Compiled by Miss Abigail Wright
April 15th, 1924
Principle investigation for this follow-up report has been carried out by Dr Matthew Colossus.
1. Mlle. Marie-Claire Lousanne
A positive identification of Mlle. Lousanne was made some days after you apprehended her in the abandoned theatre. Identification was principally complicated by the fact that Mlle. Lousanne has not been seen in public in more than thirty years, and that before the assault which led to her current disfigurement. From police sources, it appears that the captured mobsters have indicated that Mlle. Lousanne is highly-feared in the mob community. She is considered to be a witch of considerable power, and to have access to numerous evil familiars, including a demon in the form of a beautiful girl; presumably Mlle. Erzulie.
According to M. Francois Dessier, Marie-Claire Lousanne was once acknowledged as one of the most beautiful women in New Orleans. She had many lovers, and - perhaps inevitably - one of them finally snapped, and in a jealous rage pushed Marie Claire down a flight of stairs. Her step-father killed the man, and was executed for his murder. Mlle. Lousanne disappeared, and - made bitter by her disfigurement, the loss of her power, and a sense of injustice - studied the black arts.
Dr Colossus classes the powers exhibited by Mlle. Lousanne as a form of psychic phenomenon, specifically manifesting as mind control, and the ability to generate irrational fears in others. In an advanced form of astral projection, Mlle. Lousanne also appears to have possessed the ability to wrest complete control of another person's form, her favourite subject being her legally adopted daughter, Mlle. Elise Hugo (a name which Mlle. Erzulie seems never to have used).
Mlle. Lousanne's abilities present a deep quandary. While the Society has researched a number of methods for holding powerful mentalists in indefinite custody, none are 100% effective, and most would - at their current stage of research - be employable only with the prisoner's express permission. As Mlle. Lousanne's powers appear to function only on a single individual at any one time, the New Orleans Police have resorted to the simple expedient of maintaining a watch on her cell with three officers at any time, but this can only be a stop gap.
Experts are looking into the problem of confining and bringing to trial a mentalist of this power. The Society has offered its assistance to the New Orleans Police Department, and been declined. As it is felt that the Society can not in good conscience simply wash their hands of this business, we have offered the use of our resources to the Maybury family in making private arrangements to keep tabs on Mlle. Lousanne's confinement, for the sake of their safety.
2. M. Anton Dupres
That M. Dupres was an exceptional card player seems plain given the poker face that he has shown to police investigators. His resistance to coercion and threats is apparently remarkable. Dr Collossus was able to obtain a single interview, and characterises M. Dupres as a fanatic. M. Dessier has suggested that this may stem from a ritual bonding to his mistress and teacher, Mlle. Lousanne. It seems clear that it was she who found this man - previously a minor mob player - and raised him up in the criminal underworld to be her agent.
An extensive series of interviews with M. Dupres' associates and the employees of The Rising Sun has produced a picture of a man obsessed with status and race. That he felt choked by the white-dominated gang-structure is clear. That he saw M. Lousanne and the powers she taught him as a way to break through that structure is a widely held belief. He seems to have been devoted to his mentor, and may have been engaged in an affair with M. Lousanne-in-Mlle. Erzulie.
Aside from this however, he seems to have consorted only with white women, and frequently expressed a desire to marry a 'woman of quality'; apparently as an act of social climbing, and revenge against the white race. Whether his hatred of whites was a generalised sentiment bred by the prevailing attitudes of New Orleans, or targeted at a specific individual or set of individuals - such as the police or his mob superiors - remains unclear.
3. Mlle. Erzulie (Elise Hugo)
Perhaps the most disturbing fact uncovered in the investigation into the past of the woman so terribly abused by Marie-Claire Lousanne is that the woman known as Erzulie is in fact Mlle. Lousanne's legally adopted daughter. The name given on the adoption papers is 'Elise Hugo', and based on this and a number of interviews with Mlle. Erzulie carried out by Dr Colossus, the Society has commissioned a private detective agency specialising in lost children to look into determining the heritage of Mlle. Elise Hugo. It is known that this unfortunate young woman has been in the keeping of Mlle. Lousanne for almost all of her life. The date of birth on the adoption papers shows that she was adopted at the age of only nine months.
Mlle. Erzulie has shown a remarkable recovery in a short space of time, and doctors are hopeful that she will suffer minimal to no loss of movement from her physical injuries. What the long-term psychological effects of her ordeal will be remains to be seen, but it is certain that at present she suffers from an atrophied sense of self-worth, and carries a tremendous weight of guilt for the crimes committed with her hands.
4. Further notes