland Cemetery, where the gravesite of Cora Lee Wilson routinely has bricks pushed out—from the inside. One street over from the auditorium is the Logan Mansion, where it’s believed a young girl threw herself out of the third-story window and hangs around performing ghostly pranks. Ironically, the mansion faces a rundown building featured in the opening credits of HBO’s popular vampire series True Blood. Visitors will recognize quite a few spots throughout town that were featured in the long-running show.

For something more of this world, but weird all the same, check out the Touchstone Wildlife and Art Museum in nearby Haughton, a small town several miles west of Shreveport. The two-story family museum was founded in 1981 and includes more than one thousand mounted animals posed in their natural habitats. The animals range from Louisiana black bears to African gorillas, most donated from zoos around the country after the animals had passed away. There’s even a wall adorned by the antlers of Sparky, the white-tailed deer that was part of the museum’s petting zoo until he died at the age of nineteen.

Touchstone is made truly unique by the bits of history, popular culture, and religion interspersed throughout the museum. There’s an exhibit on Bonnie and Clyde, for instance, the notorious bank-robbing couple who were gunned down on a rural road in nearby Bienville Parish. Civil War memorabilia is represented, but so is a display of Star Trek characters. There’s even a wall reminding visitors of the coming Rapture.

Head west from Shreveport and one leaves behind ghosts and God to find gators—Gators and Friends Alligator Park and Exotic Zoo, that is. All kinds of animals—including a few trademark Louisiana reptiles reaching several feet long—are on display. Here visitors can also zip-line through multiple courses, including a long stretch over one hundred gators. Park guides go to great lengths to assure visitors of the zip-line course’s safety, and the double cables and safety harnesses will convince even the most skeptical that it’s impossible to fall into an alligator’s open mouth. The best time to visit is winter, one is told, since hibernating gators don’t eat when it’s cold.

The real scare, it turns out, is climbing several spiral staircases that rattle and shake as zip-liners ascend. There’s also that first step off the platform when, trading caution for faith, one must trust that the cables will hold—gators or no gators. The thrilling course traverses a variety of scenery, passing exotic animals grazing in fields and stretches of woods wound through with a creek. The last stretch, which includes said gators, proves the longest and fastest, but by then most visitors will be comfortable enough in the process to forget about the toothy reptiles below.

Once grounded, Gators and Friends is a great place to walk among exotic animals, and kids are allowed to pet tamer beasts such as miniature horses and deer. When the gators are actually hungry, tourists are even allowed to feed them.

Victorian overload

TripAdvisor.com ranks 2439 Fairfield: A Bed and Breakfast as the number one B&B in Shreveport, and the circa-1905 Victorian has been featured in numerous magazines over the years. Guests can read just about every word ever written about it on the home’s second-floor walls. In fact, the walls—as well as countertops, tabletops, bookshelves, and floor space—are chock full of family photos, collectibles, antiques, and other Victorian-era frill.

Each room in the three-story home is unique. Enormous beds piled with pillows and decorative blankets grace each room, as do luxurious whirlpool baths. Suites are also generously accented by knickknacks (one bedroom houses glass paper holders beneath a stained glass window), crystal chandeliers, and Victorian wedding dresses, to name but a few of the curiosities. The living room features an 1893 concert grand piano; and during the holidays, the dining room is festooned with lights and decorations and the table set with seasonal china.

It’s Victorian overload—but it works. Not only do visitors enjoy comfortable rooms, relaxing balconies and gardens, and those decadent tubs, but also the fascinating collections of owners Jimmy Harris and Brian Resmondo. Come morning, Harris serves up a breakfast as elaborate as his surroundings, including made-to-order fried pies with homemade preserves, praline bacon, and casseroles.

Uncommon dining

Shreveport offers a wide variety of dining options, from the casino options to fine dining at Wine Country Bistro. For those wanting something more unusual, there are several great spots to choose from.

People visit the Longwood General Store & Casino at a remote intersection in Mooringsport for the steaks, which are both delicious and affordable … and served in unusual circumstances: guests are actually seated inside a general store amidst the grocery aisles and an active service station out front. Cocktails may be ordered here as well, but they arrive from the small casino that’s located next door. The décor isn’t all Oreos and beer, however. There’s artwork on the walls, a stuffed gator who wears festive hats on occasion, and seasonal decorations when warranted. Cocktail and food specials differ each evening, many of which are very creative, so on any given night diners might sample an adult concoction served nowhere else.

Another remote and lauded eatery is Shockley’s Fish & Fixins, located down a semi-improved road in the unincorporated town of Elm Grove, southeast of Shreveport. Miss the hand-painted sign and you’ll be lost for sure, so stay vigilant. Shockley’s is known for one thing: frying catfish, which this family business has been doing for thirty-three years.

Since the restaurant is located near Lake Bistineau, the fish is always fresh and delicious.

Be sure and save breakfast or lunch for Strawn’s Eat Shop on Kings Highway across from Centenary College, a diner dating back to the 1950s that serves up old-fashioned meals in addition to its famous icebox pies. But it’s the interior murals that set this dining experience apart. There are the Three Stooges enjoying a slice of pie while Einstein utters “E=∏?!!”; George Washington exclaiming to Abraham Lincoln, “I cannot tell a lie about a Strawn’s pie;” and most unusual, ZZ Top next to John Wayne and Gandhi making eyes at Marilyn Monroe. For the younger set, modern Disney characters are included. Strawn’s was ranked as one of the “10 Best Diners in the South” by Southern Living magazine and is known for everything from its hamburgers and fries to steaks. Don’t miss ordering a slice of that heavenly pie—even if just visiting for breakfast. No one will judge.

For something truly unusual in a Deep South eatery, visit Julie Anne’s Bakery for the national dish of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Owner Renato Majstorovic hails from Sarajevo, and his menu includes cevapcici, a sandwich comprised of homemade sausages and onions on grilled lepina (flat bread) with a side of kajmak, a traditional Bosnian blend of cream cheese, feta cheese, and sour cream; and ajvar, a blend of red and yellow peppers, garlic, and eggplant. It’s worth it to bypass the bakery’s more traditional American fare of wraps and burgers to sample this explosion of flavors. Since Julie Anne’s is a bakery, desserts are a must to finish off the meal. Julie Anne’s is also known for king cakes … a slice this time of year might be in order.

Cap off a stay in Shreveport at the newly opened Great Raft Brewing to sample the unusually named craft beers such as Awkward Uncle, Creature of Habit Coffee Brown, or Reasonably Corrupt. The brewery, located on Dalzell Street minutes from downtown, offers a large, hip tasting room with extra seating inside the warehouse. It’s not unusual to discover a visiting food truck or a small batch beer on tap not available in stores.

Sipping a Depeche Mode Belgian saison with peaches might just be the perfect end to a weird weekend away.

Details. Details. Details

Touchstone Wildlife and Art Museum

touchstonemuseum.com

(318) 949-2323

Gators and Friends

Alligator Park and Exotic Zoo

gatorsandfriends.com • (318) 938-1199

2439 Fairfield: A Bed and Breakfast

bbonline.com/united-states/louisiana/shreveport/fairfield.html

(318) 424-2424

Strawn’s Eat Shop