Showdown at the Sure Enuf Hotel | Minisode

Southern Gothic

Southern Gothic Media LLC

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, True Crime

4.7 • 980 Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In our last episode, we explored Gallatin Street—the notorious waterfront district where Bridget Fury and some of nineteenth-century New Orleans' most dangerous criminals made their names. But Gallatin wasn't the city's first den of vice. Decades before the steamboat transformed the riverfront, there was another place where gamblers, thieves, prostitutes, and rivermen gathered on the ragged edge of the Crescent City. They simply called it the Swamp. Hidden in the city's old backswamp stood rough saloons and gambling houses built from cypress planks and dismantled flatboats, where fortunes disappeared as quickly as they were earned. Among the district's most notorious establishments was the Sure Enuf Hotel, where an afternoon card game between a towering Kentucky flatboatman named Bill Sedley and two gambling brothers erupted into one of the bloodiest stories ever told about old New Orleans—a tale that perfectly captures the brutal world that gave rise to Gallatin Street itself. This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsors: If you’re starting a business, or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://square.com/go/gothic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Into History: History Without Interruption⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SouthernGothicMedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Merch Store:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Pinterest:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @SouthernGothicMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @SouthernGothicMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @SouthernGothicMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @SoGoPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertise on this podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠press@southerngothicmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Southern Gothic is a podcast that explores the history behind some of the American South's darkest days, greatest mysteries, and most chilling ghost stories.
0:51.5	Y'all, on our last full-length episode of Southern Gothic, we went on down to my hometown of New Orleans to meet an individual named Bridget Fury.
0:59.5	But in the process, I also introduced you to one of the Crescent City's most infamous vice districts,
1:07.2	Gallatin Street, a two-block area of the city that was once down by the river where gambling halls, brothels, and dance houses tempted folks arriving at the port.
1:13.6	The result was sheer depravity, and it was all out in the open for folks to see,
1:20.6	really a precursor to New Orleans's much more well-known red light district, Storyville.
1:28.7	However, as I mentioned in that episode, Gallatin Street wasn't the first center of the
1:35.9	underworld for the city. No, there had been others. So on today's special minisode, we're going to go deeper into New Orleans history
1:47.3	of vice, and we're going to explore the precursor to those more notable red light districts.
1:54.5	It was a veritable den of sin known as the swamp. Now, unlike Storyville, which was carefully mapped and legally
2:07.3	defined, or Gallatin Street, which occupied just a couple of violent blocks, the swamp wasn't confined
2:15.9	to a single street at all. Instead, it spread across the soggy back
2:22.0	swamp on the edge of antebellum New Orleans, beyond the inland ends of Julia and Girard
2:29.3	streets near what would later become the New Basin Canal, Turning Basin, and Giraud Street cemeteries.
2:37.9	You see, unlike the later vice districts, the depravity that went on back in the swamp was hidden from the lives of regular folks,
2:47.7	and as such, it also lacked some of that bravado or the facade of prosperity
2:54.4	that Storyville did. Herbert Asbury described the swamp colorfully in his book on the French
3:03.0	quarter.
3:04.8	The swamp comprised an area of half a dozen blocks, crowded with saloons, dance halls,
3:12.3	gambling dens, bordellos, and so-called hotels, all housed in shacks with low gable roofs,
3:20.3	built of rough-hewn cypress planks or lumber from old flatboats.
3:27.0	Most of the bars and the drinking places were simply boards laid across two or more kegs,
	...

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