Nightly military music mystery in northern Bossier solved

BOSSIER PARISH, LA (KSLA) - A nice, quiet neighborhood generally is the goal of any homeowner.

But for some residents of northern Bossier Parish, their late evenings have been politely interrupted by an unexplained musical mystery.

"Somebody with a military background or a love of their country" was the guess of one of many offering opinions during a Facebook livestream by KSLA News 12's Doug Warner, who had set up shop in a neighborhood just off Palmetto Road south of Benton.

The musical notes, described by some of Warner's Facebook fans as military in nature, can be heard nightly at 10.

And, as promised, at 10 p.m. sharp the sound of a bugle could be heard carrying through the night air and captured on Warner's Facebook livestream.

"I'm retired Army and that's not taps," commented another Facebook fan, debunking the guesses of many who thought the music was the military tribute often played at dusk or during a military funeral.

Others thought the sounds were coming from Barksdale, the Air Force base a dozen miles to the south.

The answer, it turns out, was discovered the next day just a short distance south down Palmetto Road.

"This is the computer that controls that whole bell tower," explained Mike Wise, a deacon at St. Jude Catholic Church.

After a phone call to the church, the source of the music was tracked to St. Jude Catholic's bell tower speakers. Music played by a computer inside the church's engineering room.

Each hour on the hour, St. Jude Catholic  plays bells and periodically broadcasts various religious songs.

"The last time we ring the bells is at 10. We don't want to wake people up during the night," Wise said.

And much like how TV stations back in the day used to sign off for the night, Wise wanted a way to say good night to everyone within earshot of the bell's speaker system.

"The computer system gives you a list of songs, patriotic songs. It showed one that is called 'The Last Post'," Wise explained.

"I played it and listened to it, and I thought, 'That is beautiful'."

Wise said his intention was to show appreciation for our country's military.

But after KSLA News 12's call to the church to inquire about the musical tribute, Wise said he realized he inadvertently had chosen a military song honoring the Royal Army, as he calls it, the British version of taps.

Since as of late fall, the switch was made. Wise and the church now plays taps at 10 p.m. each day.

"This day and age," continued Wise, "I wanted to bring back that, yes, we are a church, but we're still community and respect, honor and appreciate our military, especially our fallen military."

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