New Orleans Cemetery, Spirits, Ghost and Voodoo Bus Tour

The city gets stranger after sunset. This 2.5-hour nighttime bus tour takes you beyond the usual French Quarter stories, with stops tied to New Orleans burial customs, ghost lore, voodoo traditions, Hurricane Katrina, and the abandoned Charity Hospital. I like the mix of history and spooky storytelling, and I like that the tour reaches places you may not visit easily on your own. The main drawback is that some locations are viewed briefly from a group vehicle, so this is not a slow, detailed cemetery walk.

At $50 per person, the tour makes the most sense if you want an easy evening outing with transportation between several dark and difficult subjects. I would especially consider it for first-time visitors, fans of paranormal tales, and anyone curious about how New Orleans handles death and remembrance. If you want dinner, a long cemetery visit, or a strictly academic history lesson, you will need to make other plans.

Key things to know before booking

• Jeff earns special praise as a guide: His storytelling and history are a major part of the experience, and his ability to make unnerving subjects interesting is a clear strength.
• The tour visits the Hurricane Katrina Memorial: This site honors unclaimed and unidentified victims of the 2005 disaster.
• Charity Hospital is a powerful stop: The hospital system, described as the second oldest in the nation, closed after Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.
• You may see Odd Fellows Cemetery: This cemetery appears in the tour’s remembered route and adds a more traditional burial setting to the night.
• Some ritual locations are kept private: Secret burial and ritual sites are shown only to people on this tour.
• The group stays manageable: A maximum of 28 people means you are not being moved around with a giant crowd.

What this New Orleans night tour is really about

New Orleans is famous for cemeteries, but the subject is not just old tombs and ghost stories. Burial customs here grew from local conditions, religious traditions, disease, weather, and the practical need to care for the dead in a city where below-ground burials were difficult.

This tour uses those customs as a doorway into the city’s darker stories. You will hear about cemeteries, spirits, ritual places, and the people connected with them. The supernatural angle is strong, but the route also touches real tragedies, including Hurricane Katrina and the closure of Charity Hospital.

I like that balance. A tour focused only on ghosts can become a string of spooky claims. Here, the memorial and hospital stops give the evening more weight. You are not only hearing about hauntings. You are also being reminded that New Orleans has endured loss on a massive scale.

The bus format helps with the city’s spread-out points of interest. Instead of arranging several rides after dark, you can settle into an air-conditioned vehicle and let the guide handle the route. The tradeoff is simple: you gain comfort and range, but you give up the slower pace and close-up detail of a walking tour.

Meeting at 8:00 p.m. on Canal Street

The tour starts at Premium Parking, P0555414, on Canal Street in New Orleans. The listed start time is 8:00 p.m., so I would arrive early enough to find the meeting point without rushing. Canal Street is near public transportation, which makes the starting point more practical if you are not driving.

Your mobile ticket is accepted as part of the booking process, and confirmation is provided when you reserve. The activity returns to the same meeting point at the end, a useful detail if you are planning a later meal or another evening activity nearby.

The tour lasts about two hours and 30 minutes. That is long enough to cover several locations, but short enough to fit into a single evening without taking over your entire night. Dinner is not included, so eat before the 8:00 p.m. departure or plan a meal afterward.

The group can include up to 28 people. That is not an intimate private tour, but it is also not an enormous sightseeing crowd. The size should allow the guide to address the group clearly while keeping the bus moving on schedule.

New Orleans burial customs after dark

One of the strongest reasons to choose this tour is the explanation of New Orleans burial practices. The city’s above-ground tombs are not simply an unusual visual feature. They reflect local history and the way families and communities have dealt with death over generations.

You will learn why burial traditions here differ from what you may see in other American cities. The subject gives the cemetery visits more meaning, since you are not only looking at old structures. You are learning how local customs shaped the places where people were laid to rest.

I would pay close attention during this part of the evening. The ghost stories may be the material you remember most easily, but the burial information is likely to be the most useful when you later explore New Orleans on your own.

The route may include Odd Fellows Cemetery, which adds a concrete cemetery setting to the discussion. The supplied details do not promise a long walking visit or a full cemetery tour, so you should expect the group to follow the guide’s timing rather than wander freely.

That limitation matters if you enjoy photography or architectural details. You may have a chance to take pictures, but you should not expect unlimited time at each location. The tour is built around several stops and stories, not one extended cemetery study.

The Hurricane Katrina Memorial and the city’s painful memory

The Hurricane Katrina Memorial is one of the most serious stops on the route. It is the final resting place for unclaimed victims who remained unidentified after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

This is not a stop to treat like a standard spooky attraction. The memorial connects the tour’s themes of death and spirits to a recent disaster that still carries deep emotional weight. The site gives you a place to think about the human cost behind the city’s famous ghostly image.

I appreciate the inclusion because it keeps the evening from becoming pure entertainment. New Orleans has plenty of folklore, but it also has recent memories that deserve care and respect. The memorial makes that clear.

You may want to adjust your expectations here. The stop is described as a visit to the memorial, not as a long formal memorial program. The guide’s explanation and the setting provide the context, while the overall tour continues on to other locations.

Charity Hospital, closed after Katrina

The visit to Charity Hospital adds another striking piece of modern New Orleans history. The hospital system is described as the second oldest in the nation, and it closed after Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.

For many people, the appeal of this stop will be the combination of history and atmosphere. An important hospital connected to the city’s past, followed by years of storm-related memory, naturally carries a heavy mood at night. It is the sort of place where the facts matter as much as the spooky feeling.

One piece of practical advice comes directly from the experience: keep your camera ready. The stop may offer atmospheric views, and the unusual setting is one of the places where you might want a photograph. Still, do not assume every picture will be dramatic or that photography is the central purpose of the visit.

The hospital also shows why this tour works better than a simple ghost ride. You are given a real historical setting, a clear date tied to Katrina, and a chance to consider how the disaster changed the city. The supernatural stories gain more impact when placed beside events that actually happened.

Secret ritual sites and the voodoo side of New Orleans

The tour includes secret burial grounds and ritual locations shown only to people on the Spirits-N-Spirits route. This is one of its most distinctive features. You are not simply being taken to the best-known cemetery stops that appear on every city map.

The private nature of these sites creates a sense of discovery, but it also means you should expect limited public detail about them before the tour. The supplied information does not identify the locations or explain exactly how long the group stays at each one. That mystery is part of the appeal, but it also makes the experience harder to judge in advance.

The voodoo element should interest you if you want to hear about spiritual traditions linked with New Orleans. I would approach this part with respect rather than treating it as a cheap scare. Ritual places carry meaning beyond their appearance, and the best version of this tour will give you context instead of reducing everything to a spooky prop.

The guide’s style matters greatly here. Jeff received especially warm praise for telling strong stories and adding history to the stops. His role is not only to point out a location. He helps connect the place to the people, customs, and events that make it important.

Jeff’s storytelling and the tone of the evening

The strongest personal praise goes to Jeff, who is described as an exceptional guide with good stories and a strong grasp of local history. Another comment calls the tour fun, informative, and sometimes unnerving.

That combination tells you what kind of evening to expect. The mood is not grim from start to finish. You will likely get humor, energy, and entertainment along with subjects that can become disturbing or unsettling.

I like that tone for a night tour. If every stop were presented in a solemn voice, the evening could feel exhausting. If every subject were played for laughs, the memorial and hospital would lose their importance. A guide who can move between fun, facts, and darker material is essential.

Still, the experience will not suit everyone. Some people prefer ghost stories to remain playful and fictional. Others may find the mix of real disaster victims, an abandoned hospital, cemeteries, and voodoo traditions too heavy for a casual night out. The tour does not sound like a gentle family sightseeing ride.

Is $50 a fair price?

At $50 per person, I see the value in the transportation and range of stops. You are paying for about two and a half hours, an air-conditioned vehicle, a guide, and access to ritual locations presented as exclusive to this tour.

The price is easier to justify if you would otherwise need several rides to reach the sites. It also works well if you want one organized evening rather than researching cemeteries, memorials, and haunted locations separately.

The value is less clear if your main goal is to spend a long time in one cemetery. A walking tour may offer more time for close inspection, but it may not cover as many different types of locations. This bus tour spreads its time across burial customs, ghost stories, Katrina history, Charity Hospital, and voodoo-related sites.

Because dinner is not included, add the cost of a meal to your evening budget. The tour ends back at the Canal Street meeting point, so you can plan around that without arranging a separate return ride.

Who should book this experience?

I would choose this tour if you want:

• A nighttime activity with a strong New Orleans theme
• Ghost stories mixed with real history
• An introduction to local burial customs
• A look at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial
• A visit connected to Charity Hospital
• A small-to-medium group rather than a huge bus crowd
• An evening that includes voodoo and ritual traditions

I would think twice if you want a quiet, reflective memorial visit with lots of time alone. I would also look elsewhere if you dislike unsettling stories or prefer a tour centered only on architecture, food, or music.

Most people can participate, and service animals are allowed. The activity is near public transportation, which helps with the 8:00 p.m. start. Since the tour requires good weather and a minimum number of participants, plans can change if either condition is not met.

You can cancel for a full refund if you do so at least 24 hours before the start time. Cancellations or changes made inside that window are not refunded or accepted, so keep that deadline in mind.

Should you book the New Orleans Cemetery, Spirits, Ghost and Voodoo Bus Tour?

Book it if you want a well-rounded spooky evening rather than a simple haunted-house ride. The combination of cemetery customs, secret ritual locations, the Hurricane Katrina Memorial, and Charity Hospital gives the tour more substance than a string of ghost claims.

I would give it extra consideration when Jeff is guiding the group, since his storytelling and historical detail receive the clearest praise. Keep your camera ready at Charity Hospital, eat before departure, and arrive early at the Canal Street meeting point.

Skip it if you need extensive time at each stop or if the Katrina and hospital material feels too serious for your vacation mood. For everyone else, $50 buys an efficient, atmospheric introduction to the less comfortable and more compelling side of New Orleans.

FAQ

How much does the tour cost?

The tour costs $50 per person.

How long does the tour last?

The tour lasts approximately two hours and 30 minutes.

What time does the tour start?

The tour starts at 8:00 p.m.

Where does the tour begin?

It begins at Premium Parking, P0555414 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130.

Where does the tour end?

The activity ends back at the meeting point on Canal Street.

Is transportation included?

Yes. An air-conditioned vehicle is included.

What locations are visited?

The route includes the Hurricane Katrina Memorial and Charity Hospital, and it may include Odd Fellows Cemetery, secret burial grounds, and ritual locations reserved for this tour.

Can I cancel for a full refund?

Yes, if you cancel at least 24 hours before the experience start time. Cancellations made less than 24 hours before departure are not refunded. If poor weather or an insufficient number of participants cancels the tour, you will be offered another date or experience, or a full refund.