One of my favorite adventures is to go on ghost tours when I’m visiting an old city. I love hearing the history and getting a little spooked is always a fun way to spend an evening in a new place. Here are my favorite ghost tours around the world.
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Best Ghost Tours Around the World
The Original Ghost Tour of Killarney
The Original Ghost Tour of Killarney is a fun bus tour that takes you to many haunted sites around Killarney. The atmosphere they create is fun, spooky, and very entertaining. With the windows on the bus closed, it is tough to tell if you are moving or not which adds to the excitement.
Our first stop is near the Lake Hotel on Lough Leane with Ross Castle in the background. I was already jumping from the drive over here (surprises await you on the bus). I was so focused on taking pictures of the sunset behind the mountains that I didn’t notice one of the guides come up behind me and grab my leg. Talk about screaming and jumping at the same time. This was going on while another guide was filling us in on a girl haunting the hotel and tales of ghosts from the castle. Be on your guard always on this ghost tour!
Muckross Abbey
This abandoned abbey as it is starting to get dark is ripe for spookiness and ghost stories.
Original Ghost Tour of Killarney
Scare Factor: 8 (out of 10)
Fun Factor: 9 (out of 10)
Cost: £20
Notes: pre-book seats, subject to cancellation if minimum number of guests is not met
Grimm Philly Twilight Tour
The Grimm Philly Twilight Tour we chose is Vampires, Sex, Ghost Tour. One of their most popular tours and we can see why. Joe, a university professor, leads the tour so, you know you will get tons of historical facts throughout the tour. This walking tour starts at the Independence Visitor Center and winds its way around dozens of Philadelphia haunted sites. The tour is fun and irreverent with stories of pirates, vampires, mass burials, executions, torture, brothels and of course ghosts.
The site that got me creeped out the most is Washington Square. This location has over 11,000 souls buried beneath it. There are over 2,000 Revolutionary soldiers, Prisoner of war, African Americans, and hundreds to thousands of Yellow Fever victims. One of the corners of the park is a mass grave where the British would just dump the soldiers in after they shot them. There is also a story of a Quaker woman, Leah, would walk around the square and protect the bodies from grave robbers.
I had a hard time reconciling all this death underneath the beautiful park that has gorgeous hydrangeas all around it.
Grimm Philly Twilight Tour
Scare Factor: 7 (more creepy than scary)
Fun Factor: 7
Cost: $25
Notes: not acceptable for kids, bring an umbrella in case of rain
City of the Dead Haunted Graveyard Tour
The Greyfriar’s Kirkyard is creepy in the pitch black of night. With all the sordid history in Edinburgh, there are a lot of stories to share. What surprised me is how many authors/writers got their ideas from this cemetery, ie. JK Rowling & Mary Shelley. The highlight of the tour is the Covenanter’s Prison and the Black Mausoleum. The Mackenzie Poltergeist haunts the Black Mausoleum.
If you ask me when you are having trouble with the key in the lock on two different mausoleums (one is the Black Mausoleum), maybe you shouldn’t be going in there. I had a bad feeling that I didn’t want to enter in there. I braved through it after I said my Guardian Angel protection prayer before entering. It is very creepy, but nothing noticeable happened to anyone on my tour.
At the end of the tour, we stopped at their shop. It has an incredibly creepy manikin standing by the entrance. At one point I thought it was real. I walk in and am standing by the door, looking at merchandise, and John moves the manikin quickly toward me, and I jump back fall into the door and scream. Yep, I was the highlight for them that night. I even got a hug from them as a sorry for scaring me so much.
City of Dead Haunted Graveyard Tour
Scare Factor: 9
Fun Factor: 7
Cost: £11
Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes
Notes: hard to take photos in the pitch black
Ghost Hunt of York
The Ghost Hunt of York is highly entertaining! It is an absolute treat to be able to laugh out loud so much right along with other people. Wearing a top hat and long coat the guide has lots of props and illusions with him. You walk to many of the York’s haunted sites, so be prepared. The highlight is all of us standing outside a restaurant where we are all making faces at the people eating. It is very hard not to laugh as I’m writing this and remembering all the looks we got. This ghost tour is an excellent fun! The tour starts every night at 7:30 pm at the bottom of the Shambles. A definite must-do for ghost tours around the world.
Haunted history fills York in all areas even in restaurants. I visited one before the tour to get myself in the mood for hunting ghosts. The Punchbowl is a great bar/restaurant to grab something to eat before you head out to find all those ghosties in York.
Ghost Hunt of York
Scare Factor: 5
Fun Factor: 9
Cost: £6
Notes: Tough to take photos in the pitch black, acceptable for kids to join
These are some of my favorite ghost tours around the world that I have experienced. Haunted places are in most older cities that have had significant events happen. It is fun to see these sites in the daytime but, they are even more extraordinary when you visit them at night. Next time you are out and visiting a new place, check to see if they have a ghost tour that you can join. Let me know if you have any other ghost tours around the world that you think I should add to the list of Best Ghost Tours Around the World.