Haunted Chicago Booze and Boos Ghost Walking Tour is a two-and-a-half-hour guided pub walk through Lincoln Park, run by Nightly Spirits and booking from $35.87 per person at our July 30, 2026 check. The guide works in costume as a flapper or a 1920s gangster, the route covers about a mile on foot, and three bar stops are built into it with drinks at your own expense. It is the only one of the fifteen Chicago listings in our July 2026 research whose adult age band starts at 21. The listing shows 4.9 from 315 Viator reviews. It suits adults who want Lincoln Park history and a drink in the same evening.
| Detail | What the listing shows |
|---|---|
| From price | $35.87 per person (checked July 30, 2026) |
| Duration | 2 hours 30 minutes |
| Departures | No clock time verified. Listed as an evening tour. |
| Walking | About a mile on foot, moderate fitness level |
| Bar stops | Three, drinks at your own expense |
| Minimum age | 21, per the listing's own adult age band |
| Wheelchair access | Not wheelchair accessible, per the listing |
| Group size | No cap verified |
| Meeting point | Not verified. Confirm it when you book. |
| Cancellation | Not verified. Read the terms before you pay. |
| Rating | 4.9 from 315 Viator reviews |
| Operator | Nightly Spirits. We do not run this tour. |
What you will see
The listing names eight points and flags five as pass-bys: Lincoln Park, the Biograph Theatre, Oz Park, King of Cups and the Red Lion Pub. The three left unflagged are Glascott's Groggery, Lilly's and Hook and Ladder, matching the operator's line about three bar stops. That matters most at the Red Lion, 2446 N. Lincoln Avenue, because the pub in the ghost books is not the building standing there now. A frame and brick structure went up on the site in 1880 or 1882, sources disagree, and it held a grocery, a laundry and a bar called Dirty Dan's before John Cordwell opened an English pub there in 1984. Cordwell was a London-born RAF pilot who forged papers at Stalag Luft III for the escape known as the Great Escape, and later Chicago's city planning commissioner (Chicago Bar Project). The pub closed and that building came down in 2008; his son Colin described it as "being held up by termites holding hands" (DNAinfo Chicago). Today's Red Lion opened in 2014, newly built on the same lot, so the lore about perfume and footsteps upstairs belongs to a structure that is gone, and it enters the record in the 1980s and 1990s, not the nineteenth century.
Across the street, the Biograph Theatre opened in late September 1914, designed by Samuel N. Crowen, and the marquee standing today went up in 1933 (Commission on Chicago Landmarks). On July 22, 1934 John Dillinger left a showing of Manhattan Melodrama, walked south past agent Melvin Purvis, and was shot at the alley immediately south of the building. The city's landmark report corrects tour narration on four points: five shots were fired and two hit him, Purvis gave the signal rather than firing, Anna Sage told agents she would wear red and later described the dress as dark orange, with the Lady in Red nickname supplied by the press, and he collapsed in the alley but was pronounced dead at Alexian Brothers Hospital rather than at the scene. The seat is a prop too. In 1967 owner Jack Cooney said, "Naturally, we don't have any idea what seat he sat in." It has been a live theater since 2006, so you see the exterior, the marquee and the alley.
The forgotten cemeteries in the operator's description are not folklore. The Chicago City Cemetery, roughly 57 acres running north from North Avenue between Clark Street and the lake, was the city's only authorized burial ground from 1843 to August 1859, and on April 28, 1874 the Lincoln Park Commissioners condemned 712 unclaimed lots to fold the ground into the park. Pamela Bannos, working through council files, interment books and commissioners' minutes at Northwestern, concludes that "more than ten thousand forgotten graves" remain under the park and the Gold Coast, and a 1998 parking project at the Chicago Historical Society turned up partial skeletons representing 81 individuals (Hidden Truths). What is not true is the courtroom ending: the Couch family never sued and never won a case over the tomb still standing in the park, and a 1941 Park District search found no such case in any index.
Oz Park is where the honest answer is that there is no ghost story. The Park District acquired the land in 1975 and named the park in 1976 for L. Frank Baum, who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1899 and 1900 at 1667 N. Humboldt Boulevard, several miles west (Chicago Park District). He never lived on this ground, the book carries no Chicago location at all, and the four sculptures are John Kearney's commissions for a neighborhood council, not film memorabilia. Copy that borrows the cemetery story here is stretching geography: the park sits several blocks southwest of the old burial ground.
Who it suits
This is roughly a mile on foot over two and a half hours with three bar stops attached, and the 21-and-over line is real, so under-21s cannot join. It is built for people who want the bar half as much as the history. No investigation equipment appears on this listing.
- Skip it if anyone in your party is under 21. Every other Chicago listing we compared sets a lower age band or states none.
- Skip it if you need a wheelchair. The listing says it is not wheelchair accessible and calls for a moderate fitness level.
- Skip it if standing in bars is not your idea of a tour, or if a mile of evening walking is more than you want.
- Budget for the drinks, which are at your own expense, so the from-price is not the whole cost.
How it compares
The closest alternative covers the same landmarks without the bar half. Embers of the Windy City: Chilling Chicago Ghost Tours is $26 for one hour, walks the Red Lion Pub, the Biograph and Oz Park as pass-bys, is listed as wheelchair accessible and sets no 21 threshold, though it rates 4.4 from 122 reviews. Lincoln Park Hauntings Ghost Investigation Tour is $40 for two hours fifteen minutes in the same neighborhood, with an investigation frame and wheelchair access, but its 4.9 rests on 47 reviews against the 315 here.
If the walking is the problem, the Chicago Hauntings Original Ghost Bus Tour is a seated option at $59 for three hours, though it carries the lowest rating of the fifteen Chicago listings we compared, 3.8 from 150 reviews, and its listing also says it is not wheelchair accessible. For the wider field, see Chicago ghost tours compared and our guide to the best haunted ghost tours in Chicago.
Questions people ask
How old do you have to be?
Twenty-one and over, per the listing's own adult age band. It is the only one of the fifteen Chicago listings in our July 2026 research with that floor.
How long is it and what does it cost?
Two hours thirty minutes, from $35.87 per person at our July 30, 2026 check. Prices move, so confirm the rate on the booking page.
Are drinks included in the price?
No. The route includes three bar stops and the drinks there are at your own expense.
Do you go inside the Red Lion Pub?
No. The listing flags it as a pass-by, along with King of Cups, and leaves Glascott's Groggery, Lilly's and Hook and Ladder as the three bars. The building its ghost stories belong to was demolished in 2008; the pub there now was built in 2014.
Is the Dillinger seat at the Biograph real?
No. In 1967 owner Jack Cooney said, "Naturally, we don't have any idea what seat he sat in." The Biograph has been a live theater since 2006, so the tour sees the exterior and the alley.
Is it wheelchair accessible?
No. The listing says it is not wheelchair accessible and calls for a moderate fitness level over about a mile on foot. Embers of the Windy City and Lincoln Park Hauntings Ghost Investigation Tour are both listed as wheelchair accessible.
