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Galveston has plenty of reasons to give you chills, even before the ghost stories begin. Pirates once roamed the island, yellow fever outbreaks claimed hundreds of lives, and the devastating 1900 Storm left an entire city in mourning.
Today, that history lives on in old cemeteries, grand Victorian hotels, and waterfront ruins where tales of restless spirits have taken root.
Galveston ghost tours let you explore those stories where they’re said to have happened. Walk the Strand after dark, hear pirate legends on a harbor cruise, or follow a guide through burial grounds where generations of islanders were laid to rest.
Some tours lean into local history, while others bring out the ghost-hunting gear and invite you to look for something unexplained yourself. Here’s where to find the haunted experiences worth adding to your Galveston itinerary.
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Galveston Ghost Tours – Haunted Legends & Cemetery Walks
The Haunted Legends Ghost Tour
Image credit: Segway Galveston
Galveston has been called “a cemetery with a beach attached,” and this two-hour Segway tour gives you a pretty good idea of how the island earned that reputation.
Instead of sticking to a few blocks around the Strand, you’ll ride across Galveston with a local guide, passing haunted houses and documented cemeteries that many walking tours never reach.
Along the way, you’ll hear about Native American settlements, Jean Lafitte’s pirate colony, yellow fever epidemics, and the devastating 1900 Storm, which killed an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people overnight.
The tour runs at 9 AM, noon, and 3 PM, so you’ll explore in broad daylight rather than squinting into the darkness and hoping that shape ahead is a historic building. You can actually see the cemeteries, architecture, and streets your guide is talking about while covering much more ground than you would on foot.
Consider it your two-hour introduction to haunted Galveston, with a Segway doing the legwork while you take in the island’s more unsettling side.
When: Runs daily throughout the year
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $74 per person
Secret Society Cemetery Ghost Tour
Image credit: Viator
Ever wondered what a broken column, an anchor, or a pair of clasped hands is doing on a headstone? In Old City Cemetery and Trinity Episcopal Cemetery, these carvings aren’t random decorations. They can reveal a person’s beliefs, fraternal affiliations, and ideas about the afterlife.
On Spooky Galveston’s Secret Society Cemetery Tour, your guide deciphers the Masonic and fraternal symbols carved into the stones, so your next cemetery visit won’t just be a stroll past names and dates you can barely read.
Of course, decoding the headstones is only part of the fun. You’ll also hear ghost stories about the people buried here, from influential Galveston residents to murderers and people who died by suicide, along with reports of apparitions and unexplained sightings.
The cemetery gates lock at dusk, so you’ll meet your guide outside and enter together. Just remember: those symbols have been sitting there for generations, quietly keeping their secrets. Now you get to find out what some of them mean.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 5 pm
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: Starts at $67 per person
The Haunted Graveyard Tour
Seven cemeteries, six city blocks, and several centuries of grim history make up Galveston’s Broadway Cemetery District.
The district dates back to 1839, after yellow fever killed 250 Galveston residents in a single year. Before the cemeteries were established, the dead were buried in Gulf Coast sand dunes, where shifting sand exposed bodies, disturbed coffins, and washed away markers.
When the city later exhumed and reburied the remains, some bodies were too badly disfigured to move intact, while others couldn’t be identified at all.
Aside from that, the Legacy City Tours take you into all seven burial grounds, which also include Civil War burial sites and a pauper’s section.
Your guide meets you at the gate with a light and stories passed down through generations of Galveston families.
Expect plenty of local history, eerie burial-ground tales, and reminders that the island’s past is considerably darker than its sunny beach reputation suggests.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 8 pm, 9 pm
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $29.99 for adults | $14.99 for kids 6 – 11 | Free for kids 0 – 5
Walk with the Dead: Galveston Old City Cemetery Tour
Explore two of Galveston’s oldest burial grounds after dark with the Lady in Black, a familiar name on the island’s ghost tour circuit.
Walk through Old City Cemetery, which predates Texas statehood, and Trinity Episcopal Cemetery, founded in 1841, as your guide points out reported apparition sites and shares the stories behind the people buried there.
Along the way, you’ll hear about Civil War soldiers, victims of the 1900 hurricane, and some of the cemetery’s more disturbing residents.
One of the tour’s most chilling stories is that of Elize Roemer Alberti, remembered in old Galveston accounts as the “Demented Mother.”
On December 4, 1894, Alberti gave her children wine laced with morphine. Four of them, Willie, Dora, Ella, and Lizzie, died after drinking it. Two other children survived.
Alberti was sent to the San Antonio Asylum and later returned to Galveston, where she died by suicide. The unsettling final chapter came with her burial: she was laid to rest in the same family plot as the four children she had killed.
During the tour, you’ll hear the details of this tragic case as you visit the historic cemetery, where the family’s shared resting place remains a particularly disturbing part of Galveston’s past.
Bring your own ghost-hunting equipment if you’d like to investigate a little as you go.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 4, 6, 8 & 10PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $30 for adults | $20 for kids
Strand-Focused Galveston Ghost Tours & Historic Island Ghosts
Original Ghost Tours on the Strand
Image credit: Historic Galveston Ghost Tours
Walk the Strand with the ghost stories that helped put Galveston on the haunted-tour map.
Dash Beardsley began leading ghost tours here in 1998, long before ghost hunting became a regular island activity. His block-by-block approach connected the district’s historic buildings to stories of Confederate soldiers who never left, strange faces in upper-floor windows, and the dead who lingered after the devastating 1900 Storm.
After nearly 25 years, Dash retired, and Gin Keel, founder of Spooky Galveston, now carries that tradition forward along the same streets.
The 90-minute walk covers five blocks of the Strand Historic District, starting at the Galveston Railroad Museum at 25th and Strand and finishing on Mechanic Street outside the Tremont Hotel.
As you explore this historic commercial district, your guide will share the stories tied to its old buildings, including accounts of people trapped on upper floors during the 1900 hurricane.
There will only be a maximum of 25 guests on this tour, so make sure you remember the faces of the people nearest to you. You might just find a new face walking alongside you a few blocks down who wasn’t originally there.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 6, 8 & 10 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: Starts at $22
The Shadows of Revelry Walking Ghost Tour
Galveston’s old Red Light District had a name that was almost comically understated: “The Line.”
For nearly 70 years, brothels operated along Post Office Street, and during Prohibition, more than 50 reportedly crowded into just a few blocks. City officials largely tolerated the concentration of vice, figuring it was easier to manage in one area than scattered across town.
On Ghost City Tours’ Shadows of Revelry walk, you’ll explore the history of this notorious district and hear about the women, madams, clients, and gangsters who shaped its reputation.
Your tour starts at Saengerfest Park, at Strand and Tremont, and takes you to locations including Mother Harvey’s, the Oleander Hotel, Maceo Spice and Import, and the End of the Line Bordello.
One especially unusual stop is the Havana Alley Cigar Shop and Lounge, which reportedly housed Galveston’s most recent brothel, still operating as late as 1990.
Along the way, your guide shares reported ghost sightings and unexplained cold spots associated with specific locations, tying the paranormal stories to the district’s past. The tour is open to guests 16 and older.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 9 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $34.99
The Phantoms of the Strand Tour
Galveston’s 1900 Storm left thousands dead, but the story behind the disaster involves more than the hurricane itself.
This tour examines the decisions made before the storm arrived, including those of Isaac Cline, the city’s chief meteorologist, whose assessment of the approaching weather has long been scrutinized.
One of your stops is the Grand Opera House, where your guide connects the history of the storm to the people and places caught up in its aftermath.
You’ll also explore the Strand’s alleyways and historic commercial buildings, stopping at the haunted trolley station at 2021 The Strand, Island ETC at the Strand Theater, and several buildings along the 2400, 2300, and 2000 blocks where apparitions have reportedly appeared in upper-floor windows.
As you walk through what was once known as the Wall Street of the South, you’ll hear the stories attached to these locations and the eerie experiences people claim to have had there.
Bring your curiosity and keep an eye on the upper windows; your guide will have plenty of stories to go with the view.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 7:30 and 9:30 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: Starts at $25
Self-Guided Ghost Tour on the Galveston Strand
Set your own pace as you explore Galveston’s haunted Strand with nothing but your phone and a willingness to investigate a few unsettling stories.
This app-guided tour starts outside the Tremont House Hotel and uses GPS to lead you through six stops, with narrated audio and music playing as you reach each location.
There’s no group to keep up with, no guide waiting for stragglers, and no need to rush past a building because the rest of the tour is moving on.
The stops include the Tremont House, where stories feature a murdered gambler known as Sam and a poltergeist called Young Jimmy; the Railroad Museum, where employees have attributed missing objects and unexplained noises to William Watson, who was decapitated by a train in 1900; and 2328 Strand, home to what the tour describes as one of Galveston’s most haunted bathrooms.
Three more stops along the 2300 and 2000 blocks round out the route. There’s even a built-in EMF reader if you want to add a little ghost-hunting to your walk.
The tour takes around 45 to 55 minutes, and you can start whenever you like, including late at night. A virtual continuation unlocks after you finish, so you can keep listening from anywhere.
When: Runs daily throughout the year
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: Starts at $10
Storm on the Strand Ghost Tour
The story of William Watson is a grim way to begin a ghost tour, but it certainly gets your attention.
On September 1, 1900, Watson was reportedly performing handstands on a moving train at what is now the Galveston Railroad Museum when he slipped and was decapitated. Museum employees have since blamed him for missing objects and unexplained noises.
He’s the first of several figures you’ll meet on Historic Galveston Ghost Tours’ Storm on the Strand walk, which focuses on the island’s most notorious ghost stories and their connections to the Great Storm.
Another stop brings you to the Tremont House Hotel, where the tour covers Charles Francis Coghlan, an Irish actor who died in Galveston in 1899 before he could perform in a scheduled production.
His coffin was still on the island when the 1900 Storm hit, and a famous legend claims it was swept out to sea before eventually washing ashore near his home territory on Prince Edward Island, Canada.
The details are disputed, and other historical accounts place the coffin in a marsh near Galveston. Your guide shares the tale and its competing versions, leaving you to decide which one you find more convincing.
The Tremont also features in stories about “Lucky Man” Sam, a gambler reportedly murdered for his winnings and said to haunt the hotel halls.
You’ll hear how these figures became part of Galveston’s supernatural folklore as you walk through the historic district.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 6, 8, and 10 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $30 for adults | $22 for kids
The Ghosts of Galveston Tour
Leave the Strand’s busy historic district behind and explore a more residential side of haunted Galveston on this all-ages walk with Ghost City Tours.
Starting at Trinity Episcopal Church on Avenue H, the route takes you through the mansion district, where grand historic homes and quieter streets set the scene for stories about the island’s past.
One early stop is Moody Mansion, a 28,000-square-foot, 31-room home built in 1895 that’s associated with reported paranormal activity. Your guide will explain the stories tied to the house and other locations along the way.
The tour also visits the site of St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum, where 93 children and 10 nuns died during the 1900 Storm. Accounts describe the Sisters of Charity tying the children to themselves with rope in an attempt to keep them together as floodwaters rose.
Reports of children’s laughter and sounds of playing near the former asylum site have since become part of its ghost lore, particularly around the hurricane’s anniversary in August and September.
Expect to visit a total of seven or eight locations over the course of the evening, with plenty of local history alongside the ghost stories.
When: Runs daily throughout the year | Starts at 8 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $29.99 per person | $14.99 for kids 6 – 11 | Free for kids 0 – 5
Spooky Gin’s Vampire Tour
Galveston has its own Vampire Court, and Spooky Gin’s one-hour walking tour is the only vampire tour in the city officially sanctioned by the group.
Led by Gin Keel, founder of Spooky Galveston and a Certified Tourism Ambassador, the walk explores the island’s connections to vampire lore.
This includes historical figures who were believed to be vampires, accounts of strange encounters, and the evolution of vampire mythology into the stories and characters we recognize today.
The route takes you past familiar historic landmarks, including the Tremont Hotel, Railroad Museum, Hearsay on the Strand, Trolley Station, the Witchery, Customs House, Grand 1894 Opera House, Trinity Episcopal Church, and Scottish Rite Temple.
Gin uses these locations to explore how people understood and talked about vampires, what they believed they had encountered, and how those ideas became part of Galveston’s supernatural reputation.
When: Runs only on select dates
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $30
Private, Speakeasy & Haunted Galveston Experiences
Galveston Dark of the Moon Ghost Tour with Red Light District
Spend your evening exploring two sides of Galveston’s darker history on this 90-minute walking tour, which combines the old Red Light District with the ghost stories of the Strand.
You’ll begin along Post Office Street, once the heart of the city’s notorious vice district, before making your way toward the historic commercial buildings where reports of paranormal activity have become part of local lore.
The Red Light District section explores the world of brothels, police arrangements, and the Maceo crime family, which controlled much of Galveston’s gambling and vice scene.
Your guide connects that history to the people who lived and worked along these streets, including those whose deaths are now woven into Galveston’s ghost stories.
Then it’s on to the Strand, with stops tied to some of the island’s best-known paranormal tales. This includes the headless William Watson at the Railroad Museum, Sam the gambler and a child ghost at Tremont House, and the ghost of Irish actor Charles Coghlan at The Grand Opera House.
The route covers around half a mile, starting in front of Leeland House Restaurant at 2711 Market St. Arrive 15 minutes early for the meet and greet, and take advantage of free street parking.
When: Runs only on select dates | Starts at 4, 6, 8, and 10 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $30
Galveston Haunted Pub Crawl
Ghost stories are one thing; hearing them with a drink in hand inside a haunted bar is another.
Ghost City Tours’ two-hour pub crawl combines Galveston’s paranormal history with stops at historic drinking spots, so you can explore the island’s darker past without spending the entire evening outside staring at old windows.
The tour starts at Shearn-Moody Plaza near the Railroad Museum at 25th and Strand.
Along the route, you’ll hear about the Hutchings, Sealy & Company Building, where a woman named Sara has reportedly been seen wandering. You’ll also hear a bit about the Battle of Galveston, when Confederate forces retook the city from Union troops on January 1, 1863, and the ghostly soldiers still appearing in the area.
Then there’s time to settle into the bar side of the experience. At 3 Doors Down Bar, the guides recommend the handmade lemon drops made with fresh lemons, along with a shot called “the little beer,” which reportedly tastes like soft-serve ice cream.
The crawl is for guests 21 and older. Just remember to budget for your beverages separately if you plan to sample the bar recommendations.
When: Runs only on select dates | Starts at 8 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $34.99
Haunted History Pub Crawl
Image credit: Viator
Historic Galveston Ghost Tours takes you through the former Red Light District along Post Office Street, sharing stories about the brothels, gambling operations, and crime figures that shaped the island’s nightlife for decades.
You’ll also visit bars whose histories connect to Galveston’s underworld, including the Mob Bar, named for the Maceo crime family that controlled much of the city’s gambling and vice scene from the 1920s into the early 1960s.
The Old Cellar Bar and Alibi Bar are also on the itinerary, giving you a chance to enjoy the local drinking scene while your guide fills in the darker details behind the neighborhood.
The route lasts around 90 minutes, but the stops can vary depending on crowds, business hours, and what your group prefers.
Drinks are also purchased separately at each bar, so you can decide what to order as you go.
When: Runs only on select dates | Starts at 6 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: Starts at $34
Creepy Boat Tours & Historical Island Hauntings
Haunted Harbor & Creepy Boat Tours
BayWatch Dolphin Tours takes you out onto the water, where you’ll hear about the island’s pirate history and shipwreck legends.
One of the stories your captain shares is that of Jean Lafitte, the infamous pirate who established his colony of Campeche on Galveston Island in 1817. His headquarters, the Maison Rouge, stood near what is now Harborside Drive, where he ran a Gulf-wide smuggling operation until the U.S. Navy forced him out in 1820.
Lafitte reportedly burned the colony before leaving, and nobody ever conclusively established what happened to him afterward.
Local legend says he hid treasure before his departure and that his ghost still guards it. Ghost hunters have since reported strange lights and phantom orbs around the former headquarters site.
Apart from that, the boat’s standout sight is the SS Selma, a 425-foot concrete oil tanker now partially submerged near Pelican Island. Launched in 1919, the ship was damaged beyond repair after striking a jetty in Mexico and was scuttled in Galveston Bay in 1922.
During Prohibition, bootleggers used its flooded holds to stash liquor until U.S. Customs agents smashed 2,000 cases of rum on its deck in 1926.
Today, the so-called ghost ship is a striking sight from the water, with reports of strange lights and unexplained activity adding to its reputation.
Along the way, the captain and crew also point out the USS Cavalla and the so-called Ghost Face of UTMB, a visual anomaly on the University of Texas Medical Branch building.
Just know that some guests find the experience more history-focused than a traditional ghost tour.
When: Runs only on select dates | Starts at 7:30 and 8:45 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: Starts at $24
Walking Ghost Tour of the Grand Galvez
Image credit: Historic Galveston Ghost Tours
The Grand Galvez has a reputation for haunted rooms, unexplained noises, and guests who apparently never quite checked out. But on this 90-minute walking tour, you get to explore the hotel itself rather than hearing its ghost stories from the sidewalk.
Your guide, Melissa Hall, previously worked as a concierge at the property, where she spent years collecting photographs, documenting her own experiences, and getting to know the building’s reported paranormal residents.
One of the hotel’s best-known legends concerns Audra, the Lovelorn Bride, who supposedly took her own life in the west turret after being told her sailor fiancé had died at sea. He reportedly returned to the hotel three days later, unaware of what had happened.
Since then, guests and staff have associated Room 501 with malfunctioning key cards, flickering lights, and unexplained illumination in the turret.
Another part of the tour explores the tragedy of St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum, where 93 children and ten nuns died during the 1900 Storm. Some believe the bodies were found near the site where the Grand Galvez now stands, and reports of phantom children playing, running through the halls, and appearing near the staircase have become part of the hotel’s haunted reputation.
When: Runs only on select dates | Starts at 6 and 8 PM
Where: Grand Galvez, Galveston
How Much: $35
Historic Galveston Ghost Tour
Step away from the busy Strand and into Galveston’s Silk Stocking District, where grand Victorian mansions tell a different chapter of the island’s haunted history.
Historic Galveston Ghost Tours takes you through a residential neighborhood once home to some of the city’s wealthiest families, visiting historic houses and sharing stories gathered from residents, firsthand accounts, old photographs, and letters.
One highlight is Ashton Villa, built in 1859 and associated with the ghost of Bettie Brown, the unconventional daughter of its original owner. In a time when women had few freedoms, she was said to have lived on her own terms and reportedly continues to do so in her home, even after death.
Another story connected to the villa concerns a young woman who reportedly fell down the staircase during a Mardi Gras party and died from her injuries. Sightings of a hazy figure in period party dress near the foot of the stairs have since become part of the house’s ghost lore, particularly around Mardi Gras.
You’ll also visit the Matilda Brown House, the Mansard House, and the former home of Robert Durst, where the spirit of his victim, Morris Black, is said to linger.
When: Runs only on select dates | Starts at 4, 6, 8, & 10 PM
Where: Multiple locations in Galveston
How Much: $30 for adults | $22 for kids
Know Before You Go: Exploring Haunted Galveston
Most Galveston ghost tours focus on the historic Strand District, the Broadway Avenue cemeteries, and other sites tied to the island’s past.
If you’re coming from Houston or nearby communities like League City, Pearland, Clear Lake, or Pasadena, the drive down I-45 South makes Galveston an easy evening trip, though travel times can vary with traffic.
Planning to visit during October? Give yourself extra time to find parking, especially around the Strand Landmark District on busy weekends.
Book your tour ahead of time, too, if you have your eye on a late-night walk or a cemetery tour. Those after-dark time slots can be especially popular during Halloween season.
Common Questions About Galveston Ghost Tours
What is the best ghost tour in Galveston?
For a traditional walking tour filled with local history and ghost stories, consider Original Ghost Tours on the Strand.
Prefer exploring historic burial grounds? Walk with the Dead: Galveston Old City Cemetery Tour takes you through two of the island’s oldest cemeteries.
For a different perspective, Haunted Harbor & Creepy Boat Tours brings pirate legends and shipwreck stories out onto the water.
What happened in Room 501 at the Grand Galvez?
Room 501 is associated with the legend of Audra, the Lovelorn Bride, who reportedly died by suicide in the hotel’s west turret after being told her sailor fiancé had been lost at sea. According to the story, he returned three days later, unaware of her fate.
Guests and staff have since reported flickering lights, malfunctioning key cards, and other unexplained occurrences linked to the room and turret. These accounts are part of the hotel’s haunted reputation, though the reported paranormal activity has not been verified.
Why are there so many ghost tours in Galveston?
The island has ties to the pirate Jean Lafitte, endured repeated yellow fever outbreaks, experienced the upheaval of the Civil War, and suffered catastrophic losses during the 1900 Storm.
Its historic cemeteries, Victorian buildings, old hotels, and maritime ruins provide tangible reminders of those events. Over time, local legends and reports of unexplained encounters have become intertwined with that history, giving visitors plenty to explore after dark.
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