Seven executions carried out on the 7th-floor gallows; three named spirits documented in Shreveport's 1926 civic landmark
501 Texas St, Shreveport, LA 71101
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public building; no admission for exterior viewing. Interior access during business hours.
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Wheelchair OK
Multi-story public building with elevators in downtown Shreveport
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Photos OK
Est. 1926 · Capital Punishment History · Caddo Parish Government · Beaux Arts Architecture · Louisiana Legal History
The current Caddo Parish Courthouse was completed in 1926, replacing earlier structures on the same downtown Shreveport site that had served as parish civic and judicial centers since 1860. The building's Beaux Arts design made it one of the more imposing structures in northwest Louisiana at the time of its construction.
The 7th and 8th floors of the courthouse housed the Caddo Parish jail and, on those floors, a gallows used for court-ordered executions. Seven men were hanged in the building between its opening and 1934, when Louisiana centralized executions at the state level. The last person executed at the courthouse was D.B. Napier, who became the source of one of the building's persistent paranormal associations. Napier was hanged for murder and is sometimes called 'the Butterfly Man' in accounts of the haunting, though the origin of that epithet is not definitively documented in the historical record.
The basement of the courthouse housed a coroner's office for an extended period. Willis Butler served as Caddo Parish coroner for approximately three decades and used the basement morgue facilities extensively. A shooting death on the 4th floor in 1930 — the killing of an engineer named W.J. Folton — added another documented violent event to the building's history.
The courthouse remains an active parish government facility and continues to serve Caddo Parish's judicial and administrative functions.
Sources
The paranormal claims at the Caddo Parish Courthouse are unusual in that they attach to named individuals documented in the historical record rather than anonymous presences. D.B. Napier, the last person hanged at the courthouse in 1934, is reported as an apparition on the upper floors. Napier was executed for murder, and the 'Butterfly Man' nickname attached to the haunting account — its precise origin is unclear from available sources, but it is consistently associated with Napier in local paranormal literature.
In the basement, where the coroner's office operated for decades, reports describe a figure resembling Willis Butler, the Caddo Parish coroner who used the space over approximately thirty years. Butler's identity is verifiable through public records; the claim that his apparition continues to work in the basement is folklore rather than documented fact, but the association is specific and consistent across accounts.
W.J. Folton, an engineer killed on the 4th floor in a shooting in 1930, is the third named entity associated with the courthouse. The 4th floor was identified by investigators as an area of unusual activity. Ghost Hunters filmed an investigation at the courthouse, which drew renewed attention to the building's paranormal reputation.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A working government building open to the public during business hours. Visitors can view the 1926 Beaux Arts exterior and the lobby. The 7th and 8th floors housed the parish jail and gallows where seven men were executed between the building's opening and 1934. The basement once contained a coroner's office used by Willis Butler, who served as parish coroner for decades.
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