The Ghosts of Brennan’s in New Orleans
While exploring the French Quarter, you might see an eye-catching, salmon-pink-colored building. The distinctive appearance of the property isn’t a coincidence. This building belongs to Brennan’s, a popular New Orleans restaurant. The restaurant balances the traditional and the modern, much like it balances the worlds of the living and the deceased.
Who Haunts Brennan’s in New Orleans?
Like many places in the Crescent City, Brennan’s is haunted. Unlike most haunted sites in the city, however, the restaurant isn’t haunted only by angry, vengeful, or tragic ghouls. In addition to at least one creepy spirit, peaceful, helpful presences also call the restaurant home. Learn more about the hauntings in New Orleans on a chilling ghost tour with NOLA Ghosts!
The History of Brennan’s
Across its three centuries of life, New Orleans has enjoyed several cultural identities. Perhaps because of this association, Owen Edward Brennan, the patriarch of the Brennan family, was mocked for his Irish heritage. Count Arnaud, a New Orleans restaurateur, once told Brennan that “an Irishman’s culinary skills end with boiled potatoes.” Brennan knew he had to prove Arnaud and that stereotype wrong.
In 1946, he did just that. He opened Owen Brennan’s Vieux Carre Restaurant on Bourbon Street. Brennan’s Vieux Carre Restaurant was where Chef Paul Blangé invented the famous New Orleans dessert, Bananas Foster. Following Owen Brennan’s passing in 1956, the restaurant moved to its present location on Royal Street. In 2013, the building underwent a major restoration, unearthing, among other things, a hidden door.
The Ghost of Chef Paul Blangé
CChef Blangé’s culinary creativity and devotion made him an admired chef. The chef was dedicated to his work to the very end—after his death, he was even buried with a Brennan’s menu, knife, and fork across his chest.
According to Food + Wine, Blangé’s loyalty extends beyond his death. Restaurant staff says the chef “never leaves” the kitchen, despite his death in 1977. Blangé’s ghost signals the end of the night shift every night by banging pots and pans in an almost celebratory manner. This nightly noise is unlikely to be the work of a prankster in the kitchen, as the sound is heard while the restaurant’s doors are locked outside.
For those seeking to spot the chef’s ghost, he can sometimes be seen in the dining rooms or by the front door. However, your best chance at summoning him is by ordering Bananas Foster, his signature dish. Look around for the chef’s translucent ghost while the bananas are aflame at your table. His ghost sometimes appears in other forms, like a brief sparkle or a heat-wave-like distortion of a man in a chef’s hat.
The Ghost of Herman Funk
Chef Blangé is not the only eternally faithful member of Brennan’s staff. In his life, Herman Funk was a sommelier who helped form the restaurant’s extraordinary selection of wine and spirits. Now, Funk lives on in the wine cellar. His ghost helps the waitstaff decide on wine suggestions and pairings. Funk’s ghost “clinks” his preferred bottles to indicate his picks.
It is common for spirits to linger in places that are important to them in their lives. Unfortunately, this importance is all too often due to abuse, trauma, or tragedy that once occurred in those places. For the ghosts of Paul Blangé and Herman Funk to be so friendly and continue to, in their own way, “work” at Brennan’s, the restaurant must truly be special to them.
The Red Room and Monsieur LeFleur
Unlike the upbeat gourmand ghosts of the kitchen and wine cellar, Brennan’s has been home to at least one more traditional specter. This spirit has dwelled in the Red Room, undoubtedly the darkest and most haunted part of Brennan’s. Its blood-red walls have seen much horror.
According to 18th-century legend, Monsieur LeFleur calmly planned three funerals one fateful morning. Later that day, he came home. He killed his wife and son. He then killed himself by hanging himself from the chandelier in the center of the Red Room.
Before the restaurant’s 2013-2014 renovations, painted portraits of the LeFleurs were on the room’s walls. This room was the site of eerie phenomena. For instance, no matter the time of day or the weather conditions outside, restaurant guests could feel a “cold spot” over the fireplace with their bare hands. The cold spot didn’t just feel chilly, but as cold as reaching into a freezer.
The portrait of Monsieur LeFleur appeared to change its expression on the walls. You could look away from the portrait one moment and look back the next to see a slightly different expression. Namely, LeFleur’s smile shifted to a grimace.
The ghost of Monsieur LeFleur has also been witnessed, per investigator Broome again, as a “shadowy figure, about five and a half feet tall and somewhat portly.” The ghost disappeared whenever direct eye contact was made.
After the restaurant’s renovations, the second-floor dining room seems to have been changed significantly. It is now known as the Morphy Room, in honor of chess prodigy Paul Morphy, a former property resident. The former Red Room seems to have been broken up into a small parlor and dining area, as opposed to the larger dining room it used to be.
The room has also been redecorated. Monsieur LeFleur’s portrait has been moved from its former position directly above the fireplace and replaced with a portrait of Paul Morphy.
It is presently unknown if LeFleur’s ghost still actively haunts the restaurant, but usually, the stronger a spirit was in its convictions in its life, the stronger that spirit is after death. Given the atrocity that LeFleur was able to commit against his own family, it is quite likely that his spirit persists in Brennan’s despite the renovations.
Dining at Brennan’s
Brennan’s reputation as both an esteemed and haunted restaurant precedes it. On the culinary side, the restaurant is considered one of the best in New Orleans and a must-try for visitors. On the otherworldly side, Brennan’s ghoulish reputation is well-known. It was even featured on an episode of the television series Ghost Hunters.
If you’d like to learn more about the restaurant’s ghostly side and see it for yourself, consider joining us on our New Orleans Ghosts Tour!
Sources:
blog.etundra.com/in-the-restaurant/brennans-restaurant-haunted-restaurants-nope/.
www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/americas-haunted-restaurants-and-hotels#4.
www.brennansneworleans.com/recipes/bananas-foster/.
www.brennansneworleans.com/morphy-room/.
www.brennansneworleans.com/traditions/.
alansmysteriousworld.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/boogeymen-at-brennans/.
hollowhill.com/brennans-red-room-ghosts-new-orleans/.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0911715/.
