Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre
Most Haunted Theatre in the World??

by Jane Wichers ghost Photos by Andrew Pittman

Located at the corners of St. Peter and Chartres Streets in the historic French Quarter, Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre is a well-known New Orleans landmark and a destination for tourists and local theatre enthusiasts alike.

Founded at it’s current location in 1922 by the enthusiastically received Drawing Room Players of New Orleans, Le Petit has been esteemed by many as a bastion of theatrical history and talent in an already talent-rich city. But few know the “unpublished” history of Le Petit that has grown along with the fortunes of the players.

Ghost with bystander Ghost Photos by Andrew Pittman

The Le Petit of today is a jumble of reception rooms, dressing rooms, offices, two theatre spaces, and cavernous attic space. Noted architect Richard Koch designed the building in the authentic Spanish Colonial and built it on the remains of an even older structure dating from 1789. This older building was destroyed in the Great Fire of New Orleans (1794) and rebuilt in 1797 as a residence for the last Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemas.

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the building passed through numerous owners and saw many uses; it was even used as a barracks for occupying Union soldiers in the Civil War. Union Gen. Benjamin Butler kept rooms in the building within sight of Jackson Square. As the 19th century dawned and the depression era hit, the building and the surrounding Quarter fell into disrepair. When it was acquired by the Drawing Room Players in 1922 it quickly became the centerpiece of an urban and artistic revival in the old city.

But the biggest and debatably best attractions at the “Little Theatre” may well take the stage long after the flood lights have dimmed… Le Petit Theatre is, in fact, more than just a “little” haunted. “Eighty-seven years is more than enough time to accumulate a lot of memories, and this Little Theatre seems to have more than it’s share,” says one former technical director who added there may be “as many as 40” unseen residents.

Many Orb showed up in Haunted New Orleans Tourist Photos these are just a few that we have received. If you have a ghost Photo you have taken at or in this haunted building please forward it and we will post it here.

Many of the reported ghostly sightings stem from the period of Union occupation during the Civil War. Soldiers have been seen in the hallways all around the complex, including perhaps the most poignant that of a meticulous dressed Union officer sighted primping in front of a now-blank wall where once a mirror might have hung. He is said to adjust his gloves and turn his head from side to side before disappearing completely.

 

There is the ghost of a nun that terrified the cast of one of the longest running comedies in Le Petit’s history, “Saturday Night Catechism.” One cast member commented that the apparition is seemingly so real that it at times was mistaken for the play’s star who dresses in a full nun’s habit for each performance. One secretary, on an errand inside the theatre during rehearsals for the play, claims she was “slapped hard” on the back and, upon reeling around, caught the amorphous form of a black habited nun just as it faded to nothing. Unbelieving co-workers nonetheless had a hard time explaining away the red mark discovered on the secretary’s back.

(Entrance to Haunted Theatre) Top and photo below submitted by Andrew Pittman

One well-known account tells of an older actress who worked with the theatre briefly in its early years and who still haunts the backstage area today. The story goes that the actress, while involved in a particularly torrid lovemaking session with a maintenance employee on the catwalks high above the main stage, fell to her untimely death, tangled in wiring and curtains far below. She is reported to have died on impact of a broken neck and related injuries, the sagging curtain the only cover for her nakedness. The maintenance man was never located; a supposed drifter who had no family, he disappeared from the theatre after the horrid event. This has led many to speculate over the years whether the fall was accidental or a deliberate act of violence, but this seems of little consequence to those who have encountered what they believe is the anguished spirit of the dead woman. Her earthbound spirit has been sighted on the cat walks above the stage and moving in the semi-darkness of the backstage area of an otherwise empty theatre. Most troubling of all perhaps, is the icy cold that precedes these sightings and the unearthly billowing of the heavy theatre curtains as if pressed into motion by cold, unseen hands.

Probably the most intriguing sounds are the lilting tones of piano music that sometimes fills the building in the small hours of the night. One of the janitorial staff reportedly followed the tinkling sound all over the building, never finding its source. Those who know the history of the old building say it is the remnant performance of one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the 19th century, New Orleans native Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who is known to have given private performances at the location at the height of his fame. It is said that the ghostly strains sound very much like his “Night in the Tropics.”

The Above Ghost Photos may not be copied or reproduced without the express permission of the photographer Andrew Pittman.

 

Then there is the Gentleman Ghost who always appears as a well-dressed – if out of fashion – audience member. He attends rehearsals and performances tirelessly and always watches from the same dark spot. Some employees have said that the smell of a rich pipe tobacco always announces his arrival; sometimes the scent of heavy bay rum cologne is mixed with it. He has been spotted most frequently in a seat next to the sound booth. Many have speculated that he may be the ghost of a producer or agent from the theatre’s early days, but others think of him as a kind of “permanent fan,” since he has been known to hiss or applaud depending upon his opinion of the work in progress. Strangely, his opinion is always reflected in the reviews that follow. If he applauds the show is usually a later success.

 

 

Some of the strangest encounters reportedly are with the oldest residents of the Theatre – remnants of the 18th and 19th century dwellers who once walked its halls and danced in its ballrooms.

There is the transparent form of a black manservant who sits perched on a low chair outside the door leading to the small theatre. It was not unusual for servants of that era to wait through seemingly endless boring hours to cater to the whims of their masters or mistresses. Perhaps this lone man is still waiting? Then there is the elegantly dressed Quadroon woman, a vision in a pastel gown, who twirls in and around the doorway of one of the main reception rooms. Could she be waiting for her partner to arrive?

 

But the ghosts of Le Petit are not always seen. In the areas known to have been used as detention rooms for rogues and upstarts during the Union occupation, there is often heard the sound of muffled conversation and low coughing. The unmistakable sound of Union boots on hardwood floors can be heard throughout the attic spaces, where there is also, reportedly, a vigorous game of bachi ball or marbles being played on occasion. There are numerous reports of hearing what sounds like bachi or croquet balls being knocked or rolled around all across the attic floors. Upon closer investigation, usually be a reluctant operations man, there is no one found in the attics and nothing is disturbed.

 

Not every specter at Le Petit is entirely harmless though, nor is every manifestation of a sentimental sort.

One of the most notorious and feared apparitions is that of a supposed ex-theatre manager who is alleged to have shot a bullet through his head in what is now the office lounge area. Employees working late at night have had the unnerving feeling of being watched, having their hair stand on end while they are at their computers, and hearing doors and drawers banging in the lounge area though upon investigation there is no one there. This is the apparition that also is known to “steal” things from employees and performers who happen in the area. One man’s wallet was stolen from his desk drawer. After a full day’s search the wallet turned up on the sound board inside a locked theatre. The duffle bag of one actress containing a script, yogurt, water bottle and $17 in cash went missing from the lounge area while the actress was alone in the room and has never resurfaced …

So, if your interest in the paranormal