Bourbon Orleans Hotel

Before becoming a hotel, this building was the beloved Orleans Theatre and Ballroom, hosting European operas for Creole society. In 1881, it became a convent for the Sisters of the Holy Family, the first African-American religious order in the U.S., serving as an orphanage during yellow fever epidemics.

The Bourbon Orleans Hotel occupies one of the most historically significant sites in the French Quarter, a property whose successive incarnations as theater, ballroom, convent, and orphanage have left layers of spiritual residue that make it one of the most haunted hotels in America. USA Today has ranked it among the top ten most haunted hotels in the United States, and the experiences reported by guests over decades suggest that ranking is well deserved.

The story begins in 1817, when entrepreneur John Davis built the Orleans Theatre and added the magnificent Orleans Ballroom, designed by Henry Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol. For decades, the ballroom hosted the grandest social events in New Orleans—masked balls, opera performances, and the legendary quadroon balls where wealthy white men selected mixed-race mistresses. The chandeliers sparkled, the music played, and the city's elite danced through the night.

In 1881, the Sisters of the Holy Family—the first African-American religious order in the United States, founded by Henriette DeLille in 1842—purchased the property. The ballroom became their chapel, with the inscription "Silence, My Soul; God is Here" above the door. They established St. Mary's Academy for African American girls and St. John Berchman's Asylum for Negro Girls, an orphanage that occupied the site of the current hotel courtyard.

When yellow fever swept through New Orleans in the late 19th century, the nuns tended to the sick orphans in their care. Many children died in the epidemic, never recovering from the devastating disease. It seems some of those children have never left.

The sounds of children's laughter echo through the hotel hallways. Guests have felt the backs of their shirts yanked by invisible hands, only to turn and find the corridor empty. The most disturbing reports come from Room 644, allegedly the most haunted room in the hotel. Tortured cries emanate from within, and rumors have circulated for nearly a century that a nun of the Sisters of the Holy Family took her own life in this room.

A Confederate soldier limps through the hallways, his uniform tattered and bloody, bearing the wounds of a battle he did not survive. He has been spotted on both the sixth and third floors, forever wandering the building that once served as a military hospital during the Civil War.

In the famous Orleans Ballroom, the ghost of a lonely dancer has been seen moving beneath the crystal chandelier. Staff report that she hides behind the draperies when not dancing, sometimes shuffling them to startle guests. She seems to be searching for a partner who will never come.

The Bourbon Orleans Hotel embraces its supernatural heritage, welcoming guests who seek encounters with the spirits of nuns, orphans, soldiers, and dancers who once walked these halls. The property was converted to a hotel in 1964, but its previous residents have shown no intention of checking out.