Join us for an unforgettable evening at our Victorian Murder Mystery Dinner, held on select dates Also check out our brand new Oak Grove Cemetery Tour, held on select dates!
Learn the dark secrets hidden within some of the Midwest’s oldest and most prolific buildings on a Milwaukee ghost tour with Lizzie Borden Ghost Tours.
GET TICKETSUncover the truth of the city’s spirits waiting beneath the Milwaukee River and those still walking the busy downtown streets
With Lizzie Borden Ghost Tours, the spectral world comes to life through detailed storytelling and locations known for their haunted reputation. With tours in over 100 cities, we guarantee only the most raw and unbridled ghost stories filled with historical facts and real-life tales of tragedy. Take a walk through the streets of Milwaukee and experience it for yourself. You may even hear a spooky encounter from other guests who share the same passion for the unknown.
The guides we great, comedic and informative. Would suggest them to anyone in need of a spooky season activity, local or visiting.
Milwaukee has been a center of violence and chaos since its earliest days as a settlement. Once called Mellioke by the local Potawatomi tribe, the city was born in bloodshed. Violent wars between the French, British, and Native tribes ravaged the land throughout the 18th century, resulting in a hostile European takeover of these Native ancestral lands.
But peace was not found after the dust settled. In the 1830s, three separate settlements claimed the land around the Milwaukee River. Gang warfare between the groups dominated the landscape until 1846 when they came together to form the city we know today.
Milwaukee’s key position along Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River made it a significant trading port and a center for immigration. Conflicting lifestyles and populations harbored more violence. This tense atmosphere and fires ravaging the city throughout the 19th century created a world ripe with otherworldly activity.
From the famous German brewers who called the city home to the Sicilian mobsters who wedged their way into Milwaukee life, the city is no stranger to the odd and unusual. It’s no wonder serial killers like Jeffery Dahmer and “The North Side Strangler” Walter Ellis decided to join the mix. Learn their stories and all the devious secrets of The Brew City on a Milwaukee ghost tour with Lizzie Borden Ghost Tours!
This tourist enclave has borne witness to unprecedented violence and to countless tragedies and misdeeds. Mishaps born out of mischief at every corner, every one of our stops is teeming with authentic stories of perdition, mayhem, and melancholy. The Brew City ghost tour is heavily researched and based on facts — from periodicals, history books, recorded accounts of hauntings and documented ghost sightings.
Human consciousness has an effect on our surroundings — what we think, fear, and believe in resonates and leaves traces. What does this have to do with a ghost tour? Ghost tours create feedback loops. The initial entity grows bolder and gains more energy with each tour group. The more you give it nutrition the more likely it will manifest. The ghost becomes more rambunctious, more willing to take a bite.
Milwaukee, thanks to its distinctive history and trade, is synonymous with beer. If you like a cold brew, then without a doubt, Milwaukee is your cup of tea — or pint of lager. Nevertheless, after so many visits to iconic breweries, and countless hours on tours that highlight some of this great city’s achievements, you need something a bit different. You require something that makes your heart jump at the seams and crash against your chest.
Like penny dreadfuls of old, Milwaukee’s history is rife with bloodshed. It is possessed by something otherworldly. Once the lights go down, and its history is dragged out of the shadows, something wicked begins to stir in Milwaukee’s soul.
This is not the Milwaukee the brochure told you off. Our brave guides will take you into the heart of darkness and madness that is Brew City and lead you through a harrowing, fascinating, frightening, exciting adventure. Sick and tired of all those dull guides and traditional tours? The ones that seem to slide by with the bare minimum? Our experienced guides will take you on an experience you will never forget. They are the polar opposite of traditional. Get ready to scream, to laugh, maybe even shed a tear.
“Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year, and spends very little on office supplies.” — Woody Allen.
From Breweries at war to Sicilian families enacting scenes from The Godfather — Wisconsin has seen it all. This state, for some unknown reason, has drawn in some of the worst of mankind. From beer magnates and titans of industry hellbent on making a profit to mobsters adding countless crimes to their list of misdeeds – regardless of how many bodies they leave in their wake. — But serial killers. Men driven by something else. If you’re a fan of the dark, of the seedy, the reproachful, and the tantalizing, Milwaukee is your kind of town. Get behind the scenes details not shown in the history books.
Danger is the ultimate aphrodisiac — want a man or dame to fall for you, how about a night full of frights, scares and fun? The brain processes over 11 million bits of information per second, and science has long ago concluded that due to its wiring it likes to highlight bits that have to do with danger. There’s a reason why everyone falls in love with the bad boys. Why we can’t escape relationships with an underlying element of danger to them. Why girls like James Bond and Edward from Twilight, and boys go gonzo for Harley Quinn and Catwoman. Our brains are just tweaked that way. A study showed that dates with a bit of danger, even something natural as catching a scary movie at a multiplex, are more sexually charged than others. Fine dining is great, expensive wine is even better — but nothing riles your hormones more than a good fun scare.
There’s a reason why the “whodunit” is the oldest genre/theme in literary history — we like to plat amateur detective. There’s nothing better than curling up with a good Sherlock Holmes, or the latest Dan Brown, or trying to figure out who is under the slasher mask. It’s embedded in our DNA. Get’s the blood pumping, the adrenaline spiking, our hearts thumbing with anticipation. At every stop we’ll tell you the inside scoop, with all the grizzly details, and unmask, like meddling kids, the culprit. We’ll remove the cause, but not the symptom. Some of us like our stories, like we like our steaks, bloody and rare..
The Hilton Grand Inn
The charred bodies of 75 victims pilled up along the streets of the Newall House, currently the Hilton Grand Inn, during a disastrous 26-hour fire in 1883. Firefighters and loved ones had to rummage through the pile of ash and soot left behind by the inferno to find whatever was left of the unidentifiable corpses. It was evident when Hilton Hotels returned the building to its former glory in 2012 that the souls of this tinderbox event were forever trapped inside. Do you dare spend a night in Room 201, where doors slam and unseen hands often pull people’s hair?
The Pabst Theater
This legendary Milwaukee theatre is one of three locations haunted by beer magnate Captain Fredrick Pabst. Prone to arson and mischief, the 1870 theatre has had a troubled past. Renovations throughout the years have awoken the spirits within, restless and at odds with the world around them. Many have even seen Fredrick Pabst smoking a cigarette backstage. His smokey apparition makes its way between his mansion, the brewing company, and this theatre on a nightly basis. Don’t miss your chance to meet this brewing legend!
Milwaukee Riverwalk
Once the site of calamitous contentions between communities on the East and West sides of the River, the Milwaukee Riverwalk system was built in 1997 to signify peace and progress in Brew City. But the development could not wash away years of heinous murders and crimes that took place alongside the river’s banks. The sounds of an infant screaming are heard late at night from somewhere underneath the murky waters and act as a gruesome reminder of one of the city’s most terrifying murders.
Please see your booking details for meeting location. There are neighboring parking garages and street parking that are available in the area.
Group size varies based on time of year and demand. We can keep everyone in your party in the same group. We’ve been doing this for years, and manage group size to ensure guests have a great experience. In the event you can’t hear your tour guide, let them know, or move closer to them.
Pets are welcome as long as they do not disrupt to distract from the tour
The arrival time will be listed on your confirmation email and in the available tour times when you click the book button
Please do not call us, the best way to reach us is by email using the contact form on this website
An extended tour takes you to a few additional locations when the regular tour ends. This adds about four new places and 30 minutes to your tour- highly recommended
Book a tour and check the +1 box for each person in your group where it says “Extended Tour” at checkout to add an extended Ghost tour.
Please contact us directly for pricing and availability. We do not do private tours under 30 persons. If you have a group under 30, please order directly from the website’s book now option.
Tours are held rain or shine. We will contact you if the tour is cancelled.
Please only attend the tour for the day and time you are booked, as another day or time may not be available. If you need to reschedule, please contact us by email first. There is a $10 per order (not person) rebooking fee for each schedule change.
As it is unfair to other guests, we do not wait for late or no show parties. Please remember to arrive to the correct location on time! We do not grant refunds to guests who fail to arrive to the appointed place on time and miss their tour.
No, but some of the locations you can visit during the day for free. We simply wouldn’t have the time to focus on as many stories as we do if we were to enter each one, and we wish to focus on the stories, and leave the exploring up to you!
15 minutes before the start of your tour
No.
No, this is a walking tour.
Most of the tour is not stroller or wheelchair accessible.
Yes, you are welcome to take photos of the locations we visit!
No, videos are not allowed
No, there is no smoking allowed on the tour
We do not allow intoxicated guests or drinking on the tour- we will promptly ask those in violation to leave
America’s most infamously haunted house delivers the most terrifying scares from all across the nation. We’ve compiled an extensive list of notoriously haunted locations and packaged them into spooky, entertaining tours available throughout the nation. Discover the true, unfiltered stories that created these hair-raising scares in only the unique and engaging way our expert guides can bring them to you. From the ghosts of unsolved murders and tragic accidents to disturbed spirits unable to find peace, there’s no limit to what we expose on our authentic ghost tours. Join us as we take you on an unforgettable, chilling journey through your city’s dark past and uncover the sinister secrets that put these places on the otherworldly map.
The Lizzie Borden House is home to the infamous murders that captivated the nation and made Lizzie Borden a macabre household name. Guests can explore the house via a variety of tours and, for those brave enough, stay in this notoriously haunted home. We aim to provide you with a memorable experience as well as deliver the best ghost tours, haunted pub crawls, and a variety of other experiences in over 100 cities.
Fake News in Fall River
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Methodists and Millgirls – Fall River’s First Unsolved Murder
The main stretch of Fall River. Source: Wikimedia Commons Fall River and Lizzie Borden go together hand-in-hand. Even if you’re not a Fall River native, just hearing the town’s name is enough to send chills down your spine. But the Lizzi ... Read More
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Oak Grove Cemetery
All cemeteries have some haunting, and there's no exception for the Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts. This cemetery, however, has good reason to be haunted. And haunted, it most certainly is. History of Oak Grove Cemete ... Read More
Posted 09.29.2021
Lizzie Borden’s Maplecroft Mansion
Lizzie Borden's Maplecroft Mansion was home to the alleged axe murderer for nearly 35 years after being acquitted for murdering her parents. It's believed that her spirit hangs on in her beloved home, as well as the home she lived across town whe ... Read More
Posted 09.21.2021