In September, more than a month before opening night, David Gentry sat on the front porch at Magazine and Second streets. Around him were light fixtures, extension cords, storage bins and jugs of the fluid that makes the fog in his front yard, according to NOLA.com's Doug MacCash. Ghost Manor opened October 15. Three nights remain, October 29 through 31, Thursday through Saturday.
The Garden District's Halloween runs on private households. No parade comes through these blocks. The season's best-known spectacle is put on at one family's Victorian home, and the neighborhood's own trick-or-treating depends on residents agreeing to be designated houses. Last year showed how fragile that is. One block of utility work took the centerpiece away for a whole season. This year it is back, and its final night falls on the same Saturday as the Garden District Association's Halloween evening.
The Year the Corner Went Dark
In September 2025, WGNO reported that road work one block from Ghost Manor was expected to last three months and would bring closures and detours affecting access and parking. According to NOLA.com's report on the cancellation, the Gentrys decided that demolition, digging and detours would snarl Magazine Street too badly for the show to go on.
The City's own notice, dated October 7, 2025, describes utility repairs by a Department of Public Works contractor in the 2300 block of Magazine Street. It also added the First Street intersection to the closure and projected a reopening by 6 p.m. on November 28, weather permitting. That window covered all of Halloween season. According to NOLA.com, David and Jessica Gentry canceled the show for the first time in 13 years.
The scale of what was lost matters. The same NOLA.com piece says the show draws thousands of viewers each season to the sidewalks around the house. Nothing else in the Garden District's October draws crowds like that, and all of it depends on a single corner of Magazine Street being passable.
What Came Back to 2502 Magazine
By this fall, MacCash reported, "the street has healed, the detour signs are gone," and the show would go on as usual. Gentry used the year off to look at other Halloween displays, take his daughter trick-or-treating and think. He told NOLA.com the downtime "reminded me why I want to do it."
He calls the show "dialed in like never before." It is a choreographed production with singing robot skeletons, animated projections in the upper windows, synchronized lighting and more than 80 glowing jack-o'-lanterns. Gentry composes the projections himself, from the characters' costumes to their movements, with no AI assistance. He also arranges for police officers to manage the crowd.
"This year, it's about content, not extra gadgetry."
That is how Gentry described the 2026 show to NOLA.com. The full presentation runs about 20 minutes. Inside it is a 4-minute segment called "Hello Darkness," set to Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence." Gentry ties the song to today's phone fixation and social media isolation. Watch for anime-style puppets in the upper windows covering their ears, eyes and mouths, plus mummies, wandering figures carrying candles, and the center skeletons lit in garish neon while they harmonize.
The song choice is personal. NOLA.com reports that the Gentrys bought the house in 2011 from Paul Simon's former wife. "It's more than a skeleton talking," Gentry said. "I want it to be abstract enough and kind of beautiful."
Because each loop runs 20 minutes, you can stay through one full cycle and see every segment, including "Hello Darkness."
The remaining nights, per WGNO and NOLA.com:
- Thursday, October 29, 7 to 10 p.m.
- Friday, October 30, 7 to 10 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, 7 to 10 p.m.
The show is free and runs weather permitting. The house is at 2502 Magazine St., at the corner of Second Street.
Saturday Night, Hour by Hour
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and Ghost Manor's last night lines up with the Garden District Association's own Halloween evening. On October 2, the association announced Halloween Under the Oaks for October 31. It starts with trick-or-treating at designated houses and is followed by a ticketed party under the oaks.
The times connect neatly:
- 5 p.m. Trick-or-treating begins at designated houses across the Garden District.
- 6:30 p.m. The ticketed after-party opens at 2707 Coliseum St.
- 7 p.m. Trick-or-treating ends, and Ghost Manor's first show of the night starts at Magazine and Second.
- 8:30 p.m. The Coliseum Street party winds down, according to the association's announcement.
- 10 p.m. Ghost Manor goes dark for the season.
The ticket page sells tickets to both association members and nonmembers. It says children under 18 must be with an adult and children under 2 get in free. The ticket page lists a 9 p.m. end time for the party, while the association's October 2 announcement says 8:30. The announcement is the more recent of the two.
The same pattern holds here. The route runs only as far as residents volunteer their porches, and the party is organized by a neighborhood association, not a city office or a festival producer. On Saturday you can go from the designated houses to the oaks on Coliseum Street to the corner of Magazine and Second, and every stop on that route is hosted by someone who lives in the neighborhood.
One Detour Up the Avenue
If out-of-town guests are staying through the weekend, the other well-known Halloween house is a ride up St. Charles. It is Uptown, not in the Garden District. The Berger "Skeleton House" at 6000 St. Charles Ave., at the corner of State Street, is designed by owner Louellen Berger. NOLA.com reported that it would be mostly in place by September 24.
This year's skeleton cast includes Dolly Parton, Mayor Helena Moreno, Todd Graves, Gayle Benson and Scooby Doo. NOLA.com also lists Yvonne LaGore, Mark Romig and a "New York Nix" among the additions. NOLA.com says the display can be seen through November 1, one day after Ghost Manor's last show.
The two houses work differently. The Skeleton House is a static cast you can see in daylight on your own schedule. Ghost Manor is a timed nighttime performance, so the hours on its sign decide when you can see it. If you only have one evening, spend it on Magazine Street and see St. Charles on Sunday.
A Closing Night Worth Planning Around
Saturday is the last of Ghost Manor's eleven nights this year. Coverage hasn't said whether next year's show might face another closure, but 2025 showed that a utility repair on the next block can wipe out a season. For one night this weekend, everything lines up: the streets are open, the jack-o'-lanterns are lit, and the neighborhood's designated houses are taking trick-or-treaters until 7, the same hour the first show starts on Magazine.
At Jolita Burrell, we watch the Garden District week to week. That includes which corners are under repair, which neighbors are hosting, and which traditions came back this year. If you'd like to talk about a home within walking distance of Magazine and Second, or anywhere else in the neighborhood, we would be glad to hear from you. Contact Us.
