Ben and I stayed at the Prytania Inn way back in October of 2004 on our second trip to New Orleans. Now known as the Prytania Parks Hotel in the Garden District. The hotel was physically divided into 2 parts and guests were only allowed to stay in the one part. We found out WHY after one day/night there. 

Because New Orleans is so old, many buildings are from the 1700-1800s. There is an extensive history to all of them. The Prytania was built around 1850 in the Greek Revival style. It’s very close to the St. Charles streetcar line.

Our suite had a kitchenette, a small living area, and the bedroom was up a winding metal staircase. The day we were first registered in it, we went for a walk around the Garden District and had lunch and then came back to the room. I believe we were on the second floor and when we went up the outside steps to get to the room, you had to pass by that area. When I was across from the shutdown half of the hotel, I had an overwhelming feeling of dread and despair; plus I detected some violent energies contained in the shut-up rooms. It was awful.
 

I had to have a nap so I went up the staircase to the bed. The stairs make a noise when you go up; because they are metal and also depending on how heavy you are. Ben wanted to lay on the sofa and read a book he had.

After napping for about an hour I was shaken by a hand on my thigh. I also heard a male voice saying “Get up!”. The shake was quite vigorous and I was pissed off that Ben had woken me up. When I opened my eyes, no one was there. I got out of bed and looked over the railing and Ben was actually sleeping on the sofa with the book on his chest. If he had snuck up to shake my leg and then tried to run down the winding metal staircase, it would have made a huge noise because he is a large man. There wouldn’t have been enough time for him to lay down and pretend he was asleep and didn’t do anything. Really, if Ben wanted me to wake up, he would’ve just yelled my name.

Later on, we talked to a young African-American girl on the front desk and I told her what happened and asked if the hotel was haunted and why the other side of the hotel was never rented. She was horrified about my experience and said the part we were staying in was the bordello area and the other half that was unrentable (apparently the whole hotel is rented nowadays) was the slave quarters, where horrible things had occurred. That area probably contained a lot of paranormal activity and residual energy because of the trauma and abuse that went on.

So I surmised that when I was asleep, the “proprietor of the bordello” had come in to shake my leg and tell me to get up and go back to work. Some spirits that haven’t crossed over are still doing what they think is their job, even after death. We would have liked to go into some of the rooms on the slave quarter side to see what spirits were residing there, but alas, could not do that.

If there is anyone out there who has a story about this establishment, or any other haunted hotels/B&B’s in New Orleans, please contact us!!