Hotels near The Mortuary Haunted Mansion

If you want a proper scare, The Mortuary Haunted Mansion on Canal Street is the one to book. The building is not a set. It was built in 1872 for Mary Slattery and later became a funeral home operated by PJ McMahon & Sons, and between 1930 and 2003 more than 20,000 funerals were held inside. Owner Jeff Borne bought the empty building on 2 July 2007 and restored it as a haunted attraction. It stands on a stretch of Canal Street ringed by cemeteries, with more than a million graves within a one-square-mile radius, which gives the queue outside an unusually grim backdrop.

The 2026 show is called "Through the Looking Glass". A cracked mirror lets characters from folklore break into the house, so expect a murderous Alice and her Mad Tea Party, a sinister Wizard of Oz, Vampirates of Neverland, Little Dead Riding Hood and Cthulhu, all tied to an ancient entity called "He Who Waits". It is intense, with live actors, and better suited to teens and adults than young children.

Tickets are timed. General admission starts at $25 (about €22) before 7pm and $35 after 7pm, plus tax and fees, and reserves a 15-minute entry window through a virtual queue. The VIP Fast Pass starts at $55 and skips the line, while a $150 season pass gives unlimited skip-the-line entry to both The Mortuary and its sister attraction, The Sawmill in Covington, including Halloween night. The Blood Center runs donation drives on site on many nights, including 26 to 31 October, and donors get free VIP entry.

Pro Tip: Go before 7pm on Friday 30 October to pay the $25 rate instead of $35, and ride the Line 47 Canal-Cemeteries streetcar from the French Quarter for $1.25 (about €1) each way. If you are in town on a weeknight, the extended weekday hours are far quieter than Saturday.