The streets of New Orleans are studded with iron balconies, colourful masks, and oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. One cannot walk far without stumbling upon one of its many cities of the dead, featuring majestic crypts and haunting tombs.
Its aura is mysterious yet festive, seemingly always aware that death might lurk just around the corner. But rather than shirk this morbid fate, the Crescent City chooses to embrace it, encouraging the realm of the dead to intermingle with that of the living.
Creepy Facts About the Crescent City
- The Big Easy contains more than 40 cemeteries, many brimming with haunted tales surrounding the above-ground crypts that house generations of bones laid atop one another.
- New Orleans has been home to multiple serial killers over the years, including the jazz-loving Axeman of New Orleans, who was never caught.
- Even before Anne Rice set her vampiric masterpiece in New Orleans, this spirited city held legends of blood-drinking residents, from the Casket Girls of the Ursuline Convent to Count St. Germain.
Why Is New Orleans So Haunted?
Despite being a city plagued by death, New Orleans has fashioned a rich legacy, overflowing with voodoo practitioners, vivid phantoms, and even vampires. While it is now known for jazz festivals and Creole cuisine, its early days were far darker. Yellow fever and cholera epidemics tore through the streets alongside fires and floods, quickly causing the dead to pile up.
But in a city where death was common, people became accustomed to funerals, forming festive ceremonies to celebrate the dead rather than shy away from this dark inevitability. As such, New Orleans seems to be a city where the veil between life and death is ever thin, with spectres and strange beings waiting around each and every corner.
Jean Lafitte’s Old Absinthe House
Standing since 1806, the Old Absinthe House has long endured as a site of legend and lore. Said to house General Andrew Jackson, along with the infamous buccaneer-turned-patriot Jean Lafitte, whom he once employed in the Battle of New Orleans, these two are just one of many spirits said to haunt this drinking hole.
Inside the timeworn walls of this memorabilia-lined bar, bottles and glasses have been known to move with a mind of their own, chairs shift, and doors swing open and shut. Might these be undead bar patrons in search of some ghostly refreshments or just the phantom pirate on the hunt for a bottle of rum?
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Established in 1789, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 happens to be New Orleans’ oldest cemetery and by many accounts, its most haunted. Found behind the bustling French Quarter, this weathered burial ground only encompasses a block, yet is said to be the final resting place of around 100,000 souls. Its most famous, though, might be Marie Laveau, New Orleans’ celebrated voodoo priestess.
Visitors continue to visit Laveau’s tomb with gifts, ever hopeful she will grant their wishes from beyond the grave. While hers is just one of the many 600 tombs that lie in this crumbling cemetery, thousands more are said to be buried below the earth in unmarked graves. Stacked one on top of the other, their spirits are also believed to haunt these sacred grounds in orbs, apparitions, and even ghostly pets.
Faulkner House Books
Once home to renowned author William Faulkner in the 1920s, Faulkner House Books lies in a sleepy little building in the French Quarter. But don’t let the unassuming appearance of this bookshop deceive you — this storied nook is as haunted as it is literary.
Within this scholarly establishment, visitors can lay their eyes upon Faulkner’s very own writing desk — a place where the ghostly author himself has been sighted. Others have detected the scent of his pipe tobacco wafting through the book-lined aisles despite the store being nonsmoking.
St. Germain House
Found on Royal Street, the St. Germain House harbors an air of mystery behind its elegant windows. Once home to a hypnotic man who charmed New Orleans high society with his wit and intelligence, many said he always had an otherworldly air about him.
This enchanting image was shattered, however, when a young lady pitched herself from his upper window, claiming the elegant St. Germain had attempted to bite her before she escaped. By morning, St. Germain was gone, leaving his home in disorder and littered with several bottles of red wine mingled with blood. One cannot help but wonder if he might someday return to his abode.
Muriel’s Jackson Square and the Seance Room
A timeless restaurant serving up modern Creole fare in the French Quarter, Muriel’s Jackson Square has a very special guest it caters to. Once the prized possession of Pierre Jourdan, the gambling man lost the house in a card game. Yet rather than leave, he died by his own hand on the second floor of the property, forever binding himself to his beloved home.
Although this story might seem sombre to some, the owners of Muriel’s have leaned into this dwelling’s dark history. The second floor even holds a seance room, designed to appease Jourdan’s ghost. His spirit is said to present as a shimmering light walking about the extravagant lounge, and occasionally, knocks are heard coming from the brick wall. Generously, the owners also keep a table reserved for him at all times, set with bread and wine to placate the spectre.
Le Petit Theatre
There are many spirits said to linger at Le Petit Theatre, but the most famed of all is Caroline. An actress who died within the theatre after falling (or hanging herself, according to some versions) from a balcony mid-performance, she likes to make a dramatic appearance every now and again.
There are also Union soldiers, a former theatre manager, and a phantom nun seen about the playhouse, ensuring every showing at this melodramatic venue plays to a full house.
The LaLaurie Mansion
Considered by many to be the Crescent City’s most haunted house, the LaLaurie Mansion holds a truly gruesome history. Once the home of the respectable Delphine LaLaurie in the 1830s, this imposing dwelling has long been a topic of chilling conversation and is a staple stop on almost every ghost tour in New Orleans.
A barbaric woman who killed and tortured her slaves, LaLaurie’s grisly deeds were discovered after one of her victims attempted to burn the property to the ground. Her dark tendencies laid bare, LaLaurie fled, leaving a shadowy reputation to forever cloak the grounds.
For decades, people have claimed to see chained apparitions walking around the property, heard furniture moving around inside the building, or caught the echoes of phantom cries drifting from the premises. Now in possession of its ghosts, it’s very clear these spirits have decided to make the residence their own.
NOLA: A Colourful Cradle For The Dead
It seems all manner of folk, from celebrities to serial killers, have been drawn in by the vibrant culture of this lively city. Some find allure in its energetic atmosphere, others in its macabre heritage. Either way, New Orleans will always be a place with a legendary reputation.
And yet, it seems we’ve only skimmed the surface of this city’s haunted history. To delve deeper into New Orleans’ unearthly heritage, book a shiver-inducing ghost tour with NOLA Ghosts. Any one of its nightly tours is sure to instil chills despite the balmy air.
