In the New Orleans French Quarter, it’s hard to deny that spirits walk among us. Because of our complex history, our hauntings are infamous; and since we have a festival for just about everything else, it’s about time we had a Paranormal Festival. The newly-restored, historic Bourbon Orleans Hotel is ready to fill that void with the first annual weekend-long New Orleans event, Ghost Camp.
September 12 through 15, New Orleans’ most haunted hotel and the New Orleans Ghost Hunters (in partnership with Grey Line Tours) have organized an entire weekend of chilling events where the worlds of the living and the dead collide. The weekend of unsolved mysteries kicks off with an opening night party at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel bar May Baily’s Place, which was a seedy brothel in the Storyville days, and is home to the spirit of Millie, “the Lost Bride” of the Dauphine Orleans Hotel. As the weekend continues, the New Orleans Ghost Hunters serve as your fearless leaders and guides through a séance, seminars about communicating with spirits, French Quarter ghost tours, an ominous gala dinner, and even a ghost photography contest to share your findings with other festival participants.
If you are itching to meet a ghost, Ghost Camp is the perfect opportunity; and if you stay at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel through this supernatural weekend, you could meet the ghost of a confederate soldier who died there when the building was a convent serving as a hospital during the Civil War. Or perhaps you’ll have a run-in with the ballroom dancing girl who has haunted the historic Orleans “Quadroon” Ballroom for centuries. If you’re a skeptic, this could be the weekend that changes your mind; and if you’re a believer, you could get a taste of New Orleans history from the tortured souls who once lived it.
