Haunted Hotels of New Orleans

Ghostly soldier enjoy country music

While visiting the city of New Orleans in the US state of Louisiana you can choose to stay at the Hotel Maison de Ville, right in the heart of the popular French Quarter. The main building of the hotel is located on Rue Toulouse where you'll find nine guest quarters.

There is the traditional New Orleans courtyard with a cast-iron fountain. The hotel was constructed on historic former slave quarters and might be the oldest building in the city.

Staying at the Hotel Maison de Ville is like stepping into history and is the place where well-known playwright Tennesee Williams completed "A Streetcar Named Desire." You might like to stay at the Audubon Cottages were James Audubon did much of his painting for the Birds Of America series,

If you would like to meet some ghostly apparitions then stay at Cottage No. 4 which is haunted by a soldier who enjoys country music. Guests have seen him dressed in a military uniform from the 1940s. He shows up and then disappears. As soon as you are settled in your room and turn on the radio the ghostly soldier will tune into a country music station. When seances are held at this cottage the spirit materializes fully and looks just like a live person and says "I need to leave." There are been images of him caught on film and video.

Guests have also seen unexplained wet footprints, women and men dressed in vintage clothing. During the night rapping noises are heard, objects move about and you get your sheets pulled off in the middle of the night. There are also disembodied voices hear and someone or something tugging at the feet of guests.

Gray-haired woman who does not want you to leave

Le Pavilion Hotel has ghostly guests among those staying at the hotel are a teenage girl from the 19th century, from the 1920s a young aristocratic couple, and from the same era a very dapper gentleman who enjoys playing tricks on the cleaning staff.

This hotel was built in 1907 and has been named "The Belle of New Orleans." It is located downtown and at the front door, guests are greeted by 20-foot tall Italian statues that represent Peace and Prosperity. The hotel has lovely crystal chandeliers, historic antiques, and some lively ghosts waiting to meet you.

Some of the interesting things at the hotel are a portrait of a lady of the French Court hanging in the Crystal Room. When the hotel purchased the painting they were told that the painting must never be taken out of New Orleans and that it is the only painting of a woman in the room. The hotel also says it has the largest gas lantern in the US and it hangs on the front porch.

In the Castle Suite, you'll find an impressive hand-carved marble bathtub which was a gift from Napoleon to a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner. You can find a similar bathtub that was owned by Napoleon at the Louvre in Paris, France.

Paranormal investigators have been called in to identify the ghostly spirits staying at the hotel and there are conflicting thought one group thinks four ghosts can be found here and another says more than 100. During the night a ghostly apparition wanders about and stands at the foot of different beds. After midnight bed sheets are given tugs and items disappear to turn up in unexpected places. One guest told the story of a gray-haired woman who sat on the side of his bed and he could feel her weight, her cold hands stroked his head and she said, "I'll never let you go." The guest turned on the light and the spirit faded away but he packed up and left the hotel.

Ghostly apparition of General Andrew Jackson

Another hotel in the city's haunted French Quarter is the Andrew Jackson Hotel. The hotel offers its guests an old-fashioned atmosphere with 18th-century furnishings and spacious guest rooms. Legend has it that on this site used to be an all-boys school that was destroyed in the great fire of New Orleans in 1788. Five boys perished in the fire and can now be found at the hotel.

Guests staying at the hotel have heard children playing in the courtyard during the night even though when you looked it was deserted. Other guests have seen a ghostly apparition that greatly resembles General Andrew Jackson walking through the hotel

Civil war soldiers

Dauphine Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter has a courtyard filled with palms. This is a lovely 18th-century townhouse. At the hotel, you can meet up with Civil War soldiers and their ladies dressed up for the evening at the bar. Once upon a time in the old days, this was a bordello and there is a woman who likes rearranging the bottles behind the bar at May Bailey's Place. A soldier is seen wandering in the courtyard and in the early morning hours and the late afternoon's beds bounce and shake.

Some spooky tales are about knocks on doors and ghostly moans coming from the rooms. The hotel dates back to the 19th century. There is a naughty spirit that likes to lock the doors of empty rooms from the inside and guests have said they have had a feeling of being watched.

May Baily's Place at one time was one of the better-known bordellos in the infamous red-light district called Storyville, it is now the hotel's bar. There is a Bordello guest suite above the bar and it has a red light burning next to it in the courtyard to remind of the sordid history. Guests are given a copy of the license issue in 1857 that made sporting houses legal in the Storyville district of New Orleans.

Ghostly spirit working on Grandfather clock

Hotel Monteleone was built in 1886 and has accumulated its share of ghostly spirits that have been identified by paranormal researchers. There is William Wildemer, a guest who died at the hotel, a ten-year-old boy who liked to play hide-and-seek with another spirit, there are star-crossed lovers and others. They are all more than happy to greet guests.

The traditional European style rooms have seen movie stars, dignitaries, royalty and political figures. The is a Grandfather clock in the hotel lobby that has the ghostly spirit of the maker working on it at various times during the day and night.

Guests have seen a ghostly apparition walking the halls and at the main entrance. One guest told of a man appearing in his room during the New Orleans Mardi Gras season and was only wearing a feathered mask. The naked ghost then turned and disappeared.

Other guests have seen the ghostly spirit of a jazz singer who walks into rooms in the middle of the night, there is a lost child asking for help taking the hand of a guest looking into their eyes and disappearing and supposedly the spirit of the original owner.

New Orleans is a haunted place where ghostly spirits play and reside among the living, There are many more hotels with other stories to tell. If you would not mind sharing accommodations with some ghostly spirits choose the ones you would enjoy meeting and make your reservations.