By Kristi O’Toole

You’re looking for the perfect romantic getaway when you stumble across the Hotel Monteleone, located in the magical French Quarter of New Orleans. Sitting on the corner of Royal and Iberville, the location is perfect and not to mention the architecture and décor are bar none top of the line.

You book it.

Upon arrival, you’re immediately smitten with it’s beauty and attentive staff; handing the bellhop your luggage you step into the elevator where unfortunately for you it all starts to go terribly wrong. The elevator stops but on the wrong floor, and after pressing several buttons to no avail the only thing left to do is exit the metal box and head for the stairs. But it isn’t that easy. As you walk down the corridor, at first you don’t really notice the change in temperature, but all to soon it becomes so cold you’ve no choice but to take notice. Then through the puffs of your own breath you see an image appear, several to be exact.

You find yourself watching a movie of sorts, one from the past of children playing. It takes you a moment to realize that what you’re seeing isn’t an old film, but rather the residual energy of lives gone by.

Is it too late for a refund?

Hotel Monteleone is known for being one of the premier haunted hotels in New Orleans. In March 2003, the International Society of Paranormal Research spent several days at Hotel Monteleone. While at the hotel, the team made contact with more than a dozen earthbound entities. Among them were several former employees, a man named William “Red” Wildemere, who died inside the hotel of natural causes. Another spirit is that of a friendly toddler named Maurice Begere. The boy died in the hotel, and his distraught parents returned frequently in hopes he might visit them. Maurice eventually appeared to his mother and comforted her, and to this day, guests report seeing him near the room where he died.

Slightly less terrifying is a restaurant door that opens almost every evening and then closes again, even though it is locked.

Thankfully for guests most of the ‘forever visitors’ are friendly. Still when you wake up in the middle of the night to find a ghostly woman has been watching you sleep, it doesn’t matter how sociable she may or may not be, you’re still going to wet the bed.

Most of the ghostly activity takes place on the 14th floor, but why there you may ask? Maybe because it isn’t the 14th floor at all. Confused yet? In reality it’s the 13th floor, and we all know what’s synonymous with the number 13.

Strangely enough, for a period in history, hotel architects and other property were so superstitious that they decided that it was best not to have a 13th floor. The number 13 has always been linked with superstition, and many building owners opted to avoid having a 13th floor to avoid any bad karma or omens that might be attributed to the number. Some owners did so in the hope that their hotel or business would flourish, while others decided against a 13th floor on the chance that their tenants on that floor or employees were themselves superstitious and would not to visit or work for the company.

Whether the 13th floor legend has been rooted in fact or fiction, it is obvious that someone in the Monteleone line either was personally superstitious or worried that the hotel’s guests might be so, and decided that creating a 14th floor instead was the better way to go about it. Is it just a strange coincidence then that the 14th floor of the hotel is also allegedly the most haunted?

Zero coincidence, ghosts aren’t easily fooled with mathematical hi-jinks.

Just a word of warning, before you decide to take the family for a stay at the Monteleone, it seems the ghosts of the 14th floor quite prefer children and have been known to seek them out. Just make sure you’re prepared for a potentially terrifying encounter.

When Kristi isn’t writing for NewzBreaker, she writes supernatural suspense novels having three currently published. If you would like to check out any of her books they can be found online and at other major retailers like Books a Million and Amazon. Never one to rest, she also paints/designs shoes and items for the home. Check out her eBay store, Watered Down Vodka and her FB page.

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