Reviews for American Ghost Walks
132 reviews
Informative
We took the Chicago Hauntings Tour on Wednesday, September 25, 2013. We liked it and would have liked to have heard more stories. I especially liked that some of the stories/hauntings were from people who haven't been dead all that long such as John Dillinger and those killed in the St. Valentine's Day massacre. I highly recommend this tour.
Late & short!!!!!
Says to be there early for tour, leaves half an hour late waiting for a group that has no concept of time. Is advertised 2 & 1/2 hours on Chicago Tours, well it ended at midnight after starting late, 1 & 1/2 hours. Not scary as advertised, passed same sights as hop on hop off tour which was well worth the money for 3 days!!!! Not worth time or money, shop or try pizza or watch cubs lose!
a boring unspooky ghost tour
We've done Ghost tour/walks in other cities so we were excited to see that Chicago has one as well. By the time we did tour we had already done: the architecture boat tour, a food walking tour, an El tour. All these tours were excellent, we had high hopes for this one and were disappointed. For the price, it is definitely not worth the money. It wasn't at all 'spooky', it was a history tour and where are the ghosts? 'oh, people have seen weird things on their photos after they go home' Overall boring tour.
Fun tour
Fun tour! Laura was a fun and knowledgeable guide. Loved visiting the different sites. One member of the group actually caught on apparation on her digital camera!! Hard to see out of the bus, however, and would like to be able to get out at more sites.
the right amount of chill, and Family Friendly
Having grown up in the Chicago area, and versed in Ursula Bielski's books, I was excited to finally take one of the tours! We ended up on the 10 pm Saturday General tour as the 7 pm had filled up quickly - make reservations as FAR IN ADVANCE as you can to secure time you wish to go. Economical parking at the lot on SW corner of Erie and LaSalle (bring cash). We had a great group - Laura, our tour guide/historian, was entertaining, knowledgeable, and good humored. Kudos to Wendy, the bus driver, for her excellent navigation thru city streets on a Saturday night! A couple of the guests even captured a specter on camera at Hull House! Great history and lore. It was refreshing to see Chicago in a different light, and without having to do the driving! Chicago Haunts offer more specific tours, too - that'll be the next adventure! Fun time! Bring your digital camera (wish I had)! Never know what you'll catch!
Fantastic Experience
Four of us went on a Chicago Hauntings tour as we like to do these kinds of tours in cities we visit. While it's called Chicago Hauntings, we really didn't expect to see ghosts, but we did expect to learn a lot about the history and supposed hauntings at these locations as this is what a lot of these tours seem to be about. Our guide was thoroughly versed in the history of locations we visited (Chicago Cemetery, the location of the St. Valentine's Day massacre, Hull House) and shared a lot of info about other places that we passed along the way such as the Hancock Building and the site where the Chicago fire started--the O'Leary home. Hull House was our last stop, and maybe because it was dark, it seemed quite creepy. Overall, a super experience with a knowledgeable and entertaining guide.
Best Ghost Tour I've done
My best friend and I make it a habit of doing a ghost tour in all the cities we visit. Chicago Hauntings was the best tour we've done. I loved the idea with riding the bus and stopping at sites to get off. We stopped at the old Chicago Cemetery, site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and Hull House. I had tons of orbs in my photos from the Chicago Cemetery. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and more than happy to answer any of our questions. We got our money worth and more!
Just ok
I am very familiar with Chicago and thought this would be an interesting way to see something new as part of our girls weekend. It was ok, but i would not recommend. i guess if you've never been to Chicago you might find it interesting, but it was definitely not scary. I would have been mad if we had paid more than $25 for this tour
Not so fun...
I agree with other reviews, this is a history tour with some fun facts, but nothing scary. We went on Valentine's day so it was sort of "love" themed. It wasnt anything special. I could of found this info out on the internet and went driving around the city myself. We were stuck on a bus in the cold and had to get out and walk sometimes to see NOTHING. Not spooky at all, just learned some facts. There are probably better ones out there...
More of a historical tour than a ghost tour but very interesting!
I'm not a fan of ghost tours but went along with some friends. Our tour guide was Adam and I have to say, this guy is a walking historian for the city of Chicago and its ghostly ways. He was very knowledgable and a great story teller. If you going on this tour to get scared, then I would not recommend it. However if you want to understand the history of some of the locations, sites, and stories of Chicago ghost and murder history, its pretty good. Definately a little long for my taste.....
Not what i really expected...
looking online i found this tour of hauntings in chicago, figured it would be nice to go on a tour since i like to investigate locations with hauntings or history. Pretty much all you do on the tour ride is pass by places while the tour guide tells you what occurred and that's pretty much it. You do stop at 3-4 locations but that's about it, nothing really "haunting" or spooky about the places but it's nice to know what had occurred, but if your a Chicago native your already well aware of it. Over all it was ok, but not worth the price.
Not what I expected
It was fun and really just OK not worth the price of tickets though we stopped at 4 place got out and walked but you don't go ghost hunting and alot of what is on their website is not what they do on their tour....The bus is really cool and our guide was funny but ir was a disappointment...;...
We've taken a few ghost tours and this was the worst one ever.
Our tour guide, Adam, spent a lot of time yelling out of the bus door and windows at passersby and people in cars stopped next to the bus. He actually thought it was funny to ask people if they had any grey poupon. I felt like I was a chaperone at the Nerdland Junior High Prom. The sites were not scary, but could have been if there had been a decent story-teller leading this tour. It was as if we were at some eighth grade supernatural science fair and someone's dad had rented a bus. We have taken ghost tours where the guide was dramatic and a little hokey and it was still a lot of fun so it's not like we were really expecting to see a ghost. This guide says that he has worked with people who are involved with some of the ghost stories tv series which are so popular now and if that's true, I have lost a lot of respect for these shows. We were very close to just getting off about half way through but didn't quite know the neighborhood.
A mixed bag
The driver for our tour, Ken Scholes, was very rude when we first arrived, but he warmed up over time. As others have noted, you're touring in an old school bus with weak air conditioning, so don't expect a classy, comfy ride. On the other hand, the guide was fun and knowledgable. This seemed to be more of a history tour than a ghost tour (and while the guide we had was a true believer in all of the haunted sites, I took everything he said with a grain of salt). You'll see a lot of places on the tour, but you won't get to go inside any buildings. The specialty tours are BYOB, but no alcohol is allowed on the regular tour, and it is definitely appropriate for kids age 10 and up. All in all, I found the tour slightly "hokey," but I still had fun.
It was okay
It was 96 outside and probably 80-85 on the bus, however they offered ice cold bottled water at no additional cost. Each time we entered the bus, Adam the tour guide, suggested everyone partake in the water. The sites we went to were interesting and Adam told the history and the current ghost stories in an entertaining fashion. We stopped at the sites of the Eastland Disaster, Iquiris Theater, St. Valentines Day massacre; Lincoln Park and the "body dump". I was a little dissapointed that we didnt get to hear the story of the John Hancock tower and other stories as well,but the stories that were told were done in an enterataining fashion. We were allowed to get out and take pictures at most of the sites and Adam shared with us a recording of what sounded to be a ghost. Adam and the driver Wendy, were very polite and accommodating to each guest. I also liked that the information he provided was based on facts.
hotter than Hell bus tour
Took the bus tour on a day in July that was 100 degrees and found out the air conditioning didn't work at all.....so tried to open windows on the bus and many were broken and could not be opened .... Disgusting old school bus that was less than comfortable is not what should be used for such tours. Fewer sights than expected visited due to distance between them. Over all would not recommend this tour to anyone.
Rude but informative
The tour I went on was informative but the tour guide was rude and spoke so fast you couldn't understand everything he said. I say he was rude because anytime someone asked him a question, he would say "you have another question" or "wait until I finish my tour for questions". Some parts of the tour were a waste of time - he told people to get off the bus when there was nothing to see but a bunch of grass - you could see that from the bus.
Okay, but....
The tour is fine and our guide was fine but there really isn't alot of ghost/haunting information going on. There were no chills. "Here's where the Eastland disaster happened...and their could be ghosts." "Here's Hull House...and there could be ghosts." "Here's where the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place...and there could be ghosts." Fun but to be frank, you'd get more from doing one of the Chicago River tours.
A "creep-tastic" experience!
My husband and I took our 8 year old son to Chicago over Easter break. My son and I love Halloween and all things SPOOKY. The concierge at theWIT hotel booked our tour with Chicago Hauntings. It was a blast! Lots of interesting facts and history. Not overly scary or gory - my son had a GREAT time - he was laughing and smiling the whole time. The tour guide was hilarious and very friendly. My son wanted to do the tour again the next night. A wonderfully fun experience that won't disappoint. BRAVO!!!!
This tour is not for anyone who knows anything about Chicago
Only take this tour if you are new to Chicago. The points on the tour are so overly famous that I knew what the guide was going to say before he said it.