Sponsored Post By: Benjamin Levin, US Ghost Adventures
Are you seeking a spine-tingling adventure combining eerie tales with a dash of liquid courage? Or is an evening full of mystery, intrigue, and history you are after?
Every city has its stories, but some are shrouded in darkness, whispered through creaky floorboards and flickering lights. From centuries-old cemeteries to pubs where the spirits are more than just the ones served in a glass, ghost tours, and haunted pub crawls allow you to uncover the chilling history of the world’s most mysterious cities.
Whether you’re planning a weekend getaway or exploring your hometown, cities like New Orleans and San Francisco offer unforgettable haunted pub crawls and ghost tours.
Here are the 10 best cities to go on ghost tours and haunted pub crawls.
One: New Orleans
Let’s start with New Orleans, one of the country’s most (if not the most) unique cities. A New Orleans haunted pub crawl will take you to some fascinating places, like the Vampire Café, where you can be served a drink based on your blood type, with prices for these cocktails ranging from $11-14 . You’ll learn about the legendary “casket girls” that inspired this café. The lore is that the casket girl brides were sent to the French colonialists and many believe that they brought vampires with them from France.
On a New Orleans ghost tour or haunted pub crawl, you’ll also get to visit the terrifying LaLaurie Mansion, where Frenchwoman Madame Delphine LaLaurie tortured her slaves in some of the worst ways possible. They were subjected to barbaric medical experiments that left them scarred for life, if they were lucky enough to survive.
Two: Nashville
Another Southern city worth taking a ghost tour in is Nashville, which is famous for being the capital of country music. Music City, as it’s often called, has its own share of ghoulish legends.
One of them is regarding the “Curse of the Grand Ole Opry,” which allegedly led to the early deaths of dozens of country music singers associated with the Grand Ole Opry. A string of car crashes, plane crashes, and even a house were among the bizarre incidents that caused their deaths. Speculation began to swirl that the Ryman Auditorium, where the Grand Ole Opry was based for the longest time, was cursed by the spirit of Thomas Ryman. He originally built it as a place of worship and never intended it to be an entertainment venue. This was his form of holy revenge.
A Nashville ghost tour will also take you to other haunted places in Nashville, such as the Tennessee State Capitol. On its grounds, the bodies of its former architect, William Strickland, as well as former President Polk are buried. Their ghosts both roam the grounds of the Capitol building.
Three: Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is truly a history lover’s paradise. It is the place to go if you want to see preserved American colonial history, including ancient buildings and reenactments of colonial times.
It’s, therefore, not surprising that it’s one of the most haunted cities in the US. According to a Williamsburg Ghost Tour, some of the most supernaturally active houses in the city include the Peyton Randolph House, the George Wythe House, and the Bruton Parish Church.
Although many of the tours in the city talk about how Williamsburg was in colonial times, not many talk about the ancient Native American burial grounds uncovered under the heart of the city or the Williamsburg witch trials – yes, witch trials weren’t limited to Salem!
Four: Gettysburg
Gettysburg’s claim to fame is largely due to its pivotal role at the turn of the Civil War. Thus, its haunted history is intricately tied to that era.
It’s a popular destination for Civil War ghost tours, where you will visit iconic buildings such as the Welty House and the Jennie Wade House. Both were once at the center of the fighting during the Battle of Gettysburg. If you’re really adventurous, stay at the Brickhouse Inn, where phantom spirits are said to roam the halls and watch you while you sleep.
Five: Savannah
In the Hostess City of the South, specters and spirits, centuries old, linger on. Savannah’s spooky secrets start at the 17Hundred90 Inn. A young bride named Anna committed suicide after a sailor whom she had fallen in love with sailed out of town. Seemingly, it was her only option as she was left to face an unwanted arranged marriage. Anna still haunts room 204, from whose window she jumped to her death in despair, according to Savannah Terrors.
Another of Savannah’s most haunted spots is the Kehoe House, built by William Kehoe, an Irish immigrant and a king of iron, for $25,000 in 1892. It is now a hotel, but according to stories, two of the 10 Kehoe children died in the house and still occupy it. Some say that the children got stuck in the chimney and were later killed when the chimney was lit. Their ghosts are particularly active during the winter months.
Of course, there’s also the Colonial Park Cemetery, which served as a mass grave for victims of the yellow fever plague. Savannah was devastated multiple times by epidemics of yellow fever, which were not uncommon in the 18th and 19th centuries in the US.
Six: Baltimore
Baltimore Ghosts describes Baltimore as a city “steeped in maritime history, tragedy, and death,” where “pirates and cut-throats feared to sail.”
Indeed, Baltimore has a dark and sordid past. Its troubled history is reflected in the ghoulish nature of the many bars and taverns in Fells Point, a popular nightlife district.
The Horse You Came In On Saloon is undoubtedly one of the most haunted of them all. Local legend has it that Edgar Allan Poe himself still frequents this pub, as it was the last place he was seen before his mysterious death.
At Max’s Taphouse, which once served as a brothel for seafaring folk and, at another time, a slaughterhouse, numerous ghosts roam the halls. There are stories of former courtesans and madams showing up in the bar; some people also tell of a frightening headless chicken running around the basement, the ghost of a slaughtered bird who refused to give up his life.
Those who want the extra spooky treatment can stay at the Admiral Fell Inn. During Hurricane Isabel in 2003, the hotel was evacuated, and only a skeleton team of staff members remained. What they heard shocked them. According to ABC, a raucous, loud party, with shouting and the clinking of glass beer bottles, was heard in the hotel. Upon investigating, they found the hotel empty, as expected, leading to their utter puzzlement. Phantom butlers are also known to knock on the doors.
Seven: Annapolis
Just 25 miles south of Baltimore lies Annapolis, where the Continental Congress met for several months after the Revolutionary War. Annapolis, too, has a long and storied history full of the supernatural. Its scandalous legacy is obscured by its charming cobblestone streets and quaint waterfront area, but there’s nothing pleasant about the paranormal creatures that occupy this town.
Just steps away from the Maryland Inn in Annapolis, George Washington famously resigned his military commission. The Maryland Inn, founded in 1722, has no shortage of ghostly guests who checked in – but never checked out. One of those is of a bride who killed herself when her fiancé, returning from sea, died in a carriage accident in front of the hotel.
Go on an Annapolis ghost tour to discover other local haunts, such as the Middleton Tavern. Established in 1750, it was an inn and tavern that provided lodging and meals to important dignitaries such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Nowadays, it’s just an inn, but that hasn’t stopped its former guests from disturbing the place.
The most notorious ghost is Roland Johnstone, whose identity was revealed by a medium who visited the haunted tavern in the 1990s. After glasses were thrown from the shelves and people felt mysterious cold hands on their shoulders, something had to be done, and a séance was scheduled to try to figure out what was going on.
Eight: Washington DC
Thirty miles west of Annapolis is the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. The most important haunted house in the country is here – and it’s called the White House.
As the center of government of the world’s strongest power, DC has seen more than just what the history books tell us. From spies to conspiracies to political assassinations, much has occurred here. The White House, in particular, has had the most powerful people who lived in the past few centuries walk through its hallowed and haunted halls.
The White House itself is thought to be haunted by the ghosts of former presidents. These include Abraham Lincoln, who sometimes appears in the Lincoln Bedroom. According to DC Ghosts, First Lady Grace Coolidge, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands have all reported seeing his ghost.
I recommend taking a DC Ultimate Dead of Night Ghost Tour for the maximum spooky experience. You will start off in Lafayette Park, also called Tragedy Square. It once served as an open slave market, and it also witnessed an American tragedy when Daniel Sickles, a US representative, killed Philip Barton Key II, son of Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, in broad daylight.
Despite what you may initially think, this wasn’t a political assassination but rather a jealous one – Sickles’ wife was having an affair with Key. Fun fact: Sickles pleaded temporary insanity successfully; he was the first in American history to use it successfully as a legal defense.
You’ll also learn about DC’s other mysterious lore, such as the Demon Cat, a black cat who periodically appears before major political and socio-economic events, including political assassinations, declarations of war, and stock market crashes.
Nine: Boston
A ghost tour in Boston will start at Boston Common Park, a popular hangout place—but one that harbors some unsettling secrets. The park, which covers 50 acres of land, was the site of many executions, including the hanging of several Quakers who were deemed to have committed crimes against the ruling Puritans of Boston. It also once served as a grazing area for cattle and a dump site, and it once incorporated a cemetery before it was separated and became the Old Granary Burial Ground.
The Boston Omni Parker Hotel, founded by Harvey Parker, is also quite haunted. According to the hotel itself, security has been called several times to room 1040 due to noise complaints. Guess what? Each time, the security team found the room entirely empty, with no apparent source for the noise.
It seems like the whole 10th floor is haunted. A girl reported seeing an old man standing over her bed—it was only later, when she saw a picture hanging in the hallway, that she realized it was Harvey Parker himself.
Also, on the 10th floor, airline personnel staying the night have reported the sound of a creaking rocking chair, while the bellman has reported strange orbs of light floating down the halls. Floating orbs of light are usually associated with ghostly spirits.
Ten: San Francisco
Last on our list is beautiful San Francisco, one of the best places to take a haunted pub crawl and ghost tour.
Behind its glitter and glamour, San Francisco has a traumatic history, starting with the gold rush, a time of desperation and survival. Some of its most haunted spots are in the most random places.
The Bay Bridge, also known as the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, is one of the many bridges in the Bay Area. It’s not to be confused with its more famous counterpart, the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bay Bridge has witnessed numerous suicides over the years, and the ghosts of those who decided that their lives were no longer worth living come back to haunt it.
A San Francisco ghost tour will take you to Chinatown, one of the most haunted areas in all of San Francisco. Did you know that San Francisco was the first US city to have a Chinatown? Its Chinatown was born out of the gold rush in the 1850s. As one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world, it’s no surprise that it has some of San Francisco’s most haunted buildings.
There’s also the former Public Health Service Hospital, which was later abandoned and stood as a ghostly relic for many years. Nowadays, it has been repurposed as an apartment building known as the Presidio, but residents talk of phantom ghosts that sit on their beds, unseen beside the indent on the mattress or sheets.
Conclusion
There are ghost tours in every major US city and many smaller ones and towns. If you’re longing for a taste of the paranormal, just look for a ghost tour in your city. They usually take place in the evenings, as the darkness of night adds an extra touch – and that’s when ghosts come out!
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US Ghost Adventures is the premier ghost adventure company in the US, providing ghost tours and haunted pub crawls in over 100 US cities, as well as food and history tours in select cities. Tours run every night!
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