Stories
Hotel MonteleonePhoto: ajay_suresh, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Walking tour · New Orleans

Haunted French Quarter Walking Tour

Ghostly streets and the history beneath the legends

55 min8 stops1.1 mi

Start the walk

Stop 1 is free, no sign-up. All 8 for $4.99, refunded within 7 days if it isn't for you.

See the 8 stops

The 8 stops

  1. 1Start hereFree

    Hotel Monteleone

    The Cobbler Who Built a Tower

    Free sample · 3:06
    0:003:06

    You're standing on Royal Street in the French Quarter, in front of the Hotel Monteleone. Tip your head back and take in the height of it. In a neighborhood of two- and three-story buildings with iron balconies, this hotel includes the only high-rise building in the interior of the Quarter. And the man who started it all fixed shoes for a living.

    Antonio Monteleone was a cobbler from Sicily. He arrived in New Orleans around 1880 and set up shop right here on Royal Street, which back then was a center of commerce and banking. In 1886 the shoemaker bought a small hotel on the corner of Royal and Iberville. When the nearby Commercial Hotel came up for sale, he bought that too.

    Then the building grew, and grew. Thirty rooms were added in 1903. Three hundred more came in 1908, and the name changed from the Commercial Hotel to Hotel Monteleone. Antonio died in 1913, and his son Frank took over. In 1928 Frank added another 200 rooms. His timing was awful: the stock market crashed the next year. But the family held on, and the hotel was one of the few family-owned hotels in the nation to survive the Depression.

    Now the catch: that 1886 date is the family's beginning, not the building's. In 1954 the original building was demolished and a new one laid out in its place. More floors and a rooftop terrace came in 1964. So the tower you're looking at is younger than many of the people who swear it's haunted.

    And they do swear. Guests and staff tell recurring stories of elevators acting on their own, of children seen where no children should be, and of apparitions in the halls. Those are stories, and they're part of the hotel's reputation. What is documented is the family: five generations of Monteleones, from Antonio to Frank to Frank's son Bill to Bill's son William Jr., who took over in 2011.

    The literary crowd came too. Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner made a point of staying here, and the hotel turns up in books by Eudora Welty, Williams and John Grisham. Truman Capote once claimed on The Tonight Show that he was born in the Hotel Monteleone. He wasn't. His mother lived here while she was pregnant, but she made it to the hospital in time.

    If you step inside, find the Carousel Bar, installed in 1949. Its 25 seats ride on 2,000 large steel rollers, pulled by a chain powered by a motor of just a quarter horsepower. It makes one full turn every 15 minutes. Slow enough that you barely notice, and quick enough that, after a drink or two, you might swear the room has moved.

    When you're ready, walk northeast on Royal Street, about 460 meters and seven minutes, to the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, where the shelves still hold the kind of remedies that make a ghost story feel unnecessary.

The whole walk

8 stories across New Orleans

55 min · 8 stops · 1.1 mi

Starts at Hotel Monteleone and ends at Beauregard-Keyes House.

  • Plays right here in your browser, or in the app
  • One purchase for your group, on up to 4 phones
  • Refunded within 7 days if it isn't for you

Plan your walk

    How long

    About 55 min for 1.1 mi with all 8 stories. Going inside the sites adds time.

    Start and finish

    Starts at Hotel Monteleone and ends at Beauregard-Keyes House.

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    Questions people ask

    Can I take a self-guided ghost tour in New Orleans?

    Yes. This walk plays a story at each of eight French Quarter stops, from Hotel Monteleone to the Beauregard-Keyes House, pairing each ghost story with the history behind it. Start any time, including after dark.

    How long does the French Quarter ghost tour take?

    About 55 minutes in all, walking 1.1 miles and listening to all eight stories.

    Is the LaLaurie Mansion on the tour?

    Yes, it's the sixth stop. It's a private home, so you see it from the street and hear what happened there in 1834.

    Where does the tour start and end?

    It starts at Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street and ends at the Beauregard-Keyes House, across Chartres Street from the Old Ursuline Convent.

    What stops are on the route?

    The eight stops, in order, are Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, The Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, LaLaurie Mansion, Old Ursuline Convent and Beauregard-Keyes House.

    Do I need the app?

    No. After you unlock, the tour plays right here in your browser: keep the screen on and tap each stop. The free Stories app adds GPS auto-play, so each story starts by itself when you arrive, with your phone in your pocket, and works offline.

    How many people can listen?

    One purchase covers your group on up to 4 phones. Share the link from your receipt, or everyone can sign in to the app with the same email.

    Does it work offline?

    In the app, yes: download the tour on Wi-Fi before you go. In the browser you need a signal, which is fine on most city streets; open the tour once before you leave.

    When can I start?

    Any time. It is self-guided, so there are no departure times and no group to keep up with. Pause for coffee and pick up where you left off.

    Can I give this tour as a gift?

    Yes. Tap "Give it as a gift", type their email and a note, and pick the day it arrives (Christmas morning works). They open it in their phone's browser; you get the receipt.

    Can I get a refund?

    Yes. If the tour did not work for you, email support@getstories.app within 7 days and we will refund it.

    Who made this tour?

    Stories writes each tour from public sources, checks every claim against them, and narrates it with a synthetic voice. The sources are listed at the end of this page; if you spot a mistake, tell us at support@getstories.app.

    About this tour and its sources

    You're standing on Royal Street in front of the Hotel Monteleone. Look up. This hotel includes the only high-rise building in the interior of the French Quarter, so it's an easy landmark to find your way back to.

    New Orleans tells ghost stories the way other cities give directions. Point at almost any old building and someone will tell you who still lingers there. On this walk, we'll hear those stories, and then we'll ask a simple question at each door. What actually happened here? Sometimes the truth is gentler than the legend. Sometimes it's far worse. In a few places, the real history involves enslaved people whose suffering has been turned into entertainment, and we'll tell those parts plainly, with their names where the records keep them.

    We'll pass the Cabildo, the cathedral, a blacksmith shop that may never have belonged to a pirate, and the old Ursuline convent. Along the way, we'll stop at 1140 Royal Street, where the records name Bonne, a cook and laundress, and her four children.

    One more thing about the hotel in front of you. It began with a shoemaker: Antonio Monteleone, a cobbler from Sicily, who bought a small hotel here in 1886. Let's start there.

    Written from public sources, every claim checked against them, narrated by a synthetic voice. Last checked October 2026.

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