Where to Drink With Ghosts in New Orleans (2025)

New Orleans considers itself the most haunted city in America. And no wonder: The port town was built more than 300 years ago on a bedrock of anguish, from wars and natural disasters to the trafficking of the enslaved and an ample leavening of deadly pestilence.

Ghost tours abound around the French Quarter, leading believers and skeptics on wild ghost chases that put a lighter spin on what are undeniably horrific chapters in New Orleans history. Haunted pub crawls, where tippling is encouraged, are a spooky way to learn about the city’s history. Or consider doing the rounds at these bars and restaurants with some pals to get in the spirit — just don’t be surprised along the way. In New Orleans, where voodoo arts are still practiced and haunted treasures abound, it’s no wonder the natives, dead and otherwise, tend to get restless.

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Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar

941 Bourbon Street, French Quarter

It stands to reason that a bar named for the city’s most infamous pirate would be haunted. Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop was the den of Jean Lafitte, who majored in smuggling with plenty of looting and pillaging on the side. Ghost hunters have seen the man standing in the bar’s dark corners close to the fireplace. Stare at him and he’ll disappear — maybe. The ghost of a woman is said to roam upstairs, too. Order one of the potent Voodoo Daiquiris, made with real juices, to calm your nerves.

Muriel’s Jackson Square

801 Chartres Street, French Quarter

The second-floor bar at Muriel’s isn’t called the Seance Bar for nothing. The restaurant’s site has had a storied and checkered past, with the restless spirits to prove it. Pierre Jourdan built his dream house on the edge of Jackson Square in the early 1800s, only to lose it in a poker game and then throw himself out of a second-floor window. Seems like he’s still hanging around, a glimmer of shimmering light usually seen at the upstairs bar. A poltergeist throws stuff around the courtyard, shadows and voices appear and disappear. Something is up — which is why the owners make peace by keeping a table reserved for Mr. Jourdan set with bread and wine.

Pat O’Brien’s

718 St Peter Street, French Quarter

While Pat O’s is famous for its dueling piano bar and technicolor hurricanes, employees have seen plenty of shenanigans not related to Bourbon Street. Reports of running footsteps, a single piano note being struck — without a player in sight — and a chair being pulled across the floor are all documented. Believe it or not, the ladies’ room is said to be haunted. Funny how all the noise in the next stall isn’t connected to a set of legs. Then again, drink enough hurricanes and anybody will levitate.

The Court of Two Sisters

613 Royal Street, French Quarter

Rumored to be the location of at least three of Jean Lafitte’s bloody duels and the location of Marie Laveau’s voodoo incantations, the Court of Two Sisters is known for more than just an ample jazz buffet. The site of at least one unsolved murder, the touched have reported seeing fairies and sprites partying in the courtyard. Then there’s the wishing well ominously called “The Devil’s Wishing Well,” a reference to Marie Laveau’s dark arts.

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Napoleon House

500 Chartres Street, French Quarter

The Napoleon House was supposed to be an exile home for Napoleon Bonaparte. Instead, it became a grocery store and front for the New Orleans mafia. Whatever goings-on happened at 500 Chartres Street over the centuries, the resulting angry spirits are well documented. From Civil War soldiers to mafia ghosts and even the ghost of former city mayor Nicholas Girod, there’s no telling what might be served on the side of that delectable pressed muffuletta and Pimm’s Cup.

Old Absinthe House

240 Bourbon Street, French Quarter

Ghost City Tours always stop at the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon — and with good reason. The original building, built in 1752 and destroyed in the 1788 Great Friday Fire, was rebuilt in 1806 and operated as a grocery and spirits shop for more than 40 years. A haven of illegal hootch during Prohibition, it’s no surprise that in its 215-year-plus history it’s acquired a few spirited regulars. The ghosts of Jean Lafitte, Andrew Jackson, and even Marie Laveau have been felt here — there’s also the woman in a long white dress and a child who is often heard running up and down on the third floor. Have an absinthe frappe at the bar and think on that for a spell, or head to the back building for a witchy meal at Tatlo, part speakeasy, part Filipino restaurant, and part absinthe den.

Commander’s Palace

1403 Washington Avenue, Garden District

Commander’s Palace is one of the most storied dining experiences in town — you might say it’s hauntingly good. It seems there are a few regulars around the famed turquoise Victorian, from a young girl endlessly coming down the steps to a moody occupant in the ladies’ restroom to lights flickering randomly in the kitchen. The restaurant’s location across from historic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, where more than 7,000 people were buried, might be one reason some diners never leave.