Ghost Cities · Louisiana
We run walking tours in Arizona, and we research haunted history everywhere. This is our honest local guide to New Orleans: the tours worth booking and the stories behind them.
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Our top picks in New Orleans
The classic all-in-one: a night walking tour of the Quarter's ghost, voodoo, and vampire lore with a knowledgeable guide, stopping at heavyweights like the LaLaurie Mansion and the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.
The only ghost tour offering cemetery access after dark. While other routes stay in the Quarter, this BYOB bus heads into the silent Cities of the Dead to walk the above-ground tombs by night. It books out for a reason.
A bar-hopping route through the city's haunted side: the LaLaurie Mansion, believed to be the most haunted spot in town, plus drinking time inside Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, said to be the oldest bar in the country.
More worth a look
The Yellow Fever walk leans into the epidemic years that filled the city's cemeteries. Evening departures from the Quarter cover Pirates Alley, the Marie Laveau House of Voodoo, and the infamous LaLaurie Mansion.
Three centuries of turmoil, scandal, and murder in one French Quarter walk at sunset, visiting historic buildings known for their bloody records and the residents said to remain.
A costumed guide leads this ghost-and-pub crawl through some of the South's oldest buildings: Pat O'Brien's, the Cornstalk Hotel, the French Market, St. Louis Cathedral, and Pirates Alley, with drink stops along the way.
Ghosts, vampires, witches, voodoo, and unexplained mysteries in a single walking tour. The efficient pick for a first visit: one guide, one evening, the whole dark catalog of the Quarter.
A ghosts-and-spirits walk through the Quarter's dark corridors, visiting the Jackson Brewery and the Bourbon Orleans Hotel while your guide explains why paranormal investigators keep coming back to this city.
A haunted history walk through the Vieux Carre's most infamous addresses, told by a local guide who separates the documented record from the legend. You will see the old Quarter in a more ominous light after.
The true-crime option: dark side streets, the home of a famous voodoo practitioner, and a bar with a long file of reported activity, with the grim circumstances behind each story told under cover of night.
A straightforward walking tour of the French Quarter's most haunted locations. Short on frills, strong on the city's scariest history.
No American city carries a haunted resume like New Orleans. Three centuries of fires, epidemics, piracy, and scandal soaked into the French Quarter's old walls, and the culture kept the stories alive: voodoo with Marie Laveau at its head, vampire legends that refuse to die, and above-ground cemeteries the locals call Cities of the Dead. The LaLaurie Mansion alone would put most cities on the map. We are Arizona tour guides who research haunted history everywhere, so read this as our honest shortlist for Louisiana's crown. The ranked list lives in our guide to the best haunted tours in New Orleans.
The LaLaurie Mansion is the one your guide will save for last: widely called the most haunted spot in town, its story is grim enough that the telling is usually done on the sidewalk, after dark, with some care. Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen, is the second thread; her legend runs from her old haunts in the Quarter to her tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, the city's oldest. The third is Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, said to be the oldest bar in the country and attached to enough pirate and vampire lore to fill its own tour. Around them orbit the Casket Girls, the Hotel Monteleone's playful Maurice, the boys of the Andrew Jackson Hotel, and the Bourbon Orleans.
Decide what you want more of: cemeteries, cocktails, or coverage. The ghost, voodoo, and vampire walk is the classic all-in-one, hitting the LaLaurie Mansion and the Pharmacy Museum with the full sweep of the city's lore. The BYOB cemetery bus tour is the only route with after-dark cemetery access, which changes the experience entirely. Drinkers pick between the haunted pub crawl, which pairs the LaLaurie story with Lafitte's, and the costumed ghost-and-pub walk past Pat O'Brien's and the Cornstalk Hotel. The Yellow Fever walk leans into the epidemic years via Pirates Alley and the Marie Laveau House of Voodoo, true-crime types take Killers and Thrillers, and the 5-in-1 covers ghosts, vampires, witches, voodoo, and mysteries for the undecided. Plan the rest with our guides to haunted New Orleans, things to do in New Orleans, and where to stay in New Orleans.
Practical notes: most tours run after sunset and the Quarter's stones are uneven, so wear real shoes. Family-friendly and adults-only departures both exist; check before booking. Cemetery visits outside a licensed tour are restricted, which is another argument for the bus.
Layered catastrophe and unbroken memory. Three centuries of fires, epidemics, war, and scandal happened inside buildings that still stand, and traditions like voodoo kept the stories in circulation rather than letting them fade. The result is a city where the tours barely need embellishment.
The LaLaurie Mansion, by broad agreement; it is believed to be the most haunted spot in town, and its history explains why. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, home to Marie Laveau's tomb, and Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop round out the podium.
Only one route here offers after-dark cemetery access: the BYOB cemetery and ghost bus tour. The above-ground tombs by night are a different experience from any daytime visit, and it is the reason that tour books out.
Family-friendly departures of the walking tours exist and keep the material manageable. The pub crawls and BYOB bus are adult by design, and the true-crime Killers and Thrillers walk earns its warnings. Match the tour to the crew.
The One State Where We Hold the Lantern
Everywhere else, we write the guide. In Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott we lead the tour, nightly, in person, with five generations of Arizona roots behind every story.