Founded 1836 with a mass grave of 800+ yellow fever victims from an epidemic that killed a quarter of Shreveport's population
Milan St, Shreveport, LA 71101
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Twilight tours are ticketed; daytime self-guided visits are free
Access
Limited Access
Historic cemetery with uneven ground, older markers, and narrow paths
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1836 · 1873 Yellow Fever Epidemic · Mass Grave Site · National Register of Historic Places · Shreveport Founding History · 19th Century Public Health
Oakland Cemetery was established in 1836, making it one of the oldest cemeteries in northwest Louisiana. The grounds contain the remains of notable Shreveport residents across two centuries of the city's history, from its early settlement period through the Civil War and into the modern era. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 in recognition of its architectural and historical significance.
The defining event in Oakland Cemetery's historical record is the yellow fever epidemic of 1873. Shreveport had experienced earlier yellow fever outbreaks, but the 1873 epidemic was catastrophic in scale. The disease arrived in the summer and spread rapidly through the population. In approximately three months, yellow fever killed an estimated 800 to 1,000 people — representing roughly one quarter of Shreveport's total population at the time. The speed and scale of the dying overwhelmed normal burial practices.
The victims of the epidemic were interred in a mass grave within Oakland Cemetery. The mass burial site became both a civic memorial and a focal point for the city's collective grief. Among those who died were physicians, clergy, and citizens who had stayed to care for the sick rather than flee the city — a pattern documented in other major yellow fever outbreaks of the 19th century American South.
In the decades following, the cemetery continued to receive burials and became a curated historic space. Historian-led twilight tours now operate on the grounds, combining documented epidemic history with the cemetery's associated folklore.
Sources
Oakland Cemetery's paranormal reputation draws from the weight of its documented history more than from specific investigator-documented events. A cemetery containing a mass grave of more than 800 people who died in three months occupies a particular place in a city's memory, and the reports of presences on the grounds reflect that weight.
The most consistently named spirit in sources is Nathan Goldkind, whose grave marker stands in the cemetery grounds. Goldkind is described as wandering near his grave in local paranormal accounts. The claim is present in multiple sources but does not appear to be supported by documentary records of unusual events tied to the specific grave location; it is best understood as local legend attached to a prominent burial.
The twilight tours offered at Oakland Cemetery treat the history and the folklore as complementary layers — the documented 1873 epidemic and the associated community grief, alongside the stories that have accumulated around the grounds over the subsequent 150 years.
Notable Entities
Historian-led twilight tours of Oakland Cemetery document the 1873 yellow fever epidemic that killed roughly a quarter of Shreveport's population in three months. The tour includes the mass grave site where more than 800 victims are interred and the surrounding historic markers. The cemetery's ghost lore is included alongside the documented history.
Free daytime access to one of Shreveport's oldest cemeteries, founded in 1836. The grounds contain the mass burial site from the 1873 yellow fever epidemic and numerous notable Shreveport residents buried across two centuries of the city's history.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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