Chicago Hauntings Original Ghost Bus Tour is a three-hour evening bus tour run by Chicago Hauntings, from $59 per person at our July 30, 2026 check. You ride between sites instead of walking them, which is how one route reaches both the Near West Side and Lincoln Park: the listing names the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Lincoln Park, the Couch Mausoleum, the Chicago History Museum, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Biograph Theatre, and 2122 North Clark Street, where seven men were shot in 1929. Minimum age is 8, and the listing states it is not wheelchair accessible. Note the score: 3.8 across 150 reviews is the lowest of the fifteen Chicago listings we checked.
| Detail | What the listing shows |
|---|---|
| From price | $59 per person (checked July 30, 2026) |
| Duration | 3 hours, by bus |
| Departures | Evening. No clock time verified. |
| Minimum age | 8, per the listing's adult age band |
| Wheelchair access | Not wheelchair accessible, per the listing |
| Meeting point | Not verified. Confirm when booking. |
| Cancellation | Not verified. Read the booking page terms. |
| Rating | 3.8 from 150 Viator reviews, the lowest of the fifteen Chicago listings we checked |
| Availability | Bookable at our July 30, 2026 check |
| Operator | Chicago Hauntings. We do not run this tour. |
What you will see
The most argued stop is the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum at 800 South Halsted Street, the 1856 mansion Addams moved into in 1889. In 1913 a rumor that a devil baby was hidden in the house drew crowds to the door; the Chicago Examiner broke the story on October 31. Addams wrote it down herself: her July 1914 article "A Modern Devil-Baby" in the American Journal of Sociology calls the child mythical and records six weeks of visitors arriving all day and into the night until the settlement's work nearly stopped (Jane Addams Digital Edition). Two corrections: her Atlantic Monthly piece is October 1916, not 1913, and what stands is not the settlement, since eleven of thirteen buildings were razed after Hull-House closed in March 1963 (the museum).
The Couch Mausoleum, north of the Chicago History Museum near Clark Street and LaSalle Drive, is the last structure left from the Chicago City Cemetery, the only authorized burial ground inside the city limits from 1843 to August 1859 (Hidden Truths at Northwestern). The vault went up in 1858 for $7,000, to a John M. Van Osdel design. The story nearly every tour tells, that the Couch family sued the city and won the right to keep it there, is false: on June 2, 1941 the Park District's attorney reported no such case in the United States Supreme Court, the Illinois courts, the Cook County indices for 1872 to 1905, or the Tribune's Couch clipping file. The reason was money, a quoted $3,000 to move it by 1877 (the Park District). Nobody knows who is inside, and the tablets beside the door are blank.
The Chicago History Museum at 1601 North Clark Street opened here in 1932, on the same graveyard ground: in 1998, ahead of a parking facility north of the museum, archaeologist David Keene's team recovered partial skeletons representing 81 individuals plus a Fisk metallic burial case. Pamela Bannos's research puts more than ten thousand unmoved graves under Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast, since the 1871 fire burned the wooden markers. Two corrections: the skeletons came out of the ground north of the museum, not a basement, and the Camp Douglas figure is inflated. Dr. John H. Rauch's 1866 account, from the City Sexton's records, gives 3,871 Confederate prisoners, not the 6,000 often repeated.
2122 North Clark Street no longer exists. Seven men were shot inside the S.M.C. Cartage Company garage there on February 14, 1929 by four men, two in police uniform, which is why seven armed men lined up against a wall. Nobody was ever charged. The garage was demolished in the summer of 1967 and the site is now lawn and parking with no marker, so your guide is pointing at grass. The tree marks nothing, and the pizza restaurant across Clark opened in 1972. The Biograph Theatre at 2433 North Lincoln Avenue still carries the marquee installed in 1933. John Dillinger left "Manhattan Melodrama" at 10:45 p.m. on July 22, 1934 and was hit by two of five shots at the alley south of it, then pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Hospital rather than in the alley (the city landmark report). Any seat shown as Dillinger's is a prop the owner disowned in 1967.
Who it suits
Three hours seated, stops from the Near West Side to Lincoln Park, and the listing states it is not wheelchair accessible. The minimum age of 8 is the lowest of the operator's four Chicago listings, but the route covers the 1929 killings and the shooting of Dillinger, so judge the subject matter. The rating is the honest problem: 3.8 across 150 reviews is the lowest of the fifteen listings we checked, though 150 is the operator's largest review sample, so it is not a thin score.
- Good if you want range without walking between widely separated sites, or if weather is bad.
- Good if Hull-House and Clark Street are why you are booking.
- Skip it if you need a wheelchair accessible tour; this listing says it is not.
- Skip it if the 3.8 bothers you. The operator's other three listings score higher, on smaller samples.
- Skip it if you want a small walking group. No group cap is stated.
How it compares
Chicago Hauntings runs four Chicago listings, and only this one's stop list crosses from the Near West Side to Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park Hauntings Ghost Investigation Tour is $40 for 2 hours 15 minutes and walks the Lincoln Park end of this route at 4.9 across 47 reviews, and it is flagged wheelchair accessible. The Devil in the White City: A Haunting History Tour is the operator's other three-hour tour at $74.99, but it runs south to Prairie Avenue and Jackson Park, and its 4.5 rests on 17 reviews.
Outside this operator, Haunted Chicago Booze and Boos Ghost Walking Tour from Nightly Spirits is $35.87 for 2 hours 30 minutes with bar stops and a minimum age of 21, and at 4.9 across 315 reviews it matches the best rating of the three named here on much the largest sample. Take the bus for the history without the walking; take a walk if rating matters more. For the wider field, see Chicago ghost tours compared and our guide to the best haunted ghost tours in Chicago.
Questions people ask
How long is it and what does it cost?
Three hours, from $59 per person at our July 30, 2026 check. Prices move, so confirm on the booking page.
Why is the rating only 3.8?
The listing gives a score, not reasons. But 3.8 across 150 reviews is the lowest of the fifteen Chicago listings we checked, and 150 is this operator's largest review sample, so it is not a small-sample artifact.
Is it wheelchair accessible?
No. The listing states it is not wheelchair accessible. The operator's Lincoln Park and Prairie Avenue tours are flagged as accessible.
How old do you have to be?
The adult age band starts at 8, the lowest of the operator's four Chicago listings. The route covers the 1929 killings and the Dillinger shooting, so judge the content.
Is there anything left to see at the massacre site?
The ground, and that is all. The garage came down in 1967 and the address no longer exists; the site is lawn and parking with no marker. Three hundred bricks from its rear wall are at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.
Do the stops have documented hauntings?
No stop here has a dated, sourced apparition account. The history above is what the record carries.
