By Charles Mowry

In comparison to most major cities in America, New Orleans is unique in its ability to create a memorable experience on any given day. Through annual events such as the Jazz & Heritage Festival or Crawfish Festival, the city always produces an outlet for its cultural legacy to be showcased for the public’s enjoyment. Festivals and events occur almost every weekend, but when it comes to holidays in New Orleans, the city consistently provides a mesmerizing occasion for thousands of tourists and locals. 

One holiday in particular, Halloween, has grown into an industry that always brings the city to life in awe-inspiring fashion. Being surrounded by dancing skeletons or catching a glimpse of the decorative floats flying down Tchoupitoulas Street are just a few reasons why tourists flock to New Orleans as their holiday destination. According to New Orleans & Company, out of 26,000 hotel rooms in the downtown area, 90% of them were at occupancy on Saturday the 28th.  

Every year near the 31st of October, a holiday that is regularly one night of children gathering candy turns into a multiple-day spectacle filled with parades, events, and celebrations. Thousands of people wearing wacky costumes gather on Frenchman Street and throughout the French Quarter. Whether it be celebrating by dressing up with friends, learning about the haunted aspects of the area on a ghost tour, or participating in a parade — the downtown area is vibrant with all the festivities Halloween weekend has to offer. In Uptown, beautiful Victorian houses are converted into ghastly haunted mansions, and streets are filled with people in celebratory spirits. The energy and liveliness permeate New Orleans during this time of year.

One of the largest events that happens in the city during Halloween is the Krewe of BOO! parade and festivities. The incredible events they organize embody the Halloween spirit of New Orleans and, through their longstanding commitment to the people of New Orleans, they have cemented a foundation for what this holiday entails. 

Founded in October 2007 to raise money for Katrina recovery programs, the parade ran until the 2010 holiday season. After a cry from the public for its return, Krewe of BOO! was resurrected in 2013, and it has since grown into the city’s premiere parade on Halloweekend. 

The Chief of the Krewe, Brian Kern, has been the organizer, spokesperson, and leader of Krewe of BOO! since the 2013 Halloween season. His family has a history of festivals in New Orleans; with his father being the former Mr. Mardi Gras, Kern grew up with an understanding of what it took to put on a festival in New Orleans. 

Over time, Halloween has developed into a larger gathering in New Orleans each year. Kern has worked tirelessly this past Halloween to put together the biggest weekend the Krewe has hosted yet. He explained how “The first year it ran, there were less than 200 people riding in the parades and it went by in about 30 minutes,” while this year, record-breaking participation included “Over 600 riders, 16 floats, and 45 marching units” giving the city its largest Halloween parade yet. 

In addition to the rise in riders, floats, and marching units compared to last year, Kern says other enhancements helped make this year special. These upgrades included improved sound systems on the floats and more quality throw items that minimize waste and add to the public’s enjoyment.

Along with the parade, Krewe of BOO! offers a series of events throughout Halloween weekend. Some of these events include the Royal Luncheon, the Jazz Second Line Parade, and the Halfway to Halloween Dance-Off.      

Kern spoke about how Halloween has grown in New Orleans in comparison to Mardi Gras, listing the event as “One large family-friendly parade, with possibly more people dressed up than Mardi Gras.” He also cited shorter parade run-times and the more tame environment as benefits to the Halloween festival weekend. 

“People from all across the country fly in specifically for these events. Hotels are sold out, and bars along the Quarter are all filled. The weekend in the city turns into a festival, unlike others around the country.” – Brian Kern

Moreover, there are some challenges that come with organizing such a large-scale event. According to Kern, there are over 70 thousand dollars worth of sanitation costs alone, and the city employs over 100 police officers for the parade. The process of organizing with the city to garner permits for parade routes each year can also be troubling. Ridership sign-ups have been difficult recently too, and the cost for throw items has been increasing simultaneously with the growth of the event. The maintenance of floats, high-end sound equipment, and other costs are the biggest limiting factors to this experience, yet. Kern continuously finds a way to deliver. 

Looking toward the future, Kern said that he wanted to start streaming the event so millions of people could see the experience for themselves. He spoke to companies in hopes of getting the parade and other events televised locally and streaming nationally on multiple platforms. He remarked about his praise for the Zombie Run event the Krewe puts on as well, saying he thinks that it is a “Wonderful event that has a lot of growth opportunities,” and how he thinks it would be perfect for streaming. This event is one of many that provides New Orleans with the complete Halloween experience.

Another staple of Halloween in the New Orleans community is the Skeleton House on St. Charles Avenue. This grand white mansion transforms into a decorative graveyard of skeletons on the front lawn during the Halloween season, and it is located in Uptown three blocks away from Audubon Park. From 5 trick-or-treaters on the first Halloween they decorated, to an astonishing 4,000 trick-or-treaters this past Halloween, the Skeleton House has blossomed into the heart and soul of Halloween for the Uptown community. 

However, these are not scary skeletons that cover the lawn and trees around the house. Instead, these skeletons are dressed in hilarious costumes or arranged in a way that illustrates a silly pun for the community to enjoy. The owner of the Skeleton House, Louellen Berger, remarked on the origins of the house and how she continues to create her masterpiece each year.

The house was bought in 1978 by her and her husband, and they renovated it before moving into the residence in 1981. Berger always decorated for Halloween throughout her life — years before the skeletons, she used to hang ghost-like figures around the front terrace made from white bed sheets. 

This situation remained the case until roughly 24 years ago when the oak tree in her front yard with a large limb gently touching the ground piqued her inspiration. Berger would sit by her door and reminisce about climbing trees in her youth, thinking about how much she would love to lay there as a child. Finally, one Halloween, she decided to hand-make a skeleton and lay him resting in the tree. To keep him from getting lonely, she also added three gymnast skeletons: one doing a cartwheel, another using a hula-hoop, and the last one performing a back-bend.

At the time, it was not a common occurrence for a beautiful mansion on St. Charles Avenue to be decorated for Halloween, and Berger was worried her neighbors might see the skeletons and think she was crazy or a devil worshiper. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long before her doubts were washed away. The impressive decorations caught the eye of a photographer at the Times-Picayune, who captured a picture of the resting skeleton, later dubbed “Lazy Bones” in the press. This article gave Berger the courage she needed to keep adding to the canvas that is her beautiful front lawn.

After starting with Lazy Bones, it only took three years to add 12 more skeletons to her Halloween display. Skeletons are retired every year despite the common thought they are not, and this past Halloween there were 8 skeletons retired. Berger enjoys keeping her skeletons fresh to the public, as one of her biggest challenges is “Finding enough space for everything on my list of ideas.” New additions usually include popular and relevant icons or moments in society. This year she added 15 new ones in place, including, but not limited to: Deion Sanders (PRIME of his LIFE), Irma Thomas (DERMA Thomas – Queen of SOUL), Jennifer Coolidge (Jennifer GOULish), and Ed Sheeran (DEAD Sheeran) skeleton-based puns. 

Berger mentioned how the family renovated the widow’s walk above the terrace two years ago, which added a lot of real estate for skeletons and a plethora of new ideas. For example, the “Fibula on the Roof” skeleton was a popular addition to the group, and to this day, she continues to be innovative when finding new ways to exploit her surroundings comedically. 

When asked about potential pressure from the community to grow the scale of decorations each year, Berger was adamant that she has not felt pressure from her peers, but rather a sense of fulfillment bringing joy through decorations. If anything, the only pressure from the community would be to scale back a little bit, and this is because of the amount of foot traffic created around the neighborhood due to the House’s newfound popularity.

“There is no pressure from the community, but instead motivation. When I go to get my mail, and I see streetcar riders light up after a long day at work, it makes me want to keep going. Just a little something to create happiness is my motivation.” – Louellen Berger

One of the ways that the Skeleton House spreads the Halloween spirit is with the items they give out to trick-or-treaters. In their partnership with the Teal Pumpkin Project this year, the house gave out non-food treats in order to accommodate more children while being allergy-friendly. This year, Berger got in touch with a Mardi Gras throw item coordinator to create special Skeleton House light-up bead necklaces. Besides being a memorable ‘treat’ for children to keep, these necklaces also provide safety for kids walking in the streets in the dark, as the light has multiple modes for flashing making drivers more aware.

The Skeleton House has gifted the Uptown community with a yearly spectacle that brings joy and smiles to all, but some other houses in New Orleans create the opposite effect, being filled with screams and a horrifying, ghastly experience that many crave during the Halloween season. 

New Orleans is revered across the country as one of the most haunted cities in the nation. This sentiment has risen through an extensive history of documented paranormal activity in the French Quarter, and the notion also stems from the semblance of spirits and preconceptions of the Voodoo religion. Due to these beliefs about the city, tourists will fly across the country each year to celebrate the weekend in an environment where the atmosphere is full of the holiday “spirit.” 

Besides taking a ghost tour in the French Quarter, one of the most prominent places where a tourist experiences the occult nature of New Orleans is at The Mortuary Haunted Mansion. This haunted house is a nationally renowned establishment for its high levels of production, innovative themes, and providing guests with an enjoyable adrenaline rush. 

Located at 4800 Canal Street, The Mortuary was constructed in 1872 and it operated as a real mortuary for numerous years. The current owner and mastermind behind the business, Jeff Borne, came across the building after Katrina in November of 2006. With a background in technology and a passion for entertaining others through themed attractions, it didn’t take long for Borne to jump at the opportunity to create something new. He decided to purchase and renovate the mansion, as there was an enormous amount of work needed to rebuild the site to its former dignity. However, aspects of the original building, like the staircase and the spindles, were restored, and as imagined there are fears of being in the presence of a spirit from the original mortuary. The first Halloween their doors opened to the public was in 2007, and for the past 17 years, Borne and his team have worked tirelessly to maintain the haunting essence of The Mortuary.

When it comes to the production of the house, it is a long and detailed process to make sure people are safe, staff are trained, and everybody is entertained. Unlike other haunted houses, The Mortuary keeps things interesting every year by unveiling a new theme and changing over 40% of the attraction. Borne describes the idea of different themes as a “Collectible experience” that excites people every year for the new haunted aspects of the house. Another important key in the production of this event is the main cast manager, Christian Stokes. Mr. Stokes is an actor and stunt director, and he works as a part of the team to manage and train the actors, develop unique characters, and help with costuming and makeup.

“People hear about the new theme and want to check it out every year. It keeps it fresh. It is similar to a rollercoaster where once you fall in love with the adrenaline rush, you want to do it again and again.” – Jeff Borne

When it comes to the experience itself, safety and entertainment remain the top priorities at all times. In regards to balancing the intensity of the scares with the entertainment factor, Borne again refers to the rollercoaster metaphor, and how there are build-ups and breaks from the action. The staff are mindful of personal space as they do not touch you, and they go through many preventative measures in case of emergency situations.

The event can also be a family outing, as the earlier tours in the day before 7:00 p.m. are intended for a lighter scare that a family can enjoy. However, it is not recommended for anybody under the age of 11, and after the sun goes down things can become more intense for adult audiences. Keeping with the positivity, they are mindful to not use curse words or do anything that could be considered offensive to religion. 

“We want people to laugh, scream, and make fun of their friends who are losing their minds. Our goal is for you to leave the place having a good time.” – Jeff Borne

The Mortuary has continued to scare tourists and locals at their own will, and they look to keep adding to the Halloween culture in New Orleans.

Because of the culture within the city around this holiday, a new industry has emerged with a number of businesses having evolved, such as the Krewe of BOO!, The Skeleton House, and The Mortuary. Together, the New Orleans community creates the magic of Halloween resulting in a worthwhile annual experience. With events occurring from the start of October until November 2nd, this month-long occurrence is full of opportunities for anybody visiting the Crescent City.