Ghost Cities · Texas
We run walking tours in Arizona, and we research haunted history everywhere. This is our honest local guide to Galveston: the tours worth booking and the stories behind them.
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Our top picks in Galveston
Galveston, Texas is currently known as a place to go and relax, but the city has endured a lot over the years. From the Civil War to Yellow Fever to the Great Hurricane of 1900, a lot of lives were lost in this coastal village. Discover the city’s historic and haunted streets on a small–group, nighttime walking tour and get a closer look at Galveston’s eerie past.
Discover the darker side of Galveston on a ghost tour. Pass by mansions and other historical sights where spooky and mysterious things are said to have happened, and hear about the island's secrets, paranormal events, and haunted history that dates back 150 years. This tour is a fun way to learn a bit about Galveston's history.
Uncover the sordid past of Galveston, Texas on a spooky walking tour along the Strand. Follow your guide as they point out several locations that are known for eerie paranormal activity. Galveston has seen a lot of devastation over the years, hurricanes, pandemics, wars, fires, and pirates, and has become a haven for ghosts.
More worth a look
Uncover the sordid past of Galveston as you walk through the historic Strand district during this nighttime ghost tour. Listen to spooky stories of sudden deaths and paranormal sightings as you explore important landmarks like the Railroad Museum, Tremont House, and the Grand 1894 Opera House. The city is just waiting to show you its eerie past.
Take a walk down memory lane and through Galveston's eerie cemeteries during this nighttime walking tour. Spend the evening visiting several graveyards including Old City, Broadway, Evergreen, and the Yellow Fever yard to hear stories of past Galveston residents. Learn about the symbolism of the cemeteries, the yellow fever plague, the Great Storm, and the paranormal activity in the city.
Unlike other cemetery tours on Galveston Island, this one is researched by academics. It is the only cemetery tour that takes you to the spots inside the grounds where apparitions and paranormal happenings have actually been reported.
Galveston's creepiest cemetery tour meets at the entrance to the Old City Cemetery, with parking along the road that divides the grounds. From there your guide leads you to the most notorious graves in one of the most talked-about cemeteries in the country.
The Galveston Haunted Pub Crawl takes you and your favorite drinking buddies through Oleander City’s most haunted pubs and restaurants. From the ghosts of hurricane victims still lost in the wreckage to civil war soldiers who still stand for Texas, you’ll need every drop of liquid courage if you want to relive these sordid tales from the past, let alone walk the blood-stained streets of The Strand. So, saddle up, catch a buzz, and see how much you can stomach with Ghost City Tours.
Discover the ghostly history of Galveston, Texas on a nighttime walking tour around town. This adults–only tour takes a look at the city’s red–light district and its history as a place for gambling and drinking. Walk past old brothels, learn about outlaws and pirates, and hunt for ghosts as you explore.
Return to a time when the mob ran Galveston and their guests were treated as if they were family. When you crossed the bridge you enter "The Free State of Galveston," where the only rules were mob rules. The stars of the era were world class entertainers brought in to perform in the casinos, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin. Everyone was enjoying their own "Vegas Dream" right here in Galveston.
Combine a spooky ghost tour with a look into the old red light district on this group tour in Galveston. Your guide covers several places, including The Strand, the Railroad Museum, and the Tremont House, telling the history and the rumors that surround each one.
Get up close and personal to Galveston’s sordid past on this small-group walking tour. Come in close contact with paranormal activity as you tour Old Galveston. Your guide provides first-hand accounts of paranormal activity that’s been experienced in this haunted town, once known for bootleggers and brothels. Get ready to be spooked and capture your experience on camera.
You will be escorted by a Zombie-Tour Guide through the historic Strand District of Galveston. Unlike a lot of other tour operators, this tour specializes in providing an experience, rather than a walking history lesson. This tour, as well, covers the entire Strand, not just small sections of it.
Get a spooky insight into Galveston’s troubled past, including everything from pirates to epidemics, mafia involvement to destructive hurricanes, during an offbeat ghost tour. See a different side to the city than that offered by most Galveston tours and cover more ground than you would on foot thanks to your Segway.
Enjoy an offbeat introduction to the spooky side of Galveston that few travelers get to see on this private ghost walk along The Strand, ideal for travelers on a tight schedule. Gain insight into the many buildings along the district while hearing tales of ghosts, pirates, and Civil War soldiers you would not uncover alone.
If paranormal-history adventures strike your interest, book this Galveston The Strand District Self-Guided Ghost Tour that allows you to explore the city at your own pace at a time that’s best for you. Just download the app on your smartphone and follow the audio guide through the Strand District.
Galveston was once one of the largest port cities in the United States, and the island has absorbed more than its share of catastrophe: the great hurricane of 1900, yellow fever epidemics, Civil War occupation, fires, and pirates before all of it. Later came the mob era, when the island ran wide open as the Free State of Galveston. That stacked history is why guides here rarely repeat each other, there is simply too much material.
The tours above are our honest picks, strongest first. Today's Galveston is a beach town with an art scene and good restaurants, and the Strand's surviving Victorian architecture doubles as the set for its darker chapters.
Strand walks are the core of the scene. The Ghosts of Galveston small-group night walk covers the island's layered disasters, while Ghost on the Strand and Storm on the Strand work the same historic district with different casts of stories, from the Railroad Museum to the Tremont House and the Grand 1894 Opera House. The Historic Galveston Ghost Tour swings past the mansions where the island's oldest accounts live.
Cemetery tours are the other specialty. The Haunted Cemetery walk visits several graveyards including the yellow fever yard, Walk with the Dead is researched by academics and goes to the exact spots where apparitions have been reported inside Old City Cemetery, and one tour hands you actual ghost hunting equipment. Adults can add the Shadows of Revelry or the Red Light District tour for the island's bootlegger-and-brothel era, and the pub crawl is strictly 21 and over. A Segway option and a self-guided app tour round out the list.
The Hotel Galvez, the Ashton Villa, and Bishop's Palace top the island's haunted shortlist. On the Strand, the Tremont House and the old commercial blocks carry accounts going back to the 1900 storm. The cemeteries hold the rest, and the gravestone symbolism alone is worth the walk. Ask your guide about the sites tied to Dash Beardsley, the paranormal investigator who helped put Galveston's ghost tours on the map.
The Hotel Galvez, the Ashton Villa, and Bishop's Palace come up most, with the Strand district and Old City Cemetery generating steady reports of their own.
The island has endured the 1900 hurricane, yellow fever epidemics, war, fires, and pirate raids, each of which cost lives and left stories. Guides treat the disasters as history first and lore second.
Yes. One Old City Cemetery tour includes ghost hunting equipment, and the academically researched Walk with the Dead visits the reported apparition sites inside the grounds.
The Shadows of Revelry red light district walk is adults-only, and the haunted pub crawl requires 21 and over. Most Strand walks welcome all ages.
Read our ranked list of the best haunted tours in Galveston, then browse haunted Galveston, things to do in Galveston, and where to stay in Galveston, or see everything we cover in Texas.
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