Hotel Monteleone

This French Quarter landmark has been in the Monteleone family since 1886. Faulkner, Hemingway, and Tennessee Williams all stayed here and wrote about it. The Carousel Bar has been spinning non-stop since 1949.

The Hotel Monteleone rises seventeen stories above Royal Street in the French Quarter, a Beaux-Arts landmark that has welcomed guests since a Sicilian cobbler named Antonio Monteleone bought a small hotel on this site in the 1880s. Over more than a century of continuous operation, the hotel has hosted literary giants from Ernest Hemingway to Tennessee Williams to Anne Rice -- and accumulated a population of ghosts that has made it one of the most active paranormal locations in New Orleans.

The most heartbreaking story belongs to Maurice Begere, a toddler who stayed at the hotel with his parents during the 1890s. Jacques and Josephine Begere were avid theatergoers who frequently visited the nearby French Opera House, leaving young Maurice in the care of a nurse. On one such evening, while his parents enjoyed a performance, Maurice developed a sudden fever. By the time they returned, their son had died.

The grief-stricken Begeres returned to the Hotel Monteleone every year, hoping to catch a glimpse of their beloved child's spirit. According to legend, they didn't have to wait long. On the 14th floor, Maurice appeared before his mother, speaking words that have echoed through the decades: "Mommy, don't cry. I'm fine."

The 14th floor has become notorious for activity -- though in reality, it's the 13th floor, renumbered to avoid superstitious guests. Late at night, the hallway transforms into a gathering place for ghostly children. Guests have reported seeing young figures playing in the corridor, only to watch them vanish. In 2014, a family staying at the hotel noticed that whenever their school-aged daughters rode the elevator, it made a stop at the 14th floor that it shouldn't have -- but operated normally when only the adults were aboard. Something on that floor recognized the presence of children.

In 2003, the International Society of Paranormal Research conducted an overnight investigation and made contact with more than a dozen spirits still lingering in the building. Some were former employees who never left their posts. William "Red" Wildemere, who died of natural causes within the hotel, continues to walk its halls. A phantom child reaches for visitors' hands. The sound of jazz singers drifts through the lobby when no music plays. A ghostly clockmaker's face sometimes appears within a grandfather clock.

The hotel's literary legacy adds another dimension to its mystique. Tennessee Williams referenced the Monteleone in "The Rose Tattoo" and "Orpheus Descending." Hemingway mentioned it in "Night Before Battle." In 1999, the Friends of the Library Association designated it a Literary Landmark -- one of only three hotels in America to receive the honor, alongside The Plaza and The Algonquin in New York.

According to hotel staff, none of the resident spirits are aggressive or malevolent. Kent Wasmuth, who has spoken extensively with paranormal investigators, feels secure that any ghosts still inhabiting the property are friendly in nature. They seem content to share the space with the living, perhaps drawn to the warmth and hospitality that has defined the Monteleone for over a century.

The famous Carousel Bar rotates slowly in the lobby, its 25 seats turning a full revolution every 15 minutes. As guests sip their Sazeracs and watch the French Quarter drift past the windows, they may not realize they're surrounded by presences who checked in long ago and never checked out.