The Sausage Ghost

Gruesome New Orleans ghost story about a sausage shop owner who has a unique way of getting rid of his wife.  

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"The Sausage Ghost" was written by Craig Dominey

Storyteller: Kodac Harrison

Audio Production: Henry Howard

The Moonlit Road Podcast is a production of The Moonlit Road, LLC.

 

 

 

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Night has fallen, and the moon is a
glowing golden orb in the black sky.
See how it shines on the dark back
roads of America, and on one road in
particular.
Come with us, and we'll take a walk

(00:23):
down the moonlit road, for the night is
waiting.
And the moon is full.
The Moonlit Road presents episode 49, The Sausage
Ghost, written by Craig Dominey and told by
Kodak Harrison.

(00:50):
If there's one thing New Orleans is famous
for, besides jazz and gumbo, it's ghost stories.
Why, it's almost a matter of public shame
if you own an old building that doesn't
have a ghost or two lurking about, and
the more gruesome the tale, the better.
But this story is one of the most
gruesome of them all, and the scary thing

(01:13):
is, some folks say it actually happened.
Back in the 1800s, a young German couple
opened a sausage factory in New Orleans.
They were well respected for being hard workers
and a very pleasant sort of people.
They'd greet their customers with a smile, and
call out their names when they walked through
the door.

(01:35):
Good morning Mrs. Williams, and such a beautiful
day.
And a good morning to you too, Herman.
You got any good sausage today?
Oh, I got a fresh kind.
On top of that, they made some of
the most delicious pork sausage you ever put
in your mouth.
But of course, like a lot of other
marriages, there was a darkness lurking behind the

(01:57):
public smiles and affection.
Behind closed doors, the husband was getting a
bit tired of his wife.
In his eyes, all their hard work had
made her old and wrinkled before her time.
It wasn't long before he found a young
mistress and eventually fell in love with her.

(02:18):
And he knew he could never have a
life with his new lover as long as
his wife was around.
So one night after the shop closed, the
man crept up behind his wife as she
swept the floor, wrapped a cord around her
neck, and strangled her.
She was a strong woman and put up
quite a fight, but her husband was stronger.

(02:41):
And as he pulled the cord tighter and
tighter around her throat, he could feel her
body collapse until she finally fell dead onto
the dirty floor.
Her husband gazed down at her body and
smiled.
At last he thought, I'm free.
Now, if you've ever been down in New
Orleans, you know it's awful hard to conceal

(03:03):
a murder down there because there's so little
land space and all the houses are built
right up against one another that you become
very aware of what your neighbors are up
to.
But the sausage maker had a gruesome plan.
With great effort, he lifted his wife's body
off the floor and stuck her head first

(03:24):
into the sausage grinder.
As the days passed, the man reveled in
his happy new life with his mistress.
But he continued to keep their relationship a
secret so he wouldn't raise any suspicion.
Whenever customers walked into his shop and asked
where his wife was, he'd say she was
ill or she was visiting relatives out of

(03:45):
town.
Nobody thought twice about it and life went
on as normal.
But shameful secrets have a way of creeping
up on people eventually.
And the longer his wife stayed missing, the
more the neighbors began to whisper that something
was wrong.
The sausage maker's appearance had become unkempt and

(04:07):
haggard, his eyes tired and bloodshot.
What's more, the quality of his meats had
deteriorated.
Some customers had even bit into pieces of
hair and torn fabric in their breakfast sausage.
Late one evening, the sausage man was cleaning
the front of the shop, trying desperately to

(04:29):
think of a new excuse for his wife's
prolonged absence.
Suddenly he heard a strange thumping noise coming
from the back room.
It sounded to him like somebody was grinding
sausages.
He ran into the back and what he
saw next froze him in his tracks.

(04:51):
Climbing out of the sausage vat was his
dead wife.
Her shop apron was covered in blood and
her head was horribly mutilated.
She walked slowly towards her husband, arms outstretched,
her agonizing moans filling the room.

(05:13):
The sausage maker ran out into the street
in a panic, screaming loudly.
One by one, his neighbors rushed out of
their homes and asked what was wrong.
Gathering himself, he claimed to have had a
bad dream and thanked them for their concern.
Night after night, the hauntings continued.
The neighbors became more and more suspicious.

(05:35):
Dark rumors spread that the man had murdered
his wife, but where was her body?
The answer came one day when a customer
bit into a piece of a gold wedding
ring in her sausage.
She informed the police who raided the sausage
factory that evening.
As they busted into the back room, they
found the sausage maker huddled in a corner,

(05:56):
screaming uncontrollably like a maniac.
He was pointing his shaking finger at the
sausage grinder.
He cried out that his wife was coming
to get him.
The police grabbed him and promptly locked him
up in the nearest insane asylum.
But the asylum provided no safe haven for
the sausage man.

(06:16):
He screamed day and night that his wife's
ghost had entered the room and was coming
to get him.
He eventually had a complete mental breakdown and
committed suicide.
During the time the sausage maker was locked
up, the factory was sold to another man
who claimed the ghost of the sausage maker's
wife continued to haunt the building.

(06:39):
But after her husband's suicide, the hauntings stopped
and the ghost was never seen again.
Nowadays, you might find a longtime New Orleans
resident whose ancestor was one of those unlucky
ones who ate that tainted sausage that year.
Needless to say, that's one of those deep,

(07:00):
dark secrets that's probably best taken to the
grave.
That concludes this tale from The Moonlit Road.
Be sure to visit our website at themoonlitroad
.com to find out more about our stories
and let us know how we're doing.

(07:22):
The Moonlit Road is produced and directed by
Craig Dominey, recorded and soundscaped by Henry Howard
in beautiful Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next
time.