If you travel down the Mississippi river, all the way to the swamps of Louisiana, you will find a shining city full of mystery, lore, and the faint feel of the supernatural: New Orleans. New Orleans has a long history of being haunted, as one of the oldest cities in the United States, it’s no wonder that New Orleans has collected some friends from beyond the grave. The original natives of this region called New Orleans “balbancha”, meaning land of many tongues, as the city attracted people from all over the world due to their abundance of navigable waterways used for early trading. Years of the city being used as a waypoint for traders, natives, and settlers, has made it a cultural melting pot of various cultures, and their myths and legends. This blog will tell you about all the spooky secrets that wait for you in New Orleans and if you dare decide to visit this haunted city, booking a tour with Crescent City Tours will be the best way to see the historically significant sites of New Orleans.
New Orleans has a deep history with cemeteries. As one of the oldest cities in the United States, many people have lived (and died) in the great city of New Orleans, and because of the swamp and marshland New Orleans sits on top of, deceased people couldn’t be buried underground (cause they would… resurface). Thus, the inhabitants of New Orleans started burying their dead loved ones above ground in intricate mausoleums and structures. This practice quickly caught on and became the norm for New Orleans cemeteries, and with a history that stretches back to 1718, you can imagine the cemeteries quickly filled up. Today, New Orleans has 45 cemeteries within its parish full of unique sculptures and burial structures.
New Orleans is home to a lot of cemeteries, but the oldest and most famous of them all is the St. Louis cemetery in the French Quarter. The cemetery was built in 1789 in the heart of the French Quarter. Having a central location in the quarter made the St. Louis cemetery, a popular graveyard for the residents of early New Orleans. Now, St. Louis cemetery is one of the oldest and most visited cemeteries in the country, however, due to frequent break ins and vandalism, the public are not allowed to visit, except when escorted by a professional on a guided tour. The gravesite hosts some of New Orleans most famous characters like the voodoo queen Marie Leveau and the first mayor of New Orleans.
New Orleans is notoriously haunted. The city has been the host of ghosts, ghouls, and the like ever since it was built. For some reason, the energy around New Orleans has an eerie vibe, and whether you attribute that to its dated architecture or actual ghosts, New Orleans still stands as one of the most haunted places in America. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, you cannot deny the long history of New Orleans from the indigenous populations of the Mississippi delta to the French occupation, to being a pivotal port of the slave trade in colonial America, even to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has proven to have a tumultuous past. Unfortunately, like any other colonial state in America, Louisiana has been the site of bloodshed and tragedy. The French Quarter was one of the earliest settlements of New Orleans and when you explore its streets you are exploring the same streets where the enslaved people were traded and bloody battles were fought. Moreover, with New Orleans being such a large hub of trade, a lot of different people were brought to the city along with their culture and traditions. Voodoo was introduced to the streets of the French Quarter during the slave trade and today, you can still see the remnants of voodoo practicers in the quarter. Additionally, due to its age, the French Quarter has been the home to many departed souls who sometimes linger around the streets and homes of this neighborhood.
The Louisiana country is full of swamp and marshlands, and Louisiana folklore is rich with swamp creatures who lurk deep in the swamp. If you hear a Cajun talking about the dangers of the swamp, it would be wise to listen to them, because chances are they know the swamp better than any outsider. Within the swamp you may stumble upon the Rougarou, a swamp shapeshifter who comes out during full moons, or you may run into a Feu Follet, or swamp fairy. These creatures call the swamp their home and they have been there long before anyone or anything. Now, if you are still skeptical about the mythical creatures that reside in the swamp and want to see a real monster, Crescent City Tours offers actual New Orleans swamp tours where you can get very familiar with the secrets of the swamp. While we can’t promise you will see a mythical creature, we can almost guarantee that you will see a very real alligator!
New Orleans has a harrowing past with its relationship with the slave trade. Due to the abundance of navigable waters and access to the Mississippi River, New Orleans was a hotspot for trading enslaved people to work on plantations around the American South. The fertile swamplands of Louisiana proved to be a lucrative site to farm crops and exports, and enslaved people were forced to work in these sites called plantations. The history of plantations around New Orleans is both gut-wrenching and humbling; there are a few plantations adjacent to New Orleans that were former homes of enslaved people who worked tirelessly to farm crops for their masters. Visiting a plantation gives you a keen insight to the lives of slaves in the shameful years of early America, and Crescent City Tours’s plantation tours offer you a chance to witness firsthand and sympathize with the lives of former slaves living in these plantations.
As you can see New Orleans has a brutal and expansive history which is why it is one of the most haunted places in the world. Peruse the grand structures of a New Orleans cemetery filled with intricate mausoleums and famous historical figures, or dare to go on a ghost tour around the French Quarter where you learn about the tortured spirits who still call this area home, or scope out some swamp creatures and try to spot the elusive Rougarou, or learn about the lives of former slaves in colonial Louisiana by touring a plantation. New Orleans has no shortage of haunting history and if you are someone who has always been intrigued by the macabre, Crescent City Tours is your gateway into the tantalizing tales of New Orleans.
The American Alligator Welcome to the fascinating world of the American alligator, scientifically named the Alligator Mississippiensis! This remarkable reptile has captivated the imaginations of people for centuries, leading to fascinating folklore and myths. Known for their prehistoric appearance and impressive size and presence, American alligators are often seen as symbols of the wetlands they […]
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