Halloween is an awesome time to visit New Orleans, and Frenchmen Street is the PERFECT place to dance, people watch, enjoy live music & have great drinks- so book your Bon Moment Nightlife tour today!
I recommend only a few French Quarter restaurants to people (beyond the tried and true and few hidden gems, there's a lot of tourist traps) and Muriel's on Jackson Square is one of them. But I know people come to New Orleans because we like to get spooked and hope for a brush with the paranormal. So, I tell people to at the very least, have a cocktail in the Seance Lounge on the second floor- you'll know it by the boudoir lighting and oh, there's a sarcophogus. Before it was a restaurant, it was a home- here's the story of the haunting of Muriel's as told by the great tour company Ghost City Tours :
"Most of the ghost stories associated with Muriel’s revolve around one of the past owners of the building in which Muriel’s resides. Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan bought the property sometime after one of New Orleans’ huge fires, this one in 1788, called the Good Friday Fire. Jourdan stepped in and bought the damaged property from Marigny and set forth restoring the home to its former glory.
Jourdan spent the rest of his life in this grand home. He was, rightfully so, very proud of this home, one of New Orleans’ finest. So, why is Jourdan still haunting this building? Maybe it has something to do with the love he had for his home. Or how he lost the house...
It is said that in 1814 he wagered his home in a poker game. After losing the house which he lived most of his life in, the house he spent a fortune restoring and renovating, he fell into a deep depression. He committed suicide on the second floor in the area that served as the slave quarters, the same area where Muriel’s Seance Lounges are situated today.
Although Jordan is considered to be the main ghost, he’s not the only spirit residing at the Restaurant. Muriel’s also has a slightly mischievous ghost in the Courtyard Bar that roams the property. Numerous times, glasses have flown from behind the bar 12 feet across to the brick wall and shattered.
Many paranormal investigations have occurred over the years with several reports stating that they’ve seen unexplained strange shadows while hearing unknown voices nearby. The most activity comes from the Seance Lounge, where very distinct knocks on the brick wall may interact as communication. Audio of a female’s voice has also been discovered when no female was present. If you ask anyone who works at Muriel’s they will almost certainly tell you that they firmly believe that the resident ghosts at Muriel’s are harmless, and can sometimes be very entertaining. Those who have seen or felt a presence have never felt threatened."