"The Casket Girls" by Laura Browne-Lambert
"The Casket Girls" is based on a spooky tale of young women sent by the king of France to settle in New Orleans. They arrived in the dead of night, ill and washed ashore. Although some of these women became wives, mothers, and important members of their communities, around the time of their arrival, strange stories arose of vampire girls with blood-tinged lips who slept by day and wreaked havoc by night...
They arrived in the middle of a stormy night,
Their deathly pallor a ghostly sight.
Carrying their caskets one by one,
They entered New Orleans before the sun.
The Ursuline sisters took them in,
Educated them and kept them away from sin.
They locked away the wooden chests
In the attic where the mice made their nests.
Packed with goods entitled to a wife,
The caskets were meant to prepare them for life.
The Ursulines prayed their health would improve
With southern sun and helpings of good food.
But the girls remained drawn and pale,
Not a single one was hale.
In the evenings, after eating little, girls would disappear,
Beds left empty, they would slip out the building’s rear.
By morning, they’d return with flushed cheeks,
And enough blood on their dresses to cause the sisters to shriek.
The holy women, concerned by their plight
Opened the caskets in broad daylight.
Surrounded by empty chests in utter dismay,
They bowed their heads and began to pray.
They sent word to the Vatican, they feared
Demons had, in the new world, appeared.
An emissary arrived months later,
With blessed nails and a hammer.
He nailed each empty casket closed
To keep out the demons who, on the sisters, imposed.
Over time, their numbers dwindled,
But the flames of sacred duty has remained kindled.
From their caskets, the Ursulines had tried to keep them away.
So that with sunlight the demons would expire by day.
Today, the Sisters are gone,
But not every demon has moved on.
Instead of outside, they are kept in
Windows shuttered permanently with holly nails to hold in the sin.
If ever you see a windows open, turn and run.
The vampiric casket girls are out to have their fun.
Image Description: A small, aged casket meant for holding personal possessions rests in a roughly hewn stone corner. The wooden box has a slightly rounded lid and his painted with flowering trees.
Credit: Meruyert Gonullu / Pexels
About the Poet
Laura Browne-Lambert is a queer, neurodivergent, and chronically ill writer whose writing emphasizes the characters, identities, and experiences she missed out on in her youth. She lives in Boston, MA and enjoys gardening, painting, and finding new science fiction or fantasy stories to enjoy. She is also the creator of the Underground Bookshelf and has a few books of her own available at the links here: About | Underground Bookshelf
Image Description: Laura Browne-Lambert, a white woman with windblown shoulder length, dark-brown hair. She wears rose-tinted lenses with black frames. Seated on a sandy beach, she wears black dress pants, a black, leather jacket, and a blue-plaid shirt. Her black cane leans against the concrete retaining wall behind her.
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