Curious Louisiana, a new weekly feature, is a community-driven reporting project that connects readers to our newsrooms' resources to dig, research and find answers about the Pelican State.
Each week, we will select a submitted question and have a reporter, or a team of reporters, find the answer. If you asked the question, we will connect with you and keep you updated along the way as we dig deeper into Louisiana's oddities.
We’re on a mission to answer the things about this state that have you stumped.
Join a live discussion with our Curious Louisiana team about this exciting new project! Learn how reporters across Louisiana are answering those questions you've always wondered about our state. What makes you curious? Join the conversation!
The first two Curious Louisiana answers are live now. Recap the stories below then send us your questions for the next round of answers.
Is there really a Honey Island Swamp Monster, Louisiana's Bigfoot?
Bobby Brettel grew up in New Orleans, nearly 40 miles away from the moss-tangled bayous of eastern St. Tammany Parish's Honey Island Swamp. But for decades, he’s wondered about one of the swamp's fabled creatures — the Honey Island Swamp Monster, a legendary 500-pound beast that some claim hides amid the cypress trees and murky waters.
“I had relatives that lived in Covington," Brettel said. "I heard the story from veteran hunters. I grew up that way and you would hear about strange things.”
Advocate staff photo by Sara Pagones -- Pilings supporting a railroad trestle over Pump Slough in the Honey Island Swamp near Pearl River show heavy corrosion.
He let his mind wander. Was there really a monster in the swamps? The question nagged him into adulthood.
How did one Louisiana town's name get a bizarre pronunciation?
From the 1982 book, 'Lecompte: Plantation Town in Transition," an artist's rendition of the racehorse Lecomte owned by T.J. Wells of Dentley Plantation. Smith's Landing residents were so proud of their champion horse that they renamed their town for him.
Jerry Major's Curious Louisiana question is more than an inquiry about a pronunciation.
"Why is the town of Lecompte pronounced Lecount?" he asks.
Major, of Baton Rouge, worked several months at LSU at Alexandria immediately after graduating from LSU in Baton Rouge. Lecompte, which is near LSUA, and its pronunciation has always vexed him.
His question is a bugle signaling the beginning of a horse race that led to the renaming of the Rapides Parish town and whose pronunciation is based on a child's mispronunciation.
Curious Louisiana connects readers with our newsroom's reporting. If you've got a question about something Louisiana-centric, ask us. You can reach the Curious Louisiana team at [email protected].
