10 Best Haunted Tours In The USA

There's no better way to celebrate spooky season than to head out and look for some ghosts! Actually, haunted tours are fun to go on year-round! Whether you're a skeptic or a full-on believer, ghost tours always manage to be entertaining and even teach you something.

After all, most of these ghosts are said to be lurking at historical landmarks. History lesson aside, some of the ghost tours out there are just plain creepy. In fact, many tour-goers actually claim to have had a paranormal encounter while exploring. Here are ten of the scariest haunted tours in the United States that are said to be the real deal!

10 Spellbound Voodoo, Vampires, And Ghost Tour - Salem, Massachusetts

On this tour, you will, of course, visit some of the creepiest locations involved with the infamous Salem Witch Trials. But you'll also learn that there are more than just witches who were said to once lurk the streets of Salem -- vampires were supposedly roaming around too! Your tour guide is not just a historian, but also an actual paranormal investigator. They will show you how you can potentially capture photos of ghosts on your own camera, and even analyze your photos after the tour ends to point out if there is something hiding in your pictures!

9 Gettysburg Ghost Tours - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Seeing as so many people tragically lost their lives during the battle here, it's not out of the realm of possibility that there are some angry spirits still appearing in Gettysburg! In fact, there are so many haunted locations that the company offers multiple types of tours, seeing as they can't cover all the places in just one! Gettysburg Ghost Tours also offer various ghost hunts, from "family-friendly" to "extreme." The ghost hunts are different from the ghost tours, as you'll be provided with actual equipment to help you detect ghosts around you!

8 Whaley House - San Diego, California

The Whaley House was first reported as haunted by the Whaley Family themselves in the 1800s, as supposedly many public hangings had taken place in that location. Nowadays, the Whaley House has been converted to the Whaley House Museum, and is said to be haunted by the Whaley family themselves!

While the "regular" tours there can't help but be spooky by themselves, there's a lot of focus on the historical information. Take the Ghost Hunting Tour specifically, however, and you'll learn a lot more than just life in the 19th century! In fact, you might even see life from the 19th century...

7 Myrtles Plantation Mystery Tour- St. Francisville, Lousiana

While a normal, daytime tour of the lovely plantation is just fine, it's the "Mystery Tour" at night that you'll want to stick around for. It's there you'll learn about - and maybe even encounter - a slave girl who has since been named "Chloe" by investigators. Chloe has been known to pop up in multiple pictures, and researchers have been unable to come up with an alternative explanation for the ghost girl appearing in photos. Many tour-goers also claim to have their own photo evidence of the apparition. Maybe you should go and try and get a picture for yourself?

6 Colonial Ghosts - Williamsburg, Virginia

With the Colonial Ghosts company, you can take multiple haunted tours such as a Cemetary Tour or a Ghost Tour. Particularly a stand-out, however, is the Ghost Hunt, where you'll be given ghost-hunting equipment like EMF Detectors, Ambient Thermoetors, and more. And hey, if you're not in Williamsburg, the company has an app for $7.99 that takes you through 25 locations in Williamsburg, accompanied by 55 minutes of audio. So that's a pretty cool alternative if you're stuck at home on Halloween night! Using the app will result in you missing out on an actual encounter, however -- which many people who have taken the tour in-person have claimed to experience.

5 Ghost & Gravestones Frightseeing Tour - Key West, Florida

Board the "Trolley of the Doomed" and ride past some of the most haunted areas in the Key West -- such as an African slave cemetery, St. Paul's Church, and Captain Tony's Saloon. You'll be given background and context about the locations from your spooky tour guide, whose storytelling will keep you enthralled. The highlight of the tour is the stop at East Martello Fort, where the legendary Robert the Doll is kept. Robert was created by a woman skilled in black magic, and now, it's rumored that Robert has the ability to put a curse on you!

4 Goodsprings Ghost Hunt - Goodsprings, Nevada

This tour gives you transport from Las Vegas to the abandoned mining town of Goodsprings, where the oldest saloon in Nevada still stands - and is free to explore! You'll enjoy a bar and pizza party before breaking out the lanterns and beginning your hunt. While hearing stories about the lives of the alleged thirty ghostly presences haunting the town, you'll use equipment to try to contact them. Once you're done exploring the town, you'll return to the saloon where you'll participate in an official ceremony attempting to summon a spirit.

3 Haunted Stroll Through St. Augustine - St. Augustine, Florida

Part history lecture and part paranormal investigation, this walking tour will teach you all about the often looked-over dark past of St. Augustine. You'll stop by various cemeteries, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Saint Augustine beach, and more. At the end of the tour, your guide will finally break out the ghost hunting equipment to see if your group can spot something. Oh, and you know that theory that animals can sense things humans can't? Well, this tour is pet-friendly, so you can bring your dog along to help you detect nearby spirits!

Photo via Albom Adventures

2 Chattanooga Ghost Tours - Chattanooga, Tennesee

Chatanooga Ghost Tours gives you plenty of options. You can go on a UTC Cermetary ghost hunt (with all the fun ghost-hunting equipment,) or the Murder and Mayhem Haunted History Tour, which the company claims is the most popular of their offerings. The Murder and Mayhem tour begins in a haunted, steam-punk themed shop before leading you all around the city to the eeriest and dreariest locations. You are particularly encouraged to take pictures on this tour, and ghosts are known to pop up in the background of your photos!

1 Ghost City Tour - New Orleans, Louisiana

You may know ahead of time that New Orleans has a dark and frightening history, but there's nothing to prepare you for actually being at the scene of murders, suicides, voodoo communities, and haunted alleyways. Most shockingly is the stop at the infamous LaLaurie Mansion, where many slaves were brutally tortured and murdered. Needless to say, this isn't a boring history lesson! Be advised though, the details are grim and gruesome, so make sure you have a strong stomach!

NEXT: 10 Seasonal Haunted Houses In The United States To Visit This Halloween...If You Dare