The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

Posted: 02.19.2025 | Updated: 02.19.2025

Located at 514 Chartres Street in New Orleans’ iconic French Quarter looms the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. This stately townhouse was originally an apothecary run by the first pharmacist in the United States. In addition to its historic significance, the museum is known for being haunted by a wicked doctor and his victims. 

There are countless tales to tell about the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum and the many other haunted locations in the city. To learn more, book a ghost tour today with NOLA Ghosts!

Is The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum Haunted?

Although the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum doesn’t allow paranormal investigations, their website hints at the fact that it’s haunted. 

Over the years, visitors and staff have encountered the ghost of James Dupas, a malicious doctor who committed an unknown number of medical atrocities within the building. It’s now believed that his ghost, as well as those of his victims, haunt the museum.

History of The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

The story of the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum begins in 1788 when Louis Dulfilho Jr. was born in France. Dulfilho moved to New Orleans in his teen years but returned to France to get a degree from the Paris College of Pharmacy. When Dulfilho returned to New Orleans in 1816, he opened an apothecary with his brother and became the first licensed pharmacist in the United States.

In 1822, Dulfilho commissioned architect J.N.B DePouilly to build a townhouse for him in the French Quarter. Dulfilho moved into the home with his wife and seven children the following year. The ground floor was the apothecary, and the upper floors were living quarters for him and his family. 

Other retail spaces on the ground floor included the post office, hardware store, and soda fountain. As a result, the Dulfilho residence became a popular destination in the French Quarter.

Louis Dulfilho became well known for his contributions to modern medicine. He was an expert in mixing herbs that helped heal the sick. He also found a remedy for yellow fever, which was killing one in six New Orleans residents, including Dulfilho’s brother.

It should also be noted that Louis Dulfilho was a slaveholder. These enslaved people would have not been permitted in the pharmacy due to fears that they would poison Dulfilho’s slave-holding clients. There are also rumors that he appropriated some Voodoo practices, which he incorporated into his work.

In 1950, the townhouse on Descartes was transformed into the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. Since then, it has acquired an extensive collection that boasts over 10,000 medical and pharmacy artifacts. 

The Abominable Dr. Dupas

After more than 30 years in business, Louis Dulfilho sold his successful apothecary to a physician who turned out to be one of the most evil men in New Orleans. 

In 1855, Dr. James Dupas purchased the apothecary from Louis Dulfilho for $18,000.00. It didn’t take long before the apothecary’s reputation steeply declined. It seemed that Dr. Dupas’s patients became sicker the longer they saw him. 

Others became addicted to cocaine and heroin, which he regularly prescribed. Neighbors noted that not every patient who entered Dr. Dupas’s practice left. It would take years for the shocking truth to finally come out.

On the second floor of the apothecary, Dr. Dupas carried out atrocious medical experiments. He would use drills, scalpels, and scissors to perform unnecessary surgeries. He would also poison patients and give them concoctions that he knew would make them sick. 

What makes his crimes especially despicable is the fact that he performed them largely on enslaved pregnant women and other unwilling victims. The horrendous nature of Dr. Dupas’s experiments often left babies with disabilities and, in some cases, resulted in the death of both mother and child.

Dr. Dupas’s reign of terror in the French Quarter came to an abrupt end when he died in 1867. His death was caused by the complications of syphilis, which is said to have driven him insane. Tragically, there was no justice for his victims.

Ghosts of The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

Several ghosts are said to haunt the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. A female apparition has been reported in the courtyard behind the museum. There is speculation that she was one of Dr. Dupas’s victims, but her spirit has never been identified. 

Two ghost children have also been seen inside the museum, but their identities also remain a mystery. One theory about these ghosts is that they are attached to items in the vast medical artifact collection at the museum.

Visitors to the museum have felt themselves being pushed by an unseen entity. Objects in the museum regularly move around on their own. Pregnant women commonly experience nausea and stomach cramps, which many believe is related to Dr. Dupas’s grotesque medical experiments on pregnant enslaved women.

Dr. Dupas

Centuries after committing his heinous crimes, the spirit of Dr. Dupas remains trapped at his former practice. Could this be punishment for his horrific medical experiments? 

Perhaps Dupas is still connected to the pharmacy even in death. Whatever the reason, he is nearly as unpleasant as a ghost as he was as a living human. 

Dr. Dupas appears as a middle-aged man of stocky build with a mustache. He wears a brown suit with a matching tophat, along with a white lab coat. His apparition is generally encountered near the staircase at the back of the pharmacy, which leads to the site of his sadistic medical experiments. 

The ghost of Dr. Dupas is known for throwing books around the museum and rearranging cabinets that are locked. The security alarm at the museum regularly goes off for no reason, which is largely attributed to Dr. Dupas’s malevolent energy. 

Haunted New Orleans

The ghosts at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum linger on as a reminder of its dark past. Although Dr. Dupas can no longer hurt anyone, the legacy of his crimes can still be felt.

Planning a trip to New Orleans? You can learn about its haunting ghosts and legends by booking a ghost tour with NOLA Ghosts! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Louisiana hauntings.

Sources:

• https://www.legendsofamerica.com/haunted-pharmacy-museum/
• http://hauntednation.blogspot.com/2016/09/pharmacy-museum-new-orleans-la-evil.html
• https://pharmacymuseum.org/faq