The Former Morgue Bar and Lounge: Haunted New Orleans

November 2023

I think it may be safe to say that there are fewer places in New Orleans that AREN'T haunted than there are those that have reported some level of paranormal or unexplained activity. Seriously, there is no shortage of spooky happenings around the Crescent City, and the French Quarter is especially prone to tales of ghosts, goblins, and vampires. 

Although my interests in visiting New Orleans are mainly for the ghosts, there's no denying that this is a party city year-round, but especially during this time of year as we approach Mardi Gras. In fact, the only thing New Orleans may have more of than ghosts is bars. Bourbon and surrounding streets are filled with places to get a Hurricane, Hand Grenade, or one of many, many other beverages to drink on-site or take with you. And, to no one's surprise, most of these bars are believed to be haunted! Haunted pub tours take visitors to some of the best-known haunted bars, but there's one location that stuck out to me on our recent trip. 

Unfortunately, it has been closed for some time, and now sits vacant, but directly across from our hotel on St. Philip Street was the former Flanagan's...known before that as the Morgue Bar and Lounge. 

Located at 625 St. Philip Street, the old Morgue Bar and Lounge is part of a larger building, subdivided by address. From what I can gather, it was built in the 1840's by Jean (John) Gleises, a wagon-wheel maker born in France. It was while the Gleises family owned the home that perhaps its darkest times would befall the Creole townhouse. During the summer of 1853, a particularly nasty yellow fever epidemic hit the New Orleans area. Those who had the money to spend the warm summer months in a more hospital climate did so. However, 50,000 residents of New Orleans would have no means of escaping the city. In a span of only 3-4 weeks, 10,000 of them would die from the dreaded disease.

1960's

This overwhelming amount of death required increased space for the bodies, and homes throughout the French Quarter and beyond were opened up as makeshift morgues. That was the fate of the Gleises residence. Not only were the bodies of yellow fever victims stored here, but those dying from other causes as well. Unfortunately, Jean wouldn't live to see the end of the year either, and died on September 4, 1853. 

After his death, there are conflicting stories about just who the building was willed to...either his wife, or a daughter living in France. Either way, the property went through a handful of different owners with apparently nothing significant enough going on to really be recorded. It wasn't until the 1920's that the Ruffino family acquired the property. The Ruffino's were an Italian family who started up a bakery and ran a restaurant out of the location. The Ruffino's owned the property up through the 1960's.

Banking off of the spooky history of its use as a morgue (sometimes said to be the first or one of the first desegregated in the city), a witty entrepreneur opened up the Morgue Bar and Lounge, featuring a signature cocktail called Embalming Fluid. During its operation as the Morgue (and later Flanagan's), this bar became known as one of the city's haunted hot spots---a great place for spirits and spirits. Bathroom lights were known to completely dim into pitch darkness, and toilets overflowed for no reason. Workers were troubled by a refrigerator that always seem to break...but in reality, the plug was being pulled from the outlet by unseen hands. 

The website, Haunted Hovel, has an interesting explanation for some of the activity. Not only is the building haunted by the many, many poor souls whose bodies were stored here before burial...but also by the 'mortician's daughter.' I'm not entirely sure there ever was an actual mortician associated with the building, as it was only used as a temporary storage space for dead bodies, but the stories go that this young woman had a nasty habit of stealing jewelry from the deceased! After her own death, perhaps as punishment for her misdeeds, she's stuck at the location, where she is still up to her old tricks. Women will often report jewelry or other small items going missing after a trip to the bar's restroom. 

I'd love to see this place open and fully functional on our next trip down south, and I'd love to see a return to the morgue-themed bar---a macabre, but historical tribute to the building's long-ago past. 

Sources and Further Reading:

Ghost City Tours: The Haunted French Quarter Morgue

The Haunted Hovel: Haunted Places in Louisiana 

Vieux Carre Digital Survey

Ruffino Family

Old New Orleans, by Stanley Arthur

New Orleans' Haunted Middle School: Sophie B. Wright

Sophie B. Wright 1930s

Nearly a decade later, the horrors of Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath are still difficult for many to talk about.  Yet, as the years go by, we in the paranormal community are hearing more and more about how the already super-haunted city of New Orleans had its ghostly population affected by those events.  One of those stories emerged as early as September of 2005!

Sophie B. Wright was born in 1866 and even at a young age, was dedicated to philanthropy and education.  She opened a school for girls in her own home, quickly followed by a free night school for men and boys who had to work during the day.  By 1912, she became the first woman and the first living New Orleans resident to have a school named after her...the Sophie B. Wright High School, which was the first public high school for girls in the city. Eventually, the school would become a middle school.

During Hurricane Katrina, the Sophie B. Wright Middle School was evacuated of students and educational staff, but it served as a staging area and living quarters for National Guard personnel who were called in to assist in the clean up and rescue.  The men and women of the Guard soon realized that the horrors weren't just limited to what they would find outside the school walls.

Sgt. Robin Hairston is reported as having seen the apparition of a little girl standing in a doorway.  Spc. Rosales Leanor saw a shadow in the size and shape of a young girl while in the ladies' restroom.  Another un-named member of the guard opened a closet containing cleaning supplies and was shocked to both see the little girl AND hear her giggling.

The amount of activity in the middle school prompted a chaplain to perform a mini-exorcism of sorts.  "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you Satan to leave the dark areas of this building," were the words that rang throughout the halls.

Today, the middle school, which was once one of the worst performing in the district, is now a charter school serving middle and high school grades.  And while its academic standing has drastically improved, there is no word as to whether or not the little ghost girl is still making an appearance in the halls of Sophie B. Wright.  Did the impromptu exorcism actually work...or was the whole thing a figment of the imaginations of overworked military personnel dealing with horrors of their work?

Sources
School Website
History of the Sophie B. Wright School by Old New Orleans
Article by Janet Yee (CBS5) via Southern Ghosts