The 10 Best Ghost Tours in America, According to Actual Visitors

The return of fall sheds light on those who are more about the fright than fight or flight. While the superstitious spend October avoiding things that go bump in the night, superfans of spooky season actively seek them out. From candlelit cemetery strolls to creepy bar crawls, a good ghost tour is the cure for autumnal apathy. After all, activities like apple picking and leaf peeping can feel just a little too lifeless.

But with hundreds of paranormal experiences floating around out there, sorting the true scares from the tourist traps can be a bit of a nightmare. To unearth the ghost tours actually worth your time, video production company Magic Hour identified the highest-rated haunts in America.

Researchers looked at Tripadvisor data for 218 ghost tours across the country, evaluating each experience based on its average rating, percentage of five-star reviews, and total number of reviews. To level the playing field—or in this case, graveyard—review counts were weighted so the big-name ghost tours wouldn't completely overshadow smaller, equally spooky walks.

Best Ghost Tours by Ghost Experience Score

Combining those three fateful factors produced an official "Ghost Experience Score" out of 100 for each tour to reveal which haunted walks actually live up to the hype. See the top 10 ranked below, followed by the frightening features and ghostly lore behind the winners.

You don't need a trial by fire to prove that Massachusetts's History and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour is a massive success. With nearly 9,500 four- and five-star reviews logged on Tripadvisor, the walking tour boasts a near-perfect 4.9 average rating. But this spooky tour isn't just about how many jump scares can be packed into two hours. Instead, it digs into Salem's haunting history and the lingering ghostly lore surrounding its 17th-century witch trials.

Stops at iconic landmarks like the Witch House—one of the last remaining structures directly connected to the 1692 trials—and the famously haunted Ropes Mansion helped boost the route to a score of 93.75 out of 100. As the top-ranked ghost tour in America, it sits more than two points clear of its closest competition, which also happens to call this city of scorned witches home.

Coming in right behind its hometown rival, the Satanic Salem Walking Tour snagged second place with a Ghost Experience Score of 91.65. While it tallied fewer total reviews than the top-ranked tour, its virtually flawless feedback tells the real story.

The 90-minute tour forgoes the typical paranormal perspective for a probing, scientific view of Salem's history. Led by a member of the local Satanic Temple, the unique walk through the city's past persuaded 99.54% of guests to leave a five-star rating.

Southern hospitality might just carry over into the afterlife. The rest of the top five was rounded out by iconic haunted hotspots in Charleston and Savannah—the top two ghost cities in the U.S.—before swinging right back to Salem. Finishing in third place with a score of 87.83, the Charleston Haunted Booze and Boos Tour gives guests the liquid courage needed to process centuries of dark Lowcountry lore. Fourth place went to Georgia's Savannah History and Haunts Candlelit Ghost Walking Tour, which mainly owes its 86.18 score to the walk's eerie ambience. Spindly strands of Spanish moss coming to life under the glow of lantern-lit squares won over 93.89% of reviewers, who rewarded the tour with top marks.

Finally, the Bewitched Walking Tour brought Salem's total to three spots in the top five, landing in fifth with an 85.91 score—cementing the Witch City's spell over the rankings.

The Spirit Scene Goes Beyond Salem

The rest of the list shows that ghosts are unalive and well outside the original Thirteen Colonies, with two top-10 entries from New Orleans and another from Chicago. From yellow fever and voodoo-infused ghost tours in NOLA to mob history and murder mysteries in the Windy City, there's more haunting the map than meets the eye.

But if colonial specters—minus the crowds—are more your cup of tea, head to Virginia. The Ghostly Whispers of Williamsburg Tour takes brave visitors through historic streets believed to be crawling with the spirits of Civil War soldiers and phantom carriages. Salem is certainly a staple, but even 250-year-old ghosts need a break from the tourists once in a while.

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