Haunted hotel guide · Louisville, Kentucky

The Haunted DuPont Mansion, Louisville: Alfred du Pont's Ghost

An 1879 Italianate mansion built by the du Pont family in Old Louisville, now a bed and breakfast, where the story goes that Alfred du Pont still turns up in evening clothes, a bullet wound in his chest.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

2.0/5Haunted Rooms Score
c. 1879Year built
2001Opened as a B&B

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The DuPont Mansion is a three-story Victorian house on South Fourth Street in Old Louisville, one of the largest Victorian residential districts in the country. The B&B dates it to around 1879 and credits Alfred Victor and Bidermann du Pont, Louisville members of the famous gunpowder family, and since 2001 it has been a bed and breakfast with carved Italian marble fireplaces, formal gardens and a cooked breakfast.

It also has one of the best-known ghost stories in a neighborhood that calls itself “America’s Most Haunted Neighborhood.” The story is about Alfred du Pont, whose sudden death in 1893 Louisville’s Central Park history calls a murder. This guide sets out what guests and local ghost writers report, what the records say, and how to plan a stay.

DuPont Mansion at a glance

2.0/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation2
History3
Ghost hunter access1
$$ · $150 to $300
  • Address 1317 South 4th Street, Louisville, KY 40208, in Old Louisville
  • Built Around 1879 by the du Pont family (KET gives about 1882); sold in 1886, later apartments, restored from the late 1990s, a B&B since 2001
  • Most haunted spots The main staircase, the parlors and the guest rooms
  • Best-known ghosts Alfred du Pont in a tuxedo; an unseen male presence
  • Booking the haunted room No named haunted room; book a room in the main house
  • Good to know A small B&B with breakfast included; the house does not market itself as haunted, though a former co-owner has spoken about guest experiences

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The ghosts of the DuPont Mansion

Alfred du Pont and the bullet wound

The ghost most people talk about is Alfred Victor du Pont, known as Fred, who ran the family’s Louisville paper and powder business with his brother Bidermann. Louisville’s Central Park history records his death in 1893 as a murder, and Old Louisville writer David Domine’s books fill in the rest: that a mistress named Maggie, pregnant with his child, shot him in the chest when he tried to send her away, and that the family had the papers report a heart attack instead.

The best-known sighting comes from 1998, during restoration, when a workman alone in the house is said to have seen a flat, fully formed man at the foot of the stairs, with a bloodstain and a bullet hole in his chest, who then faded away. We have not found an 1893 record of the shooting or of Maggie, so treat the details as Old Louisville lore.

A breath in the ear

The more personal reports come from women. In Domine’s telling, Alfred’s well-known interest in women carried on after death: a decorator working on the main staircase said she felt a hot breath blown into her ear with nobody near her. The same account says these incidents have not happened recently, and not with B&B guests.

Cigar smoke in a no-smoking inn

Gayle Walters Warren, a co-owner, told KET in 2016 that guests have felt a presence, and that some have smelled cigar smoke in their rooms late at night even though the inn is non-smoking. The story, she said, is that it is Mr. du Pont.

Also seen in Central Park

Alfred is not tied to this house alone. Writer Thomas Freese, retelling a story from Old Louisville ghost walks, describes a man in a tuxedo and tall black hat carrying a gold-topped cane in nearby Central Park, the family’s former estate. Records suggest Alfred himself lived for many years in a room at the Galt House downtown, so the mansion and the park are linked to him through his family rather than his own address.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The main staircase: Where the 1998 workman is said to have seen a man with a bullet wound, and where the decorator felt a breath in her ear.
  • The parlors: Formal rooms with carved Italian marble fireplaces, where guests describe feeling watched after dark.
  • Main house guest rooms: Book a room in the original mansion; this is where guests have reported cigar smoke late at night.
  • The gardens: Formal gardens behind the house, pleasant for a quiet evening before a ghost walk.

History of DuPont Mansion Bed and Breakfast

Alfred Victor du Pont came to Louisville from Delaware in 1854, aged about 21, and with his cousin took over the family’s powder agency; by 1859 it was A.V. du Pont and Company. With his younger brother Bidermann he built a business empire that took in paper mills, a newspaper, the Daily Commercial,, street railways, mining and iron. A University of Pittsburgh family history notes that Alfred, a bachelor, lived frugally for more than 20 years in a room at the Galt House.

The du Ponts built this house on Fourth Street around 1879, in the Italianate and Renaissance Revival style, with ornate carved Italian marble fireplaces and hardwood floors. According to the house’s history as retold on HauntedHouses.com, it was built as lodging for relatives coming from Delaware to help run the family businesses, and the family sold it to Thomas Prather Jacob in 1886.

The family’s country estate lay a few blocks away. They opened its front lawn to the public on June 15, 1872, giving Louisville its first park, and in 1883 much of it was roofed over for the Southern Exposition, one of the first large-scale public displays of Thomas Edison’s light bulb. Alfred died in 1893. After Bidermann moved to Delaware, the city bought the estate in 1904 for $297,500, the old du Pont mansion there was torn down, and the Olmsted firm’s plan created what is now Central Park.

The streets around it filled with grand Victorian homes, and today Old Louisville is one of the largest historic districts in the United States. The DuPont Mansion was divided into apartments around 1900 and had fallen into poor shape by the 1990s. Restoration began in the late 1990s, the Warren family bought it in 2000, and it opened as a bed and breakfast in 2001, winning a Louisville Historical League preservation award in 2002.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Walk Old Louisville at dusk. St. James Court and Central Park are a few minutes away.
  • Come in October for the Victorian Ghost Walk, when costumed actors tell the neighborhood’s stories at historic homes, or the St. James Court Art Show on the first weekend of the month.
  • Breakfast is included; the house also puts out cookies, coffee and tea.
  • Ask the innkeepers what guests have told them about cigar smoke at night, but remember the house is a B&B first and does not market itself as haunted.
  • The Seelbach Hilton and the Brown Hotel are a short drive north if you want to add Louisville’s other hotel ghosts.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the DuPont Mansion in Louisville haunted?

Ghost stories about the house go back to its restoration in 1998, when a workman said he saw a man with a bullet wound at the foot of the stairs. A co-owner told KET in 2016 that guests have felt a presence and smelled cigar smoke at night. The B&B does not promote itself as haunted.

Who haunts the DuPont Mansion?

The ghost is said to be Alfred Victor du Pont, whose family built the house around 1879 and who died suddenly in 1893, a death Louisville’s Central Park history calls a murder.

Was Alfred du Pont really murdered?

Louisville’s Central Park history records Alfred du Pont’s 1893 death as a murder. The popular story that a pregnant mistress named Maggie shot him, and that his family covered it up, comes from Old Louisville ghost lore; we have not found a primary record confirming it.

When was the DuPont Mansion built?

Around 1879. It was restored in 1999 and opened as a bed and breakfast in 2001.

Is Old Louisville haunted?

Old Louisville promotes itself as America’s Most Haunted Neighborhood, and its October Victorian Ghost Walk tells many of its stories at historic homes.

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.

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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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