Austin Ghost Tours

I took my mom and wife on this tour; it was the first such tour we had done. My mom is new to town and I got her the tour as a birthday gift. Our guide, Monica, was a great storyteller and pained a great mental picture of historic Austin. Monica literally wrote the book on the haunted Driskill (sp?) Hotel. The only suggestion I have about the tour is to bring along some water!

This was the biggest waste of money. I spent $ 60 on myself and 2 little cousins. If you want to walk around and listen to lame stories this may be for you. The tour guide walked us in front of the convention center, told us a history lesson on Hurricane Katrina survivors who may have died here and that was how the «ghost tour» continued from there. We did not go into any buildings except The Driskill Hotel lobby, which anyone can go into fo free. The tour guide pitched her book about 20 times on the tour saying how the good stories were in her book… WHY THE HELL DID I PAY TO COME ON THE TOUR THEN??? We also stopped in a parking lot off 2^nd st and she spent a half hour talking about the 1^st serial killer in austin. Mind you, none of the victims were ever brought up as ghosts. This ½ hour story had litterally nothing to do with ghosts. Wait, this was Austin Ghost tours, right??? PLEASE save yourself the money and don’t waste your time… WORST tour EVER!!!

Having been on several ghost tours all over the world, I had a few expectations about our tour that really fell flat. Our tour guide seemed scattered and like she didn’t even really remember the stories even after boasting that she had been doing this tour for a couple years. She was also really hard to hear over the street noise. At least it was only $ 20. Maybe consider better story tellers?

Just went on at our with Monica and it was AWESOME!!! She was extremely entertaining and full of interesting information. I even got goosebumps at the first site! Great way to spend 90 minutes if you find yourself in Austin :)

This was my first ghost tour, so I have nothing to compare it to, but anyway, I really enjoyed it!
I like ghost shows and ghost stories. There are some comments about boring tour guides on here, but my tour guide was AWESOME. I think her name was Kristen. She was kind and funny and spoke loudly.
I found the stories interesting and painted the picture of what Austin was like at different points throughout history.
There was kids on the tour, who did not seem too scared. The tour is outside, where there are lots of people around, so it didn’t get too creepy.
I had a great time, and this has inspired me to go on ghost tours in other cities.

So first off, I am not into ghost and was not really looking forward to tour. I have never done anything like this, and did not know what to expect. However, Valentines weekend for my wife, so whatever makes her happy!
That being said, had a great time and ended up really enjoying it. Monica, the tour guide was a great story teller and I loved the historical recounts. Wear comfortable shoes, bring water and your camera!
BTW, my wife is very into this stuff and been on several of these type tours, she loved the tour and Monica too. Thanks Monica and Austin Ghost Tours for helping make this a special night for my wife. We will be back, looking forward to staying at the beautiful and historical Driskell Hotel.

Having been participants in over a dozen ghost tours across the US my family and I know what the ingredients for a great tour are: some interesting history, a few spooky stories and a great storyteller to put it all together. Unfortunately this tour did not have the balanced recipe that made some of our previous experiences worthy of 5 stars. While (based on the photo documentation provided by our guide) I have no doubt locations around Austin are indeed haunted, I could not tell you one story surrounding said haunting (s). The best part of the tour was spending time in the lobby of the Driskill Hotel-​truly breathtaking!

Overly theatrical, trying to get reactions from patrons. Made it seem that everything was made up or grossly exaggerated. Would not recommend — we were really disappointed!

My friend and I went on the Austin Ghost Tour last Saturday evening, it was a full moon, so the creepy factor was all ready quite high. Our guide, Kristen was awesome and seemed super knowledgeable about the history of Austin. She told us stories of hauntings at all of the places we went. I even captured a picture of an image in a window, presumably a ghost named Curly. This walking tour lasted about 1.5 — 2 hours and was great, I highly recommend it. To make it even better, wear tennis shoes & bring water.

THIS IS A WASTE OF MONEY! I was very disappointed in this. I have lived in Austin all my life and was excited to go on this. A nice night out with my husband. The guide shows up and he looks very unkempt. The whole way through you were unable to hear anything this guys says. So we go on the tour and he stops like 8 times on the Congress bridge. It was a group of like 15 of us all trying to bunch around him because we cannot hear him, and the regular pedestrian traffic trying to cross the bridge too. Mind you the bridge is very narrow and the traffic on the road drive by very fast on the bridge. It was very, very dangerous. We felt very uncomfortable and just finally decided to walk off until they were done. I thought we may be able to step into some of the places we went to. Nope, we just stood outside the front door of every place. The guy also had no clue where any of these places were. He was using GPS on his phone to find his way the whole time. I had to help him cause once again I am from here and I knew where they were. He was getting some of the stories wrong too. I have to correct him a few times. And to top it all off he was reading directly from a piece of paper. We ourselves could have print out the stories and read them in front of the building and save some money. The way he as reading it, look like it was the first time he ever saw it. He was stumbling, rereading, and just looking confused. And he never spoke louder. I missed most of the tour. Thank God I had a Groupon and did not pay full price. The real horror was enduring that tour. Most of the people before the tour ended just up and left. We started with 15 but and the end we were down to 6. This was not what was advertised. Nothing on the company website it said will happen ever did including one of the stories. There was a story we wanted to hear and he never read it. In fact when we asked he had no clue what we were talking about. This is a sham and don’t waste your money!!!

My niece and I went on a ghost tour this past weekend and we really enjoyed it. Yes, it’s a walking tour and no, you do not get to enter the buildings that are presumed to be haunted. (With the exception of The Driskill Hotel, where you are able to visit the lobby area) However, I have been on multiple tours in various locations, and this is common practice, as the buildings are usually businesses or homes that are private and/​or closed during the evening hours.
We really enjoyed the tour guide, Monica. I do not feel that she pushed her book (as previous Unilocalers have stated). I actually bought the book and found it to be a very entertaining and interesting read!
Overall, I loved the experience. Our tour guide was incredibly passionate about the subject matter and I felt that I learned a lot about the history of this great city!

In most of the cities that I visit, if there happens to be a ghost tour, I try to take the time to join it, not only for the individual encounters of the guides but for the rich history of each city that you can’t read about in a book. However, this was, hands down, one of the most disappointing of those tours I have ever been on.
Be forewarned, this is a walking tour, so wear comfy shoes.
Our guide was a bit of a snot. While she had a lot of interesting stories about the city, she seemed to be more interested in recounting the multiple television interviews she’s been on to back up her «expertise». Not only that, but there was a woman in our tour that, during the silent walking parts, would point out something about the city and tell the people in her party a story about it. Every single time the guide would hear her speak, she’d immediately discount that woman’s tale as urban legend and attempt to give information that she deemed more correct. It go to be annoying. I think the worst part of all was how often she tried to pimp out the book she had written to coincide with the tour. Thanks for bringing the gift shop to a mobile walking tour. The only thing I truly enjoyed about this experience were the photos they had on record that had been taken by several past tourists on the same tour. Some of them were extremely creepy, especially those that involved the Driskill Hotel and the senator’s daughter.
It could be a good tour, especially in such an old town with old structures, but the tour guide kinda took the fun out of it.

We had an excellent time on our tour tonight! We’ve gone on ghost tours in other cities, and this was one of the better ones. Ghost tours are a great way to see the city in a different way, and hear some interesting history along with a couple of gruesome tales. If you’re upset you didn’t see any ghosts or photograph some orbs, all I can say is that’s not really how it works. So go, learn something cool about this historic city, and have fun scaring the crap out of each other for the rest of the night!

I did the Neil-​Cochran House investigation back in September with some friends. I was a bit skeptical that we’d actually experience anything but a few of my buddies and I decided the atmosphere would be worth the money. That being said, it definitely was.
It was totally awsome and terrifying at the same time. While we didn’t «see» any ghosts, my friend sure did catch a few on camera… I feel a bit uneasy about it still to this day. But to be honest, what could we expect when we went in saying that we we’re more than curious. I’m going to try to attach the picture, so you can see the faces in the lower right had corner. Chilling.
The people who put on the investigation were nice. Very laxed, letting us kind of do our own thing too with this cool app that they suggested downloading. We mixed that with a few of their tools and had some super eerie coincidences… or contacts.
Some other weird things happened, like smelling roses in certain locations when clearly there were not flowers. Plus having the app say «flowers» every time I smelt it was creepy too. There were also brand new camera batteries dying in certain rooms for no reason. As well as a utterly terrifying scream during a phone experiment session thing… that no one could explain.
I would for sure do it again, just maybe not at the Neil-​Cochran house… a bit spooked by the place, but hey wasn’t that kind of the point of going?! Well worth the money and I am hoping to discover some new investigations next time I visit their site!!!
I highly recommend the ghost investigations!!!

I went on my first walking tour last week, and it was just the right balance of spooky and informative! (The balance is 70% informative, 30% spooky.) We stopped at six different sites, including the Museum of the Weird, The Austin Club, and the Driskill Hotel.
Our guide, Maverick, was an excellent storyteller. He had jokes, he took questions, and he had very personal stories based on his own experiences, and second hand accounts from friends. Plus he was loud, which might be the most important thing.
I’d recommend this tour for history buffs, Austin visitors or newcomers, but maybe not very young children. There were some pretty gory anecdotes. (Servant girl annihilator. Look it up.)

I haven’t been so disappointed in an event for as long as I can remember. My boyfriend and I wanted to do something interesting for Halloween, rather than go to some party or get wasted– so we thought it would be neat to take the Austin Ghost Tour.
We arrived on time, but a large group that was supposed to be on our tour did not. We waited around about an extra ten minutes for them, then finally got started. Our tour guide was terrible, she did not speak very loudly and seemed bored or disinterested with her presentation, which made her seem superficial and very fake! Our first stop was on 5^th street, where we stopped ACROSS THE STREET from a building that used to be a morgue. The process of embalming was explained to us in great detail, and then we were told about funeral practices of the time. OK– but what about the GHOSTS? Furthermore, why were not permitted to go INTO the building? Standing across the street and handing around some old photos doesn’t seem like something most people would choose to pay for. This was the first stop, and my first impression– definitely not good.
My boyfriend shot me a couple of looks during the first stop, but we decided to give the next one a shot. We were actually taken into the building this time, told a semi-​interesting story about the goings on, and then ONE female from the tour group was sent to check out the alleged haunted spot. After another very boring, flat explanation by our tour guide, my boyfriend and I decided to leave so we could get some dinner.
I love all things spooky, and consider myself a believer in ghosts. I was open minded about this tour, and was really looking forward to it! I could not have been more disappointed. I am out $ 40 for the two tickets we bought, and I will not recommend this tour to any of my friends or family, which is a shame, because had some true effort been put into this tour, it could have been GREAT! I also know a lot of people that are «into this stuff” — and will have to tell them not to go if they ask!
Do not waste your money on this event. It will do nothing but disappoint you, and you can read all the stories online, on your own time, without a bored tour guide reciting them to you.

Toured Neill-​Cochran house with Austin Ghost Tours, and I am still haunted by the silliness; only thing this confirmed for me is there are no such thing as ghosts. Our «investigation» consisted of walking around the house and sitting in the dark for a couple of hours, watching small boxes with random lights and static while tour guides explained that short bursts of unintelligible gibberish were actually ghosts communicating with us – and then building stories around this nonsense. Having said that, the old house itself is beautiful and the history around it was interesting, but save your money and buy a book. In my opinion, the $ 60 ticket was way overpriced, especially when you add the additional $ 20 that everyone had to pay as a contribution to the house preservation fund.
Elizabeth Z

Me and my wife went on this and didn’t know what to expect. We were afraid it might be cheesy stories or cheesy scares but it was actually really cool and actually explained a lot of history in Austin which I thought was really cool! Our tour guide Monica knew her stuff and had a really quirky sense of humor which made the tour more enjoyable. She had alot of pictures and audio clips to back up the stories she told which really were pretty cool. I wish we could have explored the locations more but I can understand they were places of business. If your looking for something unique to do in Austin I’d highly recommend this!

First off, I had no idea people on Unilocal didn’t know what a historical haunted tour was. I suppose a lot of sour apples on here weren’t aware that it is, yes, in a group, and yes, outside, and yes, walking. That’s not just this company, but most of all haunted historical tours I’ve been to.
So if you’re planning on going, yes, that’s what a haunted historical tour is, and it’s well worth the twenty bucks, I promise.
My tour guide was exceptionally kind, funny, and knowledgable.
This company doesn’t try to sell you the over dramatized and questionable paranormal experiences of the locations, but rather, the actual truth with the locations, which is refreshing.
I would recommend grabbing a bite at the moonshine café, a drink, and going on with a little buzz. It makes the whole experience even better. Then more drinks after, either at the driskill or more from the moonshine. This is a superb date idea! Much better than the standby dinner-​and-​a-​movie.
Also, if you want to have even more fun, the ghost investigations from this company are even better than the tours. A bit of a smaller group, but yes, be aware, it’s another group. But trust me, that’s a good thing…

Really disappointing. After spending $ 30 a ticket… you’d think we would actually be able to go into the places and walk through the areas they talk about ghosts being. Instead, they point to areas or buildings where ghosts have been reported and tell stories. They do this on the street where you can’t hear the guides anyway.
Super disappointing… and as an Austinite I’ve got to say that I am kind of ashamed that this tour hasn’t raised the bar on entertainment and storytelling. SAVE SOME MONEY and just go see a scary movie at the Alamo Drafthouse! :)