16 Spookiest Ghost Tours Across the Country

Meet at tree-lined Chippewa Square for the Uncensored Zombies tour by Blue Orb Tours, which combines Savannah’s colonial history with the conjuring cultures of voodoo and hoodoo legends. Look for orbs and hags (conjured spirits) at places like the Colonial Park Cemetery and the Marshall House, which served as a hospital during the Civil War where amputated body parts were buried under the floorboards.

Related: 10 Most Haunted Places in Savannah

The Wild West lives on—after dark—in Tombstone, Arizona. On the Gunfighter and Ghost Tour, explore sites where the restless spirits of a lawless past still roam free. Participants visit multiple historic and haunted locations on this tour, including the infamous O.K. Corral and the Bird Cage Theatre, where painted ladies once danced in hanging cages while gunfire rang out below, leaving a reported 31 ghosts to haunt the building.

Confederate and Union soldiers clashed in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, with a loss of life unmatched by any other battle on American soil. Consequentially, this southern Pennsylvania town is known as a hotbed of paranormal activity. Gettysburg Ghost Tours offers candlelit journeys down historic streets and across misty battlefields with guides dressed in period costume who regale participants with eerie tales. Request tour guide Johlene “Spooky” Riley, who has gained local fame thanks to her creepy, history-rich stories.

Related: 12 Haunted Cemeteries to Visit Before You Die

“America’s Number One Ghost Tour Company,” Ghost City Tours offers tours of some of the most haunted spots—in some of the most haunted cities—in the U.S. Choose your location: either Savannah, New Orleans, San Antonio or Charleston. Then choose your preferred tour type—cemeteries, haunted buildings, pub crawls, and more. With so many spooky options to choose from, it’s impossible to go wrong.

For those looking to keep the chills going all night while in Gettysburg, book a room at Farnsworth House Inn. The historic B&B is believed to be haunted and offers a variety of eerie ways to spend your evening. Tours and events include the East Cemetery Hill Walk, Paranormal Night, the Confederate Hospital Walk, and a ghost hunt that begins in the cellar of the Farnsworth House before venturing outside into the darkness of the night. 

Meet the tortured souls who linger in Chicago, left behind by everyone and everything from mobster Al Capone to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the Battle of Fort Dearborn in 1812. Chicago Hauntings takes a historical look at the Windy City, zeroing in on its macabre past. Among the tour’s eeriest stops is the former site of serial killer H.H. Holmes’ Murder Castle, where numerous victims were led to grisly deaths during the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.

Related: How H. H. Holmes Became America's Most Prolific Serial Killer 

Take an open-air trolley ride with your undead host of Ghosts & Gravestones where you’ll hear grisly tales of the Boston Strangler, Jolly Jane Toppan, Cotton Mather (a prominent figure in the Salem Witch Trials), and the Boston Harbor drownings. This tour takes participants to numerous haunted locales in Bean Town, including the King’s Chapel burial grounds, Boston’s oldest graveyard, and the Omni Parker House, a stately hotel reportedly haunted by the ghosts of former guests.

After the sun sets, climb aboard the Ghosts & Gravestones trolley for a spirited ride through this undead party town. Fun fact: there are more people buried in Key West (about 100,000) than currently living above ground (approximately 30,000). The haunted sites on this ghost tour include the Fort East Martello Museum, a former Civil War barracks that now houses the possessed voodoo figurine, Robert the Doll. You’ll also hear freakish stories about the Lady in Blue, the haunted Captain Tony's Saloon, and the ghostly legend behind Key West’s many haint blue rooftops, painted to bar spirits from entering.

On the SF Chinatown Ghost Tour, you’ll wind down the narrow alleys of Chinatown and discover its rich paranormal history of ancestral spirits. In the 1880s, Chinatown was home to gambling houses, opium dens, and brothels. Nowadays, local ghost tour guides discuss Chinese superstitions and the paranormal history of the vibrant neighborhood. You may even get a whiff of lotus perfume in Fragrant Alley, a scent popular with the ladies of the brothels that still lingers in the air.

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Stroll the Haunted Haight in the company of the founder of the San Francisco Ghost Society. You’ll pass the homes of Charles Manson, cult leader Jim Jones, and singer Janis Joplin—where a murder at her doorstep left paranormal activity in its wake. Other ghosts on the tour include the White Lady of Stow Lake and rocker Phillip Bury of Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys, who is said to haunt Golden Gate Park where he was killed while walking his dog.

Jefferson was once an important port town in Texas; its architecture resembles that of New Orleans. The Grove, which many say is the most haunted house in all of Texas, can be found here. Many people have captured strange orbs in digital pictures and reported heavy paranormal activity such as noises, voices, and apparitions. The Historic Jefferson Texas Ghost Walk takes you past haunted downtown landmarks and along the street where the murdered Diamond Bessie has been known to appear.

It’s not all honkytonk and rhinestones when you hop aboard the Nashville Ghost Tours. The spooky tour company offers three separate journeys into the other side. The Haunted Downtown Tour explores the shadow-filled streets and haunting mysteries of some of Nashville’s most recognizable landmarks, from the Ryman Auditorium to Printer’s Alley. The Haunted Tavern Tour invites you to get up close and personal with the many spirits haunting Nashville’s most haunted bars and pubs all while enjoying “intoxicating” tales of Music City’s dark past. Last but certainly not least, the Nashville Hearse Tour takes you on a spooky cruise past Nashville’s eeriest sites in a converted New Orleans hearse. Buckle up.

Related: Here Are the 50 Most Haunted Places in the United States 

French Quarter Phantoms offers a number of different tours to haunt your night all while you sip spirits from a plastic cup. Soak in the bloody tale of of Madame LaLaurie and the LaLaurie Mansion on the Ghost and Vampire Tour; discover NOLA's sinister side on the Saints and Sinners Tour; or retrace the footsteps of the Axeman of New Orleans on the chilling True Crime Tour—available only as a private tour. 

For all those who prefer a bit of dark magic while in the Big Easy, sign up for the New Orleans Ghost Tour’s Voodoo Tour. This excursion takes you to the many historical sites of NOLA's voodoo altars as your guide regales you with tales of bewitching Old New Orleans. Perhaps you'll even cross paths with the spirit of voodoo priestess queen Marie Laveau.

Related: 11 Creepiest and Best New Orleans Cemetery Tours

In the late 1800s, Atchison hosted a crowd of westward travelers and saw the rise of stately mansions as it became a railroad town. Haunted Atchison takes guests on a trolley ride pass various spooky locations in the city. Stops include the Gargoyle Home, where the owner purportedly made a deal with the devil for his wealth, and Atchison Street, where a female who perished in a car crash still calls out to travelers. At Sallie’s House, the ghost of a girl who died during surgery reportedly haunts male visitors who now enter the home.

Grim Philly serves up a down and dirty version of American history, where ghost stories about our founding fathers get an R-Rated bent. Indeed their site warns prospect attendees that their nighttime excursions are "graphic and unsuitable for children or those of prudish disposition." Yet the site also notes that many of their tour guides are local college professors and history teachers who hold advanced history degrees. In other words, you're in store for one revealing tour. Grim Philly’s various themed tours range from "Serial Killers & Cemetery" to "Vampires, Sex, & Ghosts"—a taste of darkness for everyone.

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Featured photo: Corey Balazowich / Flickr (CC)