New Orleans: French Quarter Ghost & True Crime Night Walk

4.72

(905 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I remember is the way Bourbon Street’s neon bled onto the wet pavement, making everything look a little warped. Our guide—her name was Simone, I think—had this way of lowering her voice right before she’d tell us something grim. We started near the Pharmacy Museum, where the air smelled faintly medicinal, like old wood and rain-soaked herbs. Someone in our group asked if ghosts really hung around here. Simone just grinned and said, “You’ll see.”

We ducked into side streets that felt too quiet for New Orleans. The stories got darker as we walked—murders, disappearances, things that made me glance over my shoulder more than once. At one point we stopped outside The Cabildo, and Simone pointed out a window where someone supposedly still watches at night. I tried to snap a photo but my phone glitched (probably just bad luck…or maybe not). There was this moment when a street musician’s trumpet echoed down an alley and it gave me chills for reasons I can’t explain.

I didn’t expect to laugh as much as I did—turns out hearing about old crimes with strangers makes people weirdly friendly. Someone tried to pronounce “gris-gris” and Simone nearly doubled over laughing. The tour lasted about 90 minutes but honestly felt shorter; time bends when you’re wandering under gas lamps listening to stories that might be true. By the end, I kept thinking about how many layers this city has, how much of it stays hidden unless someone points it out.