Happy Halloween!

I absolutely love spooky season and all things haunted and have taken to booking ghost tours whenever and wherever we travel! And luckily Rick is down for all my ghostly explorations.

I think a ghost tour is such a fun way to learn more about a city’s history and local hauntings. Some tours are focused on ghostly activity, some on true crime, and some include a bit of both.

We’ve done quite a few ghost tours in the United States, Canada, and over in Europe. From Edinburgh to Quebec City, these are some of the best ghost tours we’ve gone on when we’ve traveled.

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10. Paris

When we were in Paris last September we had to book a spooky tour of the city. We booked the Paris Dark City Secrets Walking Tour. Though this tour leaned more dark and macabre history of Paris than visiting actively haunted sites.

We did stop at Rue des Chantres, which is said to be the most haunted street in Paris as it’s home to little kid ghosts. Unfortunately, some children living at the orphanage on this street perished in a flood in the 1900s. There’s even some street art of a ghostly child on this street.

On our Paris ghost tour, we also learned about:

• The Sweeney Todd of Paris
• The man who was killed for being a wizard
• How the mafia would use dead fish to cover up their killings
• The 1981 cannibal of Paris
• The duchess who perfected poisons and was indeed fed her own poison
• We visited the site of the hanging tree and where the guillotine sat, and heard how Parisians were annoyed that the guillotine was too quick in killing people

Overall this was a fun tour, helped that our guide Leo was so animated and excited to share these stories, but it definitely stayed closer to true history than “someone was thrown across the room!”-type stories of active hauntings. 

If you prefer to hear real history and some more grisly and gruesome tales, this is a good pick. If you want the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up as you hear about spirits still sticking around, this might not be the best tour. The tour was about two hours in length and cost us $32 per adult.

9. Quebec City

When we were in Quebec City, we went on another dark history tour of the city, which also focused more on true tales than things going bump in the night. We went with Ghost Tours of Quebec or Les Visites Fantomes de Quebec. 

We learned what would happen if the early citizens were found guilty of treason, we heard about a cursed captain, the tortured executioner, a witch and her interesting confinement, haunted homes built on top of smallpox cemeteries, and the horrifying story of a woman’s worst nightmare come to life in the graveyard.

This was a good 90-minute walking tour and we definitely were walking on this tour all over the hills of Quebec City and down to the waterfront. An adult ticket for the tour is $25. 

8. London

Given how old the city of London is, it’s no surprise the city has quite a few haunted locations and active ghosts and ghouls. 

We’ve done a few ghost tours in London and I’ve done a Jack the Ripper tour with some girlfriends. On the Jack the Ripper tour, we obviously stopped at The Ten Bells, the bar associated with Jack the Ripper and a few of his victims, and the pub is said to be home to cold spots, ghostly apparitions, and the sound of footsteps moving down empty hallways. There have also been stories of poltergeist activity in and around the pub, maybe the angry spirits of his victims who visited the pub before their untimely deaths.  

On a tour without Rick, I also visited the Tower of London which has its own haunted history. It’s easy to see why as you walk past the torture devices on display and hear about the beheadings that took place here. Queen Anne Boleyn was beheaded at the Tower in 1536 and some have reported seeing her ghost – carrying her own head around the property, and it’s rumored that other royal family members were murdered here as well and to this day they scream in the Bloody Tower. 

Others report seeing the White Lady or smelling her perfume as they make their way around the grounds. 

There are said to be more than 10 individual ghosts haunting the Tower of London, though there may be more who can’t leave the place that brought them so much suffering in life. 

A tour that Rick and I did was with London Walks where we heard about a canine ghost who likes to scare people by running out into traffic. We also heard about the Man in Grey who haunts the Theater Royal, Drury Lane, and the ghost that rings in the new year with a tradition most of us don’t want to partake in, by jumping off the Westminster Bridge. I’ll stick to drinking champagne! 

The nice thing about London Walks tours are that you just show up, you can make a reservation online to save a spot but you don’t pay anything until the tour starts, but that does mean you need cash on hand. Most tours are about 15 pounds per person. 

7. Nashville

While known as Music City, Nashville’s also got some murder in its history. And of course I was going to hear all about it on a ghost tour.

We’ve both been to Nashville but funnily enough not together. I went for work and ended up having a free night and immediately searched for ghost tours of the city.

On the Murder in Music City Ghost Tour with Ghost City Tours, our group learned about:

• The ghosts that continue to haunt the capital building
• How Andrew Jackson survived a duel with Charles Dickinson
• The ghosts that continue to stay checked in at the Hermitage Hotel
• The history of the Climax Saloon, two guesses what certain district it took its namesake from
• And the hauntings in Printer’s Alley and Skull’s Rainbow Room that welcomes ghostly visitors

This tour is 90 minutes and costs $35 per adult and is a fun way to take a break between visiting country music bars. 

6. Seattle

So, Seattle is another place I did a ghost tour without Rick. So thankfully my friends are also into the supernatural and hauntings, so we did a tour of Pike Place Market, the Seattle Terrors Ghost Tour with US Ghost Adventures!

We heard about Kikisoblu who haunts the area after her tribe was “relocated” from the area, we heard about the bad doctor, Doctor Linda Hazzard whose last name should have been a giant red flag to anyone seeking her special treatments. 

We kept our hands to ourselves as we walked by the gum wall before stopping by the Butterworth Building, a haunted former mortuary that was home to the first corpse elevator on the West Coast and may have some spirits still trying to find their former bodies. 

We also heard about the ghost at the aptly named Ghost Alley Espresso coffee shop and the other eternal residents of Post Alley, as well as stopping outside one of Seattle’s oldest buildings, the Moore Theater, where no matter how many times the seats are cleaned, they’ll still give off the smell of cigar smoke. 

You can either opt for a 60-minute tour or 90-minute extended tour and tickets start at $20 per adult. Obviously we did the extended version and it was so worth it! On the extended part we talked about more recent thrilling tales, like Ted Bundy’s time spent terrorizing Seattle and Gary Ridgeway, AKA the Green River Killer. This tour had the perfect blend of true crime, history, and active hauntings. 

5. Estes Park

Luckily we live pretty close to a haunted hotel – The Stanley Hotel up in Estes Park, CO.

We’ve done the ghost tour of the Stanley Hotel before but decided to do it again! The tour is about an hour in length and costs about $30 per adult.

On our night tour of the Stanley we heard about: 

• F.O. and Flora Stanley and their appearances over the years
• The helpful maid in room 217
• The ghost children still playing on the fourth floor
• The paranormal activity happening at the Lodge (liquor disappearing, clothes being packed, suitcases moving, etc.)
• The spirits residing in the basement of the Concert Hall – Lucy and using candy to entice her
• The dark entity that lived in the storage area
• The orbs and ghostly figures in the tunnels under the hotel

One year, a group of friends and I stayed overnight and took the tour. In one of the rooms we stop in, there are a ton of mirrors and many guests have caught photos of the ghosts or orbs in this room and a guy in our group snapped a picture and then upon closer inspection, saw a face in the mirror that definitely didn’t match anyone in our tour group. We also went into the basement of the Concert Hall and one of my girlfriends, who is a non-believer but good sport, suddenly grabbed my arm while we were sitting in the dark waiting for an appearance. She freaked out when she realized I wasn’t messing with her and moving the zipper on her sweater.

After our tour, we went back to our suite (we were staying in the Lodge), and I was the last to bed. I turned out the lights in the main room and started walking to the bedroom. A girlfriend of mine asked me to turn off the lights. I turned around and the lights were back on. I took a step back toward the main room and the lights switched off. I quickly ran to the safety of my friends in the bedroom and proceeded to fall asleep while The Shining played on a continuous loop.

4. San Francisco

Coming in at number four is San Francisco as the real treat is the city’s haunted buildings!

Rick and I have yet to visit San Francisco together but I’ve been a few times with family and for work. And I always make a point to do some sort of ghostly tour while in the Bay Area!

I’ve done the ghost tour of Alcatraz at night and it definitely adds a creepy factor to visiting the old prison. 

But the most recent ghost tour I did of San Francisco was with US Ghost Adventures, who operated the Seattle tour I did, but this was the correctly named, San Francisco Ghost Tour. My sister was with me on this trip and seeing as we both love all things ghostly, we were excited for this tour where we learned about:

• The lost souls from the 1906 earthquake and fire
• The Fairmont Hotel which is one of the structures in Nob Hill to survive the earthquake, and a structure said to be haunted by the Fair sisters and other entities
• The James C. Flood Mansion, the current headquarters of the secretive and elite Pacific-Union Club that may or may not be sitting atop something more sinister
• The maids at various San Francisco hotels quitting after seeing shadowy humanoid figures or being pranked by ghosts
• The Freemasons’ work in Union Square and one ghost tied to the activities and stuck repeating his death for eternity
• A Chief of the San Francisco Fire Department who still responded to the call of duty even after his departure from our world

This one-hour ghost tour started in Union Square and covered Nob Hill and was $25 per adult.

3. Edinburgh

When we were in Edinburgh last September we had a free night and of course we were going ghost hunting! We did the Doomed, Dead, and Buried tour as it gave us the opportunity to stop at the Blair Street Underground Vaults. 

On our ghost tour of Edinburgh, we also heard about: 

• The grave in a parking lot that’s used today where a woman likes to park there simply to piss off the man who’s buried there as he believed women didn’t have a place in politics
• The story of half-hanged Maggie
• The story of William Barton and his deal with the devil and how no man could kill him, so no man did
• The Blair Street Underground Vaults and the ghosts that reside there, including Jack, the cobbler, and Mr. Boots (AKA The Watcher)
• A visit to Canongate graveyard
• The story of Burke and Hare, the Edinburgh body snatchers and murderers

We were in Edinburgh on a guided tour and told our tour director we were going into the vaults. And then he told us a scary story of his own about why he refuses to go down in there. 

Outside of the ghost tour, we did stop at Edinburgh Castle but didn’t come across any ghosts, even though the castle is said to be haunted by several ghosts, including one headless drummer who warns people of danger. There’s also the famous piper who went into the tunnels but never returned, though the faint sound of bagpipes can be heard when there shouldn’t be any music.

Reports of paranormal activity in Edinburgh Castle include hearing drums and knocking sounds, spotting ghostly figures, finding random cold spots, something, or someone, tugging at your clothing, and capturing orbs on film.

Another night, we also stopped at Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, more to spot names from Harry Potter, but also because the cemetery is supposed to be one of the most haunted sites in Edinburgh. 

The kirkyard dates back to the mid-1500s, it’s not a shock that it’s home to some ghostly residents.

The most notorious haunting is that of the Black Mausoleum, which is the final resting place of Sir George Mackenzie, AKA Bloody Mackenzie who is said to be responsible for the deaths of more than 18,000 Scots. There have been hundreds of reports of poltergeist activity happening here after the mausoleum was disturbed in the late 1990s. Since then, visitors to the graveyard have received scratches, bruises, and cuts in violent attacks, as well as report that they felt sick or heard voices.

2. New Orleans

This is another one that I did by myself as I was in NOLA for work, but I was not going to use my free time wisely and not explore New Orleans’ haunted side! And of course that meant going to the French Quarter. 

On this ghost tour of New Orleans, I heard about:

• The sadistic experiments of Madame Lalaurie and subsequent hauntings at the mansion
• The ghost dogs licking the fingers of guests at a French Quarter hotel that once acted as war hospital and now guests will return to their rooms to see blood on the sheets, apparitions of soldiers or nurses, and even some reporting their fingers being licked by a ghostly dog that was once a therapy animal for the soldiers
• The devilish acts of the boy ghosts at the Andrew Jackson Hotel
• The ghost who just wanted to be invited to the party at Muriel’s
• The singing ghostly priest who only wanders through the rain or fog
• The real vampire factions in New Orleans

We also heard about the Bourbon Orleans as the hotel once served as a ballroom and theater, a convent, and an orphanage so it’s got a wide range of ghostly encounters waiting for you! Reports include sightings of soldiers, women and children, and a dancer who used to perform in the theater. The third and sixth floors are most often in the reports of paranormal activity at this hotel. 

This ghost tour was operated by New Orleans Secrets and was only $25 for a two-hour tour. What a steal! 

1. Denver

We can’t do a ghost tour roundup without talking about Denver! We’ve done quite a few of Denver’s ghost tours and we keep going back to the ones offered by Nightly Spirits, particularly the LoDo tour. LoDo, or Lower Downtown, has plenty of active hauntings thanks to Denver’s Wild West history. 

On a recent LoDo tour, we stopped at The Celtic, a great pub, but learned that the building owner didn’t have mirrors in there for a long time as no one wants to see the reflection of people trapped in a fire. One of our friends even said they felt something in the bathroom, before we were told that is one of the most actively haunted spaces. We don’t think it’s Moaning Myrtle though.

Our tour also stopped at the iconic Cruise Room at the beautiful Oxford Hotel, where we’ve stayed but didn’t get spooked, but in the Cruise Room, there’s the ghost of a postman who comes back for a drink at the bar, while another ghost haunts room 320 where she murdered her lover and then took her own life. Bathrooms seem to be the places for ghosts to hang out as at the Oxford there’s another ghost in the downstairs bathroom who just wants to offer a shave as he was a barber when he was alive and seemed to really enjoy his job. 

If you stop by Union Station, keep your eyes peeled for a young girl who’s just looking for a friend to play with. 

Outside of the LoDo tour, I’ve done several ghost tours of Denver and one included a stop at The Brown Palace. Which opened in 1892, so no surprise others are still hanging out there. 

Fun fact: There’s a tunnel that connected the Brown Palace with the brothel across the street so the madame could send the drunk politicians and businessmen back to the hotel in a discreet fashion. 

The hotel has spent part of its life as apartments for high society members and one former resident of room 904 did not appreciate tours of the hotel taking place and began making phone calls to the front desk, even though her room was vacant and no longer had a phone. 

My sister and I stopped outside her room on a ghost tour of Denver to hear her story and see if she would be active for us but didn’t hear anything. 

The restaurant, Ellyngton’s, is also known for paranormal activity with lights turning on and off by themselves, shadowy figures appearing throughout the room and in the elevator, disembodied voices, and even a string quartet practicing their music and calmly telling the employee who saw them that it was okay as, “We live here.”

We’ve also done tours of the Botanic Gardens and Cheesman Park, which is said to be the inspiration for the movie Poltergeist as the park and gardens used to be a cemetery and not all of the bodies were moved. We’ve done a few tours of the Botanic Gardens before but we had to do the Ghosts in the Gardens Tour as we got to visit the Waring House. 

Honestly, knowing we could go inside this house was 90% of the reason we booked the tour. We’ve heard of the Waring House on our other ghost tours in Denver, but it’s not open to the public – except on this tour. There are some dark spirits that lurk in the shadows of the Waring House and we wanted to hear some first-hand tales about it. I was sufficiently spooked and ready to leave by the time we were wrapping up the tour. We heard about:

• Wade: A former staff member who likes to smile and wave at current staff members
• Darth Vader: A shadowy figure that walks the perimeter of the property
• The Girl in White: A young girl who’s particularly attached to a certain spot on the grounds
• Jack: A childish spirit who likes to play
• The Lady in White: A spirit that’s assumed to be a bride who killed herself on her wedding day

Rick and I have also stayed overnight at a famously-haunted Denver hotel: The Patterson Inn or it’s also been known as The Patterson-Croke Mansion. 

The creepiest story includes when the mansion was under renovation and each day the workers would arrive to find their tools strewn about or missing, as well as their work undone. The construction company brought two guard dogs to watch the property at night and one was either thrown or leapt to its death from the third floor. 

People have reported seeing Thomas Patterson roaming the halls, hearing footsteps, babies crying, and knocks on the wall, as well as strong, foul odors coming from nowhere. One of our tour guides saw a dark figure watching them from the window and refused to go inside. The cellar is said to be a haunted location as well but we’ve had a few drinks there and went down to the bar when it was quiet but didn’t feel anything.

What’s the best ghost tour you’ve done? Tell us about it in the comments below!