USA Today recently released their list of America's 10 Best Ghost Tours with Boston's Nightly Spirits tour and pub crawl scoring the number one spot. The honor comes as part of the publication’s 2020 10Best Reader’s Choice Awards.
Nightly Spirits specializes in haunted tours in some of the oldest cities in the US including Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Chicago, and Washington D.C.
The haunted walking tour through the streets of historic Boston is broken up by pit stops at several local pubs. It takes two and a half hours, covers one mile, and is $25 per 21+ adult.
Two other New England ghost tours also made the list: Bar Harbor Ghost Tours in Maine ranked at #6, and Black Cat Tours in Salem at #7.
Maine’s Bar Harbor Ghost Tours includes exclusive nighttime access to the 1932 Criterion Theatre which is said to host ghosts from the Prohibition era.
Salem’s Black Cat Tours obviously feature several stops related to the famous witch trials as well as stories of how the town inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Crucible and the creepy tales of Edgar Allen Poe.
Another famous Massachusetts spot received a nod in the haunted hotels category. Fall River's Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast took the #10 spot. The #1 haunted hotel is The Stanley in Estes Park, Colorado which inspired Stephen King's The Shining.
USA Today says the following regarding the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast:
“The museum and B&B in Fall River, Mass. has a gruesome history. The house was the site of unsolved murders: the hatchet killings of a man and his wife, and even the decapitation of a cat in the basement. Visitors to the B&B can choose from six rooms and suites that they may or may not be sharing with the spirits of the departed.”
Be sure to check availability and restrictions before booking your walking tour as many are currently operating with very limited group sizes.
View all winners of best ghost tours and best haunted hotels.