Spirit Tours New Orleans

I took two Spirit tours while in New Orleans — the ghost tour and the cemetery/​voodoo tour. We were fortunate that both tours were very small, so we had the undivided attention of the guides and likely got a lot more details than large tours.
Martha led the ghost tour, and she opened with saying she does her own kind of tour that’s different from what a lot of the other guides provide. I’d taken this same tour last year with Spirit, and hers was definitely different. I’m not saying she’s a skeptic, but her delivery of some stories (like the LaLauries) was very stripped down from what I’d heard on the prior tour. I appreciate honesty and certainly don’t want to be lied to, but I also am not opposed to a little embellishment in order to heighten the experience. However, she was obviously very knowledgeable and provided a good tour.
We had Adam for our cemetery tour, and he was incredible. He talks very fast, so you have to pay attention, but that was not difficult. He is a wealth of information about the city, and we hung onto every word. The tour ran a little long because he had so much to say and was very receptive to questions that might take us on a short verbal detour. We spent the most time in St. Louis Cemetery #1 where we learned a lot of great history regarding the residents of this resting place. We then moved onto the visitor’s center for much-​needed seats in air conditioning where he talked about voodoo and its part in the history of New Orleans. Unfortunately, we took this tour on our last day there and had to leave it early to get to the airport, so we missed the tour of Louis Armstrong Park.
I highly recommend Spirit Tours. I know there’s a lot of options, but they really do a great job and employ very knowledgeable and affable guides.

This was an unplanned excursion. We happened to be walking by and saw the sign. The tour lasted an hour and hit a lot of the local points of interest. Our guide was knowledeable, which is why I’m giving this tour 3 stars, but her delivery sucked, which is why this tour is BARELY getting 3stars. Our guide spoke so fast that I thought we were at a cattle auction. Another problem was that this was supposed to be a haunted walking tour. I would have expected the guide to set the tone by telling her stories much in the same way you would tell ghost atories around a camp fire. Since she was talking like an auctioneer it was impossible to get that spooky feeling and so the tour missed it’s mark.

My friend and I took the ghost tour with Judy Bajoie last week while we were in town and it was AWESOME. Judy was an amazing and knowledgable tour guide. She was so much fun. Loved this! I would definitely recommend it and Judy!

Man was it hot, but we sure didn’t mind learning a lot about New Orleans via its burial traditions. The 2 hour trip starts at the St. Louis Cemetery #1, where you learn why people are buried above ground and how families rotate through the burial tomb. We ended at Louis Armstrong Park where we learned why that park was important to the slaves.
Enjoyed every bit of the tour. Heat or not. Had tons of fun. Even the teenagers were interested.

This is the second night ghost tour I’ve been on and I am not impressed. The tour guide seemed more of a silly actor than someone who was knowledgeable about the history of NOLA. The group was too big so it was difficult to hear the guide.

George was the best! I have back problems and was worried we would walk too far but it was perfect. Interesting and informed George did not embellish or act out fictional scenes. He was knowledgeable and had a great dry wit. It was the highlight of our trip! Thanks George!

My two friends and I did the ghost tour, which was fantastic. Our tour guide Mike was passionate about New Orleans and ghosts without being overly enthusiastic or hokey. He did a great job of teaching us about the history of New Orleans in order to give us context for each ghost story. The tour was the perfect length and it kept us interested the whole time. I highly recommend it.

Our group of five enjoyed Adam’s cemetery & voodoo tour. Fascinating stories told with passion, intelligence and candor. I’m a minister, and appreciated his respect and openness.
Check the website for DISCOUNT tickets!

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. Our tour guide seemed to ramble on a couple times and it was hard to sit and pay attention for long periods in the hot sun.
I went to the cemetery across from the commanders palace in the garden district and I thought the volunteer there was more interesting and I didn’t have to pay anything.

i had purchaed our tickets online prior to our arrival in New Orleanans and saved a little $. George was our tour guide and was very good. It IS a lot of walking/​standing, so wear comfortable shoes!
I would recomend this tour company to my friends and family that were visiting New Orleans (we are going back again). I just wish I had done more tours with them! We just ran out of time!
Thank you for a wonderful tour George and everyone at New Orleans Spirit Tours!

So much fun and informative! My friend and I were so creeped out when we visited the La Laurie house. We almost didn’t do this tour, we are so glad we did. Our tour guide was funny and did very good story telling.

We purchased our tickets via Groupon offer for the cemetery and voodoo tour. Met our tour guide at the Royal Blend coffee shop in the French Quarter.
Liz was our tour guide. We were taken to the Basin St Station visitor information center for bathroom facilities. Liz also utilized the map while we were there and explained the French Quarter origins and who the early settlers were. Point made since they are buried at St Louis Cemetery #1 where we were headed.
Several civic leaders and early settlers are buried here. All are buried in family crypts. And «voodoo» reference is specifically for Marie Laveau, who practiced voodoo. Her crypt is there.
The newest crypt is for Nicholas Cage. Pyramid shaped. Strange fellow.
If you plan to participate on a walking tour, please be prepared to walk and stand in the heat and humidity. Drink plenty of water. Liz did her best to find us some shade.
The tour was interesting. Makes sense to go on a guided tour, otherwise you just walk around aimlessly.

I’m giving this tour three stars because I don’t have anything else to compare it to since we didn’t do any other ghost/​voodoo/​haunted tours.
Pros:
–Tour guide was nice and somewhat knowledgeable of the cemetery and French Quarter.
–Great price on groupon (2 tickets for $ 15)
–Meet up location was easy to find
Con:
–Voodoo part was less than ten minutes long and it was inside the Visitor Center, which had nothing to do with the tour itself (used for a bathroom break and to purchase drinks/​snacks)
–WALKING tour — when the tour was booked, I wasn’t even notified that the tour would be in the heat
–Though the tour guide was nice, she was very unenthused over the topic
–The cemetery tour was about an hour long. It was interesting to see the different tombstones, however, how many can one possibly see before getting bored? After a while, it was a repetition. (MAYBE visiting more than one could’ve been more interesting?)
–The closest part about voodoo was visiting Marrie LaVeau’s burial site. The information given by the tour guide wasn’t even accurate per shopkeeper in the voodoo shop that has a Marie LaVeau museum
Overall, I got what I paid for.

Had a great time on this tour! We took the cemetery tour in mid January 2012.
George was a great tour guide! Very knowledgeable, interesting, and entertaining. Just a little soft spoken. Wish he would have projected more.
Thought about just doing the walk through the cemetery on our own– but I’m glad we took a tour because we learned about the burial rituals, architecture of the city, history, and facts about Marie Laveau.
After the cemetery portion, we took a break at the visitor’s center where we were able to grab a drink and have a bathroom break which was nice.
George then pointed out on a map the geography of New Orleans and talked a little about Katrina, which was a nice addition to the tour.
I was a little disappointed with the voodoo portion. George talked a little at the visitors center about voodoo, and warned us that we we going to Priestess Miriam’s shop (a voodoo priestess), and that sometimes she speaks about voodoo, and other times she is way off topic, and can ramble on and on about whatever. He was right! A lovely woman– but a bit of a wacko. she spoke nothing about voodoo. She went on and on about how far our country has come, a funeral she went to in another city, and where everyone was from, but nothing about voodoo. We did get to see her «office» where she does readings and that was pretty cool I guess. She was sweet. but dang! I wanted some voodoo info!
All in all– nice tour. Glad we did it.

We’ve been traveling the country for over a year since selling our home in California. Consequently, we have taken many, many tours in multiple cities across the United States. This cemetery and voodoo tour was, perhaps, the best we have encountered. The tour was spectacular because of our tour guide, Adam. His pithy comments about New Orleans, the St. Louis Cemetery #1, and voodoo made the two hour tour entertaining, informative, and captivating. If you can only do one thing in New Orleans, take this tour, especially if you can get Adam as your tour guide. As the five star description on Unilocal suggests, «It’s as good as it gets.»

Got a groupon here and overall I would say the value was good. George our tour guide was great, and very knowledgeable.
The tour should consider cutting out the visit to Princess Miriam’s home. She spoke far too long to the point where it was getting boring. She is also a very strange character and listening to her for nearly an hour creeped me out.
Other than that, it was great!

We bought a groupon from this company. They day of our tour was cloudy and chilly but George, the tour guide was funny and knowledgeable, which really made a difference. We visited a cemetery. I can’t remember its name but it’s quite large and Nicolas Cage bought a tomb there. George was really patient the whole time. He waited for everyone to catch up, pointed out all the famous tombs and unique architecture style of the tombs, and answered all our questions. Before the end of the tour, he offered to bring us to see Princess Miriam (a famous voodoo practitioner), unfortunately she was sick that day. But we got to visited her temple and the room she practice (she kept a snake and tons of dollar bills that were tucked in random places). Overall it was an interesting and fun tour.

As a first time visitor to NOLA, I decided to take a Cemetery Voodoo Tour, and I have to say, it was the highlight of my trip! The groups’ guide, Adam, spoke about the history of his town with such ardent fervor… that a spell was instantly cast over us! The way he related these grand, enigmatic topics in such a comprehensible way, while not losing an ounce of enthusiasm, had me imagining when I would be back to NOLA for the nighttime Vampire Ghost Tour!

It wasn’t horrible, but I wouldn’t do it again. I find that my walk with my friend Matthew, seeing the sights, was more fulfilling than this tour. I can sense when something is fake and I feel that most of the «spirit» part was.
However, it is a decent walk around the French Quarter for those who don’t want to spend a lot of time. I however, don’t relate to that style of thinking.

We took the combination cemetery/​voodoo tour — we LOVED it. I was expecting a bit of voodoo schlock a la Bourbon Street’s version of voodoo, but this whole tour was fascinating.
The tour meets at a coffee house on Royal Street. We walked over to St. Louis Cemetery #1, which happens to be the final resting place for famous names such as Marie Laveau and Homer Plessy. Our guide Adam was full of information, even before we arrived at the cemetery. The best thing about the tour was Adam’s passion for history, cemeteries, and for the city itself, even with all of its faults. It was really affecting. Adam was really easy-​going and approachable, and he often stopped what he was saying to answer any questions that popped up.
He ended the tour by bringing our group to the Voodoo Spiritual Temple on Rampart Street across from the famous Congo Square. We got to meet Priestess Miriam, a very interesting woman with a lot of knowledge to offer.
All in all, this tour is worth every penny.