Ghosts and vampires. But what about pirates?

What's a visit to one of the most haunted cities in America without a ghost tour to help scare you. We opted to do both a ghost and a vampire tour, which turned out to be a good idea. The ghost tour took place as the sun was going down. The vampire tour started right after, when it was already dark. We walked down the same streets and passed familiar houses, but the city became completely foreign to my eyes after the sun set.

The tours turned out to be more than just entertaining, they were pretty informational. Our tour guide gave us all the facts of New Orleans' dark past and what was on the land before French settlers came in. We learned that beautiful homes hid stories of murder, torture and suicide. Specific street corners can even be pointed out where bodies were piled up during the bubonic plague. You've got to know some of the facts before you hear the legends. Some of the most famous vampire legends come from the Catholic Church and the vampires that are hidden in the attic of the Old Ursuline Convent.

It was all pretty shocking, so we listened eagerly as our tour guide enthusiastically doled out famous ghost stories and infamous vampire legends, which was all a little strange because he looked like a pirate. Allison and I concluded that the relation we made with our tour guide to Jack Sparrow is a side effect of living in Los Angeles, where you see Jack Sparrow look-a-likes almost regularly. But when you're in New Orleans, I guess pirates can also be ghost hunters and vampire slayers.