How to Find a Ghost Tour and Get the Most Out of One
Why Ghost Tours Exist - And Why the Good Ones Are Worth Finding
There are two kinds of ghost tour. The first takes you through genuinely haunted streets with a knowledgeable guide who treats the history and the paranormal record with equal respect, tells you things you did not know before you arrived, and leaves you with the specific, unsettled feeling of having been somewhere that earned its reputation honestly. The second hands you a lantern, plays some atmospheric music from a Bluetooth speaker, and walks you past buildings that have been haunted since the tour company opened and not a moment before.
The gap between the two is enormous. The way they present themselves is often nearly identical.
This guide is for finding the first kind. It covers how to research your options before you book, what to look for when you arrive, how to get genuine value from the experience while you are on it, and which companies, in our considered opinion, are worth your time and money on both sides of the Atlantic.
Why Ghost Tours Exist and Why the Good Ones Matter
The ghost tour as a format has existed in various forms for centuries, but the modern walking ghost tour as a structured commercial experience was effectively invented in York, England, in 1973, when The Original Ghost Walk of York began taking paying guests through the city's medieval streets. The format spread, diversified, and eventually became one of the most popular forms of heritage tourism in both Britain and the United States.
At its best, the ghost tour does something that no museum or guidebook can fully replicate. It places you physically in the locations where documented history happened, after dark, with a guide whose job is to make the accumulated weight of that history feel immediate and real. The combination of atmosphere, movement, storytelling, and genuine historical detail produces an experience that stays with people in a way that conventional sightseeing rarely does.
At its worst, the ghost tour is a theatrical experience dressed up as something more serious, trading on a location's general reputation rather than its specific documented history, and delivering stories that have been repeated so many times they have lost any connection to their original sources.
The difference matters because your time matters, and because genuinely documented paranormal history is actually interesting, while fabricated atmosphere is not, at least not for long.
How to Research a Ghost Tour Before You Book
The research process that applies to finding a genuinely documented haunted location applies here too, with some additional considerations specific to the tour format.
The most important question to ask before booking any ghost tour is who wrote the material the guides are delivering. The best tours in Britain and America are built on research conducted by people who have spent years, sometimes decades, investigating the specific history of the locations they cover. That research is usually visible: look for guides who are named individuals with documented expertise, authors with published works on local history or paranormal investigation, or companies that can point to specific sources for their stories. A tour company that cannot tell you where its material comes from is a company that has not thought seriously about the difference between a story and a documented account.
The second question is how long the company has been operating and whether it has evolved. Tour companies that have been running for decades and that update their material as new historical research emerges are in a fundamentally different category from companies that opened three years ago and are offering the same stories as everyone else with a slightly different marketing angle.
The third question is what the format actually involves. Walking tours that take you to specific locations where documented activity has been reported are not the same as theatrical experiences staged at sites chosen for atmosphere rather than history. Both can be enjoyable. Only one is doing what it says.
Where to Look Online Before You Book
TripAdvisor is the most widely used resource for ghost tour reviews, and used correctly it is genuinely useful. The key is to read critically. Look for reviews that describe specific details of what the guide said, which locations were visited, and what the reviewer noticed independently rather than reviews that simply say it was great or it was disappointing. A pattern of detailed, specific, positive reviews from people who clearly did not arrive already convinced is a meaningful signal.
Google Reviews functions similarly and is worth cross-referencing. Pay particular attention to reviews left by people who describe themselves as skeptics, because a skeptic who found genuine value in a ghost tour is telling you something more informative than an enthusiast who arrived hoping to believe.
The Ghost Club (theghostclub.org.uk) and the Society for Psychical Research (spr.ac.uk) both maintain records of investigated locations and occasional references to reputable tour operations in their research areas. These are not tour-booking resources, but they are useful for identifying which companies are taken seriously by the paranormal research community rather than simply by the tourism industry.
Eventbrite lists ghost tour events in most major British and American cities and includes customer reviews that are often more detailed than those on dedicated travel platforms. Smaller, independent tour operators who cannot afford high placement on travel sites frequently list here, and some of the most interesting and historically rigorous tours in both countries are run by individuals rather than companies.
Local historical society websites occasionally include recommendations for tours that treat the local paranormal history seriously. A local history society that endorses a specific ghost tour is providing a form of endorsement that has no commercial motive, which makes it considerably more valuable than a tourism board recommendation.
Reddit, specifically local subreddits for cities you plan to visit, is worth searching for firsthand accounts of specific ghost tours. People on local subreddits have usually taken the tour as residents rather than tourists, which gives their assessments a different quality. Search the city's subreddit for ghost tour and read the threads you find.
What to Do When You Arrive
The most important thing you can do at the start of any ghost tour is arrive with something to write on. Not to take notes compulsively throughout the evening, which will annoy your guide and isolate you from the experience, but to jot down specific details, location names, historical references, and anything the guide mentions that you want to research independently afterward. The difference between a tour that informs your understanding of a place and one that simply entertains you in the moment is largely a matter of whether you do anything with the material after you leave.
Arrive early. Most ghost tours operate with a fixed departure time and the best positions, both spatially and acoustically, go to those who arrive first. In a walking tour, being near the front of the group means you hear everything the guide says, can ask questions without disrupting the experience for others, and have a clear view of the locations being discussed. Trailing at the back of a twenty-person group in the dark is a fundamentally different experience.
Turn your phone to silent rather than off. The reason for this is practical rather than paranormal: some of the most interesting evidence captured on ghost tours comes from cameras and audio recording apps running passively throughout the walk. If you want to do this, tell your guide at the start. Most guides who take their work seriously will welcome it and will tell you the specific locations where independent capture has produced interesting results in the past.
Ask questions during the designated moments rather than interrupting the narrative flow, and ask questions that push toward specificity rather than confirmation. "When was that first reported?" and "Is that documented anywhere I could look at?" are more productive questions than "Do you believe in ghosts?" The guides who give genuinely interesting answers to the first kind of question are the ones running genuinely interesting tours.
How to Evaluate the Tour While You Are on It
Pay attention to whether the guide distinguishes between documented history and local legend. The best guides in both Britain and America are explicit about the difference: they will tell you when something appears in historical records, when it was reported by independent witnesses over a long period, and when it is a story that has been told for a long time without anyone being quite sure where it started. This transparency is a marker of genuine expertise rather than theatrical confidence.
Notice whether the locations have specific documented histories attached to them or whether they are presented primarily through atmosphere. A guide who stands outside a building and says "this is where the execution took place in 1732, the record is in the county archive, and the first reported apparition appeared in a local newspaper account in 1891" is giving you something categorically different from a guide who stands in the same spot and says "many people feel a presence here."
Notice how the guide handles scepticism, their own and the group's. The best tour guides in this field are neither credulous believers who insist everything is paranormal nor theatrical dismissers who treat the history as entertainment without substance. They hold the genuine uncertainty of the subject with intellectual honesty, and that quality is recognisable within the first few minutes.
Ghost City Tours: Our Recommendation for America
(Ghostcitytours.com) Since 2012, Ghost City Tours has been operating ghost tours across America's most haunted cities, building a reputation that now stretches to over nine million guests served across more than fifty locations nationwide.
In our view at Strange and Twisted, Ghost City Tours is one of the finest ghost tour companies operating anywhere in the world. The reasons for that assessment are specific rather than general.
Their research standards are demonstrably higher than the industry average. The historical material their guides deliver is sourced from documented local history rather than assembled from general paranormal mythology, and the company has built its reputation over more than a decade on the kind of consistency that only comes from taking the material seriously. Ghost City began operating tours in 2012 and has since become the best ghost tour company in the world, with a dedication to quality and authenticity that has set it apart from the rest of the industry.
Ghost City Tours currently operates in Savannah, New Orleans, Charleston, Galveston, San Antonio, Nashville, Tombstone, Key West, Salem, Boston, Austin, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., San Diego, and Las Vegas, with additional cities added regularly.
Other Notable Ghost Tours in the USA
US Ghost Adventures is one of the largest ghost tour operations in America and a genuinely strong option for visitors who want historically grounded experiences across a wide range of cities. Operating in over 250 cities across the United States, US Ghost Adventures delivers fun, honest, and bone-tingling accounts of documented hauntings. The scale of their operation is matched by a consistent commitment to historical accuracy, and their guides are trained to a standard that holds up well across their extensive network. For travellers visiting cities not covered by Ghost City Tours, US Ghost Adventures is the natural first stop. Book at usghostadventures.com
Ghosts and Gravestones operates in some of America's most historically significant cities including Boston, St. Augustine, Chicago, Savannah, and San Diego, and specialises in after-dark trolley and walking experiences that combine genuine local history with theatrical atmosphere. Their Frightseeing tours are built around documented local history and delivered by guides who know their cities in considerable depth. The trolley format makes them particularly accessible for visitors who want a structured experience covering significant ground in a single evening. Book at ghostsandgravestones.com
Haunted History Tours, New Orleans is one of the oldest and most respected ghost tour operations in the French Quarter, having built its reputation over decades in a city that has more documented paranormal history per square mile than almost anywhere in America. Their guides are drawn from the local community and bring a depth of knowledge about New Orleans specifically that national tour companies cannot fully replicate. For anyone visiting New Orleans who wants to go beyond the standard French Quarter circuit, Haunted History Tours consistently delivers. Book at hauntedhistorytours.com
Savannah Ghosts operates exclusively in Savannah, Georgia, which consistently ranks among the most haunted cities in America, and has spent years building a catalogue of tours covering the city's documented paranormal history from multiple angles. Their evening walking tours cover specific neighbourhoods and locations with a level of local detail that reflects genuine long-term investment in the city's history rather than a portable format applied to a new location. For visitors to Savannah who want a local operation with deep roots in the city, this is a compelling option alongside Ghost City Tours. Book at savannahghosts.com
The Ghosts of Gettysburg Candlelight Walking Tours occupy a category of their own because Gettysburg is a category of its own. The battlefield and town have been the site of documented paranormal reports since the days immediately following the battle itself, and the organisation behind these tours has been running them since 1994, building a body of documented witness accounts that now spans three decades of independent visitor experience. The candlelight format, the battlefield setting, and the weight of documented history at this location combine to produce an experience that is genuinely unlike anything else available in American ghost tourism. Book at ghostsofgettysburg.com
Witch City Walking Tours, Salem, Massachusetts operates in a city whose paranormal and historical reputation requires no introduction, but whose ghost tour landscape varies considerably in quality. Witch City Tours distinguishes itself through a serious commitment to the actual documented history of Salem, covering not just the 1692 witch trials but the full sweep of the city's dark and complicated past. Their guides are local historians as much as they are storytellers, and the depth of material they bring to a city that has been over-touristed for decades makes them stand out clearly from the more theatrical operations competing for the same visitors. Book at witchcitywalkingtours.com
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Recommended Ghost Tours in Britain
Britain's ghost tour landscape is older, more varied, and considerably more fragmented than America's, which means there is no single equivalent to Ghost City Tours covering the country at scale. What exists instead is a collection of city-specific operations, some of them among the finest ghost tours in the world, that have built their reputations through decades of local expertise.
The Original Ghost Walk of York, York is the oldest ghost walk in the world, established in 1973 and the direct ancestor of the entire ghost tour industry as it exists today. Believed to be the world's first ever ghost walk, it focuses on genuine accounts of York's mystery blended with thoroughly researched history, delivered by guides who are City, County, or Blue Badge qualified. For anyone visiting York, this is the foundational experience. Book at theoriginalghostwalkofyork.co.uk
The Ghost Hunt of York, York takes a different approach from its older counterpart, blending genuine historical content with theatrical presentation and audience participation in a way that produces a consistently entertaining evening without sacrificing the historical substance. The Victorian-costumed guide departs from the bottom of Shambles at half past seven every evening, regardless of weather, and delivers accounts that take the audience from horror to comedy and back again with the confidence of a guide who has refined the material across thousands of performances. Book at ghosthunt.co.uk
The Deathly Dark Tours, York is the newer addition to York's ghost tour scene and has rapidly established itself as one of the most distinctive operations in the city. These award-winning comedy horror ghost walks focus on York's dark history with a grim sense of humour, covering subjects including a madman's attempt to burn down York Minster and the tragic haunting of Bedern Slums. Book at deathlydarktours.com
Mercat Tours, Edinburgh is the most acclaimed ghost tour operation in Scotland and among the finest in Britain. Mercat Tours offers multiple ghost tour formats including tours of the haunted vaults, the graveyard, and the Old Town, and is the only company in Edinburgh offering vault tours during the day. Their guides are trained to a standard that is immediately apparent, and their access to the South Bridge Vaults, one of the most extensively investigated paranormal locations in Europe, makes them essential for any serious visitor to Edinburgh. Book at mercattours.com
City of the Dead Tours, Edinburgh focuses specifically on Greyfriars Kirkyard and the documented Mackenzie Poltergeist, which represents one of the most extensively evidenced paranormal cases in modern British history. Named one of Britain's best ghost walks by multiple publications and awarded the Scarecon Best Ghost Tour Award, the tours are built around one of the most documented poltergeist cases in the world. Book at cityofthedeadtours.com
The Original London Ghost Walk, London is run by Richard Jones, who has spent over three decades researching and guiding tours through haunted London and is the author of more than eighteen books on London's paranormal history. His tours are widely regarded as the best ghost walks available in London, built on ongoing research rather than a fixed script, and taking visitors to locations where genuine paranormal activity has been documented rather than simply atmospheric settings. Book at london-ghost-walk.co.uk
The Ghost Bus Tours operates across London, Edinburgh, and York using a restored 1960s Routemaster bus and occupies its own distinctive category: it is the world's only comedy-horror theatre show on wheels, combining genuine haunted history with theatrical entertainment in a format that works especially well for groups and visitors who want an experience that is both informative and consistently entertaining. Book at theghostbustours.com
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Getting the Most Out of Any Ghost Tour
The single most useful thing you can do after any ghost tour, regardless of quality, is spend thirty minutes researching the specific locations and stories you found most compelling. The tour is the introduction. The deeper history is what makes it genuinely interesting, and following a guided walk with independent research produces a cumulative understanding of a place that neither experience could produce alone.
Keep a note of any unexplained experiences you have during the tour, and note the specific location, time, and conditions as precisely as possible. Do not immediately interpret what you experienced. Write down what you observed and return to it later with the historical context in place. The most interesting personal accounts from ghost tours are always the ones that describe specific, observable details rather than atmospheric impressions.
Finally, talk to your guide at the end of the tour rather than the beginning. Guides on good ghost tours spend the walk managing group dynamics and delivering prepared material, but afterward they are often willing to discuss specific locations, their own experiences, and aspects of the local paranormal history that do not fit into the standard narrative, in considerably more depth. This conversation is often the most valuable part of the entire evening.
The ghost tour, at its best, is not a passive entertainment. It is the beginning of a much longer engagement with a specific place and its history. Treat it that way and it will repay the attention many times over.
Explore More at Strange & Twisted
Strange & Twisted is a home for people who take haunted history seriously - ghost tours, paranormal investigation guides, dark tourism, and the places where the past refuses to stay quiet on both sides of the Atlantic.
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