New Orleans Ghost Adventures Tour: French Quarter Ghost Walk With an Interior Visit

Included in the $37

The verified inclusions are a licensed tour guide, the tour of the French Quarter, visits to notable landmarks, frequent stops and restroom stops. Entry to one private haunted location is the headline feature. The operator says not many companies have access to go inside a private haunted building, and this is the only walk on the New Orleans ghost tour page that makes that claim.

Everything else on the Includes list, namely drinks and gratuities, is not clearly stated as included. The listing does not say whether they are extras. Budget for them as additional costs on the day and ask the operator directly before assuming a drink is covered. There is no hotel pickup, so make your own way to Decatur Street.

What You May Pay on the Day

Drinks at the Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar break may be your own cost, since the listing does not confirm drinks are included. A tip for the guide is worth planning for, though the listing gives no amount. Because the final price may vary depending on date, participants and availability, check the total before you pay.

Reserve now and pay later keeps the booking flexible, and free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure protects you if plans change. For a cheaper walk on the same streets, the New Orleans Haunted Ghost, Voodoo and Vampire Walking Tour lists at $33.

Meeting Point and the French Quarter

You meet at New Orleans Ghost Adventures Tours, 620 Decatur St #600. The tour then moves into the French Quarter itself for guided sightseeing. The Quarter was founded in 1718, covers about 0.66 square miles and became a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

The operator's description says the stories cover ghosts, vampires, witches and Voodoo priestesses, told against locations documented over the years.

Jackson Square

A guided stop at Jackson Square, which was laid out in 1721 as the Place d'Armes and covers 2.5 acres. It was renamed in 1851 for Andrew Jackson, whose equestrian statue by Clark Mills went up in 1856. St. Louis Cathedral stands on its north side between the Cabildo and the Presbytere.

Ghost lore at the cathedral says the spirit of Pere Dagobert walks the aisles with his head lowered. The square became a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Muriel's Jackson Square

A photo stop and pass by at Muriel's, the restaurant at 801 Chartres Street. The legend told here concerns Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, said to be the building's original owner, who the story says killed himself there in 1814. The restaurant is said to keep a seance room for his ghost.

The suicide is popular lore rather than documented fact, and the guide should frame it that way.

Old Ursuline Convent

A photo stop at the convent at 1100 Chartres Street. Ursuline nuns from Rouen arrived in 1727 to run a convent, a hospital and a girls' school, and the present building was completed in the early 1750s, making it among the oldest surviving buildings. The National Park Service calls it the finest surviving example of French colonial public architecture in the country.

This is where the casket girls legend lives: young French women sent to Louisiana to marry, named for the small chests that held their clothes. The first group reached New Orleans in 1728. The vampire tale, that their caskets in the attic held vampires, is a modern legend, and the Ursuline order has denied chaperoning the girls as popularly told.

LaLaurie Mansion

A photo stop at 1140 Royal Street. Delphine LaLaurie bought the property in 1831 and the mansion was finished in 1832. In 1834 a kitchen fire brought rescuers inside, where the New Orleans Bee reported seven people found more or less horribly mutilated, suspended by the neck.

A mob wrecked the house and LaLaurie fled, eventually dying in Paris. The house was rebuilt after 1838 and is a private residence today, closed to the public, which is why every tour sees it from the street. Modern retellings claim up to 100 deaths, but records show 12 documented deaths of enslaved people in the household between 1830 and 1834.

If the walls interest you, read more in the LaLaurie Mansion guide.

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, with a Break

The break stop of the tour, at 941 Bourbon Street. The building dates from the 1770s and is a rare surviving example of briquette-entre-poteaux French colonial construction, named a National Historic Landmark in 1970. The link to the privateer Jean Lafitte is legend, since no documentation proves he owned a business here, though his brother Pierre was a blacksmith.

Whether drinks are covered is not stated, so treat them as your own cost. You can read more about the building in the guide to haunted places in New Orleans.

Bourbon Orleans Hotel

A photo stop and pass by at 717 Orleans Street. The Orleans Ballroom on the site was built in 1817 and hosted subscription and masquerade balls, and architect Benjamin Latrobe called it the best ballroom in the United States when he visited in 1819. The theatre next door burned in 1866, and in 1873 the site became a convent and school of the Sisters of the Holy Family before the hotel took over in 1964.

The ghost stories told here are a female dancer said to move under the ballroom chandelier and a ghostly nun.

Pirate's Alley and the Walk Back

The final photo stop is Pirate's Alley, which runs beside St. Louis Cathedral. Pere Antoine's ghost is said to walk there in Capuchin robes at dawn, and Faulkner House Books at number 624 is said to be haunted by William Faulkner, who lived on its ground floor in 1925 and finished his first novel, Soldier's Pay, there. From the alley the group returns to the office at 620 Decatur Street, where the tour ends.

Travellers Who Want a Cemetery

No cemetery is on this route. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 can only be entered with an approved tour group, so this walk cannot include it. If the cities of the dead are the reason you came, book the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 official walking tour at $25, or the ghost and cemetery bus tour at night at $45.

Travellers on a Tight Budget or Short on Time

At $37 for 2 hours this sits above the cheapest walks. The Ghost and Vampire Walking Tour of the French Quarter lists at $21 for 2 hours, and the $33 Witches Brew walk covers Muriel's, the Ursuline Convent and the LaLaurie Mansion in 1.5 to 2 hours. If walking is the problem rather than the price, the haunted history carriage tour covers haunted Quarter spots from a mule-drawn carriage in 1 hour for $65.

Travellers Who Want Guaranteed Details Up Front

The listing states no start time, no group size and no minimum age, and it does not say whether drinks and gratuities are extras. That vagueness is a real drawback if you plan around fixed details. The fix is to check availability for exact departure times before booking and to email the operator about drinks and group size.

Travellers who want firmer numbers can look at the Ghosts of New Orleans walking tour, which caps groups at 9 for $29.99.

Travellers Who Want an Adults-only or True Crime Angle

This walk has no age restriction stated and mixes ghosts with vampires, witches and Voodoo. If you want darker material with no children present, the adults-only true crime and ghost walking tour at $38 admits 17 and over only, and it carries a 5.0 rating from 2,113 reviews.

What You Can Do Alone for Free

Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, Muriel's, the Old Ursuline Convent, the LaLaurie Mansion, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel and Pirate's Alley all stand on public streets. You can walk the whole route yourself at no cost, at any hour, and read the LaLaurie Mansion and Old Ursuline Convent guides as you go. Street exteriors including the cathedral and Pere Antoine's Alley are free to see, and Lafitte's is a working bar you can walk into and buy a drink in.

What You Cannot Do Alone

The private haunted building is the exception. The operator says it has access inside a location that most companies cannot enter, and that is precisely what a guide adds here. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, though not on this route, is another case: the Archdiocese restricted it to approved tour groups after restoration ended in 2014, so you can only enter with an approved guide such as the $25 official walking tour.

The LaLaurie Mansion is a private residence and closed to everyone, tour or no tour.

When Walking Alone Is Enough

If you only want to see the buildings, skip the ticket. If you want the stories placed correctly, the documented 1834 LaLaurie fire separated from the invented attic horrors, the casket girls legend kept distinct from what the Ursuline order actually did, then a licensed guide earns the $37. City guides must hold a license and pass a written exam on New Orleans history and culture, so the storytelling has a floor under it.

For more places to visit on your own, see the haunted hotels in New Orleans guide, and for the full picture start from the New Orleans ghost tour.