Abandoned & Haunted Places in New Orleans

LEARN ABOUT THE HAUNTED PLACES THAT HOUSE THE GHOSTS OF NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans Ghost Adventure

To our imaginations, nothing is as captivating as abandoned places, whether it's the creepy boarded-up house at the end of the block, an empty warehouse that smells musty, or a dilapidated park with a broken, rusty swing. It doesn't matter if they actually have ghosts or not, the hair still stands on end and gives you a chill, it will still run through and give you goosebumps, and you will still turn around to make sure there is no one behind you.

Here Are Our Top 3 Abandoned and Haunted Locations in New Orleans

 Jazzland/Six Flags of New Orleans

  In 2002, Jazzland became Six Flags New Orleans and brought life and joy to East New Orleans, until it was devastated and inundated by that storm. Yes, you know the one, Katrina. The park has sat empty for years, enduring legal battles between Six Flags and the city, with redevelopment plans failing time and time again. As a result of neglect, Jazzland has become the pinnacle of creepiness. The stuff of real nightmares, a place for all the world's rejected demented clowns to come together, in this crumbling land of dis-fun. The Joker's equivalent of Bat-Cave, it's everything I could have wanted and much, much more. Tim Burton doesn't even have an imagination for what's in store for anyone who takes a look at what has become Nightmareland.

Although several attempts have been made to rebuild the park in the years since Katrina, these "attempts" have never worked. However, the site has become famous all over the world and is now on the bucket list of many people, from urban explorers and photographers to paranormal investigators. Whatever your goal when entering, remember that you run the risk of not only encountering something quite unsettling but also the local Paul Blart – Park Cop. Which, honestly, could be more scary.

New Orleans' Six Flags has become home to only two things in the past decade: urban explorers and their ghostly residents.

When you walk through the area, you immediately feel a presence, you can feel the eyes of someone or something looking at you, while the laughter of children and the whistles of the past echo throughout the park. According to reports, some have heard metal banging and engines breaking, the rides in the park are in the mood to give visitors a chilling rush. Upon entering some of the buildings, you may not expect to hear anything, just a quiet but eerie silence, but this is not the case as there are ghostly whispers emanating from all sides.

In some areas of the park, the lights have been known to come to life, an odd fact considering there is no electricity throughout Jazzland. Are these light-charging anomalies the result of spirits who have found a refuge after life in the desolate theme park? If so, that would explain the distinctive presence you feel as you enter, which will seemingly follow behind you all the time. The urge to look back will linger for days, long after your trip to the Jazzland Desert, as if the ghosts of the park have decided that maybe you are their next diversion.

Photographer Skip Bolen spoke about his visit to the haunted Jazzland, stating, "Having never been there before, I was immediately overwhelmed by its desolation and abandoned attractions, as I had previously documented abandoned homes right after Hurricane Katrina, and every year for five years, so I was completely intrigued."

Another photographer, Keoni Cabral, felt the same way: "I saw the haunted lines of his empty roller coaster from the Ninth Ward off Interstate 510 while playing tourist in 2009 and begged a friend to stop and investigate. We found an open door, infiltrated it, and proceeded to sneak through the spooky, 'end of the world' zombie setting. An adrenaline-pumping experience I will never forget. It was like exploring an adult junkyard theme park haunted in ecstasy, Disney's ailing criminal cousin. In a good way... I could have spent days, if not weeks, taking pictures in the lonely grounds."

Until the city decides to do something with Jazzland, it seems like it will continue to be run by urban explorers and the ghosts that call it home. Oh! And by the way, we advise you not to embark on your own supernatural adventure in Jazzland.

Lindy Boggs Medical Center

 A Catholic order of nuns called the Sisters of Mercy opened the facility as Mercy Hospital in June 1953. They had operated a hospital on Annunciation Street in New Orleans' Lower Garden District since 1924, and in 1949 purchased the land in Mid-City, with plans to build a new 219-bed hospital. In 1993, Mercy merged with Southern Baptist Hospital, and the two facilities operated their respective campuses as Mercy + Baptist. Tenet Healthcare later purchased the Mid-City facility and renamed it in honor of Lindy Boggs, who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and later as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.

The Lindy Boggs Center in Mid-City is another popular abandoned spot for urban explorers and ghost hunters alike. Once one of the city's primary health care locations, Lindy Boggs Medical Center was abandoned after Hurricane Katrina. Today, it looks straight out of 'The Walking Dead', with giant chunks of missing bricks and blown out windows, giving a telling look at the old offices and hallways. The only thing missing are the zombies, much to our disappointment.

This ghastly building is a rare case where it's best to go ahead and judge a book by its cover. Those who died in the hospital during the days, weeks after Katrina's destruction, continue to leave their mark on the abandoned property. Injustice continues to echo through the hallways and outside the walls, causing the building to decay for the blooming rose it once was. The ghosts of the former patients reportedly roam, seemingly doomed to this supernatural prison forever, with no chance of escape, it seems.

Inside, debris lines the hallways, and pinned calendars on graffiti-ridden walls still show the date before Katrina's hit. Outside, noxious green water fills the emergency ramp, and a lone chair can be seen hanging from a broken third-floor window.

One urban explorer recounts that "it was very quiet, but also a little unsettling and melancholy, and the way the wind was blowing, it was howling."

And another explorer's account reveals the haunted mystery that is Lindy Boggs Medical Center: "The spookiest thing was turning the corner to confront a room that caught fire after abandonment. Splinters of burnt paint, with their coal-black bodies and gray tips, enlivened the wall. I couldn't breathe for a moment, as if the room was still on fire, and I had to blink a couple of times to make sure the room wasn't engulfed in phantom flames. I take moments like these as my cue to get out."

Is this Lindy Boggs' fate from here on out? Hopefully not; Hopefully, the folks at St. Margaret's, the owners of the Lindy Boggs property, will stop dragging their feet and restore this site to the great hospital it once was.

The Charity Hospital

 When she drives down I-10, Charity stands out. In the midst of all the contemporary buildings, one stands out that looks as if its sides have been ripped off, and its bell towers look physically as if only ghosts/spirits inhabit it. Without even knowing what the building is, it looks like a pittance.

Since 1736, Charity Hospital has been New Orleans' premier medical center, though not without its own tragedies, including fires and destruction. This drawing dates back to the 19th century. (Source: Library of Congress)

There was a time when the Charity was the oldest operating hospital in the United States. Built in 1736, from a grant requested by shipbuilder Jean Louis, Charity Hospital was founded so that the city's poor would always have a place to turn for their medical needs, and quickly became a symbol of pride, located right in the heart. of downtown New Orleans. That is, until Hurricane Katrina flooded the basement and disabled the generators and the hospital couldn't run. Nearly eleven years later, the building has become a different symbol for the city, embodying people's disillusionment with the city and state government, created by massive corruption and apathy for the poor.

A Dr. Roderick Bennett recalls his time at Charity: "I can close my eyes and I can imagine what it looked like when this place was occupied. It was crowded and there was always chaos and commotion, but we loved it. My heart still aches for Charity Hospital, seeing how long it has taken us to recover and how the life of a city with so much heart has just been devastated, that's what hurts. Health care here has been compromised for the homeless who need it and I think this building could have been at the heart of that solution."

For those doctors who once worked at Charity, seeing their abandonment, seeing their state of desolation, has left them nostalgic.

Dr. Ruth Berggren, "Charity Hospital was an icon. It's still an iconic symbol in a lot of people's minds, I mean, people talk about being born at Charity Hospital and their mom's mom being born at Charity Hospital. He's here out of a desire to make health care available to people who don't have access, to close Charity without trying to reopen it, that's very sad. It's tragic."

The Ghosts of Charity

 The ghosts of poorer patients, such as Sister Stanislaus (who greeted presidents and dealt with a gunslinger), and even founder Jean Louis, are known to still haunt the halls of Charity Hospital today.

Charity Hospital made headlines around the world just days before Christmas 2015, with reports on the internet for the first time since Katrina. To set the scene, the abandoned hospital was completely dark as usual. Well, at first glance. However, upon closer look, centered in the heart of the building, a single window out of hundreds of rooms lit up with a ghostly glow.

Lisa Walley Staggs, a nurse at Tulane Medical Center across the street, was the one who started the media commotion when she uploaded the photo she took on her Facebook page.

You can imagine Lisa Walley Staggs' surprise when she looked up to see this eerie glow
that appeared in the abandoned hospital.

Photographer and nurse Lisa Walley Staggs tells her story: "For those few of you who may not know, I work at a downtown New Orleans hospital that sits right across the street from Charity Hospital. Charity Hospital has been closed, its windows blacked out, since Hurricane Katrina, and it's a grim sight — on the best of days. At night, it's very scary. Until tonight. Look, I parked on the roof of my parking lot, and tonight, as I was leaving work, I took a look at the forgotten building, only to see the light of a small Christmas tree! I wish the pictures would do it justice. I don't know how it's lit. I don't know how he's even there. But it made me smile a little tonight."

Another nurse commented, "It's so people don't forget; The bodies may have been removed, perhaps, but the souls are still there."

"It's very pretty and a little creepy, it gave me chills when I saw it and of course it made me think of my brother, who passed away at Charity Hospital," said anesthesiologist Mike Arbon.

The story was shared so many times that the police had to investigate and then claimed there was evidence of a break-in. Although there is no proof one way or the other, the ghostly Christmas mystery of the lighted window of the abandoned Charity Hospital has left a lasting impression on the city. That's why, even if it was just for that night, Charity Hospital brought hope once again to the city.

These three haunted places, all abandoned after Katrina, share another common thread. Its ghostly legacies continue to grow despite the city's apathy about its existence.