Ghost Tour of Philadelphia

i m a local but do the tour every year, i like to see the reactions from the visitors when they go to each location, some of the comments go from they have to do it again next year to its boring and they have to walk alot, dude, its a «walking tour», you walk :)the story tellers are unique, some get into it and others walk and tell the stories, this past one there were so many more people that they had 4 storytellers split people into 4 groups instead of the usual two, one year was really creepy b/​c this person covered in black was at every place we stopped but standing in the shadows, may have been wearing glasses b/​c light was bouncing off of something in order for me to see him.

History with a ghost story. Our tour guide was a bit kooky. The tour lasted longer than expected which was a nice surprise. For $ 15 it was worth the walk and history lesson.

I enjoyed the tour. Can’t compare it to any other since this was our first one.
I think the story teller set the mood and spoke well about the stories that had happened historically.
The two things I didn’t like was all the Walking involved (wished there was a trolly for transportation since there were a few stops to look at) and second the $ 17 for the tour. From this experience I think $ 12 would of been a lot more fair for the little accommodations that ghost tours offer…
Over all the tour was entertaining and it was something to do. I would recommend it to someone looking for something to do and learn about Philadelphia’s past history.

We were so pleased with the tour this evening. Melissa was our ghostly tour guide and she could not have been more Amazing! !! This tour is great for all ages. In my party our ages ranged from 50 to 5. We couldn’t have been more pleased. Thank you Melissa for a job well done! Highly recommend this tour do not leave Philly without taking it! !!!

If you only read one portion of this review, let it be this: The tour was so bad that people left in the middle of it. Just walked away from the group because they didn’t care.
Our tour guide was a little weird. He was a very awkward storyteller who would ramble on about things that didn’t add to his point. He spoke in long run-​on sentences that were hard to focus on what he was saying.
The guide aside, I don’t think the tour itself is very interesting. None of the stories associated with the sites are very interesting (or at least the interesting points weren’t highlighted on the tour).
I’ve been on quite a few ghost tours in other historic towns, and this is the worst I’ve ever been on. Not even entertaining.

We did the walking ghost tour last week while in Philly. It was really enjoyable. I would definitely recommend it. Our guide (forgot his name) was very knowledgeable, and said he had been doing the tour for 9 years.

I’ve gone on a few ghost tours, two with this company and 3 or so with another. If you’re into the paranormal and also love history, this is perfect for you! Even if you’re not into paranormal or ghosts, the history part of the about 90 minute tour should be entertaining enough to for a nice history lesson of the city. You’ll learn about what buildings were used for, who lived in different houses and what they did for a living and eventually visit a park where it was used as a mass grave from the revolutionary war.

I went on the Ghost Tours of Philadelphia last night with a group, The Friends of the Avenue of The Arts. It was a lot of fun and very informative!
Our tour guide, Josh, was a fantastic story teller! While it was off and on raining, the evening was a lot of fun. I learned stories about some of the homes in Old City/​Society Hill I wasn’t aware of (Like the Bishop White house!) and then our group ended at The Plough & The Stars on 2^nd and Chestnut to warm up by the fire and have a cozy cider.
I would recommend the tour to anyone looking for a fun evening. We had a larger group and it was easy to set up and they were great to us.

I did this ghost tour when I lived in Philadelphia and was so impressed with the knowledge and friendliness of the tour guide and the route of the tour. Anyone who is expecting to see a ghost on this tour will more than likely be disappointed. There is no way to ensure you will see any spiritual energies or paranormal occurrences. The tour is intended to tell you ghost stories and take you on a tour of historically haunted places, but does not guarantee that you will see anything out of the normal. You do walk a good bit, so I wouldn’t recommend this tour to people who have trouble walking or standing for a long time. We were given glow stick necklaces for the night ghost tour and were taken to various places in the city, walking the majority of the tour. We visited vintage graveyards located in the heart of the city that were spooky to see and hear stories about in the dark Philadelphia city streets at night! It was very eerie visiting these places at night, but I felt safe under the trusted guidance of the professional tour guide. I think this tour was absolutely worth the cost and would love to do it again! Even for people who have lived in Philadelphia for years, this tour will tell you stories and show you areas you more than likely have never heard about!

Okay, we had Lisa. The british guide, and she killed it! It was informative and some of the sites were really historic and creepy. We didn’t get to go in any of the buildings, but as the guide explained people still live there. I don’t know what the other guides were like, but Lisa treated the stries and the ghost with respect. There was nothing hoky about it. I enjoyed my self.

Went on the Candlelight Walking Tour.
Our tour guide, Loretta (I believe) was a great storyteller! A good blend of history and ghost stories. I have been living in Philly for 6 years and the tour took to me places I would not normally see on my own.
I would recommend the tour to visitors if time permits.

This was such an unimpressive tour. While our guide provided some interesting information at each of the different stops on the tour, it felt scripted and wasn’t in the least bit creepy. It was also really disappointing that we didn’t get to go into any of the buildings we visited; our guide simply gave us a spiel about its history, followed by an account of spirit sightings before moving on. It was definitely not worth the $ 14 special price tag we paid. By comparison, I went on the Port Arthur tour in Tasmania with a school group recently, which was much more engaging and left the kids in tears from fear. This Philly didn’t even come close to this. Enough said.

I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area for 5 years now and I was amazed at how much an hour long Ghost Tour taught me about this historical city. Our guide was a great story teller and she took us to spots in Old City that I wouldn’t have known were significant on my own. Highlight of the trip was definitely learning that Washington Square was once a public graveyard (and is of course haunted because of this). This tour is well worth $ 15.

You get what you pay for as long as you go in with the right expectations.
We went on a walking tour at around dusk for about 90 minutes. Our tour guide Damien seemed friendly enough in his black cape and all. I got the impression he at times had trouble taking himself seriously which I felt made him more personable. We didn’t see any ghosts or walk down many dark alleys but what did I expect? I had low expectations going into the tour so I say we got what we paid for. Heard some interesting stories, only a few were memorable, and some our tour guide asked us to google in order to answer questions he didn’t know the answers to.
Would I do it again? Probably not. Was it worth $ 15? Probably not.

BOO! — and I don’t mean that in a scary ghost-​y way, but more in a like, this tour totally sucked type way. I was so excited to go on this tour when my parents were visiting from out of town. It was a beautiful fall night right before Halloween and I thought it would be the perfect mix of spookiness and history. Our tour guide was cheesy– clearly someone really wishing they were an actor– and clearly failing. The stories were not in the least bit creepy and overall it was a complete waste of money.
Bottom Line: A Ouiji Board costs less (I actually googled it) and will be way more entertaining.

It gets one only because we laughed our asses off at the hoaky tour guide. Fortunately, our tour guide was possessed by the ghost of Carol Channing (altho Carol seems to be still alive) and we were mildly entertained by ourselves. We never knew we were so funny!!!
It did give us entertainment fodder for the remaining two days of our saty as we channeled carol Channing everywhere we went… God help anyone that promotes that p.o.s. experience.
DO NO TAKE THIS TOUR EVEN IF IT’S FREE!!! My wallet is still groaning.
Peace out

I found this entire business to be rather mediocre. I took the tour in 2009, and, exactly one year later, I was able to take the Haunted Vancouver Trolley (in Canada), and it was superior in every conceivable way. Basically, the Philadelphia tour was a fairly quick jaunt through the streets near Independence Hall, along with various anecdotal tales of ghosts, haunts and the like. Our hostess was as campy as vintage horror television show hostess Elvira, dressed a bit the same, and was every bit as serious and convincing as Elvira herself would have been had she been leading the tour. In other words, it was more eye-​rolling camp and campfire stories than anything to be taken very seriously.
There were a few atmospheric spots to be seen, such as the old burying ground of Christ Church cemetery and the very Georgian house of Dr. Philip Syng Physick, which is allegedly haunted by an enigmatic gray lady. Along the way, our hostess regaled us with tales of tragic fires and the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. However, we were often rushed from one spot to another, and I found myself left behind the group more than once when I paused to take quick photographs of the darkened historical sites.
In actuality, the most frightening thing about this entire tour was that I decided to walk back to my hotel downtown afterwards by taking 12^th Street. The many shuttered shops and oddly menacing characters lurking in the corners made the hair on my head well and truly stand on end as I contemplated whether I’d make it back safely. The next day, I visited the Edgar Allan Poe National Historical Site, a place that I found much more interesting and intellectually engaging than this tour had been.

Same company has a few varieties of ghost walking tours, we did the ‘Ghost Hunting’ tour which promised use of special devices along with background history of sites etc.
What we got: An overtly chatty little woman who walked us around a four or five block radius, each stop was in front of an old building as she explained to us why she doesn’t «go here» because she just gets sick with the presence of whatever it is that frightens her. Apparently EVERYTHING allegedly «frightens» her psychic sensibilities. *eye roll* The tour really was mostly about her and while she was friendly, she was a HORRIBLE tour guide.
Participants are then broken up into smaller groups and given a little hand-​held magnetic sensing device with a green and red light and told to walk around the area to see if the red light blinks. If it does, that apparently means you’re in the presence of a ghost… wwwooooooooooo, spoooooky, right? Eh, NO.
The entire tour was essentially giving you a little remote control device and allowing you to walk around a piece of yard or park while the guide sits near by waiting to drag you to the next location. The fact there are typically one to two additional ‘tours’ taking place by the same company at the same site ruins the experience even further.
Yes, I know these things aren’t REALLY for the serious ‘ghost hunter’, but a little more investment on the part of both the company and the tour guides is in order, especially considering the stiff price tag one pays for the ‘pleasure’.

OK, I’ll admit that I paid too much to go on this ghost tour. A friend from college (and fellow history nerd) was visiting, and it seemed like a good idea. It was definitely not scary at all. In fact, it was fun in a kitschy way, due to the fact that we showed up after some cocktails at Continental and beers from Triumph. The other people in the group were mainly 50-​something couples who were not sauced enough to share our sense of mirth.
Our guide was a graduate of Temple’s theater program, but hadn’t ever heard of Fitler Square. Hmm. At least he knew a lot about where Ben Franklin’s ghost supposedly goes to party. I wouldn’t go on this again, but at least it was a good walk with some mild chuckles.

As a native Philadelphian, I brought my friend from California out to explore the sites of our wonderful city on Fourth of July weekend.
The tour mainly consisted of just some stories– only two of which were very memorable (Tavern and the Park). I expected to go through some graveyards and to have a few more stories, which is why they only get 3 stars. The tour guide was funny and willing to wear a cape and be entertaining.
My friend actually purchased a book afterwards and the very beginning story was literally given verbatim by our guide– it almost made her not want to read it.
I would suggest for something different but not for the historical and/​or very chilling aspects.