Co-founder · Researcher · Author
Susan Johnson.
Co-founder. Researcher. Published local author. Three books with The History Press and a weekly history column in the Arizona Daily Sun. Every story on every tour comes from Susan's original research.
The Research Desk
Every story starts at Susan's desk.
Susan Johnson co-founded Freaky Foot Tours in 2015 with her son Nick. More than thirty years in Flagstaff. A published local author, three times over. The researcher behind every stop on every route we run.
Every story on every tour comes from Susan's original research. Our guides do not recite scripts. They internalize her work and enhance it with their own personality, which is why every tour is slightly different.
Flagstaff knows her beyond the tours. The Downtown Flagstaff Business Alliance hosted her Haunted Flagstaff reading, and the town's paper of record carries her byline every week.
The Short Resume
- Co-founder, Freaky Foot Tours (2015)
- Author of three books, all from The History Press
- Weekly "Flagstaff History" columnist, Arizona Daily Sun
- Column also carried by the Navajo-Hopi Observer
- Told the Walkup story on Travel Channel's The Dead Files (2022)
The Books
Three titles, one publisher
All from The History Press. Each book has its own site, and each one feeds the tours.
The Columnist Credential
The person who researches these tours writes the town's history column.
Every week, Susan writes the "Flagstaff History" column for the Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff's paper of record. The stories on our tours come from the same desk.
- Weekly "Flagstaff History" column in the Arizona Daily Sun, running weekly through at least June 2026. Recent example: "Trial in Canyon Lodge murder ended in acquittal", June 28, 2026.
- On national TV as the expert. Susan shared the Walkup story on Travel Channel's The Dead Files in 2022.
- At home downtown. The Downtown Flagstaff Business Alliance hosted her Haunted Flagstaff reading.
She has written two books for the History Press, Haunted Flagstaff and Flagstaff's Walkup Family Murders, and, with her son Nick, manages Freaky Foot Tours.The Navajo-Hopi Observer's author bio for her column · Read a column
Their bio counts two books. The shelf now holds three.
Read the Research
Her desk, on our blog
The Walkup story in full, plus Susan's Corner, her recurring column for our own readers.
Susan's Corner
Short monthly dispatches from the research desk.
More at susanjohnson.org, her author site.
Tonight in Flagstaff
Read the book. Then walk the story.
The Original Flagstaff Ghost Tour walks the blocks behind all three books, told by guides who study her research.