Salem, Massachusetts carries the witch trials of 1692 the way other towns carry a founding date, and nearly four centuries of history have stacked plenty of stranger stories on top. If you just want the answer: the best overall Salem ghost tour is the History and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour, 4.9 stars across 15,335 Viator reviews from $36 at our July 30, 2026 check, the largest review base of any tour we compare in any city, with the Best Salem Witch Trials Historical Walking Tour departing at 10 am, 1 pm and 4 pm as the daytime history pick and Salem's Best Ghost Tour as the night storytelling route from $24. This guide runs through eighteen tours, with what each covers and who it suits; the comparison table, the newest picks, and the haunted hotels live on our Salem ghost tours hub.
1. History and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour
A local historian walks you through 400 years of Salem, from the architecture that survived the centuries to the truth behind the 1692 witch trial hysteria. Choose the nighttime departure and the route runs by lantern light, which suits the material.
Book Now: History and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour
2. Salem's Best Ghost Tour
A licensed guide leads this well-reviewed walk along Salem's lamplit streets after dark, mixing legends with documented tales of witchcraft, murder and mayhem. Stops cover witch trial sites and the historic homes and graveyards where spirits are said to still rattle around.
Book Now: Salem's Best Ghost Tour
3. Self-Guided Smartphone Ghost Walking Tour in Salem
The crowd-free option. Download the app and walk at your own pace while a recorded narrator covers haunted locales like the Ropes Mansion, the Salem Witch House and Old Burying Point Cemetery, resting place of trials magistrate John Hathorne. Affordable and start-anytime flexible.
Book Now: Self-Guided Smartphone Ghost Walking Tour in Salem
4. Salem Voodoo, Vampires, and Ghosts Guided Walking Tour
Historians and paranormal investigators lead this one, separating fact from fiction on the 1692 trials before widening out to Salem's stranger file: voodoo, vampires and reported ghost sightings at the town's most notorious sites. The pick for people allergic to gimmicks.
Book Now: Salem Voodoo, Vampires, and Ghosts Guided Walking Tour
5. Salem Ghosts: Witches & Wicked Whispers Guided Walking Tour
Salem's history is wrapped in misconceptions, and this tour works to unwind them, hitting the main haunted attractions while grounding the stories in research and eyewitness accounts rather than Halloween-store lore.
Book Now: Salem Ghosts: Witches & Wicked Whispers Guided Walking Tour
6. Mysteries and Murders of Salem Guided Night-Time Walking Tour
For travelers who have had their fill of witch trial content, this night walk swaps in grisly murders and sinister sightings from the rest of Salem's long record. Suitable for adults and older teens; the operator advises against bringing small children.
Book Now: Mysteries and Murders of Salem Guided Night-Time Walking Tour
7. Best Salem Witch Trials Historical Walking Tour
The history-first option. Your guide covers the main trial sites, including the witch trials memorial and the marker for the 1692 courtroom, with true accounts of paranormal claims and centuries-old crimes. Per the listing, 'Tours depart at 10 am, 1 pm and 4 pm', and even the last departure leaves the evening free for one of the night tours above.
Book Now: Best Salem Witch Trials Historical Walking Tour
8. Salem's Spooky Spectres Walking Ghost Tour
A brisk 75-minute loop through downtown's spookiest spots, told with tales of murder, mystery and mayhem and a self-aware sense of humor. The right length if you are fitting a ghost tour between dinner and the last train back to Boston.
Book Now: Salem's Spooky Spectres Walking Ghost Tour
9. Carolina History & Haunts Winston-Salem Historical Ghost Tour
A note for the search-engine travelers: this one is in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a different Salem entirely. It is a gentle, all-ages candlelight walk through the West End Historic District covering the original settlement, Revolutionary War history and the occasional ghost story. Worth knowing about if your trip runs south.
Book Now: Carolina History & Haunts Winston-Salem Historical Ghost Tour
10. Haunted Footsteps Best Ghost & Paranormal Salem Tour
A lantern-lit journey to sites of alleged haunting: an atmospheric cemetery, buildings said to house restless residents, and paranormal stories delivered by a practiced storyteller who knows how to hold a pause.
Book Now: Haunted Footsteps Best Ghost & Paranormal Salem Tour
11. Combo Package for Two Spooky Walking Tours in Salem
Cannot pick? This pass bundles two of the operator's tours in one purchase, described on the listing only as a history tour and a ghost tour; the listing does not name the two products, so confirm the pairing when you book.
Book Now: Combo Package for Two Spooky Walking Tours in Salem
12. Black Cat Ghostly Night Tour in Salem
An evening tour that USA Today's 10 Best readers voted among the top ten ghost tours in the country two years running, per the operator. Beyond the hauntings, it covers the tools early ghost hunters used and the real Salem events that fed the Gothic imaginations of H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and hometown author Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Book Now: Black Cat Ghostly Night Tour in Salem
13. Salem Uncovered: Dark Stories of Salem Tour
Salem is nearly 400 years old, and this 90-minute evening walk digs past the witch hats into the rest of its dark side: pirates and pepper fortunes, secrets of the town's oldest cemetery, brutal murders, strange legal battles, curses and torture, with a ghost story or two for good measure. Guides are licensed by the City of Salem and work as professional storytellers.
Book Now: Salem Uncovered: Dark Stories of Salem Tour
14. Triple Threat Salem Walking Tour Combination Pass
The full package: three tours on one pass. Hear from a practicing witch at the operator's indoor Wandering Witches session, follow the timeline of the trials on Steps Through 1692, then finish after dark with Salem's Spooky Spectres and its tales of murder and madness at the town's most haunted spots.
Book Now: Triple Threat Salem Walking Tour Combination Pass
15. Self-Guided Audio Tour 'Hawthorne's Haunts' Haunted Walking Tour Salem
A smartphone-guided route on the WalknTours app that follows Nathaniel Hawthorne's shadow through Salem, from the statue where it begins to the spooky locations tied to his family's dark past. The tour never expires, and the narration comes theatrically produced with music. Headphones recommended.
Book Now: Self-Guided Audio Tour 'Hawthorne's Haunts' Haunted Walking Tour Salem
16. Bewitched Walking Tour of Salem
A licensed guide leads this journey back in time, about an hour and 40 minutes across more than a dozen historically significant downtown locations, making the case that Salem's real history out-frightens its fiction.
Book Now: Bewitched Walking Tour of Salem
17. Magic Lantern Tour
A seasonal Halloween favorite with a twist: as your guide covers witches and ghosts, a magic lantern show projects rare images along the walls of the walking route, so the stories play out on the buildings themselves. Dates sell for an October 1 to November 4, 2026 window at our August 3, 2026 check.
Book Now: Magic Lantern Tour
18. Salem Guided Walking Tour With A Real Witch
The witch is the draw here: the operator's combination-pass listing describes this as a 45-minute indoor question-and-answer session with a practicing witch, unscripted, taking questions on everything from the history of the trials to what contemporary witchcraft actually looks like. Our older card name calls it a walking tour; the listing data says indoor session, and that mismatch is still open. No two sessions run the same.
Book Now: Salem Guided Walking Tour With A Real Witch
Questions people ask
Is Salem worth visiting for ghost tours?
Few towns are more worth it. The 1692 witch trials are documented history, not legend, and the guides here range from licensed historians to practicing witches, so you can choose between hard research and pure atmosphere, or stack both with a combination pass.
What is the most haunted place in Salem?
Old Burying Point Cemetery, where two of the 1692 magistrates rest, anchors most routes, with the Ropes Mansion and the Salem Witch House close behind. Which one deserves the crown depends on which guide you ask, and they all have a favorite story to argue it.
When should I book a Salem ghost tour?
As far ahead as you can for October, when the whole city books out weeks in advance. The rest of the year is far calmer, and the lantern-lit night tours arguably land better without the Halloween crowds.
Are Salem ghost tours family friendly?
Many are, especially the historical walks and the self-guided audio routes where you control the pace. The Mysteries and Murders night tour is the notable exception; the operator advises it for adults and older teens only.
Keep reading
Heading Southwest one of these trips? Freaky Foot Tours runs walking tours in three Arizona towns; see our locations page.
