If you and your family like your fall festivities with a twist of fear, check out one of Annapolis’ ghost tours. It’s always fun to be a tourist in your own town, and these tours offer a dose of history, fresh air, and spooky stories all rolled into one.
Are you wondering whether your kids would like this activity or what the appropriate age group is? Overall, I would say this is a case of knowing your own kids. For example, I thought my nine-year-old would enjoy it, but I still asked him beforehand if he would like to go and described what the tour would be like. He agreed to go, and his review was that it was pretty creepy but also super fun. If you have a child that you know is more sensitive or doesn’t like any sort of scary shows or movies, consider waiting a year or two.
All the tours are strictly walking and talking in outdoor settings around the streets of historic downtown Annapolis, which is a particular delight under the moonlight in the crisp fall air. None of the tours listed here involve any sort of scary props or characters jumping out.
You can’t have ghosts without death, right? While the stories may include death and despair, I noticed and respected that our tour guide (Tal of US Ghost Adventures) used sensitive language like “passed away” to describe someone’s demise. Tal was very patient when my son asked questions like, “What is schizophrenia?” and “What is narcolepsy?” In our experience, descriptions were not overly gory and were very respectful of the deceased while still imparting sinister situations.
Tours are booking up now for the Halloween season! Here’s all the information:
Seasonal hours, check website (for 2023 fall season tours are listed as Sun-Thurs 7:00 PM and Fri/Sat 7:00 and 9:00 PM)
$20/Adult $15/Child $18/Active Military w/ID
Duration: 90 minutes
Tours depart from the front porch of the Maryland Inn. Top of Main St at Church Circle.
TIP– Mike Carter, owner of Annapolis Tours and Crawls is co-author (with Julia Dray) of Haunted Annapolis: Ghosts of the Capital City. The stories you will hear are based on the research he and Dray completed for this book. They are known to be the oldest and first Annapolis ghost tour. Carter encourages kids to bring cameras on the tour for an interactive element that often catches unseen details (and maybe spirits?) to examine later. He also notes that the 7:00 PM show is intentionally family-friendly with filtered language.
Nightly 8:00 PM, Open year-round
$29/Adult $16/Child
Duration: 1 hour+
Tours depart from Middleton Tavern. Guide will have a lantern.
TIP– Rent the EMF detector for an extra $7 for an interactive element kids love! The lights will change from green to yellow to red when encountering electromagnetic anomalies associated with paranormal activity.
Special Historic Hauntings Tour
Thurs-Sat in October only (added tours Oct. 29 & 30) 7:30 pm
Tour offerings vary but a ghost tour is generally on offer year round
$26/Adult $15/Child $0/Infants (2 and under)
Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes
Tours depart from 188 Main St.
TIP-For an extra immersive experience, Watermark tour guides wear 18th-century period dress.
BONUS TIP: All of these companies also offer a pub crawl or boozy version of the tours listed here…check them out for a unique date night or girls’ night out!
The Reflection of 20,000 Moms