New Orleans Ghost Tours

French Quarter Ghost Walks

This is the classic New Orleans ghost tour and most of the listings on this page are it. You meet your guide in or near the French Quarter after dark and walk roughly a mile or two of the same blocks, stopping outside the LaLaurie Mansion on Royal Street, the Old Ursuline Convent on Chartres and, on some routes, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar on Bourbon. All stops are seen from outside unless the listing says otherwise.

The exceptions matter. The Tour Orleans walk includes one visit inside a private haunted building, which no other walk here matches. Ghost City Tours caps groups at 9 with at most 6 per booking, the smallest groups on the page. The Tours by Foot walk is the family friendly option, 1.5 hours starting and ending at St. Louis Cathedral with a 5.0 rating from 15 reviews. Prices on these six walks run from $21 to $37 and lengths from 1.5 to 2 hours.

Adults Only True Crime and Voodoo

Two listings shut out anyone under 17 or 18 and use the freedom to go darker. The Streets of Sin walk is the stand-out: 1 hour 45 minutes from the black fence in Jackson Square across from St. Louis Cathedral, adults 17 and over, groups capped at 28, $38, and a perfect 5.0 from 2,113 reviews. Check-in opens 30 minutes early and the walk leaves on time, so late arrivals are not accommodated. Alcoholic drinks are available to buy at the last stop.

The Hottest Hell walk starts under the arch at Armstrong Park or on Esplanade Ave, runs 1.5 to 2 hours at $37, and no one under 18 is allowed because of the adult content. It changes weekly, so no two tours match, and you can choose a version where guides carry handheld projectors to recreate scenes. It ends on Ursulines Ave. Note that drinks shown as included are vague in the listing, and the Lafitte's stop is optional for an extra fee.

Night Bus Tours to the Cemeteries

No French Quarter walking tour takes you inside a cemetery, because the famous ones sit outside the Quarter. The buses solve that. The NOLA GhostRiders BYOB tour leaves VooDoo Tavern and Poboys on Decatur St at 5pm, 8pm and an 11pm option, runs 2 hours at $30 and carries up to 56 people to actual graveyards after dark, with a driver-guide commenting on above-ground burials. Bring your own drinks and dress smart casual. Check-in is 30 minutes early.

The Haunted History bus is the pricier choice at $45 for 2 hours from 740 N Rampart St, departing 7:00 PM or 9:30 PM nightly with an air-conditioned bus and a licensed guide. Arrive 20 minutes early, and treat food and drink as extras since the listing contradicts itself there. Both run in rain or shine, and both include the cemeteries that walkers never reach.

Mule-Drawn Carriage

One listing skips walking entirely. The Royal Carriages tour is a 1 hour mule-drawn ride through the French Quarter mixing history with ghost stories, capped at 8 passengers, at $65, the highest price on the page, with a 4.6 rating from 2,615 reviews. Children 4 and under ride free on a lap, and the listing groups guests as 13 and up for standard pricing.

You meet at the Red Umbrella at Jackson Square and check in with a representative at least 15 minutes before your reservation. Two warnings from the listing: boarding can take 15 minutes or more, and late arrivals miss the ride with no refund and no second chance. The tour may be cancelled for flooding or lightning and otherwise runs in rain, so bring weather-appropriate clothing. It suits anyone who wants the haunted stories without a mile of standing on cobblestones.

The Official Cemetery Walk by Day

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, founded in 1789, is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and the resting place of Marie Laveau. Since 1 March 2015 entry is limited to relatives of the dead, scholars and visitors with a guide registered with the Archdiocese. You cannot wander in alone, day or night.

The Basin St. Station official tour is the way in: 55 minutes at $25, groups up to 20, meeting at the Cemetery Tours Desk inside the Basin St. Station visitor center where you receive a Cemetery Tour Access Pass. Check in 15 minutes early. The route passes the tombs of Marie Laveau and Homer Plessy. Be clear on what this is: it is history, not ghost stories. The listing itself bills the after dark version as not a ghost tour. If you want frights, take a night bus. If you want to stand at the Voodoo Queen's tomb and hear the real story, this is it.

Compare the Walks

Most ghost walks in New Orleans cover the same few blocks after dark, so the stops rarely decide it. This table compares the six French Quarter walks on price, length, meeting point and audience, using the figures from each listing.

The Pick: The Witches Brew Walk

New Orleans Haunted Ghost, Voodoo and Vampire French Quarter Walking Tour is the pick. It costs $33, runs 1.5 to 2 hours and has 4.5 stars from 3,243 GetYourGuide reviews, the most of any walk here. It starts at the Witches Brew Gallery in Exchange Alley at 311 Exchange Pl and passes Muriel's Jackson Square, the Old Ursuline Convent, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum and the LaLaurie Mansion before finishing outside Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar.

It runs in English, rain or shine, and partway through there is a 10 minute restroom and refreshment break about 1 hour in. Food and drinks are not included in the ticket price, so plan to pay your own way at the break. Reservations can be held with free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.

Itineraries vary by guide, so no two walks are the same. Bring comfortable shoes and cash.

Lowest Price: The Vampire Walk

Ghost and Vampire Walking Tour of the French Quarter by French Quarter Phantoms is the cheapest at $21 for 2 hours, rated 4.7 from 2,547 Viator and Tripadvisor reviews. It splits its time between ghost stories and New Orleans' self-declared vampire community, including the supply shop where members buy their fangs. The route covers darkened French Quarter streets and the LaLaurie Mansion.

It meets at the Voodoo Lounge at 718 N Rampart Street, where the operator runs a box office and asks you to arrive at least 10 minutes early, with 6pm and 8pm departures. Groups are capped at 28. Alcoholic drinks and gratuities are not included.

Children must be accompanied by an adult and the minimum drinking age is 21. Wristbands cannot be switched once assigned, so tell the operator at check-in if your party booked separately.

The One That Goes Inside

New Orleans French Quarter Ghost Tour with Interior Visit by Tour Orleans is the only walk here that takes you inside a haunted building. The operator says its licensed guides have access to one private haunted location, while the other stops are seen from outside. It costs $37 for 2 hours, rated 4.5 from 1,110 GetYourGuide bookings.

The walk starts at the office at 620 Decatur St #600 and runs past Jackson Square, Muriel's, the Old Ursuline Convent, the LaLaurie Mansion and Pirates Alley, with a break at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar. Nobody is in costume and there are no jump scares, the listing says, just storytelling. The route can change because of parades and construction.

The listing is unclear about which items in its Includes list, such as drinks and gratuities, are extras, so ask before you rely on them. Start times are not stated, the times show when you check availability.

Smallest Groups

The Ghosts of New Orleans Tour by Ghost City Tours caps groups at 9, with a maximum of 6 people per booking, the tightest limit here. It costs $29.99 for 90 minutes and is rated 4.7 from 722 reviews. The walk starts at the storefront at 809 Royal Street and covers haunted French Quarter locations, though the listing gives no stop list.

It departs within walking distance of the cruise port. The operator asks you to call its office to reconfirm your tour. Children must be accompanied by an adult, and parties of 10 or more go through the operator's group sales coordinator.

Gratuities are not included. Free cancellation applies up to 24 hours before departure.

Highest Rated of the GetYourGuide Walks

New Orleans French Quarter Ghosts and True Crime Tour by Lucky Bean Tours is rated 4.8, the top score on GetYourGuide, though from only 26 reviews. It costs $30 for a listed 2 hours, with the description saying 1.5 to 2 hours, over about 1 mile of French Quarter streets. The mix is ghost stories plus true crime, including the Axeman and Madame LaLaurie.

It meets at 721 St Philip St, and your guide sends a text message before the tour with contact details so you know who to look for. The listing is inconsistent on the minimum age, saying ages 6 and over in one place and 12 and up in another, and children under 6 are not suitable. Smoking, pets and unaccompanied minors are not allowed.

Start times are not stated, the times show when you check availability.

The Family Option

Dark Side of New Orleans: French Quarter Ghost Tour by Tours by Foot is the family friendly pick. It costs $29 for 1.5 hours and holds a perfect 5.0 from 15 reviews, a small sample. The walk starts and ends at St. Louis Cathedral at 615 Pere Antoine Alley and passes Muriel's, the Hotel Provincial, the Old Ursuline Convent, the LaLaurie Mansion and the Andrew Jackson Hotel, with every stop seen from outside.

The listing calls it a family-friendly nighttime tour and a small-group experience, and a reviewer says their tweens loved it. Some locations appeared in American Horror Story: Coven. No minimum age is stated.

Start times are not stated, the times show when you check availability.

Why Nobody Goes Inside the LaLaurie Mansion

The LaLaurie Mansion at 1140 Royal Street is a private residence. It can only be seen from the street and is not open for visits or tours, which is why every ghost walk here stops at the fence and tells the story from the sidewalk. The documented history is dark enough.

Delphine LaLaurie bought the property in 1831 and the mansion was finished in 1832. A fire broke out in the kitchen on 10 April 1834, and rescuers found bound and mutilated enslaved people in the attic. The New Orleans Bee reported finding seven people, more or less horribly mutilated, suspended by the neck.

A 70-year-old cook chained to the stove admitted setting the fire, and a mob then heavily damaged the house. The gruesome details people repeat today were added in later retellings such as Jeanne DeLavigne's 1946 book and have no primary source behind them. Modern claims of up to 100 deaths are not supported.

Historical records show 12 documented deaths of enslaved people in the household between 1830 and 1834.

The Two Adults-Only Walks

Two tours here bar children outright and use the freedom to tell darker stories. The table lists both side by side, with prices, lengths, age rules and meeting points from the listings.

Streets of Sin: The Top-Rated Walk Here

New Orleans Adults-Only True Crime and Ghost Walking Tour by Streets of Sin is the highest-rated walk with real volume, a 5.0 from 2,113 Viator and Tripadvisor reviews. It costs $38 for 1 hour 45 minutes and is strictly 17 and over because of the adult content. Check-in opens 30 minutes before the scheduled time at the black fence in Jackson Square, across from the entrance of St Louis Cathedral.

Look for the check-in flag that says Streets of Sin. The tour starts on time and late arrivals cannot be accommodated. Groups are capped at 28.

The route covers French Quarter crime and dark history, though the listing gives no stop list. Intoxicated travelers are not permitted, and alcoholic drinks can be bought at the last stop but are not included. The listing also offers a morning Coffee with Killers tour and a Way of the Wicked tour as options.

Wheelchairs are fine, service animals are allowed.

Hottest Hell: The Projector Walk

New Orleans Ghost, Crime, Voodoo and Vampires Guided Tour by Hottest Hell Tours costs $37 for 1.5 to 2 hours and allows nobody under 18 because of the adult content. You choose between a standard walk and the option with HELLVISION, where guides carry handheld projectors to recreate scenes along the route. Tours change weekly and no two are the same.

Meeting points are 801 N Rampart St, under the arch of Armstrong Park, or 400 Esplanade Ave, depending on the option booked. The walk finishes at 623 Ursulines Ave. The route covers Louis Armstrong Park, the Old St. Peter Street Cemetery site, the LaLaurie Mansion and The Haunted Hotel, with an optional stop at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar for an extra fee.

Intoxication is not allowed. Only 197 reviews so far, at 4.7, and the listing says it is likely to sell out. Start times are not stated, the times show when you check availability.

The Crimes and the Voodoo Behind These Walks

The Axeman case anchors the true crime half. Between May 1918 and October 1919 an attacker chiseled out back door panels and used victims' own axes or razors, mostly against Italian immigrant grocers. About a dozen attacks over 17 months.

A letter dated 13 March 1919 promised to spare any house where a jazz band was playing, and on that night the dance halls filled and no one was killed. The case was never solved and no suspect was ever named, whatever the tour says. The voodoo half runs through Marie Laveau.

She was born on 10 September 1801 in New Orleans and died on 15 June 1881. Popular sources often give 1794 as her birth year, but the records support 1801. She worked as a hairdresser, herbalist, midwife and Voodoo practitioner.

A municipal ordinance in 1817 limited dancing by enslaved people to Sundays in designated places, mainly Congo Square, where visitors recorded 500 to 600 people dancing and drumming. Read more in the stories.

Why the Tombs Are Above Ground

New Orleans buries its dead in above-ground tombs because the city cannot dig reliable graves. The high water table, fed by the Mississippi, Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain, made in-ground burial unreliable. By the 1820s oven tombs, called fours, and family tombs were the norm.

A tomb cannot be reopened for at least a year and a day, and earlier remains move to a receiving vault, a caveau, at the bottom of the tomb to make room for the next. The tourism board names these cemeteries, along with the fires of 1788 and 1794 and the yellow fever epidemics, as the reasons ghost lore thrives in the city.

Which Cemetery You Can Enter, and How

Not one of the French Quarter walks gets you inside a cemetery, and St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 has been closed to walk-ins for years. The table shows what entry each of the main cemeteries allows.

The Night Bus Tours That Reach the Dead

Two night buses get you out of the Quarter and toward the cities of the dead. New Orleans Dead of Night Ghosts and Cemetery Bus Tour by Haunted History Tours costs $45 for 2 hours in an air-conditioned bus, departing 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM nightly from 740 N Rampart St. Arrive 20 minutes before departure. The licensed guide covers murder, betrayal and urban legends, including the street once called the port of missing men, and the listing says the ride reaches haunted locations and the cities of the dead. Food, drinks and gratuities are not included. Cemetery and Ghost BYOB Bus Tour in New Orleans by NOLA GhostRiders costs $30 for 2 hours, with 5pm, 8pm and an 11pm special from VooDoo Tavern and Poboys at 1140 Decatur St. Arrive 30 minutes early for check-in.

It is BYOB, takes up to 56 people and gives live commentary on above-ground burials as the bus visits actual graveyards after dark. Neither listing states that its bus enters St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 at night, and neither gives a stop list.

The Official Walk Inside St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 Official Walking Tour by Basin St. Station is the way in. It costs $25 for a 55 minute guided walk and is rated 4.6 from 4,717 Viator and Tripadvisor reviews. You check in 15 minutes ahead at the Cemetery Tours Desk inside the Basin St. Station Visitor Information Center at St. Louis Street and Basin Street and receive a Cemetery Tour Access Pass.

Groups are capped at 20. The route covers the paths between the tombs, including the tombs of Marie Laveau and of Homer Plessy, the civil rights plaintiff. A day tour and an After Dark Night Tour run at the same length, and the night version is billed as history for curious minds rather than a ghost tour.

Gratuity for the guide is not included. Visitors once drew three X marks on Laveau's tomb and turned three times to wish. The marks are now banned.

The Archdiocese and Save Our Cemeteries spent $10,000 restoring the tomb after it was found painted pink with latex paint in 2013, restoration ended in 2014 and the Archdiocese then restricted entry to approved tour groups.

One Hour Behind a Mule

New Orleans Small-Group Haunted History Carriage Tour by Royal Carriages is the only ride here with no walking at all. It costs $65, the highest price on this site, for a 1 hour mule-drawn carriage ride past haunted French Quarter locations with a licensed guide. Groups are capped at 8.

You check in with a Royal Carriages representative in a red company shirt at the Red Umbrella at Jackson Square at least 15 minutes before your reservation, and late arrivals miss the ride with no second chance or refund. Boarding can take 15 minutes or more. The tour runs in rain but may be cancelled for flooding or lightning.

It suits travelers with limited mobility, anyone worn out by the August heat, and people who would rather hear the ghost stories from a bench than stand on a curb for two hours. Children 5 to 12 pay a child rate, infants up to 4 ride free on a lap, and wheelchairs can be accommodated if you tell the operator at booking.

Carriage Against the Typical Walk

The carriage trades time and money for comfort. The walk is cheaper and longer on your feet, the ride is faster and seated.

The Stories and the Record

Most ghost tours in New Orleans walk the same French Quarter blocks and stop at the same houses. The table below sets each story beside what the record actually shows, so you can hear a guide's version and know where the line sits. The stops barely separate the walks.

How the story is told does. The Witches Brew walk passes most of these sites in 1.5 to 2 hours for $33.

The LaLaurie Mansion: Legend and Record

The LaLaurie Mansion stands at 1140 Royal Street at the corner of Governor Nicholls Street. Delphine LaLaurie bought the property in 1831 and the mansion with its attached slave quarters was finished in 1832. On 10 April 1834 a fire broke out in the kitchen. Rescuers found bound and mutilated enslaved people in the attic, and a 70-year-old cook chained to the stove admitted setting the fire in a suicide attempt.

The New Orleans Bee reported finding seven people, more or less horribly mutilated, suspended by the neck. Modern retellings claim up to 100 deaths in the house. Historical records show 12 documented deaths of enslaved people in the household between 1830 and 1834. The gruesome details people repeat today were added in later retellings such as Jeanne DeLavigne's book of 1946 and have no primary source behind them.

Up to 4,000 people are said to have viewed the victims afterward, and a mob then heavily damaged the house. Delphine LaLaurie fled by schooner to Mobile, Alabama and then on to Paris, where she died in 1849. The building was rebuilt after 1838, so its current look dates from that rebuild. It later served as a high school, a music conservatory, apartments, a youth refuge, a bar and a furniture store. Nicolas Cage bought it in 2007 for $3.45 million and lost it to foreclosure in 2009. It has changed hands since and is a private residence today. It is a private residence, visible only from the street, and no tour goes inside. Both the Tour Orleans walk and the French Quarter Phantoms walk stop at the exterior.

Fire, Fever and the Old City

The Great New Orleans Fire of 21 March 1788 destroyed 856 of about 1,100 structures. It began around 1:30 p.m. on Chartres Street, and priests refused to ring church bells as an alarm because it was Good Friday. A second great fire on 8 December 1794 destroyed 212 more structures. After the fires, Spanish rule rebuilt the city in brick and stucco with courtyards, arcades and wrought iron balconies. That is why the French Quarter looks Spanish rather than French. St. Louis Cathedral was dedicated in 1794, two weeks after the second fire, and the Cabildo and the Presbytere were built after the fires. The Ursuline Convent survived the 1794 blaze.

Yellow fever did the rest. The tourism board names the fires of 1788 and 1794, yellow fever and the above-ground cemeteries as the reasons ghost lore thrives here. The 1853 epidemic killed 8,647 people across Louisiana, with 230 deaths reported on a single day in August. One in five Irish immigrants in the city died that summer. Open wooden cisterns bred the mosquitoes, though no one knew it until Walter Reed's commission confirmed the link in 1900. The last outbreak in New Orleans came in 1905 and killed 452 people.

The Vampire Stories

The best known vampire legend in New Orleans belongs to the Old Ursuline Convent. The casket girls, or filles a la cassette, were young French women sent to Louisiana to marry, named for the small chests that held their clothes. The first group reached New Orleans in 1728. Ghost tours claim the convent attic held vampires inside the caskets of the casket girls. Historians say little documentation exists for the story as it is popularly told, and the Ursuline order has denied that it chaperoned the girls. The vampire tale is a modern legend.

Anne Rice made the city the fictional capital of vampires. She was born in New Orleans in 1941 and Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976, with the film following in 1994. Her novels are fiction, but they shaped what visitors expect to hear. She staged a coffin stunt at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in 1995, and that film was shot in the same cemetery. Her Garden District house at 1239 First Street can be seen from the street. Rice is buried at Metairie Cemetery.

Sunset Times by Month

The table below shows approximate sunset in New Orleans across the year, drawn from published sunrise and sunset data. In December, dark falls before 5:30 PM, so any tour feels like a night walk. In June, sunset is after 8 PM, so a walk that leaves at dusk spends its first stretch in daylight.

The listings rarely print exact departure times, so check availability for the times on your date.

Heat, Hurricane Season and Halloween

August is hot and humid, with highs in the low 90s F and heat indexes that can pass 100 F, so an evening walk still carries the day's heat. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November and peaks around 10 September. Most listings offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before, so booking early in the season is low risk.

Halloween is the busiest stretch of the year. The Krewe of BOO! parade rolls before Halloween and is free to watch, and the weekend of Halloween events draws big crowds. Book any French Quarter walk well ahead for those nights. Some tours run rain or shine, such as the Witches Brew walk, while the carriage ride can be cancelled for flooding or lightning.