A spirited performance in the ballroom of the Bourbon Orleans Hotel (image: Bourbon Orleans Hotel)
Tomb service: New Orleans' Most Haunted Hotels
By Paul Oswell
If you're a local ghost hunter, or a visitor that likes to invite a supernatural element into their vacation, then we've got just the rooms for you. Here's a rundown of the most haunted hotel rooms and properties in the city.
Maison de Ville
Cottage four is said to be haunted by a military man with a penchant for a particular kind of music. A hotel employee is said to have opened the door to show a guest into the room only to find a man dressed in a 1940s military uniform who promptly disappeared. Reports say that if the cottage’s radio is tuned into any station, the ghost changes it to country music, which is strange as you’d think New Orleans ghosts would prefer jazz. In any case, there are stories of him materializing fully “when séances are held” and also appearing as a solid, live person before walking through walls. His voice has been recorded by investigators saying, “I need to leave,” which might be true since there’s no record of him arranging a late check out. Film and video crews have allegedly captured a glimpse of him, or flashes of his uniform and medals. Various ghost tours also say that guests have reported seeing mysterious wet footprints and women and men dressed in vintage clothing. There’s also the usual litany of paranormal goings on: nightly rapping noises, moving objects, disembodied voices and, more inconveniently, sheets pulled off beds in the middle of the night.
Le Pavillon
Most of the hotel’s reported ghostly presences seem to date back to the original construction of the building, when it opened as the Hotel Desoto. A spectral girl has been spotted, reportedly the spirit of a young woman who was mown down by a horse and carriage outside the hotel. Staff and guests also tell of a well-dressed young man in nineteenth-century regalia that plays pranks and disappears. A visiting doctor also once checked out after waking up to see a gray-haired old woman at his bedside. Morgan Murphy, a writer for Southern Living magazine, reported his door creaking “like a bad Vincent Price movie,” so it’s best to avoid Room 301 if you’re wary of that sort of thing.
Cornstalk Hotel
Employees report cold spots in a couple of the bedrooms, and there are stories of ghostly children that have been seen running through the building and the grounds. The most startling story reported, though, is the tale that some recent guests tell. They have allegedly discovered that when they got home and have looked at photos from their time at the hotel, among the images were pictures of themselves asleep in their beds. It is creepy that nineteenth-century children would know how to work digital cameras, but then, you know how naturally kids take to technology.
The Bourbon Orleans
This famous old hotel is a hotbed of paranormal activity, and there are said to be as many as fifteen to twenty separate ghosts roaming the property. Many of these are children, which, as we all know, are the rowdiest kind of ghosts. There is an impressive range of spectral diversity, and the spirits who roam the halls and rooms of the Bourbon Orleans represent all the different eras of this building’s history. There is the story of “The Soldier”, aka “The Man” (great imagination with the naming, there), that dwells on both the sixth and seventh floors. The children and female apparitions found at the hotel are most likely from the era when the Sisters of the Holy Family operated the convent, girls’ school, medical ward and orphanage. The famous Orleans Ballroom, home to the grandest social events of the nineteenth century, is also home to a lonely ghost dancer, who can be seen twirling underneath the ballroom’s crystal chandelier.
Le Richelieu
As well as the execution of bands of rebel French soldiers during the Spanish occupation, another story goes that a band of mutinous Spanish soldiers were also shot for, well, mutiny, on this site. Although ghostly sightings have not been reported in the hotel rooms themselves, supposedly some of the soldiers have been spotted walking around the bar area and, even more disconcertingly, around the swimming pool, although this could just as likely be incredibly pale European tourists.
Andrew Jackson Hotel
Five children lost their lives in a devastating fire in the late 1700s here, when the building was a school. Hotel guests have reported hearing children playing in the courtyard in the middle of the night, and one said that he saw a ghostly child watching television. Seems like even 18th century kids can’t keep away from their screens.
Lafitte Guest House
The property owners tell the legend of a mother and two of her children who all died in what is now Room 21, which should still be fine for most visitors as long as it doesn’t get too much more upsetting. Oh wait, it actually does get way more upsetting. One of the children died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1853, and her sibling was so traumatised that she apparently hanged herself. Unsurprisingly, the mother of these unfortunates grieved for the remainder of her life, and it’s said that she died of a broken heart some years later. The proprietors say that guests and employees report crying coming from the room, along with “an intense feeling of despair.” So it’s probably not the best recommendation for anyone here for a good time. It’s also said that the girl who died of yellow fever appears in the mirror outside Room 21, and there are reports of lights operating on their own, switched on and off by the mother, still grieving for her daughters.
Dauphine Orleans
There’s quite the variety of spirits apparently wandering about the hotel. Guests have reported seeing everything from Civil War soldiers to — unsurprising, given its Storyville location — spectral ladies of the night. One regular haunt is that of a Creole soldier, who wanders through the courtyard wearing a military uniform. Another spirit is a woman, who goes one better than wandering and dances across the courtyard. The hotel reports that: “Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz, founder of the International Society For Paranormal Research, conducted an investigation at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel and reported several spirits, among them a soldier, general or other high ranking officer, wearing a dark uniform that could have been from the War of 1812 or Civil War. His name might be Eldridge. He walked with the investigative team by the pool area and back through to the cottages.”
The Columns
As befits such a genteel property, even the ghosts here are described as having “impeccable Southern manners”. Apparently, a well-dressed gentleman sometimes politely checks up on guests, while a lady in white reminisces about her life there in one of the lounges, and a small girl walks about on the balcony just minding her own business. It's clearly just a better class of spectre that manifests Uptown.
Bienville House
One paranormal investigator reports having been stared at in his sleep by a ghostly presence, and there are a few, regulation-issue Civil War-time spirits walking through walls. In terms of ghostly goings-on, Room 356 is reportedly the most paranormally active of several of the eighty-three rooms.
Hotel Provincial
Hotel staff report that building five is the most haunted. Anecdotal reports say that “many a guest say they have walked into their room and have seen bloody soldiers lying in pain and moaning in their room.” If that doesn’t warrant a call to housekeeping, I’m not sure what does.
Hotel St Pierre
Two resident spirits have been reported: one a Civil War Confederate soldier that inhabits the courtyard, and the other just described as “a middle aged man” that apparently spends his time moving objects in some of the rooms and rudely changing the TV channel.
Voco St James Hotel
This hotel has its own legend. According to the story, a merchant named Che arrived in New Orleans during the influx of immigrants from the Caribbean during the nineteenth century. Che had a shop on Magazine Street in the Banks Arcade, and was infamous for his connections within the network of French merchants, reputedly using insider knowledge to play them off one another and manipulate them. One night in 1851, some disgruntled business associates set fire to Che’s store, and when the smoke cleared, Che was nowhere to be seen. The news of the death of a Caribbean son led the highest local voodoo priestesses to conduct rituals to ensure that his spirit was carried home to the Caribbean, but for reasons that are never made clear, their procedure was interrupted. A few years later, from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War, the hotel was used as a Union hospital. The story goes that in their last moments, soldiers here would describe tropical visions of island heavens so beautiful that they entered into death quite willingly, seduced by ethereal palm trees and crystal-blue waters. It is believed that whatever portal the voodoo priestesses had created for Che’s spirit had remained open, and it became a tunnel through which spirits of soldiers traveled into the next life, which apparently promised sun, sand and surf.
By Paul Oswell
If you're a local ghost hunter, or a visitor that likes to invite a supernatural element into their vacation, then we've got just the rooms for you. Here's a rundown of the most haunted hotel rooms and properties in the city.
Maison de Ville
Cottage four is said to be haunted by a military man with a penchant for a particular kind of music. A hotel employee is said to have opened the door to show a guest into the room only to find a man dressed in a 1940s military uniform who promptly disappeared. Reports say that if the cottage’s radio is tuned into any station, the ghost changes it to country music, which is strange as you’d think New Orleans ghosts would prefer jazz. In any case, there are stories of him materializing fully “when séances are held” and also appearing as a solid, live person before walking through walls. His voice has been recorded by investigators saying, “I need to leave,” which might be true since there’s no record of him arranging a late check out. Film and video crews have allegedly captured a glimpse of him, or flashes of his uniform and medals. Various ghost tours also say that guests have reported seeing mysterious wet footprints and women and men dressed in vintage clothing. There’s also the usual litany of paranormal goings on: nightly rapping noises, moving objects, disembodied voices and, more inconveniently, sheets pulled off beds in the middle of the night.
Le Pavillon
Most of the hotel’s reported ghostly presences seem to date back to the original construction of the building, when it opened as the Hotel Desoto. A spectral girl has been spotted, reportedly the spirit of a young woman who was mown down by a horse and carriage outside the hotel. Staff and guests also tell of a well-dressed young man in nineteenth-century regalia that plays pranks and disappears. A visiting doctor also once checked out after waking up to see a gray-haired old woman at his bedside. Morgan Murphy, a writer for Southern Living magazine, reported his door creaking “like a bad Vincent Price movie,” so it’s best to avoid Room 301 if you’re wary of that sort of thing.
Cornstalk Hotel
Employees report cold spots in a couple of the bedrooms, and there are stories of ghostly children that have been seen running through the building and the grounds. The most startling story reported, though, is the tale that some recent guests tell. They have allegedly discovered that when they got home and have looked at photos from their time at the hotel, among the images were pictures of themselves asleep in their beds. It is creepy that nineteenth-century children would know how to work digital cameras, but then, you know how naturally kids take to technology.
The Bourbon Orleans
This famous old hotel is a hotbed of paranormal activity, and there are said to be as many as fifteen to twenty separate ghosts roaming the property. Many of these are children, which, as we all know, are the rowdiest kind of ghosts. There is an impressive range of spectral diversity, and the spirits who roam the halls and rooms of the Bourbon Orleans represent all the different eras of this building’s history. There is the story of “The Soldier”, aka “The Man” (great imagination with the naming, there), that dwells on both the sixth and seventh floors. The children and female apparitions found at the hotel are most likely from the era when the Sisters of the Holy Family operated the convent, girls’ school, medical ward and orphanage. The famous Orleans Ballroom, home to the grandest social events of the nineteenth century, is also home to a lonely ghost dancer, who can be seen twirling underneath the ballroom’s crystal chandelier.
Le Richelieu
As well as the execution of bands of rebel French soldiers during the Spanish occupation, another story goes that a band of mutinous Spanish soldiers were also shot for, well, mutiny, on this site. Although ghostly sightings have not been reported in the hotel rooms themselves, supposedly some of the soldiers have been spotted walking around the bar area and, even more disconcertingly, around the swimming pool, although this could just as likely be incredibly pale European tourists.
Andrew Jackson Hotel
Five children lost their lives in a devastating fire in the late 1700s here, when the building was a school. Hotel guests have reported hearing children playing in the courtyard in the middle of the night, and one said that he saw a ghostly child watching television. Seems like even 18th century kids can’t keep away from their screens.
Lafitte Guest House
The property owners tell the legend of a mother and two of her children who all died in what is now Room 21, which should still be fine for most visitors as long as it doesn’t get too much more upsetting. Oh wait, it actually does get way more upsetting. One of the children died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1853, and her sibling was so traumatised that she apparently hanged herself. Unsurprisingly, the mother of these unfortunates grieved for the remainder of her life, and it’s said that she died of a broken heart some years later. The proprietors say that guests and employees report crying coming from the room, along with “an intense feeling of despair.” So it’s probably not the best recommendation for anyone here for a good time. It’s also said that the girl who died of yellow fever appears in the mirror outside Room 21, and there are reports of lights operating on their own, switched on and off by the mother, still grieving for her daughters.
Dauphine Orleans
There’s quite the variety of spirits apparently wandering about the hotel. Guests have reported seeing everything from Civil War soldiers to — unsurprising, given its Storyville location — spectral ladies of the night. One regular haunt is that of a Creole soldier, who wanders through the courtyard wearing a military uniform. Another spirit is a woman, who goes one better than wandering and dances across the courtyard. The hotel reports that: “Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz, founder of the International Society For Paranormal Research, conducted an investigation at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel and reported several spirits, among them a soldier, general or other high ranking officer, wearing a dark uniform that could have been from the War of 1812 or Civil War. His name might be Eldridge. He walked with the investigative team by the pool area and back through to the cottages.”
The Columns
As befits such a genteel property, even the ghosts here are described as having “impeccable Southern manners”. Apparently, a well-dressed gentleman sometimes politely checks up on guests, while a lady in white reminisces about her life there in one of the lounges, and a small girl walks about on the balcony just minding her own business. It's clearly just a better class of spectre that manifests Uptown.
Bienville House
One paranormal investigator reports having been stared at in his sleep by a ghostly presence, and there are a few, regulation-issue Civil War-time spirits walking through walls. In terms of ghostly goings-on, Room 356 is reportedly the most paranormally active of several of the eighty-three rooms.
Hotel Provincial
Hotel staff report that building five is the most haunted. Anecdotal reports say that “many a guest say they have walked into their room and have seen bloody soldiers lying in pain and moaning in their room.” If that doesn’t warrant a call to housekeeping, I’m not sure what does.
Hotel St Pierre
Two resident spirits have been reported: one a Civil War Confederate soldier that inhabits the courtyard, and the other just described as “a middle aged man” that apparently spends his time moving objects in some of the rooms and rudely changing the TV channel.
Voco St James Hotel
This hotel has its own legend. According to the story, a merchant named Che arrived in New Orleans during the influx of immigrants from the Caribbean during the nineteenth century. Che had a shop on Magazine Street in the Banks Arcade, and was infamous for his connections within the network of French merchants, reputedly using insider knowledge to play them off one another and manipulate them. One night in 1851, some disgruntled business associates set fire to Che’s store, and when the smoke cleared, Che was nowhere to be seen. The news of the death of a Caribbean son led the highest local voodoo priestesses to conduct rituals to ensure that his spirit was carried home to the Caribbean, but for reasons that are never made clear, their procedure was interrupted. A few years later, from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War, the hotel was used as a Union hospital. The story goes that in their last moments, soldiers here would describe tropical visions of island heavens so beautiful that they entered into death quite willingly, seduced by ethereal palm trees and crystal-blue waters. It is believed that whatever portal the voodoo priestesses had created for Che’s spirit had remained open, and it became a tunnel through which spirits of soldiers traveled into the next life, which apparently promised sun, sand and surf.
