Boston Ghost Tour

The oldest cities in the US are full of history. A fun way to learn the history of a city is thru its ghost stories. This Boston Ghost Tour will take you thru history along the historic Freedom Trail in Boston.

Disclaimer: I was hosted by US Ghost Adventures on this tour, but all opinions in this blog post are my own honest opinions. Also included in the post are affiliate links that will provide me with a small commission if you book a tour thru the links in this post.

US Ghost Adventures

US Ghost Adventures offers ghost tours in over 100 cities across the United States.

US Ghost Adventures offers the following experiences:

• Ghost Tours in large cities like Chicago, IL
• Ghost Tours in smaller cities like Virginia City, NV
• Overnight stays at Haunted Sites like the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, MA
• Haunted Pub Crawls in cities across the US like Austin, TX

One of the things that all of the 100 cities have in common is history. Ghost tours tend to bring the history alive thru its ghost stories. The tours that are available in the smaller, lesser-known cities across the US, help to share the history of the area that may not be as well known to those not from there.

The guides are locals from the area who are well-versed in the local history and ghost stories. They are also storytellers that can make these ghost stories not just informative but also interesting enough to make you want to learn more about the local history.

Boston Ghosts

US Ghost Adventures Boston affiliate, Boston Ghosts offers a few different tours, mainly ghost tours, but also a true crime tour and some historic tours of the city. Below are the different tours offered by Boston Ghosts:

• Underground Boston Ghost Tour: Gravestones & Gunpowder
• Boston Ghosts Boos and Brews Haunted Pub Crawl
• In Cold Blood: Boston True Crime Experience
• Boston Ghosts of Christmas Past
• Rockstars of the Revolution: Blazing the Boston Freedom Trail
• Untold Stories of the Wonder Women of Boston

This post will be discussing Boston Ghosts’ most popular tour: Underground Boston Ghost Tour Gravestones & Gunpowder

Gravestones & Gunpowder

The most popular tour that Boston Ghosts offers is its Underground Boston Ghost Tour: Gravestones & Gunpowder. As their most popular tour, its offered nightly, year-round at 8pm, rain or shine.

As one of the oldest cities in the US, Boston is known for its history, and this is generally what brings visitors to the city of Boston. A ghost tour is a great way to learn about the parts of Boston history that isn’t told in history class.

The tour starts in one of the most historic parts of the city of Boston, the Boston Common. Established in 1634, the Boston Common is the oldest public park in the US. While now it’s known as a place for the public to enjoy the outdoors and many public events, it once had a much more sinister side to it. Centuries ago, the Boston Common was the site of battles and public hangings.

The Boston Common is also the location of the start of the Freedom Trail, and this ghost tour follows along a portion of this historic trail.

This post will give an overview of the tour while leaving out any detailed spoilers of the actual ghost stories told so as not to ruin the tour for you if you decide to take it in the future.

Starting in the Boston Common, we were told stories of the many hangings that occurred in this historic public park. One of which was about Rachel Wall, a pirate who in 1789 was the last female to be hung in the Boston Common. This was a very interesting way to start the tour off as I normally associate piracy with the Caribbean or Florida and not somewhere as far north as Boston.

While in the Boston Common the guide offered to take pictures of us in a spot where there have been orbs appearing in pictures in the past. She took three quick photos in a row as she says this helps to pick up the orbs. No such luck with seeing orbs in the photos she took that day, maybe if it was a bit darker, they might have shown up? I took the tour in the summer, so it wasn’t quite dark out yet at the beginning of the tour.

Not only is the Boston Common the oldest public park in the US, it’s also the location of the first subway station in the US. Park Street Station opened in September 1897 and is still in operation today. Before there was a subway station here though, there was a cemetery, as you can imagine that can result in some ghost sightings throughout the years.

We then made our way out of the park down the freedom trail a block to the Granary Burying Ground. While not the oldest cemetery in Boston, established in 1660, it’s the third oldest in the city. Some very well-known people from history are buried here, including three signers of the Declaration of Independence (John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Robert Treat Paine), Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin’s parents. With all these people from centuries ago buried here, it’s no surprise that there have been many ghost sightings at Granary Burying Ground over the years. Not only have there been ghost sightings here, but this cemetery was also the sight of some illegal activities by area students that could have led to an increase in the ghost activity in the cemetery.

Unfortunately, the Granary Burying Ground is closed at night when the tour runs, so make sure to save some time to visit the cemetery between the hours of 9am-4pm when it’s free and open to the public.

We then continued on the Freedom Trail across the street to the Omni Parker House. Founded in 1855, the Omni Parker House is not only the oldest hotel in the city of Boston, but it is also the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. It is also where the Boston Creme Pie was created and I highly recommend stopping in while not on the tour to try the pie, it’s absolutely delicious.

We took a walk into the hotel. Walking thru the lobby you could feel how old the hotel is, almost as if you could feel the ghosts of the hotel all around you. We then headed upstairs and heard some of the stories of the ghost sightings in the hotel over the years.

There have been sightings of the ghost of the founder of the Omni Parker House, Harvey D. Parker throughout the hotel. What was once room 303 has been haunted by a former guest for years with so many sightings that it is no longer used as a guest room.

The Omni Parker House has had its fair share of celebrities who have stayed here from actors to athletes to politicians to some of the most celebrated writers in history. One such well-known writer who stayed here is said to still be here and we were taken to see an item in the hotel where this writer is said to sometimes make a ghostly appearance. No such luck with our group, but maybe if you take the tour, you will get a chance to see this writer’s ghost.

After we left the Omni Parker House, we followed the freedom trail towards Downtown Crossing, which is a shopping district in the center of Boston where many historic buildings from the time of the revolution are located. We stopped in front of one of my go-to lunch spots when I’m working in the office to learn of the story of the photography studio owned by William H Mumler that was located in this building in the late 1800s. The ghosts made their appearance in the photos he took here and in 1872, a very well-known American was visiting Boston and when the photo was taken there was the image of their spouse who had passed away in the photo.

From there we made our way down to the Old State House to hear our final ghost story of the night. The Old State House was built in 1713 and many events in history occurred right outside this building, including the Boston Massacre in 1770. The balcony of the Old State House was also the location of the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 18, 1776. In fact, every year on the 4th of July, they read the Declaration from this spot to commemorate this.

This was an interesting location for the final stop on the ghost tour. We heard a story of a ghost sighting that took place just 10 years earlier and the ghost in question was someone that we had heard about earlier on in the tour. They say that it’s a small world, apparently that’s true with ghosts and spirits as well.

If you happen to be visiting Boston, I highly recommend this ghost tour, it’s a great way to learn about the history of the city and hear about its more ghostly side. If you’d like to book this tour, you can do so at this link.

As I mentioned, US Ghost Adventures offers tours in over 100 cities across the United States. Check out all their tours here.

Take a walk on the spooky side with US Ghost Adventures.

Pin for later: