Witches Brew New Orleans Ghost Tour: Honest Review

If you’re planning a visit to New Orleans, then learning about its spooky history is a must. With a fascinating past and rich culture, its witchy undertones are a huge part of what makes New Orleans, well, New Orleans.

About the New Orleans ghost tour

This roughly one-and-a-half to two-hour tour took us through the French Quarter, which if you’re unfamiliar, is a gorgeous historic neighborhood in New Orleans. If you’ve ever seen photos of New Orleans’ characteristic wrought-iron balconies with hanging green plants and colorful European-esque buildings — it’s probably here.

Whether it’s with or without a tour, the French Quarter is definitely a neighborhood you’ll want to explore during your New Orleans itinerary. 

Not only is it super beautiful, but it’s filled with intriguing (and spooky) destinations. 

From Jackson Square to the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, plus legendary local figures like Voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau to the infamous vampire Jacques St. Germaine, there’s a ton to learn about while here.

Every tour is different, as each tour guide gets to craft their own route. 

So while I can’t say for sure what I potentially missed out on or what you’ll definitely see, I really enjoyed the route that our guide, Chris, took us on. 

While I sadly didn’t see any ghosts, we did get to see a number of spots that have had ghostly encounters, such as Muriel’s Restaurant in Jackson’s Square, which sets up the same table with a glass of wine every night for the ghostly presence of the building’s former owner, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan. (You can even request to be seated with Pierre, but reservations apparently book up months in advance, so check out this guide for other restaurants to try if you’re in need of some other restaurant ideas.)

The Andrew Jackson Hotel has also had a number of crazy ghost encounters that stuck with me — such as one couple who after developing their roll of film from their trip, wound up with photos taken from the ceiling of them while they were sleeping. 

But I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll stop there. And I’ll leave it to you to determine what’s real or what you think actually happened in each of these spots. (But if you ask me, they are definitely haunted.)

If you’re a fan of shows like “American Horror Story,” “Interview with a Vampire,” or “The Originals,” you’ll also be in luck, as our tour also showed a number of places that were either used as filming locations or that served as inspiration. 

We also made a quick bar stop, since in the French Quarter, you can walk around with drinks. But this was the adults-only tour, so I’m going to guess that doesn’t happen on the family-friendly tours.

👻 Book your spot in the Witches Brew tour before spots run out!

Pros and Cons

I really enjoyed the tour with Witches Brew, and personally learned a lot, which is exactly what I was looking for. 

While walking around on your own and looking things up is fun too, there’s so much that wouldn’t even cross your radar without a tour.

Our tour guide, Chris, was also great, and kept things engaging the entire time. 

Honestly, I had no complaints! 

There are a couple things that you should keep in mind, though, before you go ahead and book.

At one point, another person on our tour asked my friend and I if we also had expected more of a “scary” tour. So, if you’re looking for jump scares or anything like that, you may be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you’re traveling with young kids, some of the stories may be too disturbing — I went on an adults only tour, so I can’t speak to how the content may differ at all, but it’s something to be aware of.

If you’re set on visiting certain locations, you also may not love it, since like I mentioned, the tour route can vary depending on which guide you get.

Also, we didn’t get to go inside anywhere, but I wasn’t expecting to do that. It did give me a couple ideas for places I wanted to check out on my own though, like the Voodoo Authentica cultural center, which is another reason I always enjoy walking tours.

Lastly, the sidewalks especially particularly in the French Quarter are not in the best condition. So, if you have any issues with mobility or walking around for a while, this probably won’t be the best choice for you. 

(Either way, you’ll definitely want to pack comfortable walking shoes for NOLA.)

But if you’re just looking to learn more about the culture and darker history of New Orleans, then I think it will be exactly what you’re looking for. 

I knew hardly anything about local history before visiting, and I definitely gained a ton of interesting insight, which is what I wanted from the tour.

For example, who knew there was actually a current vampire community in New Orleans?? 

I also was really interested in learning about Voodoo and its influence on New Orleans. So while I’d also recommend checking out the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum to learn more, this tour also gave a great overview of it and its connection to the city’s roots.

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