New Orleans is steeped in haunted tales that continue to spook the locals even to this day. A city that has so much history and culture also has a spooky side where eerie encounters and ghostly stories abound.
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Old Absinthe House
Photo Credit: Rebecca Todd & NewOrleans.com
1. The Ghosts Of New Orleans
Considered by ghost hunters to be the most supernatural city in the United States, many agree that New Orleans has spirits everywhere. This is where enslaved Africans practised Voodoo arts and atrocities were committed in the infamous LaLaurie Mansion. Secret brothels and hidden haunted spaces exist around the city. The city's many ghost tours trace the bloody steps of infamous crimes and delve into the eerie cemeteries that earn New Orleans the moniker City of the Dead. Here, haunted bars such as Old Absinthe House and Napolean House and hotels such as Hotel Monteleone or Andrew Jackson Hotel are filled with secrets of the past and spine-chilling tales.
2. New Orleans Voodoo
The core belief of New Orleans Voodoo is that one God does not interfere in daily lives, but that spirits do. Voodoo first came to Louisiana with enslaved West Africans who merged their religious rituals and practices with those of the local Catholic population. Interestingly, Voodoo queens and kings were spiritual and political figures of power in 1800s New Orleans. Today, Voodoo can be found everywhere such as Congo Square which once served as a gathering place for enslaved Africans and their traditions and expression of culture, including Voodoo. The Voodoo Spiritual Temple, New Orleans' only formally established voodoo temple and The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum are popular spaces. Additionally, you may take a Voodoo tour in New Orleans. Several Voodoo shops can still be found around the city such as Voodoo Authentica, Island of Salvation Botanica, and Marie Laveau House of Voodoo. St. John's Eve, celebrated on June 23 around the world for the summer solstice, has a Voodoo connection that began in the 1830s by Marie Laveau on Bayou St. John. A head-washing ritual was combined with a public party, a celebration that the International House Hotel has since adopted.
Voodoo Spiritual Temple
Photo Credit: Cheryl Gerber & NewOrleans.com
3. New Orleans And Vampires
Vampire lore has a history in New Orleans that resurfaced when Anne Rice, the New Orleans-born doyenne of dark vampire fiction, wrote her “Interview with the Vampire” series in the 1980s. The popular books inspired hordes of fans to mill outside of her possibly haunted Garden District abode on First Street and to peek around other places for vampire-resting places. You can still find signed copies of Rice's books at Garden District Book Shop, where she once arrived at a book signing in a horse-drawn hearse. Then there's Boutique du Vampyre in the French Quarter, which claims to be the only vampire shop in the country, open to both mortals and vampires since 2003 offering tours, coffin-shaped backpacks, capes, and more themed goodies.
4. Haunted Tours
New Orleans has over 300 years of history which is laced with mysterious stories. Explore the haunted side of New Orleans on a ghost tour through the French Quarter, Garden District, and beyond which includes some of the most famous stops to cater to your ghostly experiences. From past secrets to traces of unexplained encounters that occur even to this day, a trip to New Orleans is incomplete without taking part in one such tour.
Voodoo Authentica
Photo Credit: Cheryl Gerber & NewOrleans.com
5. Cemetery Tours
It is believed, due to New Orleans' construction below sea level resulting in a city surrounded by water, the departed souls spend eternity entombed above ground. Ornate and historic, funky, and otherworldly, New Orleans cemeteries are home to everyone from music hit makers to voodoo queens. Pay homage to fallen yellow fever victims at St. Louis No.1 on Basin Street, the city's oldest boneyard or visit some of the newer, just as elaborate places.
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