Scary New Orleans Mortuary Haunted House
The Former Funeral Home Overlooks Big Easy Cemeteries
Oct 25, 2008
The Mortuary in New Orleans is an imposing eight-columned former funeral mansion that has been converted into a haunted house surrounded by some of the city’s above-ground tombs. During the Halloween season, it attracts long lines of both locals and tourists. Visitors are warned: "If you’re not screaming, you’re already dead."
The Times-Picayune newspaper says the place is not recommended for children or the faint of heart. "If you're afraid of giant demented rabbits, twitching corpses, homicidal monks, mad scientists, slamming doors, levitating tables, dark (inhabited) hallways, and unidentified liquids that spray unexpectedly from the most vulgar of places, the Mortuary may not be your cup of tea," Doug MacCash wrote in the Picayune. He is identified as the paper’s "crypt critic."
The Mortuary phone number is 1-877-666-FEAR.
McMahon & Sons Funeral Home
The white mansion, built in 1887 on the city’s premiere street, served as the McMahon & Sons Funeral Home from 1920 to the late 1990s. It was bought in 2007 and given a multi-million dollar renovation to convert it into a 14,000-square foot haunted house.
The Mortuary has been named one of America’s scariest attractions by Discovery Channel Studios.
To get in the Halloween spirit, The Mortuary hosts the city’s bloodmobile each year, giving VIP passes to persons who donate blood. The pass allows the holder to move to the head of the haunted house line.
Jeff Borne of PSX Inc
The Mortuary was developed by Jeff Borne of PSX Inc., an international audio-visual design firm headquartered in Covington, Louisiana, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.
The McMahon funeral home, which experienced some damage from Hurricane Katrina, was abandoned and gutted when Borne purchased it in 2007. He told MacCash that the only leftovers he found from the funeral home were "a rusty machete, a Times-Picayune from August 1965, and a dog skeleton."
The funeral home furniture is gone, but there are still memories of real bodies being embalmed in the building. As one would expect, Borne and his crew reported they have heard strange sounds and experienced other spooky things in the house.
World’s First Paranormal Attraction
Borne has also announced the development of Paraplex, which is being promoted as the "world’s first paranormal attraction and event center of its kind." It is scheduled to open at The Mortuary in January 2009 and will feature "cutting edge technology, including thermal and night vision, interactive psi testing, parapsychological field experiments, a paranormal screening room" and other exhibits.
Before converting the McMahon funeral home into The Mortuary, Borne developed the "Scream Factory" haunted house several years ago in Covington. The story there is that the building was once an asylum for the criminally insane, located next to the city graveyard.
The asylum was later converted into a coffin-manufacturing building by a fellow known as "Old Man Graves." He is said to have purchased the graveyard to provide his customers with a "one stop shop." The firm’s inside joke was that Old Man Graves wanted to "can um and plant um."
The Scream Factory’s slogan is "we manufacture fear."
References:
- Doug MacCash, The Times-Picayune, October 5, 2007
- The Mortuary.net
- The Scream Factory.com
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