The Ghosts of Salem Walking Tour
4.5
The Ghosts of Salem Walking Tour
By Ghost City Tours Salem
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About
Lowest price guaranteeReserve now & pay laterFree cancellation
Ages 0-100, max of 40 per group
Duration: 1h 30m
Start time: Check availability
Mobile ticket
Live guide: English
More
- All Fees and Taxes
What's not included- Gratuities
- Entry/Admission - The Witch House at Salem
- Entry/Admission - Salem Old Town Hall
- Entry/Admission - The House of the Seven Gables
- Start:
- Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA 01970, USAThe Ghosts of Salem Tour starts at 32 Derby Square, in front of the Old Town Hall building If you need directions or get lost, you have a map in your Ticket Confirmation email. You can also call our office and we'll get you to the right place! *Stops/locations visited may vary.
End:This activity ends back at the meeting point. - Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
If you have questions about accessibility, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 309427P1- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Most travelers can participate
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
- This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 40 travelers
- For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.
- If you have questions about this tour or need help making your booking, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 309427P1
From
$24.99
per adult
Select date and travelers
Similar experiences
Itinerary
- 32 Derby Square, Salem, MA 01970, USAThe Ghosts of Salem Tour starts at 32 Derby Square, in front of the Old Town Hall building If you need directions or get lost, you have a map in your Ticket Confirmation email. You can also call our office and we'll get you to the right place! *Stops/locations visited may vary.
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About the operator
Don’t take it from us – here’s what people have to say about this operator:
- V3477WIstephaniem0 contributionsFun, spooky and educational tourThanks for the great tour, Gunner! We learned a lot and had spooky fun! Salem is such an interesting town and I would love to come back for another tour.Written November 20, 2024
- racheljc20240 contributions10/10!10/10! I did this tour with a large group of friends. Everyone agreed that the tour was great. Our tour guide was so fun and engaging during the tour! It felt like she was passionate out what she was talking about. Would recommend for anyone looking for a fun tour.Written November 14, 2024
- sandybY5992FO0 contributionsScam of a businessSave $40. I never found my tour guide even when showing up where they said to meet and never got the experience ,accidentally joined the wrong group and it was the most boring experience ever, you also could've joined any group freely like we did accidentally, when asking for our money back they said no. Was supposed to be a nice treat for me and my significant other that we knew would be a one time thing we could do, and knew we would never be in Boston again or be able to do this again , this is the biggest scam ever.Written November 13, 2024
- carranzon0 contributionsThe Man In BlackKevin! Kevin! Kevin! The tour guide was f*ckin amazing! Full of energy! And that guy can talk! I loved every second. He was passionate, informative and showed he cared every step of the way!!! Definitely would go on any tour he's giving, when I come back to Salem. (Title of my review, is in reference to how I was dressed and the known ghost in Salem, tour guide may remember)Written November 12, 2024
- I7626QYchristines0 contributionsSalem is fun!Anna was great!!! Kept the crowd pumped up!! It was fun learning about some of the haunted places of Salem! The tour was definitely cold, but Anna made it so fun for us all!Written November 10, 2024
- 923kaylaw0 contributionsLove The Reverend!Our guide was so knowledgeable & I love how he presented both the "local legends" & factual information. I enjoyed that when no one really knew what/why something happened, he would honestly tell us that "no one really knows." The Reverend was fun, chipper, and kept us engaged throughout the entire experience. Personally, I feel the Adults Only Tour with The Reverend was probably one of the best Ghost Tours I've ever been on! 10/10 Highly recommend! ...Oh & make sure you wear comfortable walking shoes! -Spirit Board Hat FriendWritten November 8, 2024
- O5259PUjosephg0 contributionsI'd skipI went as the reviews were good but in all honesty it wasn't good, the guide was nice but talked way to fast to keep up and all of the facts were boring, went to some basic places and honestly talked about nothing, this was the worst ghost tour I have been o. And it was a complete waste of time.Written November 5, 2024
- spencer r0 contributionsExcellent tour! 5 stars!Such a cool tour! Our guide was super knowledgeable and made it a lot of fun. Just the right amount of creepy/spooky with historical facts that made it perfect. Highly recommend!Written November 4, 2024
- D7631XQstephaniec0 contributionsGreat Tour!Our tour guide was great! She was very informative and took us to the best places to hear all the haunted stories. Would definitely do it again!Written November 4, 2024
- travismO4531US0 contributionsGreat trip full of history and horrorA great fun experience to do on Halloween night. Highly recommend. We got a lot of great history about Salem, a lot of which u never knew or heard ofWritten November 3, 2024
- Adventurer1977200 contributionsWitch trialVery disappointed in the tour. We ended up leaving it. It was the same as we did earlier in the day just backwards. The girl that lead it kept talking about her associate degree in theater.(That’s great she has gotten a degree) but, Big deal “I have a masters in education.” We could not go up close to any of the buildings or go inside of them as they were on private property. Did not touch on very much of the witch trails. We were not the only ones that left the tour. There was a couple of ladies that left the same time we did as they were disappointed as well. We got very little pictures for the time we were there due to that we did not get up close to a lot of the buildings. My husband and I would have done better just taking a tour by ourselves and booking the walk through of the buildings and paying the extra money. Thought, we would at least get up close.Written November 1, 2024
- isabells8080 contributionsFantastic tour guideLoved our tour guide Henry. He was animated and a master storyteller. The city of Salem is full of history and ghost stories, which we thoroughly enjoyed.Written October 31, 2024
- jessicagC614EM0 contributionsWonder and spookyGunner was absolutely amazing! He was a wealth of knowledge and I learned a lot. His story telling was funny and very entertaining, I just loved it. I really enjoyed this tour and would recommend it highly. Thank youWritten October 30, 2024
- Kekah850 contributionsWicked Good Time!Gunnar was amazing. He was knowledgeable, easy to follow, and funny. His uncle jokes are on point! IYKYK. Highly recommend this tour and Gunnar!!Written October 27, 2024
- 289venessap0 contributionsFantastic!Our guide was magnificent. Entertaining and informative. She was really top notch. She was enthusiastic and encouraged and answered all questions. Even silly questions from my 6 year old daughter who wanted to be up front near our guide the whole time.Written October 27, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinions of Tripadvisor members and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
177 reviews
Excellent
144
Very good
12
Average
2
Poor
5
Terrible
14
Josephine C
2 contributions
Nov 2021 • Family
It was amazing! My parents, sister, and her three year old went with me at the 8:30 time on November 12th and ended up being the only people on the tour, so it was basically a private tour which was pretty nice! The tour guide was fun and interactive and so informative. She did a great job mixing the historical stories and values of the places and the ghost stories of them! We were able to take as many pictures as we wanted, and I definitely recommend bringing a spirit box if you’re up for it! The photo I’m adding is one by the cemetery. The tour guide said you can be perfectly still and a certain ghost in the cemetery will make the picture look like your phone was completely knocked over in the middle of it. I was perfectly still while taking this photo and it ended up like this haha. Our little one was pretty good throughout for a three year old, he loved looking at the town, the scenery is gorgeous. Highly recommend for anyone visiting Salem!
Written November 12, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We always love to hear when our guides can educate and entertain at the same time. Thank you so much!
Written November 20, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Madi D
2 contributions
Oct 2022 • Friends
This tour was amazing! It was easy to find the guide, Paula! She was amazing when it came to cracking jokes, keeping the crowd engaged, keeping our attention, keeping us in a group as we were walking, and keeping us on our toes with pictures and personal stories with the ghost on campus. Paula was inviting and kept us engaged throughout the whole tour! It was about 1.5 total of walking and was about an hour and a half! The stories and history was amazing. We even took our own pictures and we were able to look at them and see the things she was talking about. We went with 7 of us and it is something we would highly recommend to someone or a group coming to Salem!
Written October 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Clifford S
1 contribution
Jul 2021
Rev. Peter was an extremely knowledgeable and personable guide! He knew a ton of trivia that was relevant as well as adding to the experience. His personal experiences added to the tour as well. It was a awesome and creepy at the same time! There was no rush and the sites were just right. I would recommend this adult tour to anyone who is interested in the area and looking for an entertaining way to spend the evening.
Written August 3, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We always love to hear when our guides can educate and entertain at the same time. Thank you so much for recommending us!
Written August 5, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Mike S
2 contributions
Sep 2022 • Friends
I have been on numerous city walking tours throughout the U.S. and Europe. All of my prior experiences have been positive. This tour, however, was an utter waste of time and not worth a single penny. Our guide possessed very limited knowledge about the sites she took us to, and she was not able to provide us with historical accounts or stories that were organized, cohesive, or detailed.
We almost never heard her give us a date such as, "In 1692..." We usually heard her say, "One time," or " Later in time." She said names without giving any background as to who people were, confusing us and even herself (she had to stop herself many times and repeat different names because she couldn't remember who was who). Locations were often introduced without any context or place in history. There were numerous instances where she started a sentence, paused for a few seconds, then restarted her story with a completely different thought. The entire tour group looked at each other in bafflement. I heard at least three other people ask "Has she done this before?" I had the same thought.
On multiple occasions she would give unbelievable information that caused us to think she was making things up. She would stumble with her "facts." "A couple of people died here. Well, it might have been 6 people." She told us that 600 people died in the Hawthorne Hotel, which I don't believe is true. She told us that inmates in the Salem Jail were hung on meathooks by their eyelids, which is impossible. I could go on. The facts of what happened in Salem are interesting enough without the need of embellishment. But this was worse. It was as though she regurgitated a few stories she heard about Salem but had never read a book on the subject. More than once she started a story and said "I don't remember what happened" and "Yeah, I'll need to look that up." By the time the tour ended, at least seven people had left the tour because it was so bad. My companion and I would've left, but we wanted to see the last couple sites to know where they were because we had decided we needed to visit the sites on our own the next morning.
And that's exactly what we did. We took the next morning of our vacation and drove back to Salem and did a self guided tour that was immensely more informative. I do not understand how this company can possibly run a tour that is this amateurish... and at the cost of $40 per ticket! It is a complete sham. We did not get anything we paid for. In fact, we should've been paid for losing a night of our vacation. We sent a complaint to the company and heard nothing in return. Be aware, stay away from this outfit.
We almost never heard her give us a date such as, "In 1692..." We usually heard her say, "One time," or " Later in time." She said names without giving any background as to who people were, confusing us and even herself (she had to stop herself many times and repeat different names because she couldn't remember who was who). Locations were often introduced without any context or place in history. There were numerous instances where she started a sentence, paused for a few seconds, then restarted her story with a completely different thought. The entire tour group looked at each other in bafflement. I heard at least three other people ask "Has she done this before?" I had the same thought.
On multiple occasions she would give unbelievable information that caused us to think she was making things up. She would stumble with her "facts." "A couple of people died here. Well, it might have been 6 people." She told us that 600 people died in the Hawthorne Hotel, which I don't believe is true. She told us that inmates in the Salem Jail were hung on meathooks by their eyelids, which is impossible. I could go on. The facts of what happened in Salem are interesting enough without the need of embellishment. But this was worse. It was as though she regurgitated a few stories she heard about Salem but had never read a book on the subject. More than once she started a story and said "I don't remember what happened" and "Yeah, I'll need to look that up." By the time the tour ended, at least seven people had left the tour because it was so bad. My companion and I would've left, but we wanted to see the last couple sites to know where they were because we had decided we needed to visit the sites on our own the next morning.
And that's exactly what we did. We took the next morning of our vacation and drove back to Salem and did a self guided tour that was immensely more informative. I do not understand how this company can possibly run a tour that is this amateurish... and at the cost of $40 per ticket! It is a complete sham. We did not get anything we paid for. In fact, we should've been paid for losing a night of our vacation. We sent a complaint to the company and heard nothing in return. Be aware, stay away from this outfit.
Written October 1, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We are very sorry to hear about your Negative experience, Here at GCT we strive for the best experiences for our guests! We GREATLY appreciate your feedback! If you’d like to try a different experience, please call 855-999-9026. We'd like to make it right.
Written December 1, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Kristin M
14 contributions
Our tour guide (Stacy I believe?) unfortunately was not good. Maybe it was just this night but She did not seem to really know the stories or information she was telling us and kept having to pause to think of a word and just told each story in a way that was not compelling. It sounded like listening to a 5th grader make up a ghost story. Not the content — the way it was told. We kept walking by other tours with guides who were describing details that we did not hear from our guide. The lack of confidence and charisma made it painful to listen to which was very disappointing because we were in such an amazing place with such rich history. It really felt like an hour and half wasted and money lost because it was that awful. I’m not familiar with the other tours but will NEVER choose Ghost City Tours for a 0/2 experience. The other one we did was the witch trials tour— spoiler alert it’s basically the same as this one without the ghost stories. Don’t waste your money! Book somewhere else!
Written October 16, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We are very sorry to hear about your Negative experience with Stacy, Here at GCT we strive for the best experiences for our guests! If you’d like to try a different experience, please call 855-999-9026. We'd like to make it right.
Written December 1, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
brandi m
1 contribution
Aug 2021 • Family
Our guide was great and knowledgeable! I don’t remember her name but she had long black, curly hair with ghost earrings on. Unfortunately there was someone on our tour trying to “debunk” her stories which she just rolled with and played along. Definitely interesting stories for sure!
Written August 14, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We always love to hear when our guides can educate and entertain at the same time. Thank you for leaving this review and sharing your experience with us!
Written August 17, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Nelson G
Jackson, MI3 contributions
Jul 2022
We had a wonderful time with Paula as our guide for the Ghosts of Salem Walking Tour. We have teens, who are natural skeptics, and they were interested during the whole tour. Paula brought the history and the characters to life and was able to relate several personal anecdotes to really add flavor. At each stop she showed that she was very knowledgable and willing to answer any question. There were some little children in our group as well. While the tour was spooky, she made sure not to make it so scary as to give them nightmares. I highly recommend and would take another tour if given the opportunity
Written July 29, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We're glad your family enjoyed our Ghosts of Salem Tour with Paula. We are super thrilled that she could provide you all with such a pleasant experience. The true facts definitely have a way of keeping our guests captivated :) Thanks for joining us!
Written August 26, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Jeanette G
1 contribution
Oct 2023 • Couples
On October 29th, 2023 we went on the Ghost city walking tour with John and let me just say he was amazing! I've never met anyone so excited and truly enthusiastic about all the stories he was telling us. He encouraged us to take a lot of pictures because we never know what we might see later. The weather fell through and it began raining but that did not change this man's enthusiasm about the ghost stories he was telling our group. He was very informative and I would definitely recommend anyone to take this tour! Anyone can do a self guided tour but the history our tour guide gives you, you cannot get that on your own!
Written October 30, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks for your review! We are so glad to hear you had a great time on the
tour. It was our pleasure to have you as our guest.
Written October 31, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Kevin N
1 contribution
Sep 2023 • Couples
We had Tommy as our guide and he was awesome! You could tell he really enjoys retelling this history and his own ghostly experiences in Salem. He even provided photos of some of his creepy ghost encounters. I would recommend ghost city tours and Tommy to anyone looking to learn more about the spooky history of Salem!
Written September 30, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank You for your review, Tommy really enjoys what he does, we pride ourselves in having some of the best 5 star experiences around, we will be sure to pass this along!
Written October 2, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Matt G
Rochester, NY6 contributions
Oct 2022 • Couples
The guide was not good. At every stop, she would start multiple stories that went nowhere and didn't provide any fun, useful, or scary information. She stumbled over her words consistently. It seemed like she was either trying to make things up on the spot or had only memorized like 20% of the script. She said "unalive" hundreds of times, both as an adjective and a verb. And once as a noun. Referring to suicide as "a self unalive" doesn't make it kid-friendly; it makes her sound ridiculous. The worst part was hearing other groups near us getting fun and useful information, presented by real professional tour guides, about the same people we were kinda hearing about. Especially Bridget Bishop. She never even mentioned that she was one of the victims of the witch trials. The tour did not go to the witch house or the house of the seven gables, despite both places being highlighted on the website as being part of this tour. The good news is that I know anything the guide said at those stops would have been frustratingly useless and filled with inane babble and grammatical errors. At least my wife and I will have something to talk about for years to come.
Written October 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
If you’d like to try a different experience, please call 855-999-9026. We'd like to make it right.
Written December 1, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
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