Ghost Cities · The Research Desk
We lead walking tours in Arizona. We research haunted history everywhere. Field notes and honest picks for Pennsylvania, from the same team that leads our tours in Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott.
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Our best-overall pick in Philadelphia and the largest review sample in the comparison: 4.9 stars across 4,469 reviews at our July 30, 2026 recheck, from $38 for two hours at night. Developed by a local university professor and run by Grim Philly Twilight Tours, it works the R-rated route past executions, the red light district and pirate lore, with the landmarks lit. The listing carries an adult content and language note.
The family pick, and the lowest from-price on our Philadelphia table: 90 minutes through Old City in the evening from $25, 4.7 stars across 217 reviews, from Ghost City Tours. The listing calls it a family-friendly way to tour Old City, and the route passes Independence Hall, the Bishop White House and the American Philosophical Society.
Pennsylvania here means one city: Philadelphia. Of the nine ghost tours we compared there on July 28, 2026, our best-overall pick is the Dark Philly Adult Night Tour, 4.9 stars across 4,469 reviews at our July 30, 2026 recheck, two hours after dark from $38, its listing marked for adult content and language. The family answer is The Ghosts of Philadelphia Tour, 90 minutes through Old City from $25. Budget $25 to $52 a head.
Philadelphia is often ranked among the most historic and most haunted cities in America. The blocks around Independence Hall have been collecting stories since the Continental Congress, and Eastern State Penitentiary's empty cellblocks draw paranormal travelers on their own. Our Philadelphia guide sorts the founding-fathers-and-phantoms walks from the theatrical ones.
That guide compares nine tours, more than 6,300 reviews between them. Formats run from a one-hour Old City loop at $26 to a two-and-a-half-hour true crime walk at $44, plus a pub crawl capped at 14 that holds the only 5.0 of the nine and a bus seating 45. Most departures are evening; three run at night proper.
Philadelphia is the only Pennsylvania city we have worked to this depth, so it is the only one with a guide here. Gettysburg and Pittsburgh get pages when we have read them the same way.
William Penn patented Washington Square in 1706 as a Potter's Field. John Adams walked it in April 1777 and counted upwards of two thousand soldiers buried there. More than 1,300 victims of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic filled the remaining space, the city closed it to burials in 1794, and the square took George Washington's name in 1825, per the National Park Service's history of the square. Most ghost walks cross it.
That epidemic is the heaviest chapter here. Over 5,000 Philadelphians died. Volunteers met at what is now Old City Hall almost daily from September 14 to November 27 of that year, per the Park Service's account of the mayor's committee, while burials of Black Philadelphians rose from 67 in 1792 to 305 in 1793 as the Free African Society took on the nursing and burying. Absalom Jones and Richard Allen set it down in 1794, in the narrative the Park Service transcribes in full: "It was very uncommon, at this time, to find any one that would go near, much more, handle, a sick or dead person."
Eastern State Penitentiary is the other anchor. Designed by John Haviland and opened in 1829, it is considered the world's first true penitentiary, built on the separate-confinement scheme dubbed the Pennsylvania system. It operated until 1971 and has been left in its stark, dilapidated state, per the Library of Congress record filed with its photographs. The night routes work it from outside the walls.
Most meeting points cluster in Old City and Center City. Penn's View Hotel is the Old City base, a quarter mile from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall; the Westin holds the downtown tier steps from the same landmarks. The best-known hauntings here sit in public rooms rather than hotel lobbies, a founders' tavern in Old City among them. Full rundown in our guide to where to stay in Philadelphia.
Two picks from the nine: the Dark Philly Adult Night Tour for adults, The Ghosts of Philadelphia Tour for mixed ages. Both cards sit at the top of this page, both partner links we disclose.
Philadelphia is the one we have researched, and it argues from density: three centuries of city history, a colonial burial ground under a public square, Eastern State Penitentiary inside the city limits. Gettysburg gets named as often, and we have not worked it.
Yes, and this guide does not cover them. Our Pennsylvania research is Philadelphia; anywhere else in the state we would be guessing alongside you.
Yes. Few cities let you stand where the country was founded and hear what reportedly lingered afterward. Start with our Philadelphia picks.
Plan on $25 to $52 a person. At our July 28, 2026 check the family walk was cheapest at $25 and the double decker bus topped the table at $52.
Mostly evening. Three of the nine run at night proper: the Dark Philly anchor, the Haunted History night walk and the bus. Clock times live on your booking page.
On some routes. The Ghosts of Philadelphia Tour is listed as a family-friendly way to tour Old City; the Dark Philly anchor carries an adult content and language note, and Founding Phantoms is adults only.
Evenings carry most departures and fall fills first, so give October dates a buffer. All nine compared tours offered free cancellation to 24 hours before start.
No. Freaky Foot Tours leads walking tours in Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott, Arizona, the only state where we hold the lantern. The booking links here are partner links we disclose.
Keep exploring with our haunted city guides or our Arizona walks. Every route starts in the archives: how we research our tours.
The One State Where We Hold the Lantern
Everywhere else, we write the guide. In Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott we lead the tour, nightly, in person, with five generations of Arizona roots behind every story.