Haunted hotel guide · New Orleans, Louisiana
The Haunted Hotel Provincial, New Orleans: Soldiers of the 500 Building
A family-run cluster of Creole townhouses on Chartres Street, built on land that once served the colony’s hospital. Guests in its 500 Building say the wounded have never left their beds.
The Hotel Provincial is a peaceful, family-owned hotel in the lower French Quarter, made up of several restored buildings and tropical courtyards on Chartres Street, steps from the Old Ursuline Convent and the French Market. Its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it has been owned by the same New Orleans family since it opened in 1961.
The land has a long medical past. In the 1720s it was part of the herb garden that supplied the colony’s Royal Hospital, and the hotel’s own history says one of its buildings stands where a military hospital once stood. That building, the 500 Building, is where nearly all the ghost stories are set: soldiers groaning in the dark, surgeons at work and blood that appears on the sheets and then fades. For more nearby, see our guide to the most haunted hotels in New Orleans.
Provincial at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 1024 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70116 (lower French Quarter, between Ursulines and St. Philip)
- Opened 1961 as a hotel; its buildings date from 1825 to 1874
- Most haunted spots The 500 Building, its second-floor elevator landing, guest-room beds
- Best-known ghosts Wounded soldiers, army surgeons and a young woman who cared for the sick
- Booking the haunted room Call reservations (800-535-7922) and ask for a room in the 500 Building. It is a request, not a guarantee.
- Good to know Courtyard pool, the Ice House Bar and French Toast restaurant on site, and secure parking, which is rare in the Quarter.
The ghosts of the Hotel Provincial
The wounded of the 500 Building
The Provincial’s best-known story is told about the 500 Building, often written as “Building 5”. Guests say they have opened the door to their room to find wounded soldiers lying on the beds, bloodied and moaning in pain, who vanish the moment the lights go on. Others describe the groans of the wounded heard through the walls, and figures in uniform reaching out as if asking for help.
Apparitions of army surgeons and doctors are reported too, and Explore Louisiana mentions a young woman, believed to have nursed the sick, seen in the building.
Bloodstains that come and go
Guests and housekeepers have reported bloodstains on the bedding of certain rooms that appear and then disappear, and pools of blood on the floor that are gone when they look again. It is the kind of story that is easy to tell and impossible to check, but it has been repeated about the hotel for decades.
The hospital behind the elevator door
The most famous single report comes from a guest whose elevator stopped on the second floor of the 500 Building. When the doors opened, the story goes, they saw not a hotel corridor but a full hospital ward, with wounded soldiers and doctors at work, before the doors closed and the scene was gone.
The soldiers who like the radio
Hauntworld describes two soldiers in particular. One, a decorated officer, is said to turn the room radio back to rock music if a guest changes the station, and to have tried to pass on a message for a girlfriend named Diane during a private seance. The other prefers country music and is said to make eye contact before fading away. These are modern ghost-hunter accounts, offered here for fun.
What the records say
The hotel says one of its buildings sits on the site of a military hospital, and the French colony’s Royal Hospital did stand nearby in the 1700s. The present 500 Building, though, was built in 1874 after a fire. New Orleans was also under Union control from 1862, so if wartime soldiers were treated here, many would have been Union troops rather than the Confederates of popular retelling. None of that stops the stories.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The 500 Building: The heart of the hauntings. Ask for a room here when you book.
- The second-floor elevator landing: Where one guest saw a hospital ward when the doors opened.
- The 300 Building: An 1825 townhouse on land that was the colonial hospital’s herb garden.
- The courtyards: Lush, quiet and lit by gas lamps at night; a lovely place to sit and listen.
History of Hotel Provincial
About 1725, King Louis XV granted the land to Louis Boucher de Granpre, a lieutenant of Bienville, the city’s founder. From the city’s early years part of it served as a medicinal herb garden for the nearby military hospital, and a historical marker on the block notes the Royal Hospital’s botanical garden here in 1722. The land later passed to Chevalier Jean Lavillebeuvre and, in the 1800s, to the Laurans and Roque families.
The French Market Ice Company bought much of the site in 1903. After a fire destroyed the ice company in 1959, Vernon and Eunice Dupepe bought the tract and built the 100 and 200 Buildings, which opened as the Hotel Provincial in 1961 with 44 rooms.
The family then restored the older buildings around them. The 300 Building is an 1825 townhouse, restored in 1967. The 400 Building went up in the 1830s as a Creole store with living quarters above, later served as a hardware store, and was restored in 1964.
The 500 Building has the most dramatic past. The land belonged to the Ursuline nuns, and a military hospital was built on it in the 1720s. In 1831 the archbishop sold the property to Antoine Abat, who sold it to attorney Dominique Seghers. Seghers ran a boarding house and coffee house here until both burned in 1874, when the present building went up. It was a seed company’s store from 1916 until the Dupepe family bought it in 1969. The Ice House Bar, named for the old ice company, opened in 2011.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for the 500 Building. Call reservations and request it by name.
- Leave the radio on. If the station changes overnight, you will have a story to tell.
- Have a drink at the Ice House Bar. It is named for the ice company that once stood on the site, and claims one of the best Hurricanes in town.
- Walk the lower Quarter. The Old Ursuline Convent, the French Market and Frenchmen Street are all a few minutes away, and the Lamothe House is just around the corner on Esplanade.
- Want to investigate with a team? Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts at historic venues across the US.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Lamothe House Hotel: the woman in red, a few blocks away on Esplanade
- Lafitte Guest House: Room 21 and a grieving mother, on Bourbon Street
- Bourbon Orleans Hotel: the ballroom dancer and the nun of Room 644
- Haunted places in New Orleans: the city’s other famous haunts
- Haunted hotels in Louisiana
- Haunted hotels in New Orleans
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Hotel Provincial haunted?
It has one of the best-known ghost stories in the French Quarter. Guests report wounded soldiers, surgeons and vanishing bloodstains in the 500 Building, which the hotel says stands on the site of a military hospital.
Which building is haunted at the Hotel Provincial?
The 500 Building, often written as Building 5. Most sightings, and the famous elevator story, come from there.
Was the Hotel Provincial a hospital?
Part of the land was the herb garden for the colony’s Royal Hospital in the 1700s, and a military hospital stood on the 500 Building’s lot. The present buildings were homes, shops and an ice company before becoming a hotel in 1961.
Was the Hotel Provincial a Civil War hospital?
The hotel says one building sits on the site of a Civil War military hospital, but we have not found records confirming wartime use of this lot, and the current 500 Building dates from 1874.
Can you request a haunted room at the Hotel Provincial?
Yes, you can ask. Call reservations on 800-535-7922 and request a room in the 500 Building. It is not guaranteed.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Hotel Provincial: History (official)
- Hotel Provincial (official site)
- HMdb: 1030-1032 Rue de Chartres historical marker
- Explore Louisiana: Haunted New Orleans hotels
- Hauntworld: Hotel Provincial
- SmarterTravel: 9 haunted hotels in New Orleans
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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