If you drank in Ann Rice’s books like vampire LeStat sucks ‘type O’ or were spellbound by American Horror Story Coven, you should spend Halloween in New Orleans. With enough spirits to fill several Mardi Gras parades, a legacy of pirates, murderers and Voodoo queens, and historic horror stories to be taken with a big pinch of Cajun spice, it’s a city that lives for the dead.
And that’s especially true in October (Halloween begins way before the 31st), when you can ghost-hunt in old mansions, drunkenly tour cemeteries after dark and party like there’s no tomorrow… Here’s what to do in New Orleans throughout spooky season.
GO ON THE VODOU TRAIL
‘Voodoo’ is a touch Disneyfied in New Orleans, little resembling the religious gumbo — mixing elements of African, Haitian, Cuban, Native American and Catholic beliefs — enslaved peoples brought to Louisiana. But truthful traces of the life-affirming faith can still be found. Vodou queen Marie Laveau was a herbalist who comforted the dying and condemned, alongside selling gris-gris charms and practising mysticism (gossip she overheard at her hair salon making her seem clairvoyant).
Learn about this enigmatic figure, get a psychic or tarot reading, or have a hex removed, at her French Quarter cottage, now the House of Voodoo. The Historic Voodoo Museum debunks wild claims (and offers walking tours) and nearby Congo Square is where Laveau’s frantic dance, drum — and sometimes animal-sacrifice — rituals took place; you may catch a modern take here, and on 2 November the Caribbean Carnival-style Bayou Bacchanal raves through in a whirl of feathers and glitter.
The seven Gates of Guinee — through which top-hatted, skeletal Iwa Baron Samedi can escort you to the afterlife — are said to be most active during holidays, and one can allegedly be found at Laveau’s tomb in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1. They can let unruly spirits in, however, so instead seek guidance through a bone-casting at the Voodoo Spiritual Temple, or DIY with spells, juju amulets and incense from Voodoo Authentica.
ROMP THROUGH CEMETERIES
To preserve New Orleans’ star cemeteries, most must be seen on a tour; but, in keeping with the city’s celebratory communion with the dead, some are more rousing than others, held after-dark where you can BYOB and guides carry EMF readers, just in case.
Alongside Laveau, Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 is home to civil rights hero Homer Plessy, architect turned pirate Barthelemy Lafon, and the pyramid-shaped tomb actor Nicholas Cage bought for when his time comes; and Madame LaLaurie, the notorious slave serial killer, whose mansion (also once owned by Cage) you can visit on Royal Street. Holt Cemetery is poignant for its family mementoes and offerings of beer and beads; the Masonic Cemetery has beautiful stonework symbolism; and St Roch is best known for prosthesis donated by those whose prayers were seemingly answered.
Ann Rice was inspired by Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, using it as a setting in The Mayfair Witches and Interview with the Vampire, even staging her own jazz funeral there to promote Memnoch the Devil. Learn about the jubilant funeral rites that take over the streets — stemming from the African-American belief that you should ‘cry at birth, laugh at death’ — at the Backstreet Cultural Museum. If you’d like an even livelier interaction with the beyond, Hex: the Old World Witchery holds séances.
HAUNTED HOUSES AND THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
Resident ghosts are so prevalent in NOLA that estate agents sometimes specify if a property is haunted or not. Hang with renowned spectres at the Beauregard-Keyes House, haunted by civil war soldiers; and the Ursuline Convent where the strange, pale ‘Casket Girls’ were believed to be vampires. At American Horror Story’s Hermann-Grima House, domesticated spirits sweep floors and scent rooms with lavender; William Faulkner is said to flip pages in his namesake bookshop; and at Le Petit Theatre deceased actors ham it up in the afterlife. Fittingly, it’s showing Murder for Two in October. Gallier House runs a ‘Creole death and dying’ tour from September till November.
The Mortuary on Canal Street’s immersive horror nights have the really very scary election as this year’s theme; and Nightmare on Butterworth is jump-scare central. The Allways Lounge kills it with various camp-horror burlesque nights, while the Krewe of Boo Parade on 19 October is a Mardi Gras-esque procession, sandwiched between costume competitions and late-night partying, where you’ll be showered with plastic spiders and mini pumpkins.
BUY STRANGE THINGS
The costume-less will be damned, so go big — Fifi Mahoney’s has outrageously boo-ffant wigs with horns, spiders or gremlin ears woven in. Dark Garden Corsetry caters for the seductively undead, and Funky Monkey has more out-there vintage looks that could translate to trick or treating.
Stock up on eerie artefacts from the likes of La Belle Nouvelle Antiques, Dark Matter Oddities or Boutique du Vampyre, where you can have custom fangs made. The Island of Salvation Botanica is more of a healing place with herbs and potions; owner Sally Glassman is one of the rare Americans ordained as a Vodou priest (and is also vegan).
DINE WITH THE DEAD
Old habits die party-hard here. Ghosts still frequent their favoured hangouts: if you see a glimmer of sparkling light in Muriel’s séance room, it’s Pierre Jourdan, who committed suicide due to gambling debts and is now so welcome a table stays reserved for him. At Arnaud’s, tuxedo-clad former owner Count Arnaud likes to rearrange furniture and silverware; and cutlery goes walkabout at upmarket Commander’s Palace too.
Court of Two Sisters has a leafy terrace, sherry-sloshed turtle soup and Andouille gumbo, and a pair of benevolent spirits: Emma and Bertha who once ran a notions shop here. Tujague’s cross-dressing, photo-bombing ghost may pop up in your pics from its parade-viewing party on the 19th, and Witches Lunch on the 25th. If you’re too old for trick or treating, Southern Candymakers has themed cookies.
BOOS IT UP
The fact that New Orleans has a whole museum dedicated to a cocktail invented here, shows you just how much they love their liquor. On the 25th at Sazerac House, you can listen to classic Halloween tunes by candlelight as you sip something stiff. Follow a true-crime or drunk-history bar crawl, or toss beads to revellers on Bourbon Street from Cornet’s balcony party.
Watch out for the bottom-pinching spirit at the city’s oldest gay bar Lafitte’s: deceased pirate Jean Lafitte is quite the lush, popping up at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop and the Old Absinthe House. Napoleon House is busy with mafia and sailor spirits, or you can drink cocktails from blood-bags at the Vampire Café. Late, late haunts include the House of Blues, whose Endless Night Vampire Ball runs on Halloween and 2 November’s Día de Los Muertos; and the Queen’s Labyrinth Masquerade Ball at Elms Mansion.
ETERNALLY RESTFUL STAYS
Even in the most luxurious of hotels, the dead won’t rest — the Columns on Charles Avenue is the epitome of bygone elegance, hung with chandeliers and graced with marble columns. Some guests like it so much they allegedly never checked out, such as a lady in white who drifts across the ballroom and a little girl who roams the third floor. Room 10 is supposed to be especially paranormal, but one enterprising spirit likes to play maître’d, even asking guests if they need anything.
Just down the road is the Skeleton House, whose lawn display resembles a necropolis in delightfully camp style, and also nearby is Hôtel Peter and Paul, which seems spook-free, but is set in a 150-year-old Catholic church with a few stories to tell — you can hear some of them as part of its Holy Ghosts project, documenting voices from the past. If you’re all spooked out for the night, snooze soundly at Hotel Henrietta — it’s the first new building to be erected on Charles Avenue in decades, so you’ll only find high spirits at happy hour.
Find more hotels in the US where you’re guaranteed a treat, or continue the celebrations into Mexico for Día de Los Muertos