A Gothic castle on the river bluff, a skyscraper capitol where a governor-turned-senator was shot, the hotel he ran the state from, and a destroyer with a war-dead crew. These are the most haunted places in and around Baton Rouge.
Louisiana’s capital wears its political history on its sleeve, and most of its ghost stories are about the men who ran the state. Huey Long alone is said to haunt two buildings here. We have checked every place below against current sources: the Old State Capitol is free to visit, the USS Kidd’s museum is open while the ship is away for repairs, and the Pentagon Barracks are private apartments you can see from the Capitol grounds. Two famous plantation houses within an hour’s drive, the Myrtles and Houmas House, complete the list.
Address 7747 U.S. Highway 61, St. Francisville, LA 70775
Where to look The main staircase, the hall mirror, the front porch, the Judge Clarke Woodruff Suite and the Caretaker's Quarters
Reported ghosts Chloe, Sara Woodruff and her children, William Winter, the girl in the famous 1992 photo
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay the night
Tours Day and evening mystery tours run by the inn
General David Bradford built Laurel Grove on a rise above Bayou Sara in 1796, and under the Stirling family it grew into the long, lace-ironed house now known as The Myrtles. It is often called one of America’s most haunted homes, and it has the TV credits to match: Unsolved Mysteries, Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures have all filmed here. Overnight guests sleep in six historic rooms inside the main house or in garden rooms and cabins on the grounds.
The best-known story is Chloe, an enslaved woman said to have poisoned the Woodruff family with an oleander cake. Records show Sara Woodruff and two of her children died of yellow fever, and no Chloe appears in the family’s papers, so treat it as legend. The one confirmed killing is William Winter, shot on the porch in 1871; guests still talk about footsteps that stop on the 17th stair and faces in the hall mirror.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a room inside the main house rather than a garden cottage, and take the evening Mystery Tour on the night you stay.
Where to look The balcony above the House chamber, the basement and the spiral staircase
Reported ghosts Senator Pierre Couvillon, Sarah Morgan, a Civil War prisoner
Visiting Free museum
Hours and season Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tickets Free
James Dakin’s Gothic ‘castle’ on the bluff above the Mississippi housed the legislature from 1852. In the Civil War, Union troops used it as a prison and then a garrison, and it burned twice, leaving a shell. William Freret rebuilt it by 1882, adding the stained-glass dome and spiral staircase. Mark Twain mocked it as a whitewashed castle; it is now the free Museum of Political History.
Security officer Tom Clarke told WAFB that at about 2:15 one morning he collided with something unseen on the balcony above the House chamber and cut his rounds short. Staff report slamming doors, footsteps and motion sensors tripping in the empty building. The ghost most often named is Senator Pierre Couvillon, said to have died after a fiery speech, though museum staff say he died at home in Avoyelles Parish.
Haunted Rooms tip: Watch the free ‘Ghost of the Castle’ show, narrated by the ghost of diarist Sarah Morgan, then stand under the stained-glass dome.
Where to look The corridor behind the House chamber, the House chamber and Huey Long's grave in the gardens
Reported ghosts Huey P. Long, lights in the empty House chamber
Visiting A working capitol, open to visitors on weekdays
Huey P. Long drove the building of this 450-foot, 34-story Art Deco tower, dedicated on May 16, 1932. On September 8, 1935, Long, by then a U.S. senator, was shot in a corridor just after leaving the House chamber, and he died two days later. The official account blames Dr. Carl Weiss, who was killed on the spot by Long’s bodyguards, though that version has long been disputed. Long is buried in the gardens out front, under a bronze statue.
Capitol staff blame ‘Huey’s ghost’ when things go missing, and a Senate communications officer told folklorists that nobody sober has seen him. A tour guide described night security hearing doors open and close, and a film of the House chamber lights switching on and off around midnight. The building is open to visitors, and the 27th-floor observation deck looks out over the river.
Haunted Rooms tip: Find the corridor behind the House chamber where Long was shot, then ride up to the 27th-floor observation deck.
Where to look The freestanding spiral staircase and the front hall
Reported ghosts A little girl in a blue dress, shadow figures, soldiers
Visiting Museum, gardens, restaurants and inn
Tours Guided mansion tours daily
Tickets Mansion and gardens tour from $35
Land bought from the Houma people in 1774 became one of the richest sugar estates in Louisiana. The Prestons are credited with the main house of about 1840, and in 1857 they sold it, some 12,000 acres and 550 enslaved people to John Burnside for $1 million; by 1860 he held 753 people across his Ascension Parish plantations. Dr. George Crozat restored the house from 1940, and since 2003 Kevin Kelly has run it as a museum, gardens, restaurants and inn.
During the 2003 renovations, a worker saw a dark-haired girl of about 7 to 10 in a blue dress looking down from the freestanding staircase; she vanished when he went to her, and two other workers later said they saw her too. Guides and guests still report her near the stairs, mostly early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Other tales tell of shadow figures in the halls and young men in Civil War uniform.
Haunted Rooms tip: Take one of the first mansion tours of the morning, when the girl is said to appear near the staircase.
Address State Capitol Dr at River Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Where to look The columned galleries and the apartments
Reported ghosts A featureless 'Shadow Man'
Visiting State offices and private apartments; see the buildings from the Capitol grounds
Four two-story brick barracks with deep columned galleries were built from 1819 to 1825 on the old Baton Rouge army post. Zachary Taylor commanded here and was living here when he was elected president in 1848, and Lafayette, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis all passed through. Both armies held the post in the Civil War, LSU used the buildings as dormitories from 1886, and the state has owned them since 1951.
Today they hold the lieutenant governor’s office and apartments for legislators, and that is where the ghost story lives. Visit Baton Rouge tells of the Shadow Man, a featureless black figure seen moving through the apartments, who maintenance workers say confronted them, and says some legislators have moved out or refused to move in. The galleries are best seen from the Capitol lawn; the apartments are private.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the Capitol grounds at dusk from Huey Long’s grave to the barracks and the river levee.
Address 305 South River Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Where to look Below decks, the crew berthing and the forward boiler room
Reported ghosts Sailors killed in the 1945 kamikaze attack, shadow figures below decks
Visiting Museum building open; the ship is away for repairs until her return, expected in 2027
Hours and season Museum daily, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Tickets $8 for the museum only while the ship is away
This Fletcher-class destroyer, commissioned in 1943 and nicknamed the Pirate of the Pacific for the Jolly Roger her crew flew, was hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa on April 11, 1945, killing 38 men and wounding 55. She arrived in Baton Rouge in 1982 as a memorial and was made a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
Visitors and overnight campers describe shadow figures below decks, sailors in 1940s uniform, voices near the old sleeping quarters, footsteps and slamming doors. Right now the ship is away: her $16 million overhaul at a Houma shipyard is done, and she is waiting for the Mississippi to rise high enough to bring her home, expected in 2027. The museum building on the riverfront stays open, and overnight camping is on hold.
Haunted Rooms tip: Check the museum’s website before you go: the ship’s homecoming date depends on the river level.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Visiting A working hotel; restaurant and bar open to the public
The Heidelberg Hotel, built in 1927, was Huey Long’s Baton Rouge base: he kept a three-bedroom suite here, and an underground passage still links it to the old Hotel King across the street. In 1931 it briefly served as the seat of state government during Long’s feud with his lieutenant governor, Paul Cyr. The hotel closed in 1985, sat derelict for two decades, and reopened in 2006 as the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center after a $70 million renovation.
Employees have reported a figure on the tenth floor in a long coat and hat, holding a cigar, the look Long wore in the 1920s, and activity in the basement. Housekeepers say they smell cigar smoke in freshly cleaned rooms, although the hotel has been smoke-free since it reopened. It is a working hotel, so anyone can stay the night or drop in for a drink.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a room on the tenth floor, where the cigar-smoking figure is said to walk.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Baton Rouge?
The Old State Capitol, the Gothic ‘castle’ on North Boulevard. Staff report footsteps, slamming doors and motion sensors tripping at night, and a security officer described colliding with something unseen on the balcony above the House chamber.
Does Huey Long haunt the State Capitol?
That is the story. Long was shot in a Capitol corridor on September 8, 1935 and died two days later. Staff joke that ‘Huey’s ghost’ takes anything that goes missing, and night security have described doors opening by themselves. He is also said to haunt the tenth floor of the old Heidelberg Hotel, now the Hilton Capitol Center.
Can you visit the USS Kidd right now?
The museum building at 305 South River Road is open daily, but the ship is in Houma after a $16 million overhaul and is expected back in Baton Rouge in 2027, once the Mississippi rises high enough.
Is the Myrtles near Baton Rouge?
Yes, it is in St. Francisville, about 26 miles north. You can tour it by day or night, or stay over. See our Myrtles guide.
Are there ghost tours in Baton Rouge?
The Old State Capitol holds a Spirits of Louisiana event each fall, and its ‘Ghost of the Castle’ show, narrated by the ghost of diarist Sarah Morgan, runs year round.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story.
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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 place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
