Haunted History – Katrina Cannibal – S01E08

This is the bizarre tale of one couple that manages to ride out the perfect storm of the Katrina hurricane in New Orleans only to be victims of a murder suicide as soon as the water subsides.

The case focuses on Zach Bowen, a rather mild mannered young man who meets Addie Hall and the two ride out the hurricane together. They hunker down in the French Quarter, which has a slightly higher elevation than the rest of the city and through luck no harm comes to them. For a short time they have the run of the city. Everyone else, including the police have evacuated out of the city. So quite literally they are a young couple with complete run of the city. From the pictures they’ve found and the testimonials, it would have been a pretty spectacular atmosphere.

But then things take a turn for the worst and Zach is found dead from a suicide jump. In his pocket he’s left his military ID tags and a note. The explains that he couldn’t live with what he’d done. Turns out, he murdered Annie at least a week earlier. But it’s not just that he murdered her, he took things to a very dark level. It’s possible he was still sleeping in the same bed with the corpse of Annie and may have even had sexual relations with her after she was dead. It was also clear that he cut up her body where some of the pieces were found in the fridge, some cooked in the oven and her head in a pot on the stove. This comes from the detective that investigated the house. This isn’t rumor. This is from the man who was on the scene first. It looks like Zach may have actually been eating her. At the very least he’d gone off the deep end with trying to get rid of her body.

While this is an extremely unfortunate set of events, it can easily be explained as far too much indulgence while no one was looking. They had the city to themselves. They were obviously partying, so it wouldn’t be a stretch at all to throw in some drugs to explain his behavior. They had the run of the city, who knows what they broke in to while no one was looking. But after a fight, Zach strangled Annie and then took his own life several days later.

But it’s not a wild and overindulgent mix of drugs and alcohol that caused Zach to act out, many people he was in a state of demonic possession.

New Orleans is a very spiritual city with deep ties to both Christianity and Voodoo. Many people there have a very personal and intimate relationship with the sprit world. Several people, such as Alyne Pustanio, believe that since there was no one to watch over and tend to the spirits, that they began to attach with and feed off of those who were left in the city. She feels a demonic force got inside of Zach and caused him to commit this terrible crime without even realizing it. Then, he may have been forced to take his own life. She firmly believes he was under the control of demonic forces.

Now that is certainly a different take on events. It wouldn’t be the unsanitary conditions of the water or food, nor would it be the intake of alcohol and quite possibly drugs, nor would it be the feeling of complete freedom and lawless because only a handful of people were in town, that caused Zach to act out. It was his close proximity to the spirit world that made him a victim of dark forces.

There is no doubt Zach turned wickedly evil and acted in a way completely outside his character. From the writings he left on the wall and the vicious way he treated Annie’s body he was dealing with some sort of "demons". He was out of control, but does that mean he was under the control of something else? Did his time in the military and memories of the war, for which he purposefully worked to get him thrown out, finally catch up with him and he became entrenched in some sort of survivors guilt? If he was so on the brink in his personal life, why would he work so hard to survive his hurricane only to kill himself once he knew they would all be safe?

It is indeed a puzzle and clearly something set Zach off. Was it really the spirit world of New Orleans? Did something dark seek him out since there was no Voodoo priest to keep the spirits under control? Or did he simply drink to excess? Did he experiment with drugs that never should have been combined?

It’s a grim story of a young couple that stared down the barrel of devastation and for a short time, came out on the other ride unscathed.

Haunted History Katrina Cannibal on Amazon Instant Video

Other Articles of Interest:

• Paranormal Lockdown – Rampart St. Murder House – S02E10
• Haunted History – The Manson Murders – S01E01
• Paranormal State – Night Terrors – S04E10
• America’s Most Haunted Town
• Ghost Adventures – Route 666 – S13E06 – Part 2
• Paranormal State – The Lurking Man – S05E09
• Paranormal State – Do Bad Things – S05E10
• The Zozo Phenomenon by Darren Evans – Review
• Ghost Lab – Episode 3 – Chicago/New Orleans
• Haunted Histories Volume 3