When you get into Louisiana, it really is like a different country in a lot of ways. The plants you see are a little different, like the weeping willows and the cypress trees that come up out of the bayou. And it's steamy hot. There's something about a humid, dusky evening that's kind of sexy. In the country, it feels like you don't have control over nature anymore - nature is in control of you. It's like the naturalists at the turn of the century, that idea that nature is so much bigger than you and man is a small thing. You walk out to the bayou and you're overshadowed by these strange plants and the heat and the mists, and I think that lends itself to supernatural creatures because there are things that can hide in the shadows. There's also the tradition of voodoo, the Haitian magic arts, in New Orleans. And because New Orleans is below sea level, when they bury people in New Orleans, it's mostly above ground. So you have this idea that the spirits are more accessible and can access you more easily because they're not even buried.
