Ghost Cities · Tennessee
We run walking tours in Arizona, and we research haunted history everywhere. This is our honest local guide to Chattanooga: the tours worth booking and the stories behind them.
Freaky Foot Tours doesn't sell ads. When you book through links on our site we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Our top picks in Chattanooga
Discover the spooky side of Chattanooga with a ghost-themed walking tour. Meet your guide for a city stroll to hear haunted tales and ghost stories connected to city history. See local landmarks like the Fireman’s Memorial Fountain and Hamilton County Courthouse during the walk. Learn about how fires, floods, disease, and war all made Chattanooga a prime place for ghosts.
Discover the dark side of Chattanooga's storied past on this 1.5 to 2-hour walking ghost tour. See the city's spookiest haunts alongside a local professional guide for a tour as haunting as it is historical.
For a boozy twist on the ghost tour, don't miss this ghastly pub hopping adventure to some of Chattanooga's famously haunted pubs and back alley. Get ready for a scare as you set out on the town, and follow your guide around Chattanooga's storied Historic District. Enjoy macabre tales of spirits while sipping pints at local taverns, at your own expense, and even the largest unmarked mass graveyard in town.
More worth a look
Discover thrilling ghost stories of Chattanooga on a walking tour for the whole family. Visit historic locations tied to the Civil War, murders, and other sources of strange hauntings, and explore the city's bizarre and supernatural history on the way to May's Urban Mansion and the aquarium district.
Indulge in the macabre on this adult's only guided walking tour in Chattanooga. Immerse yourself in tales of dark spirits and terrible tragedies from Chattanooga's history. Hear about demons, monsters, blood-soaked grounds, and a centuries-old curse.
Perfect for those fascinated by the supernatural, this 1.5-hour ghost hunt in Citizens Cemetery uses high-tech equipment to increase the chances of communication with restless spirits. With the help of temperature guns, laser grid lights, and Ovilius X, a paranormal communication device, you’ll search for specters in Chattanooga locations reputed to be haunted. This tour is not suitable for children or those of a sensitive disposition.
Chattanooga incorporated in 1839 from the small hamlet of Ross's Landing, and its spot on the Tennessee River and the rail lines made it a prize worth fighting over. The Civil War pushed the city to the forefront, with the Battle of Chickamauga fought nearby and Lookout Mountain looming over it all. Add the fires, floods, and disease outbreaks that hit river towns hard, and you have the raw material guides here work with every night.
The tours above are our honest picks, strongest first. Today's Chattanooga is an outdoor haven with friendly locals and good food, which makes the dark stories land even better.
The ChattaBOOga Ghost Walk is the city's original ghost tour, and its operators say it has been ranked the best in town by both TripAdvisor and USA Today. It covers downtown landmarks like the Fireman's Memorial Fountain and the Hamilton County Courthouse while explaining how fire, flood, disease, and war made Chattanooga such fertile ground for ghost stories. The Murder and Mayhem walk runs 1.5 to 2 hours and leans harder into the city's dark chapters.
Adults can pick between Cursed in Chattanooga, which deals in dark spirits, tragedy, and a centuries-old curse, and the 21-and-over Ghost and Booze pub tour, which stops at famously haunted pubs and passes the largest unmarked mass grave in town. Families get their own walk covering Civil War sites and the strange history around May's Urban Mansion and the aquarium district.
The standout for hands-on types is the Citizens Cemetery ghost hunt: 90 minutes with temperature guns, laser grids, and an Ovilus communication device in a historic burying ground. It is not for small children or the easily rattled.
The Read House hotel, whose reported activity has spooked guests and staff for generations. Citizens Cemetery, the epicenter of the city's paranormal reports. Cherry Street's old tavern buildings and a certain downtown restaurant with a reputation the guides love to explain. Ask about any of them and you will get a different story from every guide.
The Read House hotel comes up first in almost every conversation, with Citizens Cemetery close behind. Both appear on multiple tour routes.
Yes. The Citizens Cemetery hunt supplies working equipment, including temperature guns, laser grid lights, and an Ovilus device, and teaches you how to use it. It is not suitable for young children.
The family-friendly ghost tour keeps the stories accessible for kids while still covering Civil War history and the city's stranger episodes. The Cursed and Ghost and Booze tours are adults-only.
Guides point to the stack of disasters in the city's past: war at its doorstep, repeated fires and floods, and disease outbreaks that filled cemeteries fast. Layered tragedy is what gives a river town its reputation.
Read our ranked list of the best Chattanooga ghost tours, then browse haunted Chattanooga, things to do in Chattanooga, and where to stay in Chattanooga, or see everything we cover in Tennessee.
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.