Haunted Places in New Orleans

The LaLaurie Mansion, 1140 Royal Street

This is the most haunted house in New Orleans by reputation, and its dark side is the best documented. Delphine LaLaurie bought the property in 1831 and the two-story mansion with attached slave quarters was finished in 1832. In 1834 a kitchen fire brought rescuers into the house, where they found bound and mutilated enslaved people in the attic. The New Orleans Bee reported seven people, more or less horribly mutilated, suspended by the neck. A 70-year-old cook chained to the stove admitted setting the fire in a suicide attempt. A mob then heavily damaged the house and LaLaurie fled to Paris, where she died in 1849.

Modern retellings inflate the toll. Historical records show 12 documented deaths of enslaved people in the household between 1830 and 1834, and the worst gruesome details were added in later books such as Jeanne DeLavigne's 1946 account. Charles Caffin bought the ruin in 1838 and had it rebuilt in the Empire style by Pierre Trastour, which is the three-story building you see today. Nicolas Cage bought it for $3.45 million in 2007 and lost it to foreclosure in 2009. It is a private residence, closed to visits and tours. Several walks pass the door, including the haunted ghost, voodoo and vampire walking tour and the family-friendly ghost walk from the cathedral. Full history in the LaLaurie Mansion guide.

The Sultan's Palace, 716 Dauphine Street

The legend says a Turkish sultan's brother and his entourage were slaughtered in this mansion, and that the house has been haunted ever since. The record says otherwise. The house is properly the Gardette-LePretre House. Dentist Joseph Coulon Gardette built it in 1836 and sold it to banker Jean Baptiste LePretre in 1839. The massacre story is set in 1792, when the mansion did not exist. No record of the murders exists anywhere, and no Ottoman records mention a sultan moving to the Americas.

The earliest printed version of the tale appears in Charles Gayarre's History of Louisiana of 1866, decades after the supposed events, and Helen Pitkin Schertz's 1922 book Legends of Louisiana was what attached the story to this specific house. The Southern Spirit Guide states plainly that there is no evidence for the massacre or any haunting. What remains is a mansion on Dauphine Street that you can see from the sidewalk for free. The adults-only true crime and ghost walking tour covers this darker side of the Quarter for guests 17 and over, priced at $38.

The Beauregard-Keyes House, 1113 Chartres Street

This 1826 house at 1113 Chartres Street was built for auctioneer Joseph LeCarpentier and holds two famous names. Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard lived there from 1866 to 1868 and honeymooned there with his second wife, Caroline Deslonde. Author Frances Parkinson Keyes bought it later and wrote Madame Castel's Lodger there in 1962, along with The Chess Players about Paul Morphy, LeCarpentier's grandson. The house joined the National Register of Historic Places on 20 November 1975 and now operates as the BK Historic House and Gardens.

Its ghost lore is gentler than most, and the house itself is a museum you can enter. Tours run at 10 AM, 11 AM and hourly from 1 to 3 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Check bkhouse.org for the admission price before you go. The French Quarter ghost tour with interior visit, priced at $37, includes a visit inside one private haunted location according to the operator, which pairs well with the museum houses you can tour by day.

The Hermann-Grima House, 820 St. Louis Street

Banker Samuel Hermann built this house in 1831 with architect William Brand. Hermann lost his fortune in the 1837 cotton crash and Felix Grima bought the house in 1844, with Grima descendants living there until 1921. The Woman's Exchange bought it in 1924 and still runs it today. It is a National Historic Landmark since 1974, and the grounds hold two rarities: the only surviving 1830s open-hearth kitchen in the French Quarter and the Quarter's last horse stable.

The ghost lore here is the mildest on this page. Stories describe friendly ghosts that scatter the scent of roses and lavender through the rooms. Film fans have a second reason to know it. American Horror Story: Coven shot its LaLaurie Mansion interiors here, according to Ghost City Tours, while the exteriors were filmed at the Gallier House on Royal Street, which the same organization runs at 1132 Royal Street. You can go inside. Tours run Wednesday to Monday at 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm, and the house closes Tuesdays. Confirm the admission price on hgghh.org. The haunted ghost, voodoo and vampire walking tour at $33 passes the Lalaurie Mansion.

Madame John's Legacy, 632 Dumaine Street

This house at 632 Dumaine Street was completed in 1788, and the Louisiana State Museum has run it as a museum since 1947.

Ghost lore attaches to it more through age and atmosphere than through a specific named legend. Unlike the museum houses above, you cannot currently walk in. The house is closed for restoration, so treat any visit as an exterior stop until the museum announces otherwise. That costs nothing. For a guided version, the ghost and vampire walking tour of the French Quarter at $21 runs two hours from the Voodoo Lounge on N Rampart Street with groups of up to 28, and wheelchair access is listed for all areas and surfaces.

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, 941 Bourbon Street

This low, dark building at 941 Bourbon Street dates from the 1770s and is a rare surviving example of briquette-entre-poteaux French colonial construction, with brick filled between the posts. It is a bar today and a National Historic Landmark since 15 April 1970. The legend ties it to the privateer Jean Lafitte, but no documentation proves he owned a business here. His brother Pierre Lafitte was a blacksmith and may have run a shop in the building, which is the honest core of the story. In the 1940s Tom Caplinger turned it into Cafe Lafitte, a nightspot with a bohemian crowd.

The ghost lore rests on the Lafitte legend and nothing more. Anyone can walk in during opening hours and there is no admission charge, only your tab. Note that the legal drinking age in Louisiana is 21, and drinks leave in plastic go-cups. The tour routes treat it as a landmark stop. The ghost, crime, voodoo and vampires guided tour stops outside with an optional paid entry, and the French Quarter ghost tour with interior visit takes its break at the bar.

Muriel's Jackson Square, 801 Chartres Street

Muriel's is a restaurant at 801 Chartres Street on Jackson Square, and it leans into its ghost story with open arms. The legend says Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, the building's original owner, killed himself in the building in 1814. The restaurant keeps a seance room for the ghost. That suicide is repeated by the city tourism board, but no supporting document was found for this guide, so treat it as legend.

What is certain is the setting. The building looks across the square toward St. Louis Cathedral, on ground laid out as the Place d'Armes in 1721, and the Pontalba Buildings beside the square date from the 1840s. You can eat or drink at Muriel's during service hours at menu prices, no tour ticket needed, and the seance room is the closest thing in New Orleans to a ghost-themed dinner reservation. Most ghost walks on the square mention it. The haunted ghost, voodoo and vampire walking tour lists Muriel's on its route, and the meeting point for the adults-only true crime tour at $38 is the black fence across from the cathedral, steps away.

The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, 514 Chartres Street

This is a haunted stop you can tour on a daytime ticket. The building at 514 Chartres Street was constructed in 1822 to 1823 as a two-level Creole townhouse for Louis Dufilho Jr., who received his license in 1816 and is called America's first licensed pharmacist. The museum opened in 1950 and holds what it calls the largest collection of pharmaceutical memorabilia in the United States.

The dark legend says Dr. Dupas experimented on enslaved people in the building, and his ghost is said to haunt the upstairs. That story has little to no proof, and it closely resembles the documented J. Marion Sims cases, so it is told here as legend. Ghost tours treat the museum as a haunted stop on Chartres Street.

You can go in. Self-guided admission is $10 for adults and $7 for seniors, students and military, with hours Tuesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guided tours cost $20 for adults and $17 for seniors, students and military, must be booked online, and run Thursday to Sunday at 10 a.m. Several tours pass the door, including the haunted ghost, voodoo and vampire walking tour, which lists the museum as a stop.

Napoleon House, 500 Chartres Street

The Napoleon House at 500 Chartres Street dates from around 1800. Mayor Nicolas Girod, who died in 1840, owned it, and the name comes from his part in a plot to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte from exile and bring him to this house. The plan ended when Napoleon died in 1821. The building became a National Historic Landmark in 1970 and has been a restaurant since 1914, known for its Pimm's Cup and muffaletta.

Ghost lore adds a Confederate soldier on the second floor balcony. That is the extent of the documented haunting claims, told as lore. Entry is free to look into and you pay for what you order, which makes it one of the easiest haunted places in New Orleans to visit without a ticket of any kind. The ghosts of New Orleans tour at $29.99 runs 90 minutes from a storefront on Royal Street with groups of up to 9, a size that suits a slow walk past addresses like this one.

The Old Absinthe House, 240 Bourbon Street

The building at 238 or 240 Bourbon Street dates from the early 1800s. The ground floor became a bar around 1836 and by 1842 the Aleix family ran it. By 1869 it was advertised as the Absinthe House, and Cayetano Ferrer took over management around 1873. Owen Brennan acquired the property in 1943.

The legend names three famous ghosts who are said to drink there together: Andrew Jackson, Marie Laveau and Jean Lafitte. No record supports the story, so take it as bar-side storytelling, which is part of what you buy when you order there.

Entry costs nothing but your tab. If you want the story told properly, the French Quarter ghost and vampire walking tour starts at the Voodoo Lounge at 718 N Rampart Street for $21 over two hours with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.

St. Louis Cathedral and the Two Priests

St. Louis Cathedral stands on the north side of Jackson Square, between the Cabildo and the Presbytere. Free to see from the outside, it anchors most French Quarter ghost walks, and Dark Side of New Orleans: French Quarter Ghost Tour starts and ends at the cathedral itself.

Two priests give the square its legends. The story says Pere Dagobert's spirit walks the cathedral aisles with his head lowered. Pere Antoine is said to walk Pirate's Alley beside the cathedral in Capuchin robes at dawn. Both tales are told by the city's own tourism board as legend, not documented history, and neither has a record behind it. What is documented is the square itself: Jackson Square covers 2.5 acres, was laid out in 1721 as the Place d'Armes, and became a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Pirate's Alley and Faulkner House

Pirate's Alley runs beside the cathedral and costs nothing to walk. Ghost lore puts Pere Antoine here at dawn. The better documented resident is William Faulkner, who lived on the ground floor of 624 Pirate's Alley in 1925 and finished his first novel, Soldier's Pay, there.

Faulkner House Books opened in the same building in 1990, and the tourism board lists a claim that Faulkner himself haunts his old writing desk. Treat that as bookshop lore. The alley also appears on the route of New Orleans French Quarter Ghost Tour with Interior Visit, a 2 hour walk that costs $37.

The Cabildo and the Presbytere

Flanking the cathedral are two state museum buildings. The Cabildo at 701 Chartres Street was built from 1795 to 1799 and hosted the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremonies in 1803. A 1988 fire destroyed its cupola and third floor.

The Presbytere at 751 Chartres Street was designed in 1791 as a twin for the Cabildo and finished in 1813, and it was never actually used as a clergy residence. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1970. Admission figures for the state museums are not stated here because the official pages list them directly.

Muriel's Jackson Square

Muriel's at 801 Chartres Street is a restaurant with one of the Quarter's most repeated ghost stories. The legend says original owner Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan killed himself in the building in 1814, and the restaurant keeps a seance room for his ghost. The tourism board repeats the tale but no document backs the 1814 suicide, so read it as legend.

You can go in, since it is a working restaurant, and the building appears on the routes of New Orleans French Quarter Ghost Tour with Interior Visit, New Orleans Haunted Ghost, Voodoo and Vampire French Quarter Walking Tour and Dark Side of New Orleans: French Quarter Ghost Tour.

Congo Square

Congo Square sits inside Louis Armstrong Park in Tremé, a 32-acre park just across Rampart Street from the French Quarter. The square covers 2.7 acres. A mayor's ordinance in 1817 confined gatherings of enslaved Africans to this ground, and visitors recorded 500 to 600 people dancing and drumming there on Sundays. The 1724 Code Noir had given enslaved people Sundays off, which made the gatherings possible. The square joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, and the Congo Square Preservation Society holds a drum circle there every Sunday.

The square is free to enter and is not a ghost site in the classic sense. Its weight is historical. New Orleans Ghost, Crime, Voodoo and Vampires Guided Tour costs $37 and meets under the Armstrong Park arch or at 400 Esplanade Avenue depending on the option booked, and the Voodoo Museum's own $36 walking tour passes the square and Marie Laveau's house.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the city's most famous burial ground and you cannot walk in on your own. Access is guided only. The official option is St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 Official Walking Tour, a 55 minute walk for up to 20 people that costs $25 and passes the tombs of Marie Laveau and Homer Plessy.

You receive a Cemetery Tour Access Pass at check-in at Basin St. Station. The cemetery's founding year is printed as 1789 by most sources, though some say 1788, and 64 Parishes reports that Delphine LaLaurie's body was reinterred here in 1851. Because entry requires a guide, this is one of the haunted places in the city where booking a tour is the only way in.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in the Garden District spent years closed, and it reopened for guided tours only, with groups of 16 people maximum. Local reporting describes six sessions a day, so check the Preservation Resource Center page for the price and times before you book anything. Its pull is the wall of above-ground tombs and the fiction and film history attached to the Garden District around it.

If you want a broader night of the dead, New Orleans Dead of Night Ghosts and Cemetery Bus Tour is listed as a 2 hour night bus ride to the cities of the dead for $45, and Cemetery and Ghost BYOB Bus Tour in New Orleans costs $30 and is listed as a ride to actual graveyards after dark. Neither listing names a cemetery.

The Full List

Check each attraction's own site for current prices. Tours are linked so you can check what each one includes before you book.