If you’ve ever been to New Orleans, Louisiana, you’ve experienced and know all about the New Orleans is one of my favorite places to visit in the United States and maybe even the world. It just makes you want to come back over and over and over again. Some might even say it’s … magical. There’s something undeniably charming about this Creole city.  It is crawling with all things supernatural from vampires to witches, voodoo, and ghosts that linger within the buildings here.

The supernatural realm is one of my absolute favorite things to learn about, watch movies and shows about, read about, and talk about. I just find it soooooo interesting, and I know I’m not alone – no pun intended! Aside from the open-container laws, my favorite thing about New Orleans is the abundance of tours, which take you on a supernatural journey throughout the city.

The first haunted tour I went on was in 2017 with my friend Cara. We took this tour during the day, so since it was light out it was a bit easier to see everything and the crowds weren’t really out just yet. We used Groupon to book the “New Orleans Haunted Ghost” by Witches Brew Tours. Our tour guide was a spunky, energetic, young lady with bright pink hair, and she was absolutely amazing. She was knowledgeable and made everything so much fun.

The second haunted tour I went on was in 2019 with fellow travel blogger Stephanie. We did this tour at night, and personally I’d recommend doing the same! Wandering around a haunted city at night just adds such a spooky, fun, spine-tingling vibe to the creepy stories you’re hearing along the way.

We found our tour on Airbnb experience this time around. It was called the “French Quarter Drunk and Haunted” tour hosted by Pandora & Lynx. Our tour guide again was super knowledgeable and enthusiastic! We hit some of the same spots as we did during the first tour I went on, but there were also new stops along the way and new information at the old ones.

During the nighttime tour, I started to notice that there were fuzzy blue orbs in my photos at almost every single stop of the tour! The varied in size, but themost notable came out at my favorite stop: Jacques St. Germain’s house. I tested it out between stops to see if it was just my phone acting up, but every photo I took in a non-haunted area came out perfectly clear with no signs of any orbs. Creepy, right?

On both tours, we took advantage of the open-container policy and had a drink in hand. Because of this, I can’t lie – I can’t remember what we saw which time. I’m just going to list out a few random spots from each so you get the idea!

Just a small disclaimer: I am writing this post based on my own shitty memory and some quick research just to be accurate as far as years and specific names & spelling.  There is definitely a chance I am getting the actual stories and/or legends slightly incorrect, but this is even more of a reason you should get to New Orleans and check out a tour or two for yourself!

New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum was the home/pharmacy of the first licensed American Pharmacist, Louis Dufilho. Dufilho had seven children, three of whom died in adolescence and haunt the pharmacy to this day. Dufilho went on to sell the home to Dr. James Dupas. Dupas preformed experiments right in the pharmacy building on his patients and, even more notoriously, on pregnant slaves.

To hide his evil practices, Dupas would take the bodies of his deceased experiment patients and pass them through a secret doorway that led to an alleyway around back. There, the bodies would be buried in the courtyard or transported away from the pharmacy.

Dr. Dupas’ disgusting lifestyle was not discovered until after his death. He died of syphilis and was driven mad (as if he wasn’t mad already). The ghost of Dr. Dupas haunts the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, now a popular stop among haunted tours throughout the French Quarter.

Old Ursuline Convent

This convent was built in the mid-1700s for the Ursuline nuns as an orphanage and school for girls coming to New Orleans. When the French were first settling into New Orleans, colonists were mostly men. Local priests requested women to be sent to the new world to avoid the colony becoming “uncivilized,” for lack of a better word, and not domesticated.

The women who were originally sent were not ideal candidates to domesticate the men in the area. The first time around, the French government sent over women from some undesirable places such as the brothels and prisons.

The priests were not thrilled about this and requested more women, but this time they were a bit more specific with the request. They ensured the women would be more sophisticated and come from convents in Francewere handpicked by the Bishop of Quebec by order of King Louie of France. These women were chosen to come to New Orleans to learn to be proper wives to the men in the French colony. Thus, the casket girls arrived in New Orleans to live in The Ursuline Convent until they were ready to marry.

The casket girls arrived after a long, gruesome journey looking pale and sickly.  Some were infected with tuberculosis. You know what happens when you have tuberculosis? You cough up blood.

SO, pale young girls coughing up blood arrive in New Orleans. Have you guessed what stories came from this? THAT’S RIGHT – VAMPIRES. A few more factors intensified these rumors further. First, it was a little suspicious that when the girls arrived, the third-floor windows were boarded up, letting no light in. Second, it was said that when outsiders visited the convent they saw a room on the third floor filled with empty caskets. Sounds like a room Dracula would be comfortable in if you ask me!

Jacques St. Germain

My absolute favorite paranormal story from all of New Orleans has to be that of Jacques St. Germain. Maybe it is from my love of Vampire shows such as The Originals. Jacques St. Germain’s house is a stop on every single haunted tour you can go on, so you will not miss this on any tour you choose.

Jacques St. Germain was a mysterious, handsome young man who lived in New Orleans in the early 1900s. Over the years, he threw multiple extravagant parties with some of the most respected guests from all around the area. Many guests noted over the years that St. Germain never ate any of the food at his parties. He only drank wine from his special collection, which he never shared with any of his guests.

One night, a woman was invited to stay the night with St. Germain. Apparently, he attempted to bite her neck and in the midst of the chaos, she quickly made an escape right out of the second story window onto the streets. People standing in the streets immediately surrounded her to protect her from whatever made her jump. The authorities were quickly notified. When the police searched St. Germain’s house, he was gone. Investigators discovered he had no food in his home and his special collection of wine was in fact HUMAN BLOOD.

A man who never ages, doesn’t eat, tried to bite a women’s neck, drinks human blood, and disappeared without a trace? Sounds like another vampire to me.

Jacques St. Germain’s story is also alarmingly similar to that of Comte St. Germain, who supposedly died in France in the late 1700s. It is said that they looked alike, and are rumored to be the same “person.”

LaLaurie Mansion

The LaLaurie Mansion, once owned by Nicholas Cage himself, is another regular stop for haunted ghost tours in New Orleans. It is known to be one of the most haunted places in the city. The cruel and abusive Madame Delphine LaLaurie owned the LaLaurie Mansion.

There were rumors that Madame Delphine treated the people she enslaved poorly, but no one really understood the extent of the abuse until a fire that blazed through the mansion in the early 1800s confirmed Madame Delphine’s disgusting behavior.

The fire is rumored to have been started by a tortured slave who was chained to the oven in the kitchen. When neighbors and other New Orleans residents attempted to help get everyone out of the home, LaLaurie refused to give access to the slave quarters. The rooms were eventually broken into, revealing a horrifying sight. Several slaves were found chained up, lying on tables with their bodies mutilated from the tortures of Madame Delphine LaLaurie. Aside from that, the living quarters for the slaves were atrocious and essentially uninhabitable. Beyond inhumane.

It is believed that many slaves died in the mansion from the torment and abuse they received at the hand of LaLaurie. Their ghosts are said to haunt the mansion to this day. Since the fire at the LaLaurie Mansion, there has been a murder there and multiple accounts of paranormal activity inside of the building.

The Andrew Jackson Hotel

The Andrew Jackson Hotel is a charming place to stay in New Orleans … that is, if you like staying in haunted places! The hotel is located on the former grounds of an all-boys boarding school and orphanage from the late 1700s.  

A fire engulfed the orphanage, destroying the building and killing a few of the young boys who resided there. Since then, multiple hotel guests have reported hearing children playing in the halls when there are no children around, and other strange activities that could only be chalked up to the paranormal realm.

Chills ran down my spine before our tour guide even told us we were approaching this haunted stop. When she announced that we had arrived at our next stop, I froze because I felt the paranormal essence immediately. I have always believed in ghosts, but this was my first true experience with a ghostly encounter. Safe to say, I now firmly believe in ghosts and the paranormal.

I don’t want to give away all of the haunted stops along the tours, so I’ll stop my list here. These five places were my most memorable and favorite stops between the two tours. There are so many more fascinating ghost stories throughout the French Quarter, and you’ll be missing out big time if you skip out on one of these tours the next time you’re in New Orleans!

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