Nothing to Fear in New Orleans
Category: article
Feb 18th, 2011 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Feb 18th, 2011 at 12:00 AM
She and I were trucking along eastbound in our Toyota Tundra on Interstate-10. We were headed for New Orleans en route to the Bassmaster Classic when she turned to me and said, “you know this place is haunted, right?”
 |
 |
| Terry Scroggins (Photo McGuckin) |
Now look … my bride of 14 years is smarter than me, a big fan of professional bass fishing, and not one to be dramatic. She was once an ER nurse. She’s sort of an ice water in the veins kind of girl. And there on Interstate-10, she was just stating the facts. And once again, she was right.
According to several sources, New Orleans is indeed one of America’s most haunted cities. The Big Easy ranks #1 on one list of ” The Most Haunted Cities in America” and #4 on another. Heck, the arena football team here is called the New Orleans VooDoo.
Soon after we checked into the hotel, I asked top Elite Series pros Mike Iaconelli and Terry Scroggins if they had experienced anything spooky since arriving in town.
“Nothing’s haunted me so far,” said Iaconelli. “Seeing my wife Becky in labor for two days prior to delivering our new baby last week was pretty dang scary. That was haunting enough,” said Iaconelli, who won the Bassmaster Classic here in 2003.
Longtime Toyota Tundra pro Terry “Big Show” Scroggins however had a slightly concerning encounter. “I haven’t seen any ghosts, but I did get spooked on my way over to the boat yard. It was 8:00 a.m. I had just finished eating my breakfast. I stepped outside the hotel to catch a shuttle bus over to the boat yard when ‘a lady of the night’ offered me her services. Heck, all I was trying to do was get over to my Triton boat and work on my fishing tackle. Her proposition kind of spooked this old country boy, especially at eight o’clock in the morning,” said the likeable Florida pro, who recently became one of the first anglers to cash-in on the new BoatUS Angler “Weigh-to-Win” program.
Iaconelli and Scroggins’ accounts provided me assurance that as long as you focus on fishing and family — that good times shall roll in New Orleans. But I guess if I need a favor, I can knock three times on the crypt of “The VooDoo Queen” like the locals sometimes do. Then again — no — I think I’ll just hold my wife’s hand. She’s not scared.