Trifter

As the nation’s oldest city, it is no surprise that many tourists (and potential tourists) worldwide take interest in New Orleans and its many whispers of the past, compiled of the bounteous voices of history, tradition, and culture. On a daily basis, both visitors and locals alike remain in perpetual awe of the city’s unparalleled cultural fusion of architecture, cuisine, music, and other countless relics that has been the inspiration of artists, novelists, film makers, and the like for generations. The old world charm and historic existence pre-dating that of our very nation is certainly no secret of New Orleans.

With a history so old and full of wonders, however, it is an inevitability that a multitudinous number of secrets would be conceived over time. Part of my research for my dance company, The Cave (which was named after America’s first night club and is not a reference to “cave dancing”) has turned me into somewhat of an amateur historian, as I explore the depths of my own family’s history in the Crescent City dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. Many secrets have been uncovered during the process.

Haunted hotels was a subject that came up in my search for information regarding the Hotel Grunewald (now the Roosevelt-Waldorf). The hotel was originally built and owned by my great-great-great grandfather and is one of the oldest in the city. I began my research for The Cave’s inaugural dance production prior to Hurricane Katrina, during the hotel’s tenure as the Fairmont. The dance work in progress was tentatively entitled “Ghosts of the Fairmont,” and would tell the origins and history of the hotel through dance. For inspiration, I sought out accounts of paranormal happenings over Google, and came to a list of New Orleans’ haunted hotels.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your personal perspective) my family’s old hotel was not among those said to be haunted, however, the Monteleone, another pioneer hotel in the area, owned by a family whom my family knew (their burial sites in the Metairie Cemetery are actually adjacent to one another), did make the cut, along with others.

The Monteleone

Like the Grunewald Hotel, the Monteleone has enjoyed a long history as a 4-diamond hotel that has been host to A-list celebrities in the shape of movie stars, royalty, and politicians. Unlike my family’s hotel, the Monteleone also allegedly bears a distinction few other hotels can claim. Its many historic hallways have also been under the footsteps of more than half-a-dozen spirits according to paranormal researchers.

To the hotel’s guests and staff, this was no surprise; they’d been experiencing strange encounters for years, but out of fear of tarnishing this grand hotel’s reputation as a sought-after home-away-from-home for tourists, these ghostly visions were not officially made public until fairly recently. Luckily, the spirits’ interaction with guests is reported to be friendly, with mischievous acts including opening doors and moving soap.

One of the spirits, believed to be floating through the hotel’s lobby, is especially overpowering, if not malevolent. Rumor has it that the hotel’s coffee shop is locked every afternoon, yet the door has a tendency to frequently fly open, followed by the passing of a cool breeze. This phenomenon was originally thought to be just wind until one day an employee bolted the door shut, which still did not prevent it from flinging open, between six and eight o’clock in the evening.

(Visit the Monteleone’s official website)

1891 Castle Inn of New Orleans

When the current owners took over in 1998, the hotel’s staff reported the sighting of a male apparition standing by the window of Room 11. Subsequently, guests and employees continued to experience strange and unexplained happenings. Objects moved alone, electric lights and appliances flickered off and on by themselves, as did faucets in empty bathrooms. Brief glimpses of a translucent man standing in the corner of the front porch late at night were also reported.

The owners believe the hotel is home to two ghosts. Though exact dates are hard to nail down, both spirits, who probably died over a hundred years ago, are believed to be of historical significance.

The first is described as a bald, light-skinned black male who loved ladies and music and had an out-of-control drinking and smoking habit. A servant and horse carriage rider, this figure was a real prankster during his lifetime. He accidentally killed himself during a smoking and drinking binge, when a fire ensued, due to either smoking in bed or knocking over a heating pot, and he was too drunk to collect himself, and thus suffocated to death.

Guests of the Castle Inn often see the prankster servant man in mirrors and out of the corner of their eyes. Very much like his real-life personality suggests, his ghostly counterpart loves to play with radios, mirrors, TV ceiling fans, and lights, and can be heard coughing and whistling in hallways. One particular guest, his wife found themselves “victims” of one of his pranks when they lost their travel receipts and found them in the microwave after they’d searched their entire room inside-out.

The second of the Castle Inn’s apparitions is that of a child, a little girl who had drowned in a small pond on former grounds of a local plantation, before it was subdivided to make room for a rapidly-growing New Orleans. She dons a white dress and is always barefoot, wandering the neighborhood in search of her mother. Though the Castle Inn doesn’t appear to be her permanent residence, she visits frequently, toying with water faucets and brushing female guests down their legs (which, according to guests, feels as if they’re being brushed by a cat). Guests also regularly see little bear feet running up and down the hallways.

The staff of Castle Inn report that the previous owners claim they’d never experienced anything out-of-the-ordinary during their management of the hotel. In addition, it is noted that guests are not frightened by what they have seen, but rather “perplexed and bemused.”

(Hotel is being sold; visit official website here)

Wyndham Bourbon Orleans Hotel

Like many historic hotels in such a historic city, the Bourbon Orleans prides itself as one of New Orleans’ best. In addition to offering unique luxury with dedicated service in a stellar location, there is one other feature in which the Bourbon Orleans outdoes the rest. Overlooking Orleans and Bourbon streets, this historic French Quarter hotel is said to be the most haunted in the city. So far, seventeen ghosts have been spotted, many of whom are said to be children playing in the corridors or inside guest rooms. Others are caught dancing the night away at the ballroom, a room which is a legend in and of itself.

The hotel’s palatial ballroom was opened in 1817 by John Davis, who’d made a fortune years prior by accommodating the Crescent City’s love of dancing and balls when he built the Orleans Theatre on neighboring land. Davis had lost the enterprise during the war of 1812, which had destroyed New Orleans’ nightlife, and only an occasional theatrical novelty was produced in that dark period.

Sisters of the Holy family took over the property in 1881. They were an order of African-American nuns devoted to teaching, and used the structure for motherhood and school. For the next 83 years, the sound of an occasional Latin call would be heard down the halls. The sisters sold the property to hotel interests in 1964 and new additions were built. Though many of the structures built by the nuns have since been replaced, the ballroom still remains.

(Visit the Wyndham Bourbon Orleans’ official website)

Le Pavillion

Le Pavillion is considered to be the most historic of New Orleans’ string of French Quarter hotels (though as a descendant of a family who established a French Quarter hotel at at earlier date, I have to argue that view!). The hotel was built in 1907, and is well known for its timelessly ornate and breathtaking decor, which includes a plethora of priceless oil paintings. A paranormal team has also identified four ghosts living within Le Pavillion’s gilded walls.

The first of these spirits is a frightened and confused adolescent girl named Eva, Ava, or Ada (depending on the source). She is believed to have lived during the 1840’s and was preparing to board a ship when she was struck by the vessel and killed.

Also seen are a young aristocratic couple from the 1920’s and a dark-suited man from the same era who has been known to play pranks on the hotel’s cleaning staff.

(Visit Le Pavillion’s official website)

Omni Royal Orleans

Yet another familiar picture of French Quarter luxury, this triple-A, 4-Diamond hotel, located just minutes from Bourbon Street and Jackson Square, is reported to be haunted by an 18th century maid – who has been known to occasionally tuck guests into bed!

(Visit Omni Royal Orleans’ official website)

Dauphine Orleans Hotel

Located in the heart of the French Quarter, the Dauphine Orleans boats such historical jewels as Audubon Cottage, the site from which John James Audubon painted his famous “Birds of America” series and fourteen spacious patio rooms, originally crafted in 1834 to serve as the town home of prosperous merchant, Samuel Hermann. With the hotel’s original structure established in 1775, the Dauphine Orleans is one of the few hotels whose history spans anywhere close to that of the Crescent City itself (which founded in 1718).

The hotel’s center location is known as May Bailey’s, which was once a bordello. This is where the spirit of a woman re-arranges bottles in the bar, as a soldier wanders through the courtyard. This soldier is one of several apparitions of American Civil War soldiers reported to have been seen. May Bailey’s bordello was originally located in Storyville, the highly infamous “red light district.” The guest suite above the site has a red light burning in the adjacent courtyard as a testimony to its history.

The hotel even embraces its haunted reputation, offering a special ghost expedition package for guests.

(Visit Dauphine Orleans’ official website)

Hotel Maison de Ville

The Maison de Ville is famous for its Audubon Cottages, traditional New Orleans courtyards, and the history several of its guest room buildings bear as formal slave quarters, which pre-date the establishment of the hotel itself by fifty years and speculated to be the oldest standing buildings in the city.

Country music fans would definitely be intrigued by the paranormal activity the Maison de Ville has experienced. Inside Cottage #4 apparently dwells the spirit of a soldier who has a penchant for loud country music. The ghost was discovered roughly twenty years ago, simultaneously, by a guest and an employee of twenty-three years. As the staff member was letting the guest into the cottage, both saw a man in a military uniform. Reportedly, there was a chill in the air, and after both parties shook a bit, the apparition disappeared. The employee also notes that each time she changes the cottage’s radio station to a classical station, the soldier spirit changes it to a country station as soon as she leaves.

(Visit Maison de Ville’s official website)

Pontchartrain Hotel

A cherished landmark of the historic Garden District established in the 1920’s, the Pontchartrain Hotel is said to be home to number of ghosts, including a pair of sisters who once owned the building. The sisters are joined by the spirit of a famed countess, and a man some believe was a vampire.

Hotel Provincial

This elegant hotel is located in the lower French Quarter was once a confederate hospital. Its holistic military past still haunts its corridors and buildings in the form of many confederate soldiers and doctors, who tend to congregate most in building #5.

(Visit Hotel Provincial’s official website)

These hotels, of course, are simply a small taste of New Orleans’ hauntings. With my family’s old hotel having just been renovated and re-opened, I find myself hoping in some tiny measure that maybe some of its past spirits will be awaken, especially since they were able to unveil and restore countless artifacts and physical features of the building dating back to the hotel’s genesis that were re-discovered throughout the renovation process. Even with no family intrigue, however, it is safe to say New Orleans is most definitely the place to be if you ever desire an encounter with spirits from the city’s fascinating and intriguing past.