Muriel’s New Orleans |Jackson Square’s Ghost Table

Posted: 06.08.2018 | Updated: 01.14.2025

As locals know, food and fright casually intermingle at a number of restaurants and residences in the city’s quarters. One of the most notable of these haunted restaurants in New Orleans is Muriel’s Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

Legends of spirits are practically woven into the hanging moss and knotted tree roots of New Orleans. Whispers of ghost sightings and brushes with voodoo hang as heavy as the mist in the city’s humid air.

Like the rest of the city’s culture, the Big Easy’s history is rich. That varied history lends itself to centuries of unsettling tales: men lingering long after their demises, men possessed, and men suspiciously succumbing to the lure of death.

Who Haunts Muriel’s Jackson Square?

It is believed that former owner Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan is the ghost at Muriel’s Restaurant in New Orleans. Not only does he haunt it, but he has his very own table. Silverware, linens, and plates are reset for this New Orleans ghost every day. The best part is, you can dine with him! Find out more on a NOLA Ghosts walking ghost tour.  

The Early History of Muriel’s

Before Muriel’s Jackson Square offered its world-class menu in 2001, the haunted New Orleans restaurant’s land experienced a string of owners and tragedies.

In 1718, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded the city of New Orleans or La Nouvelle Orleans. A French Canadian named Claude Trepagnier was granted the land that would later become Muriel’s for his efforts as a member of Bienville’s expedition party.

New Orleans was laid out into a grid in 1721. The Place de Armes, or “parade grounds,” was at the center of this grid. Eventually, these grounds became Jackson Square. Because of the arrangement of this grid, Trepagnier’s house became a coveted plot of land, especially due to its proximity to a cathedral. To the devout French settlers, the cathedral was the center of the town.

Between 1743 and 1762, another Jean Baptiste, Jean Baptiste Destrehan, acquired the land. Destrehan was the Royal Treasurer of the French Louisiana Colonies. Accordingly, he was wealthy and powerful. He destroyed the modest, mostly wooden cottage. In its place, he built a palatial residence.

The residence was constructed to be worthy of his status. Destrehan added a music room, drawing room, and ballroom. He filled the five-bedroom house with luxurious, imported goods. Money was no object.

In 1765, Destrehan passed. His son later inherited the house. Once the well of the Destrehan family money ran dry, a new owner, Pierre Phillipe de Marigny, purchased the property at auction. Marigny, a plantation owner, used the house as one of his more urban residences, or “city homes.”

Trouble and Tragedy

The Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 burned 856 out of the 1,100 buildings in the French Quarter, including part of de Marigny’s mansion. Over the following decade, the city was gradually rebuilt. The Spanish replaced the charred wooden buildings with brick. 

 A new owner, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, restored what was left of the estate. Jourdan enjoyed his palace immensely, but he was a gambling man. In 1814, he bet the house, literally, in a game of poker. He lost.

This loss devastated Jourdan. He immensely loved the home he’d made for himself and his family. Rather than having to abandon and forfeit his house, he made a final decision. He committed suicide.

After Jourdan’s Ownership

In 1823, after Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan’s death, the house had yet another new, influential owner. Julien Poydras, President of the Louisiana State Senate, a Director of the Louisiana Bank, and owner of a half-dozen plantations. Like Destrehan, Poydras was a man of wealth and power with expensive, elite tastes.

Incidentally, a year after moving into the residence, Poydras fell ill and died. The surviving Poydras family continued to live in or own the property throughout the following years and the Civil War. Ownership changed hands, yet again, as the Poydras family lost wealth and power after the war. The next owner, Theodore Leveau, owned the property from 1881 to 1891.

Following Leveau, Peter Lipari purchased the property. Lipari remodeled the structure to its present form, establishing it as a commercial rather than residential space.

The remodeled space was shared by a restaurant and saloon. Later, under Frank Taormina—yet another owner—a pasta factory and grocery store replaced them.

In the 1970s, the commercial space finally became a restaurant. In 2001, this restaurant, then known as Chart House, became Muriel’s under its current owners.

Muriel’s Ghost Table

The most dedicated owner of Muriel’s Jackson Square property, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, ended his life on the second floor of the building. The space became the Seance Lounge due to the spiritual presence that still remains from the floor’s melancholic history.

Since his death, Jourdan has lived on in Muriel’s. His legacy lives on not only in the restaurant’s stated history or ownership records but far beyond that—Jourdan’s very spirit resides in Muriel’s.

His ghost, described as “a glimmer of sparkly light,” spends most of his time at his very own table. When Muriel’s first opened in March 2001, they noticed a number of odd and unexplainable incidents. Glasses and even bottles of wine would fly across the room without any recognizable source. 

Their solution was to contact a medium, who in turn got in touch with Jourdan. The ghost of this New Orleans haunted restaurant was upset that no one was inviting him to dinner! So the fine folks at Muriel’s set him up with his very own table. 

You can see this table from the street and even dine with Jourdan if you want. But that is not the only place where the spirits roam at Muriel’s New Orleans. 

The Seance Lounge

The International Society for Paranormal Research designates Muriels and their ghost table as one of New Orleans’s most haunted sites. Several paranormal investigations have investigated its spiritual presence.

These investigations report sightings of inexplicable shadows seemingly emitting disembodied voices. The Seance Lounge is the center of haunted activity in Muriel’s, as most of these sightings have occurred within their walls.

A distinctive pattern of knocking on the walls sounds in the area at times, in what may be ghost(s) trying to communicate with mortal guests. A woman’s voice has also been documented as being heard while no living women were in the area.

Despite the unsettling nature of these reports, Muriel’s assures its patrons that its known resident ghosts are harmless; no restaurant patrons who’ve encountered a ghost have said they were scared by them.

Muriel’s NOLA welcomes and stands by its ghostly guests, especially Jourdan, to the point of keeping a table permanently reserved for his ghost, complete with bread and red wine. The restaurant sets his table every day. 

Haunted New Orleans

Muriel’s Jackson Square is a fully operational and renowned restaurant open to the public. Guests are welcome to visit the Seance Lounge and see Jourdan’s table when the restaurant is open.

After you visit Muriel’s and Jourdan, consider joining us on our New Orleans Ghosts tour. Our nightly tour meets and ends at the St. Louis Cathedral, right by Jackson Square. St. Louis Cathedral is a short, one-minute walk from Muriel’s Jackson Square, making it easy to experience both on the same night. 

In the meantime, keep reading our blog and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more spooky content! 

Sources:

 wgno.com/2016/10/17/living-among-the-dead-muriels-jackson-square/

 www.wdsu.com/article/haunted-nola-muriels-eternal-guest/12780661

 muriels.com/about/ghost/

 muriels.com/about/history/

www.atlasobscura.com/places/muriels-ghost-at-jackson-square

Pierre The Ghost of Muriels Restaurant
byu/mattdbart inGhosts