Below the Mason-Dixon Line, the air hums with stories of restless spirits and haunted locales. From centuries-old mansions to shadowy alleyways, these Southern cities offer a spine-tingling blend of beauty and the paranormal. If you’re in the mood for an eerie adventure and heart-stopping thrills, make sure to visit one of these cities on your next trip down south.
New Orleans
The LaLaurie Mansion – Copyright US Ghost Adventures
New Orleans is perhaps the most haunted of all the southern cities. One of the oldest legends of New Orleans is that of the casket girls, the first vampires in the new world. This legend has given birth to the Vampire Café, a popular joint that serves drinks based on customers’ blood types, and even an entire vampire industry!
The casket girls were girls sent by the King of France as brides for the bachelors of French Louisiana. The colony didn’t have enough suitable female partners at the time, which created a noticeable issue.
The nuns of the Order of Ursula took in and cared for the girls until they were married off. However, as they were brought over in prison ships, they arrived in French Louisiana pale, with bloodshot eyes, deprived of sun and proper nourishment.
Their appearance gave rise to rumors that they were vampires. According to another version, they carried vampires in their caskets like suitcases that they brought with them from across the ocean. The nuns locked the caskets in the attic. Nowadays, the windows to the attic of the old Ursuline Convent remain shuttered, with many believing that opening them would unleash a vampire curse on the city.
Another haunted house in New Orleans is the LaLaurie Mansion. Owned by Frenchwoman Madame Delphine LaLaurie, it was once a popular spot for New Orleans socialites invited by Madame LaLaurie to attend her parties. It was only later that it was discovered that she put her slaves through horrendous experiments and torture.
Slaves were discovered during a house fire, hung from their necks, their limbs torn from their extremities. Gashes and other horrendous injuries filled their bodies. One man had a hole in his head, and another was subjected to a botched gender transition surgery.
As a crowd gathered and a lynch mob formed, the LaLauries fled to Paris to escape reprisal. However, several decades later, strange things started happening at the mansion. From cries of slaves to the clanking of chains to children reporting being attacked by a strange woman, the LaLaurie Mansion has experienced some of the most bizarre phenomena in all of New Orleans.
Nashville
The Ryman Auditorium – Copyright US Ghost Adventures
Music City has its own share of mystery and intrigue. As the capital of country music, many country music singers flourished here and made names for themselves. However, many others came to an early death due to a horrible curse – the “Curse of the Grand Ole Opry.”
For decades, the Grand Ole Opry broadcasted out of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. It’s a popular auditorium for concerts, but it was actually first constructed as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, built by Thomas Ryman as a place of worship. Many believe that when the building was turned into a full-on music venue after his death, it enraged his spirit, causing him to condemn the auditorium and anyone associated with it.
What’s the proof that it was cursed? A string of inexplicable and unlikely deaths that seemingly targeted musicians associated with the Grand Ole Opry shocked the nation and gave people plenty of food for thought.
In March 1963, for example, five singers died in various incidents, including a car accident, a plane accident, and a house fire. The latter death involved Texas Ruby, who died while her husband, also a musician, was appearing on the Grand Ole Opry.
There were other incidents as well. Ira Louvin died in another car accident, while a different plane crash resulted in the death of Jim Reeves. Dottie West died in yet another car accident on her way to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, when she accepted a ride from a passing motorist after her own car broke down.
While it is not clear how many musicians died as a result of this curse, some believe that the number is in the dozens. According to Nashville Ghosts, which runs ghosts tours in the area, over 35 country music singers may have fallen victim to this curse.
Savannah
The 17Hundred90 Inn – Copyright US Ghost Adventures
Savannah has gone through a lot. More than once, it suffered outbreaks of yellow fever that devastated the local population. In the 1820 epidemic, less than a third of the total population of Savannah, a small town at the time, survived. That, combined with deadly fires, makes it quite surprising that Savannah was able to not only survive but thrive and grow into the famed Hostess City of the South.
With such a varied and tragic history, there’s no surprise that Savannah is littered with ghosts and spirits from times gone by.
Take a Savannah ghost tour if you want an in-depth view of Savannah’s haunted side. You’ll get to see local haunts like the 17Hundred90 Inn, where a jilted bride took her life by jumping from the balcony after her sailor lover sailed out to sea. Her spirit still resides in the inn, spooking guests.
The Marshall House is another haunted hotel. It once served as a hospital for yellow fever victims. Lights flicker, footsteps are heard, faucets turn on and off, and people feel their blankets tugged at night.
The Colonial Park Cemetery, which served as a mass grave for yellow fever victims, is also worth visiting. Many graves were disturbed during the Civil War, with their gravestones desecrated by soldiers who camped there. The spirits of the plague victims and those whose graves were disturbed are said to roam the cemetery, and strange shadows can often be seen, especially during the night but even during the day.
Baltimore
The Horse You Came In On Saloon – Copyright US Ghost Adventures
Next up on our list of haunted cities to visit below the Mason Dixon line is Baltimore. The great state of Maryland, straddling the North and South yet firmly below the Mason Dixon line, also has a significant share of haunted cities and towns, including Baltimore.
The area of Fells Point, a popular nightlife district, is particularly haunted. If haunted pubs and taverns are your thing, then you will definitely love Baltimore.
The Horse You Came In On Saloon, which has been continually operating since the 1700s and is the only Maryland bar to survive the Prohibition, is a must-visit on a Baltimore ghost tour or haunted pub crawl. Also known as Poe’s Last Stop, it is where Edgar Allan Poe was last seen before his strange and controversial death.
The exact cause of the renowned poet’s death is still unclear. While he was originally thought to have died of a heart attack, others believe he died from syphilis, rabies, and even alcohol poisoning as part of an election fraud scheme in which victims were plied with alcohol and forced to vote multiple times.
The staff at The Horse believe that Poe still comes around. Guests report seeing and feeling strange things, including glasses tipping over and hands on their shoulders. Bartenders leave out a glass of cognac to calm his spirit.
In Max’s Taphouse, also in Fells Point, a headless chicken is sometimes seen running around the basement. A phantom chicken might seem like a strange kind of ghost, until you learn about the bar’s history and how it used to serve as a slaughterhouse. Max’s Taphouse also once served as a brothel, frequented by sailors, and the ghosts of the ladies of the night and their customers linger on.
Rye is another popular institution in Fells Point. It moved from its Broadway address when the supernatural hauntings became too much for it to handle. Its predecessors shut down, as their owners were unable to handle the hauntedness of the place either.
