The Haunting Houses of New Orleans

Slideshow  •  Allison Chipak  •  08.27.09 | 10:23 AM ET Photo 1 of 12

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On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast.


Allison Chipak is a professional photographer living and working in New York City.



8 Comments for The Haunting Houses of New Orleans

Lindsay 08.27.09 | 12:09 PM ET

Thank you for posting this. I was in new orleans in March 2008 and we drove through the 9th ward…my friends and I were in shock. Its one thing to see it on TV and another to see it in real life…we were so upset…disgusted…angry…the hair on my arms was standing on end. I felt sick to my stomach. Seeing peoples belongings in piles on the street, homeless cats running around was heartbreaking. I made a donation to the Make it Right foundation but I feel like its not enough.

TambourineMan 08.31.09 | 3:23 AM ET

Beautiful shots, Allison. Takes talent to keep the fringes out of focus, and make it work. Very nice.

Brandon Pendred 09.16.09 | 10:01 AM ET

Allison,

These are very very good shots. You captured the feeling that this area portrays through your photographs. I was in New Orleans back in Feb. 2008 to take some photographs for a photography project I was doing for school. When my friend and I drove around the city, I was overwhelmed with mixed feelings. You just wouldn’t think that this kind of thing can happen in America and it really makes you grateful for how our country is but it was to the utmost, unfortunate happenings that this did happen in America. My heart broke even more on every turn we took in the streets.

Here is a link to view my photographs from my travel there. http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/4727

Maui Traveler 09.19.09 | 4:16 PM ET

Hi Allison,
Great shots. I also visited your website and I really enjoyed your night time shots.
thanks for sharing.

Colin MacFetters 09.23.09 | 3:45 PM ET

Thank you for mentioning St. Bernard Parish.  Twenty seven thousand homes flooded just in St. Bernard, nearly 100% of the housing stock, most with water that reached into people’s attics and stayed for days.
Don’t forget the area still needs your help.
Thanks,

Edith E. Brady 10.13.09 | 2:21 PM ET

Dear Allison:

I have relatives in New Orleans. I was there last year in October and there are still home that have not been repaired. My cousin had 5 feet of water in her house for 6 weeks. Friends of her’s had 8 feet.. They are fighting with contractors who have taken their money and not done the work. She lives out by the lake. There are not super markets or banks in her neighborhood. It is a real mess after all this time.

Thanks for the pistures.

Edith E. Brady 10.13.09 | 2:22 PM ET

Dear Allison:

I have relatives in New Orleans. I was there last year in October and there are still home that have not been repaired. My cousin had 5 feet of water in her house for 6 weeks. Friends of her’s had 8 feet.. They are fighting with contractors who have taken their money and not done the work. She lives out by the lake. There are not super markets or banks in her neighborhood. It is a real mess after all this time.

Thanks for the pictures..

Evangeline 11.25.09 | 3:28 PM ET

I live in New Orleans.

Few people get it:  It’s not about ONLY the 9th ward or St. Bernard.

The entire city sat in water and everything from mansions to shacks were destroyed. The water missed my house by two blocks and I live on the highest ground.

Much of the city is becoming jungle, like Mayan or Incan ruins.

Most disturbing, residents are living in this abandoned housing, without electric, without running water because they have no where else to go or no resources to rebuild. People have died, literally, while waiting for insurance claims to be settled. Many, many suicides. Many, many sudden illnesses that are   generally survivable, are not survived here because of the stress and depression.

The protective marshlands are gone due to salt water intrusion, thanks to oil and gas, who keep rarely used canals from the Gulf to the river open. I can smell the ocean from my window as I write this. We are a doomed place, so long as our environment is second to to oil and gas interests.

New Orleans is an intensely spiritual place, moody, haunted, ethereal, closer to God or Gaia than anywhere I’ve lived.. This is the essence of its beauty. There is nowhere else like it in the US. Having lived
here, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. People who are native to this city will not be able to assimilate to life in other cities. Life here, despite poverty and hardship, is joyous. Imagine feeling so happy in a place, you’d rather haunt it than go to heaven. That is New Orleans.

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