Come and be spooked all year-round!
San Diego has plenty of ghostly locations! Our geography and history lend a hand to some of these excellent ghostly tales and tours, while others are pure fun and fantasy. These tours take visitors through various haunted San Diego locations, some creepy and some downright terrifying. In fact, Haunted Ghost Tours says that San Diego is considered one of the most haunted cities in the country!
Ghost tours are a great option for kids who might find haunted houses a little too gory for our sensibilities. Ghost tours can be very creepy and scary, but they aren’t full of zombies with chainsaws! Even still, if your little ones aren’t into it, just call up your babysitter or nanny for some help! Try out one or all of these great tours any time of year.
Haunted San Diego Ghost Tours
Address: 4041 Harney St., San Diego, CA 92110
Phone: 619-255-6170
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday | 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Fees: $35 | Click here to book.
Beware! No children under the age of 6 are allowed on this spooky tour. This fantastical tour takes place in a bus that drives to various San Diego locations and enters some of them, while storytelling and magical effects take place around the guests.
Five haunts are visited on this journey, while the Haunted Ghost Tour storytellers (dressed in marvelous costumes) spin their creepy yarns. Be sure to show up an hour in advance in order to find parking and secure your place on the bus.
Whaley House
Address: 2476 San Diego Ave., San Diego, CA 92110
Phone: 619-297-7511
Hours: Click here for details on tours.
Fees: Prices vary by tour. | Click here for details.
In the mid to late 1800s, Thomas Whaley built the Whaley House out of brick, directly on top of where criminals had previously been hanged. Whaley moved in with his wife, Anna, and they started a family that was to be marked with tragedy, including the suicide of their daughter, Violet, and the death of a toddler son to scarlet fever.
The Whaley House is one of the most famous tourist attractions in San Diego. Those who visit claim they hear a piano tinkling and gravel being poured, say they feel the presence of great sorrow and pressure in one part of the home, and see children, animals, and other apparitions.
Ghosts and Gravestones Tour San Diego
Address: 4010 Twiggs St., San Diego, CA 92110
Phone: 619-298-8687
Hours: Click here for availability & reservations.
Fees: Tickets run $26.95 – $39.95
This “frightseeing tour” offers to take visitors back in time to learn about notorious people who lived and died in San Diego. The one-and-a-half-hour tour comes with a scare warning for children under 13.
Enter the black trolley along with a motley group of terribly creepy hosts who will “drive you to an early grave” as they tell you the true to life horrible stories of San Diego’s past. You’ll ride in the trolley and visit a few sites on foot, so lace up and get ready to be scared!
Ghost Tours
Address: 2754 Calhoun St, San Diego, CA 92110
Phone: 619-972-3900
Hours: Monday – Wednesday, 10 p.m. tours | Thursday – Sunday, 9 p.m. & 11 p.m. tours
Fees: $35
Described by the founder as a “family-friendly” ghost tour, this is led by one man who has been following the paranormal for 14 years and knows his stuff.
Using “vortex meters” (Ghostbusters, anyone?) with ghost videos played at the end, this is a straightforward ghost hunt through downtown San Diego that includes a total of 13 ghostly stops. Wear your walking shoes and watch out for ectoplasm!
Ghosts of the Gaslamp Walking Tour
Address: 410 Island Ave., San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 691-233-4692
Hours: Tours run Fridays at 5 p.m.
Fees: Adult, $20 | Seniors & active military, $15 | Students, $10 | Kids ages 7 & under, free
Once a week, the famous Gaslamp District opens its past and the Davis-Horton House for a creeptacular ghost walk. Sandree Wilhoit is a historian who guides the group through saloons and brothels, funeral parlors, and finally the Davis-Horton House.
Built in 1850, the Davis-Horton House was used as a pre-Civil War military barrack, a county hospital, a private home, and a haunted museum.
