Haunted Hotels > Bourbon Orleans
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Read the ghost story below...
It is said to be the most haunted hotel in the city. In New Orleans, that is saying quite a bit. This active hotel, at least before extensive renovations in 2004, may have you seeing children playing in the halls, or inside guest rooms. You may see other ghosts dancing the night away in the ballroom.
John Davis opened his famed Orleans Ballroom in 1817. Davis wouldmake a fortune by catering to the city's love of dancing and balls. On the neighboring land, Davis built the Orleans Theatre.
Davis would eventually lose his enterprise and a bloody war would destroy the city's nightlife. The great ballroom and theatre that Davis built would fall on hard times - an occasional variety show,ball or theatrical novelty.
Eventually in 1881, the Sisters of the Holy Family, an order of African American nuns devoted to teaching, would acquire the property for a motherhood and school. Where once the halls had rung with music and convivial laughter of opera and beleaguers, for the next 83 years only the occasional sounds of a Latin call would be heard.
Finally in 1964, the Sisters, pressed by a need for expanded facilities would sell the property to hotel interests. New additions would replace some of the structure built by the nuns but the Orleans Ballroom would remain and begin a life more closely attuned to its opulent beginnings.