NEED TO KNOW
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Heather Taylor, TikTok creator and former mortician, brought her dream bachelorette to life with a Coven-themed celebration in New Orleans
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What started as a witchy celebration turned into a once-in-a-lifetime experience when she visited the famed Buckner Mansion
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Taylor believes her unforgettable experience was a result of her and her friends’ collective manifestation, making the “coven” theme even more fitting
One bride-to-be got into the spooky spirit as she planned her bachelorette party.
For TikTok creator Heather Taylor, the idea of gathering her coven was always a dream she couldn’t shake. No matter the passing trends, she knew one thing for sure: if she ever got married, her bachelorette would bring her vision to life at the Buckner Mansion — as seen on the third season of American Horror Story: Coven — where she would step into the role of “Supreme,” capturing the magic and rich spooky lore of New Orleans with her closest friends.
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Heather Taylor at Her New Orleans Bachelorette Party
“I really do just feel like the powers that be made this possible,” Taylor tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I was basically channeling Jessica Lang [who played Fione Goode], but I had this long dress and I just wanted to hold the parasol and lead my coven into the next chapter.”
Before the bachelorette, which she points out was “gender-friendly,” Taylor wanted everything to be perfect and messaged all her closest girlfriends with her vision.
“We have a giant group chat, and I was like, ‘I want to be extra, and I’m going to need you all to be in your best witch clothes. Spooky chic,” she emphasizes.
A good friend of hers prepared what Taylor refers to as an “immaculate itinerary for a beautiful witchy weekend.”
The adventure began with a ride on New Orleans’ Tarot Hearse, where they had their tarot cards read. The cards offered their insights, adding an extra layer of magic to the trip, before they finally arrived at the famed American Horror Story: Coven house from the hit series.
What happened next was beyond their wildest dreams.
When they arrived at the New Orleans mansion, they eagerly snapped group photos outside. Little did they know that the owner of the infamous house was there, carrying bags into his home.
“I was sitting in [my friend] Dixie’s car to remain cool. My outfit was so hot, and it was so sweaty to be in, and I saw them all going like this [waving their hands for me to come toward them],” she recalls. “I’m like, ‘What’s happening? What’s happening?’ Everyone’s screaming and everyone’s so excited.”
“My friends were like, ‘Do you need some help?’ He was trying to grab some bags and said, ‘You guys are really into the American Horror Story background.’ He loved it,” she continues. “He loved it when someone wanted to hear about his ghost.”
In the FX series, the historic New Orleans home is known as Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, an exclusive all-girls boarding school for witchcraft. However, in reality, the 1856 mansion was once owned by Henry Sullivan Buckner, a cotton baron and slave owner.
Today, the Buckner Mansion is a stop on the Garden District Ghost Walk, hosted by American Ghost Walks. Visitors and paranormal enthusiasts often report hearing eerie sounds believed to be from Miss Josephine, a former slave of the Buckners, who is said to still haunt the mansion.
“A picture was taken [in the mansion], his son ran it through AI, and matched it to Josephine,” she says of the owner’s reported ghost encounter.
After conversing with the women, the owner of the mansion offered them the opportunity to see inside the spooky home.
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Heather Taylor at Her New Orleans Bachelorette Party
The timing of it all felt surreal, she recalls to PEOPLE.
“I was like, why me? But also, of course, this would happen,” she says. “I feel like I really manifested it. We were thinking about this for weeks, but the power of the coven, we were manifesting a great experience, and it came true.”
While paranormal experiences are quite common at the Buckner Mansion, Taylor is no stranger to the deceased. With her extensive background working in the mortuary field — where she dealt with death on a daily basis — she was comfortable in that kind of environment.
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Heather Taylor at Her New Orleans Bachelorette Party
Though Taylor may not consider herself a “witch,” there’s something undeniably spooky about being spontaneously invited into the infamous mansion.
“I think it was so overwhelmingly fascinating that with me working with the dead, the dead have always seen me as a friend,” she says.
“You’re looking around, and this place that’s already enriched in history, [and] has the film set lore, we just felt like we were a part of it. I’m sure Josephine was extremely entertained by us, and I hope she saw me as a friend.”
Taylor and her fiancé are set to tie the knot in Ireland later this year, in September.
Read the original article on People
