The Charleston stories to know before you book
The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon is the address most Charleston ghost routes are built around, and it is a National Historic Landmark. By the National Park Service's own account, the Exchange and Custom House was built from 1767 to 1771 for the expanding shipping industry, confiscated tea was stored here in 1774 after a protest meeting against the Tea Act, and during the Revolutionary War the British used the building for barracks and the basement as a military prison. The Provincial Congress of South Carolina met here the following year, the State Legislature met here in 1788 after the Statehouse was destroyed, and a grand ball was held on the second floor when George Washington visited on his southern tour of 1791. In 1913 the building was deeded to the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the basement has since been restored and exhibited to the public as the British Provost Dungeon. That basement is the one interior a compared tour on this page can still take you into.
The 1886 earthquake is the other event Charleston guides keep returning to, and the closest account of it was written by a man who sat through it. The Southern Christian Advocate, a Charleston weekly, ran its editor's first-hand narrative on September 9, 1886 under the headline The Great Earthquake. He records a first shock felt at Summerville at 8:30 on the morning of Friday, August 27, another at 4:35 the next morning, and then, on the evening of Tuesday, August 31, the one that emptied the town into its own streets; by daylight, he writes, nearly every chimney in Summerville was down and two people had been killed. "The house seemed jumping up and down, and swaying in every direction like a ship at sea in a great storm," he wrote of that night, in the issue held by the Library of Congress. The Park Service records that the Old Exchange itself was badly damaged by the same earthquake.
The Old City Jail is the address paranormal teams keep returning to, a four-story gothic hulk investigated by almost every team in the country, with reports of skulking shadows, unexplained touches, and sounds that send visitors back out the door. The Unitarian Church graveyard is its opposite in mood, an overgrown southern garden of historic plots that closes to the public at dusk. Add Philadelphia Alley, St. Philip's Church, the Powder Magazine, Magnolia Cemetery, and Poogan's Porch, where diners still report the St. Amand sisters in the bathroom mirrors after Zoe St. Amand died in 1954, and the map of Charleston's reported hauntings turns out to be a map of its oldest blocks. The longer files on every address in this section live in our guide to haunted Charleston.
Which Charleston ghost tour is right for your group?
The classic night walk
A night walk is the default Charleston format: on foot in the historic district after dark, with the buildings doing the set dressing. Our pick is Charleston's Pleasing Terrors Night-Time Walking Ghost Tour, the best overall tour on this page at 4.8 stars across 1,410 reviews, 90 minutes from $29, run by Old Charleston Tours. Its listing offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, and it is one of the five compared tours that list wheelchair access, strollers included.
- Choose it if this is your first ghost tour in Charleston and you want the version travelers rate highest.
- Choose it if price matters; at $29 it is the cheapest of the four night walks in our table.
- Skip it if you need an age policy in writing before you book; its listing does not publish one.
Verdict: the default pick, and the one we would book first.
Book the Pleasing Terrors night walk in Charleston
The walk with graveyard access
The Ghosts of Charleston Walking Tour + Unitarian Church Graveyard sells access rather than mileage: its route takes you into the Unitarian Church graveyard, the overgrown garden of historic plots that closes to the public at dusk. It holds 4.6 stars across 2,903 reviews from $35.50, more reviews than any other walk in our table, and its Viator page has it departing from Buxton Books. Two honest notes: bookings are confirmed within 48 hours, and this listing does not offer wheelchair access.
- Choose it if the graveyard is the reason you are booking a ghost tour at all.
- Choose it if you want a shorter version; travelers may select a one-hour graveyard-only option or the 1.5-hour full tour.
- Skip it if you are booking for tonight; confirmation on this listing can take 48 hours.
- Skip it if anyone in the party needs wheelchair access, or if children cannot be accompanied by an adult throughout.
Verdict: the access pick, and the walk with the deepest review record in Charleston.
Book the Unitarian Church graveyard ghost walk
The one that goes inside
The Charleston Ghost and Dungeon Night-Time Walking Tour with Entry to Provost Dungeon is the only tour in our comparison that ends indoors: 90 minutes through the Historic District from $40.50, finishing inside the Provost Dungeon beneath the Old Exchange. Its listing offers wheelchair access and cancels free up to 24 hours out. The number to weigh against all that: 4.2 stars across 521 reviews, the lowest rating in our table.
- Choose it if you want to stand inside a haunted address rather than in front of one.
- Choose it if going into the Provost Dungeon is the plan; it is the only compared listing whose price includes admission inside.
- Skip it if the rating matters more than the access; four of the ten compared tours sit at 4.9.
Verdict: the access play, bought with a rating that trails the field.
Book the Provost Dungeon ghost tour in Charleston
The carriage
The Haunted Evening Horse and Carriage Tour of Charleston is the seated option, and it carries more reviews than anything else on this page: 4.7 stars across 4,188. Forty minutes from $42 down the twisting side streets and cobbled alleys, past the Mills House, the Circular Congregational graveyard, and the Provost Dungeon. Its listing requires guests to arrive 15 minutes early to board, welcomes strollers, and cancels free up to 24 hours out.
- Choose it if walking is the problem; at 40 minutes it is the shortest tour in our table.
- Choose it if you want the longest review record on this page behind your booking.
- Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access; the seated tour does not list it, while five of the walks do.
- Skip it if you cannot be at the boarding point 15 minutes ahead; the listing makes that a requirement, not a suggestion.
Verdict: the comfort pick, so long as boarding a carriage is not itself the obstacle.
Book the haunted carriage ride in Charleston
The small-group walk
Real Hauntings of Charleston is the small-group option, run by Holy City Walks: 4.9 stars across 941 reviews at our August 3, 2026 re-check, 90 minutes from $35. It is also the tour this page was missing until this update caught it. Its listing offers wheelchair access, notes accessible surfaces, welcomes strollers, and cancels free up to 24 hours before the start.
- Choose it if you would rather hear the guide than crane toward one.
- Choose it if you want a 4.9 rating with a real review count behind it, 941 of them.
- Skip it if graveyard or dungeon access is the point of the night; those are a different pair of tours.
Verdict: the quiet standout, and the correction this page owed its readers.
Book the small-group Charleston ghost tour
The 21-and-over bar tours
Two compared tours put a drink in the night, and both draw the line in their own words. The Charleston Haunted Booze and Boos Ghost Walking Tour runs 2 hours 30 minutes from $39.42, holds 4.9 stars across 1,611 reviews, meets at 54 N Market St, and states that "All guests must be 21+ with valid ID." The Charleston Boo Hag and Brews Ghost and Bar Tour is the shorter one, 2 hours from $35 at 4.9 stars across 208 reviews, and states that "Guests must be 21+ and bring valid photo ID." Neither lists wheelchair access, and the Boo Hag listing advises against it for guests with heart problems.
- Choose Boos and Booze if you want the longest night in our table and the bigger review record.
- Choose Boo Hag and Brews if two hours is enough and the lower price matters.
- Skip both if anyone in the party is under 21; the ID requirement is written into both listings.
Verdict: the grown-up lane, and the only two listings on this page that check identification.
Book the Boos and Booze haunted bar walk
The harbor cruise
The Narrated Haunted Ghost Cruise of Charleston Harbor is the only compared tour that leaves the sidewalk: 90 minutes on the water from $49.05, 4.6 stars across 450 reviews, free to cancel up to 24 hours out. It is the most expensive tour in our table, and its listing does not permit children under 3. Parking is spelled out on the listing itself: paid parking at the South Carolina Aquarium Parking Garage five minutes away, or meters on Concord Street.
- Choose it if you want the harbor and the skyline instead of another block of cobblestones.
- Choose it if you have already walked the historic district by day.
- Skip it if anyone needs wheelchair access or you are traveling with a child under 3; the listing rules out both.
Verdict: the change of angle, and the one night on this page that ends at the waterline.
Book the Charleston harbor ghost cruise
On accessibility, the pattern runs opposite to instinct. Five of the ten compared tours list wheelchair access on Viator, and all five are walking tours: Pleasing Terrors, the Ghost & Graveyard walk, the Ghost & Dungeon walk, the Dark History and Ghost Tour with Adam, and Real Hauntings, whose listing also notes accessible surfaces. The seated option does not. The haunted carriage is not listed as wheelchair accessible, though it does welcome strollers, and neither are the Ghosts of Charleston walk from Buxton Books, the two 21-and-over bar tours, or the harbor cruise. Strollers are welcome on the carriage and on the Pleasing Terrors, Dark History, and Real Hauntings walks, per those listings.
Haunted hotels in Charleston
Charleston's best known haunted addresses are not hotels. They are a jail, a dungeon, a graveyard, and a restaurant porch: Poogan's Porch, the Victorian house where the St. Amand sisters are still reported in the mirrors, is the one that serves dinner. We keep the longer versions in our guide to haunted Charleston. What a downtown hotel buys you here is simpler: the walk home after a night tour.
Three properties put you inside the historic district rather than a drive from it. The Charleston Place is the downtown grande dame, in the city center about 1,581 feet from the College of Charleston, with three restaurants, four bars, a full-service spa, and indoor and outdoor saltwater pools. Hotel Bennett is the 5-star option on King Street, a 2-minute walk from Marion Square and a 4-minute walk from the Charleston Museum. Hotel Emeline is the 4-star boutique pick, a 9-minute walk from Charleston Waterfront Park, with free bikes for the daylight hours. All three carry booking cards in the list above.
The full rundown, the suite properties and the Mount Pleasant and West Ashley options included, lives in our guide to where to stay in Charleston.
Planning your Charleston ghost tour night
Two tracks work. The family track books early and short: the haunted carriage runs 40 minutes in the evening and welcomes strollers, and the Charleston Dark History and Ghost Tour with Adam runs 1 hour 20 from $25, the lowest price in our table, on a route its own description calls family-friendly. Pack for it the way that listing asks, with water and bug spray. Daylight plans live in our guide to things to do in Charleston.
The adults track starts later and runs longer: a slow dinner, then either the 2 hour 30 minute Boos and Booze walk or the 2-hour Boo Hag and Brews bar tour. Both listings require guests to be 21 and over with valid ID, in those words, so carry it rather than argue it at the meeting point.
Meeting points sit on each listing, and they are not all in the same corner of the peninsula. Boos and Booze meets at 54 N Market St. The Ghost & Graveyard walk asks guests to arrive 15 minutes early and the haunted carriage requires it to board, a habit worth applying to every tour on this page. The Ghosts of Charleston walk departs from Buxton Books per its Viator page, and confirmation on that listing can take 48 hours. If you are driving in, the harbor cruise listing points to paid parking at the South Carolina Aquarium Parking Garage five minutes away or meters on Concord Street, and the city states that all on-street parking meters are active and require payment Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Sundays and official city holidays, which puts most of these departures past the paid window.
Book the shorter Charleston ghost and bar tour
