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It is yet another story of love hoped for and then lost. A slave wanted to marry her master, but he was against the idea. Still, he challenged her that if she could spend the night naked on top of his house in the French Quarter, he would marry her. Not thinking she would take this challenge seriously, he played chess with a friend that evening. However, the slave girl, seeking to prove her love, climbed to the top of the roof, naked, on a cold December night. When the master arose the next morning and went to awaken the slave, her bed was empty. He went to the roof and found her dead body. On cold December nights, ghostly appearances of the naked slave, known as the Octoroon Mistress or the Naked Ghost, and a sad man seated alone, near the window, playing chess or a card game, are said to haunt the area still.

What comes to mind when you think of New Orleans, Louisiana? Do you automatically conjure up imagines of Mardi Gras, Cajun food, and good jazz? Perhaps you think about the French Quarter or the Mississippi River. New Orleans is more than Bourbon Street and world-renowned restaurants. The city holds promises of mystery and intrigue for travelers adventurous enough to explore its darker side. New Orleans, a city that was built below the sea level, embraces stories of voodoo, hexes, and vampires as an integral part of their traditional folklore. Considered one of America’s most haunted cities, the celebration of life and death is a large part of New Orleans’ colorful past and present.

The business of death is very much “alive” in New Orleans, and there is no better place to whet your appetite for fear than in the French Quarter, one of America’s oldest neighborhoods. Daily—and sometimes twice a day—popular ghost or haunted tours guide both believers and the innocent unknowing on a walk through the darker side of the Quarter.

"I think the fascination with the ghost tours in New Orleans lies not in the ghosts themselves, but in the ambiance and environment of the Vieux Carre,” said Craig Guillot, freelance writer and resident of New Orleans. “Walking through some of the dark streets, between buildings with wrought iron gates that are centuries old already invoke a ghastly presence. When you add in the cemeteries, a bloody past, and a history of social problems, the back alleys of the Quarter become one big paranormal freak show.”

Take the ghost story of one known as “The Deadly Dentist.” The building that is now the Coffee Pot Restaurant in the Quarter once housed a dental office in the 1850’s. Here Dr. Xavier Deschamps experimented with drugs and hypnotism as a form of anesthesia, and his practice and curiosity led him to an interest in communicating with the dead and holding seances. Legend says he used his “anesthesia” techniques on female patients and then had his way with them. One of his female patients was believed to have physic abilities. Deschamps, through “anesthesia,” forced the girl to assist him with seances, but his efforts to communicate with the dead failed. Angered, Deschamps beat the girl to death. He was arrested and executed for the murder, and soon after, ghostly imagines began to appear. People have reported seeing a ghostly man sadistically abusing a girl, and the owners of the Coffee Pot Restaurant have also reported ghostly occurrences, such as having a strange voice call to them or pots and pans moving without explanation.

The tours focus on the well-known ghost stories, but Guillot points out that many of the locals have a ghost story or two about confederate soldiers, murder victims, and slain hookers of their own.

“Ghost tours are very popular with tourists because they are unique in that we blend history, actual documented hauntings and present it in an entertaining fashion complete with props, costumes, and very theatrical guides,” said Kalila Smith of Haunted History Tours. “Each story is unique, interesting and intriguing.”

“The LaLaurie Mansion is considered to be the most haunted house in the city,” said Smith. “We have had over 25 people faint in exactly the same place outside of the house.”

The LaLauries, a socially toasted couple in the Quarter were said to have a dark side that was unknown to their friends. Stories say they routinely starved and beat their slaves. Then Dr. LaLaurie continued the torture by conducting unusual medical experiments on them. Their hideous activities were discovered when a fire broke out in the house. The couple fled the town and was never caught or brought to justice. Since then, people have claimed to see apparitions of tortured slaves, to hear screams in the night, and to see visions of a woman—perhaps Mrs. LaLaurie—with a whip in her hand.

Other popular haunting tour stories include:

• The Ghost of the French Opera (also known as the Witch of the French Opera) Like many ghost stories, this story is a typical story of lost love—the story of an older woman who had a younger lover who in turn chose a younger mistress. Naturally, the older woman became upset, and the woman killed herself. Her ghost still returns to kill her lover and his mistress. It has been said that she has been seen walking at night from the French Opera House to a boarding house where the murders took place.

• The Sultan This story tells of a Turkish Sultan who was fleeing his homeland and his brother, who was the Sultan of Turkey in the 1800’s. Both took refugee at the empty home of an executive in the French Quarter in New Orleans. As the story goes, during a storm in the city, a strange ship docked at the port for a day and then left. Neighbors noticed that the house was quiet and the gates were open.

Upon entering the estate, they discovered slain slaves, decapitated harem girls, and a murdered Sultan, who was buried in the garden. No one knows who committed the horrendous crimes, although some suspect it may have been an act of revenge because the Sultan escaped Turkey. In years since, people have reported hearing strange music coming from the house, along with screams and footsteps. Some have even seen the ghostly appearance of the Sultan himself.

Need more haunting treats? At the Andrew Jackson Hotel on Royal Street, which originally housed an orphanage, guests have reported hearing children laughing and running down the hallways late at night. Locals claim no business is known to thrive in the first floor of a building located between Chartres Street and St. Ann’s in the Quarter. Some people claim to have seen an apparition of a man from the turn-of-the-century that lost the building in a bad business deal. The first floor was also used as a slave holding area before slaves were taken to auction in years past. Visitors can still see the impressions of the manacles used, and the hall leading outside is very cold. Could the building be cursed?

Piqued your interest and appetite for more ghoulish fun? In addition to ghost tours, cemetery tours are also extremely popular; not only because of their intriguing history, but also because of the way they are built. As a city below sea level, New Orleans is prone to flooding and during a flood; newly buried caskets would pop out of the ground and float down the road. To combat this, the city builds their graves above ground, thus creating what is referred to as “cities of the dead.” There are about 42 cemeteries in New Orleans, and tours are offered daily, all with interesting tales and stories. It is best to view the cemeteries in a tour group since they are located in high crime areas.

"There are many sights that you can visit on your own, but be careful walking around at night. It’s not the ghosts you have to look out for—it’s the criminals,” Guillot said. If you enjoy paranormal lore, New Orleans is the perfect place to visit. “A variety of tours cover voodoo, the cemeteries, and ghosts all in one shot,” according to Guillot. “These are worth looking into since many of the topics overlap in the individual tours anyway. I recommend taking one of these tours upon arrival so that you can get a historical background of New Orleans’ dark side and a feel for where everything is."

There are many intriguing haunts to check out beyond the city limits, as well.

About 30 miles outside of Baton Rouge in St. Francisville, the Myrtle Plantation Bed and Breakfast, is considered one of the most haunted houses in the region. Not only are tours and mystery weekends offered, but guest can also stay overnight, along with about twelve restless spirits. Situated in a very southern setting—amid moss-draped oaks and crepe myrtle trees—this mansion, built back in the late 1700s, sits on top of an old Indian burial site.

During a visit or overnight stay, you might have an encounter with the ghost of “Chloe,” the woman who was governess to the early 1800’s owner’s Woodruff children and one of many lovers of the adulterous Judge Woodruff. The tangled love story tells that after Judge Woodruff stopped their affair, he cut off her ear when he caught her listening in on a business meeting. She got her revenge by presenting a poison-laced cake as a gift on the eldest daughter's birthday. Two of the children and the Mrs. Woodruff died from eating it. The outraged slaves of the plantation hanged Chloe from a high tree. Chloe’s ghost still walks through the mansion at night, awakening guests by lifting the bed’s mosquito netting and staring at the bed’s occupant, as if she is looking for someone.

There have also been sightings of little girls peeking into the windows of the mansion, perhaps the children of Woodruff who died from the deadly birthday cake.

Still another tale tells the story of William Winter who owned the plantation in the late 1800’s. One evening, as he stepped outside the mansion, an unknown man shot him in the chest. Winter was able to make it back into the house and dragged himself up to the 17th stair where he died in his wife’s arms. At night, it is said guests can hear Winter relive the last moments of his life.

These are the stories of just a few of the many ghosts said to inhabit the mansion. If you are a true ghost fan, stay the night to hear more stories and see how many you encounter…

New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the state of Louisiana offer the paranormal follower a plethora of haunted houses, cemeteries, and haunted stories. Take time to take a tour or two. You won’t walk away disappointed. You might not walk away alone, either. Happy Hauntings!

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