When someone died in the 19th century, the family would place a black wreath on the front door to signify a house in mourning. The house would lose its color. Lavish meals were avoided. Portraits of the deceased were draped in black. A coffin would sit in the parlor for the wake.
If a child died, the family would dress even the child’s dolls in black mourning attire. Families would also cover all mirrors and reflective surfaces to prevent the spirit of the deceased from becoming trapped.
Some say that at Destrehan Plantation, a few of those spirits got trapped anyway. Witnesses say they have seen a rocking horse move when no one is near it, a ghost caught on camera, and a boy, who died nearly 150 years ago, sitting on a window ledge.
Residents can see for themselves if the hauntings of Destrehan Plantation are real or make believe during its Hauntings of Destrehan Ghost Tour. The plantation now offers a 5:30 p.m. and a 6:30 p.m. tour Thursdays through Sundays. Tickets are $35.
A two-hour tour hosted by NOLA Ghost Riders starts at 7:30 at the plantation. Tickets are $69 for adults and $49 for children. The tour includes ghost hunting outside the plantation home with equipment like dowsing rods, K2 meters and spirit boxes.
The plantation has a tragic and cruel history. Trials were held on the plantation after the 1811 Louisiana Slave Revolt, the largest in U.S. history. Although no executions happened on the property, slave owners did execute Destrehan Plantation slaves who participated in the uprising. Jean Noel Destrehan, who purchased the plantation with his wife, Celeste, in 1792, owned 56 slaves. The plantation produced indigo and cane sugar.
At least 30 people died in the plantation home and over 300 people died on the grounds.
As part of its normal house tour, the plantation is running its House in Mourning tour through Nov. 5.
Gabrielle Charron Benoit, a curator and historian for the plantation, said the inspiration for the tour came from a real person: Lydia, who died of yellow fever in 1853 inside the home.
“Her death was recorded by Father Perret of the Red Church (now St. Charles Borromeo) in his diary,” Benoit said. “The year 1853 was also the deadliest yellow fever epidemic in Louisiana’s history, making this story both deeply personal and historically significant.”
Benoit said mourning was a deeply domestic and extended process in the 19th century. The body typically remained in the home for up to three days before burial. Services were intimate and brief, held within the home rather than in funeral parlors, but the mourning period itself could last months.
“Lydia’s mother, Louise, would have remained in mourning for at least six months following her daughter’s death,” Benoit said.
For slaves on the plantation, mourning was not a formalized process as it was for the free family.
“They were expected to continue working in the fields or the house, even while grieving,” Benoit said. “Small gatherings or remembrance ceremonies may have occurred, often rooted in African traditions, but they had to be brief and discreet.”
She said that during the 1853 epidemic, the enslaved community suffered great losses to yellow fever and cholera as well. Enslaved house workers, such as Marguerite, who is represented by a mannequin in the exhibit, would have been required to wear black and appear mournful for the family they served, all while silently mourning their own loved ones.
Most everyone who lived on the plantation was buried at the local Catholic cemetery, known today as St. Charles Borromeo.
“The House in Mourning tour is rooted entirely in history rather than ghost stories,” Benoit said.
She said guests are often most impacted by seeing how the home would have appeared during a time of mourning — particularly the presence of a coffin in the parlor and the changes made to reflect grief within the household.
“Visitors come away with a deeper understanding of how prevalent death was in the 19th century and how society coped with loss,” Benoit said. “Mourning touched everyone — free and enslaved alike — regardless of race, class, or gender. It reminds us that death was an ever-present part of life in this era and shaped the customs, emotions, and daily routines of all who lived here.”
