The 7 Most Haunted Places in New Orleans – Enter if You Dare

Haunted New Orleans – The Appeal

New Orleans has an appeal thanks to modern literature and cinema, but that appeal comes from true events that occurred in the multicultural city long ago. There are many haunted New Orleans locations. The above-ground cemeteries and old French Colonial architecture are beautiful bt also only seem to help the menacing vibe of the city. One of the most unique allures for visitors to New Orleans involves these horrific histories as well as the landmarks where their events occurred.

Here is a top 7 list of the most haunted New Orleans locations!

1. The LaLaurie Mansion

1140 Royal Street, is notorious even by the bizarre traditions of the French Quarter. Constructed in 1831, the three-story mansion was the home of Dr. Louis Lalaurie and his fashionable wife Delphine also publicly known as Madame LaLaurie, esteemed for her elegant parties as well as for her charitable work among the sick and the poor. Though in 1834 when a fire broke out in the Lalaurie residence. When the firemen smashed open a locked interior door, they came upon the most horrific scene imaginable. Chained and suffocating in the heat and smoke, there were seven starved and severely beaten slaves. While, upstairs, in a sort of macabre laboratory, the fire patrol found more slaves, some dead, others barely alive with limbs amputated or purposefully deformed. Preserved organs and other body parts completed the picture.

The Ghostly Hauntings:

Mysterious photos occur often at the Lalularie house. Balcony ghost photos and haunted videos usually show orbs, strands of mist as well as the figures of a ghost or two walking along the halls.

2. St. Louis Cemetery #1

Regarded by many to be the most haunted cemetery in the world, the way the St. Louis Cemetery #1 looks will creep visitors out even if no paranormal events are witnessed. Many historical people are buried here but perhaps most famous of all is Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. People still visit her tomb to light candles, perform various religious acts and leave offerings. New Orleans’ first black mayor, Ernest N. “Dutch” Morial is buried right next to her. For more information on Marie Laveau, check out our recent article of New Orleans Voodoo.

Vault burial was first introduced in New Orleans by the Spanish. The St. Louis Cemetery is the first cemetery in the city.

The Ghostly Hauntings:

This haunted New Orleans graveyard is said to be haunted by the ghost of the world-famous Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, Marie Laveau. She purportedly walks between the tombs wearing a red and white turban with seven knots in it. She also mumbles an original haunted New Orleans Santeria Voodoo curse to cemetery trespassers. Her Voodoo curse is loud and very audible, heard often by passersby on nearby Rampart Street. Locals say this has started in recent years. They believe that she is alarmed by the vandalized state of the cemetery. Many make a wish at her tomb marking three Xs. while others say they have her ghost on film emerging undead from her tomb.

Often stories or told of ghostly nude Voodoo practitioners in an eternal dark secret ritual. Always after midnight and well into the early morning hours. Marie Laveau’s ghost has been seen dressed in white and is presiding over the ritual. Nude male and female dancers can be seen and heard in an orgy of spiritual Voodoo rituals.

Many times fine ornate silverware are found throughout. Paranormal Investigators say this is part of the ancient Wiccan practice of the Occult. It is called the” Dumb Supper.”. This is an old ritual, a mock table setting of a meal. And two empty plates filled with invisible ghostly food. It is usually a setting for the ghost and the setting for the person who questions the ghost. This is to call the dead to answer your most sought after questions. Sometimes wine glasses or even bottles of rum and or wine, cigars or packs of cigarettes, bags of chips, or candy or even many times a loaf of french bread can be found placed before many of its tombs. Visitors think it’s litter. However, if you look at how it is placed you’ll then realize it is a special ghost offering to the spirits of the cemetery.

Other Ghosts

Other known and unknown ghosts haunt this cemetery. Henry is such a ghost. This haunted Cemetery Ghost story tells that he gave his tomb to the lady who owned a boarding house to keep the papers for him if he died. Local workers for the cemetery say she sold the tomb when he was away at sea. He was buried in potters field. Every day his ghost is said to walk up to someone visiting the cemetery asking if they know the where about’s of the Vignes’ tomb.

Many say he appears ragged and lost. And his blue eyes will look right into yours. The tall white shirt dressed man seems very real. Until he walks away into thin air. Sometimes he will tap you on the shoulder. Sometimes he’ll lead you to a lone tight alley between tombs asking “Do you know anything about this Tomb here?” Then he disappears.

Henry has also been known to have walked up to people at burials and then asked if they think there’s room in the tomb for him! His voice often appears on EVP’s saying “I need to rest!” And in ghost Photos, he appears in a dark suit with no shirt.

Another well-known ghost is known as Alphonse. He is a lonely young man. He will take you by the hand telling you his name. Then he’ll ask if you can help him find his way home. He is also known by some to be seen carrying flowers and vases from other tombs and placing them on his own. Those who have seen him say he is afraid of a tomb with the name Pinead on it. And he is said to warn visitors to stay away from it. He always has a smile on his face but is said to start crying then just disappear. Alphonse has been known to turn up in many ghost photos.

Animal Ghosts and Other Phenomena

Ghost cats and dogs are said to prowl the cemetery daily. Very near the great walls of oven tombs. None of these ghost animals have ever shown signs of aggression. Several Tour guides say these are the animals of an 1800’s cemetery keepers guard dogs and pets. Often they lurk the cemetery waiting for their owner who was buried in St. Louis No.2 to return to feed and care for them. Etienne Bore, a pioneer in sugar development; and, Paul Morphy, world-famous chess champion and many more are buried here.

Orbs, ghost photos, EVP”S, strange paranormal phenomena and ghost activity, Voodoo rituals, witchcraft, and haunting’s too many to mention all happen in this the most haunted Cemetery in America

3. Le Pavillon Hotel

Located in the heart of downtown haunted New Orleans, Historic Le Pavillon Hotel is adjacent to the French Quarter. It’s only five short blocks to the celebrated music clubs of Bourbon Street and the famous restaurants and antique shops of Royal Street. Opened in 1907, Le Pavillon Hotel New Orleans is a member of Historic Hotels of America and maintains membership in the exclusive Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.

The Ghostly Hauntings:

A paranormal research team identified four ghosts at LePavillon including a 19th-century teenage girl, a young aristocratic couple from the 1920s, and a dapper gentleman from the same era who likes to play pranks on the cleaning staff. Strange noises in the night and apparitions of figures standing at the foot of different beds. Bed sheets also have been reported to have been tugged into the air after midnight. One guest visiting for a large medical convention held in New Orleans last year gave an account of an old gray-haired woman sitting on the side of his bed, he said he felt the weight of her body on the bed and her cold hands stroking his head and saying “I will never let you go.” he turned on the light and she faded away.

The entire cleaning staff refuses to work on a certain floor. There have been sightings of more ghosts at this hotel than any other in the haunted Big Easy.

4. Canal Street at City Park Avenue

One drive through this major city intersection and it’s obvious to see why the area ranks number four on our list. This major intersection once marked the outermost limits of the old city of haunted New Orleans. It is also a location where an amazing thirteen cemeteries converge. Beyond the intersection is the median that once was the location of the New Basin Canal.

The Ghostly Hauntings:

There have been a variety of reports stemming from encounters near the vortex of the dead. From spirits seen walking hand in hand down the wide avenues of Greenwood Cemetery to the plaintive to disembodied voices that call to bus riders waiting at the corner near Odd Fellow’s Rest. Also, near this location, several witnesses have spotted the ghost of a young woman dressed all in white running into the path of oncoming traffic at the corner where Canal Boulevard becomes Canal Street. Some have speculated that the figure is that of a bride and they point to the fact that one of New Orleans’ legendary reception and dining halls – Lenfant’s — stood nearby for decades. Why the bride is running or what she might be searching for will forever remain a mystery.

Others who have seen her have debunked the bride theory for something more sinister; they have said she has all the appearance of a pale, ghostlike creature, with a gaunt, skeletal face and long, bony hands that make a horrible “clack-clacking” noise on the car doors of the hapless souls who wait too long at the Canal Boulevard stop sign. There have been other reports of ghostly funerals passing through the closed gates of the Masonic cemetery late in the night. This is also one of the intersections where the infamous Haunted Bus is said to stop before driving on into the empty night. If you happen by this particular intersection remember, the dead are not restful and they outnumber the living.

5. The Sultans Palace, Gardette – LePrete Haunted House

This impressive palace was the New Orleans home in the 1870s to a mysterious Middle-Easterner. One morning, he and his companions were all found hacked to pieces. Some say at the request of the angry sultan to whom the harem actually belonged.

In 1839 Jean Baptiste Le Pretre bought this 1836 Greek Revival house at 716 Dauphine St. and added the romantic cast-iron galleries. The house is also the subject of a real-life horror story. Sometime in the 19th century, a Turk, supposedly the brother of a sultan, arrived in New Orleans and rented the Le Pretre house. He was conspicuously wealthy. His entourage included many servants and more than a few beautiful young girls – all thought to have been stolen from the sultan.

Rumors quickly spread about the situation, even as the home became the scene of lavish entertainment with guest lists that included the cream of society. One night, shrieks came from inside the house. Then the very next morning, neighbors entered and found the tenant’s body lying in a pool of blood surrounded by the bodies of the young beauties. The mystery remains unsolved to this very day.

The Ghostly Hauntings:

Local ghost experts say you can hear exotic music and ghostly shrieks on the right night. Also, one of the most mysterious ghosts in the French Quarter is that of the “Sultan”. He reportedly roams the halls of the four-story house at 716 Dauphine St., on the corner of Dauphine and Orleans Ave.

6. The Beauregard – Keyes House

The Beauregard-Keyes House was built in 1826 for wealthy auctioneer Joseph LeCarpentier. It is located at 1113 Chartres St. It’s a fine example of a raised, center-hall house. It derives its name from two of its former residents, Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard and author Frances Parkinson Keyes.

General Beauregard and his family lived in the home from 1866 to 1868 while he was president of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad.

Mrs. Keyes used the home as her winter residence for 25 years, where she wrote many of her books including Dinner at Antoine’s, The Chess Players, Madame Castel’s Lodger, and Blue Camellia.

The Ghostly Hauntings:

The Beauregard-Keyes House is one of the city’s most spectacularly haunted locations. The hauntings mostly occur in the early morning hours.

Many supernatural sightings revolve around the mansion’s most auspicious resident. Some of the local folks say that this haunted Creole mansion comes alive in a gory battle of warfare when a supernatural version of the Battle of Shiloh rages in the main hall. Soldiers with mangled limbs and blown-away faces swirl around in a dance of death. Horses and mules appear out of nowhere. Then they are slaughtered by grapeshot and cannon. And that pungent smell of blood and decay permeates the restless atmosphere.

The Beauregard-Keyes House is also well known as the sight of a bloody mafia massacre. People often smell fresh gunpowder in the garden. You can also hear shots being fired while in the house from the garden. Many say they have seen strange shadows and figures moving, running madly around the garden fountain.

Customers of the museum have reported that after closing one evening they stayed to take photos of the house. When the photos were developed, some mysterious unexplainable images in them. In the pictures, there appear to be two civil war era soldiers standing in front of the window looking out. The guests were sure that no other people were in the museum at the time that the photos were taken.

7. Hotel Monteleone

Finally, we reach the 7th most haunted New Orleans location – Hotel Monteleone. Built-in 1886, this grand Cresent city haunted hotel has documented more than a dozen earthbound entities. Since 1886, the Hotel Monteleone has proudly stood as one of the first landmarks in the famous French Quarter. The hotel is the Quarter’s largest full-service hotel. It features 600 comfortable, luxurious guestrooms and suites. Hotel Monteleone is also within walking distance of some of haunted New Orleans’s most famous attractions and is conveniently located 11 miles from the Louis Armstrong International Airport. Hotel Monteleone is a two-time, AAA Four-Diamond award-winner, and has won the J.D. Power as well as the Associates Upscale Hotel Award for “An Outstanding Guest Experience” for the past three years.

The Ghostly Hauntings:

From days gone by to recent new sightings. Reports of ghosts walking the halls and the main entrance are common. The hotel seems to be a strong paranormal location. A team from the International Society of Paranormal Research identified such ghosts such as “Red”, the faithful engineer, William Wildemer, a ten-year-old boy who often plays hide-and-seek with another young spirit and a star-crossed lover. The Hotel employees also say all of their ghosts are friendly.

One recent guest told the tale of a man appearing in their room over the past haunted New Orleans Mardi Gras Season, wearing only a feathered mask. This totally naked ghost, they said turned and disappeared before their eyes.

Another ghost spotted is of a clockmaker. He works on a giant grandfather clock in the lobby. You can find him working on it at different times of the night.

Other Ghost stories from guests and hotel staff tell of this haunted New Orleans Hotel often of the spirits of a jazz singer in a room wailing in the middle of the night, a lost child who asks for help takes your hand then looks up into your eyes and disappears, and the spirit of who they say is that of the hotel’s original owner.

This wraps up our top 7 list of the most haunted New Orleans locations. Though this saga doesn’t end here. Expect more supernatural-based articles about things that go bump in the night soon!

Article Cover Art By Daniel Danger