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 who killed herself is said to roam upstairs. Order one of the potent hurricanes, made with real juices, to calm your nerves. 

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.

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 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 St. 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 muffaletta.

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 ghost 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 that is so often heard running up and down on the third floor. Have an absinthe frappe at the bar and think on that for a spell.