This was a hard review to do but in the end I gave it 2 stars over 3 . . . would have given it 2.5 if it was available. First off, this tour is rain or shine. Obviously I am mentioning this because it "rained" and we had to continue on and find trees and parts of roofs hanging over to keep dry. The tour guide even thought some would drop out but nobody did, hell people were paying 17.50 a ticket . . . you kidding me? If you know my reviews by now, u know damn well I didn't pay that price, I only paid 8 dollars (Groupon) a ticket . . . but still if your reasoning for a "rain or shine" policy is to skip parts of the tour and get people soaked, you can keep it. This definitely is a ghost tour, filled with "ghost stories" about every place we visited. I guess I should have known lol, but I didn't think everything was going to be about ghosts that were seen at certain areas. I will say our guide did a good job explaining history of the places we saw so it was informative, but we visited a number of cemeteries LOL . . . thats cool, where is the Liberty Bell though? How do you do a tour and not take us to see the Liberty Bell? The website says we would see it . . . I guess the rain messed up the path . . . I dunno. The walk isn't bad though, you are given a glow stick to start the tour but it wasn't close to daylight and by the time the night hit the light was dim. Probably a better idea to give us that later on but they explained they use that to identify who is on the tour. The tour guide again was informative and he was a nice guy, was very convincing on all stories he told and he was a people person. Not stuck up which is why if you go here on a non rainy day, I think you would find it to be a 3 star experience. For me, 2 stars seems right though. Have some ghost tour ponchos or something, I'm on vacation and I had to swallow a bottle of Nyquil that night to keep from being sick. read more

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Michael was our guide for the night and he was exceptional. His enthusiasm and wit really carried through the entirety of the tour. It was my first time in Philly and it was a great way to see the city! Michael also gave our family an awesome cheesesteak recommendation, and it checked out! Five stars all the way! read more

Just to be clear here , Spirits of '76 Ghost Tour , is not a SCARY tour. Just a spooky 75-minute walking tour of haunted facts, folklore, and movie Sets. A one time type of a tour. Back in 2011, I had a friend visiting me from Cooperstown, who had never been to Philadelphia, this was a fun way to learn about the city. In the middle of our tour, the sky opened up, and started pouring rain. The mother nature set the mood, PERFECTLY, for the ghost stories and haunted houses. So, be prepared for any swings in the weather; dress accordingly, and wear COMFORTABLE footwear. For out-of-towners: keep in mind that there is no hotel pickup and drop off. You can buy your ticket from their website, or from the meeting point stand at Cosi restaurant, right at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut. The tickets aren't cheap, so it won't hurt to keep an eye out on groupon or livingsocial, to score a cheaper deal. From what I remember, our tour guide was knowledgeable and so much fun. Also please note, this tour operates at night, and the ticket price won't cover any admission to any of the sites on the tour, or any gratuity (if you were pleased with your tour guide service, and wish to tip.) Another downside was the big group. I prefer walking with a smaller group, to keep pace with everyone else. Overall, it was an entertaining tour. Three and half Yelps. read more

Spirits of '76 Ghost Tours - Tours Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I review this with the caveat that I went because of a LivingSocial deal, which made the tickets roughly half off. I'm not entirely sure it's worth the $17.50 they charge normally. Pros: - really great history lessons - went to some sites I didn't know existed - fun stories that have a "real" historical element - some stories that are sort of creepy - the fact that there are thousands of bodies under Washington Square Park got to me Cons: - our tour guide was a little annoying and sarcastic, which took away from his stories - we skipped out on some of the sites that are on the website. I had been looking forward to the Edgar Allen Poe stuff, but he was never even mentioned. It's understandable, because the tour covers a lot of ground, but then, it shouldn't be on their website. We also did not hear about the prisoner who escaped from Eastern State, as was advertised. - it's a group tour and there's always someone on a group who thinks it's his or her mission to be as annoying as possible. All in all, it's a fun night, and you really can learn some interesting stories about Philadelphia that you can't get from a guide book. read more

Kate was our guide and my husband and I enjoyed the tour. We liked hearing the stories of Philadelphia that you don't hear on a normal tour. It was filled with historic facts and just the right mix of spooky stories. We liked it so much, we're interested in finding more tours like this along our honeymoon route. Oh, and we got glow sticks!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) read more

For $17.50, the price for the tour is indeed rather steep for a 75 minute walking tour. Anyway, we did the tour on Halloween night (spooky!). Our tour guide was very informative and she did a good job with the tour. I'm not sure if the company conjures up their ghost stories and sightings or they are actually "real" but it was nonetheless entertaining. Wish that the tour is a tad longer so people can actually take pics and take in the sights instead of just rushing through the different points of interests. read more

Our tour guide was Emma. She was very knowledgeable of history. The tour markets that they are ghost tours. It really is just a history tour that is done at night with a few stories here and there of ghosts appearing in windows. If you are a history lover you will enjoy this tour. If you are wanting suspense for a tour of chilling ghosts stories then this isnt what you want. The price isnt worth $17.50 a ticket. I would say more around $10-$12 would be realistic. read more

As a proud Philadelphian, you'll never catch me running up the Art Museum steps, or waiting in line at the Visitors Center for tickets to Independence Hall. Despite living in the area for most of my life, my knowledge of historical Philadelphia is still pretty slim. Still not willing to break down and join a 3rd grade field trip from Middle America, I decided I could at least enjoy my city under a cloak of darkness during the Spirits of '76 ghost tour. We met outside the Cosi on 4th and Chestnut and the tour guide gave us all glow sticks, kitschy but perhaps useful later that night in Old City? The tour led us throughout Old City, Society Hill and Washington Square park stopping at about 20 locations to tell us about ghost stories and spotting. It was actually pretty interesting. The guide gave a good sampling of tall tales along with historical lessons which I found quite enjoyable. An hour and fifteen minutes later, we were back in front of Cosi. Some side notes: I had a living social deal for this. At $17.50 a person normally, I think this tour is ridiculously priced. Let's call is an $8 tour. It is a walking tour so if it's bad weather, it is not worth your time. And you do not set foot in any of the locations. However, they are open for tours most days of the week, if you really want to get your fix. Overall, I learned some new stuff, saw houses/cemeteries I would never have discovered on my own, and got a good walk in on a lovely fall evening. I still don't think you'll see me pulling a Rocky anytime soon though. read more

I took this tour tonight, and it was very informative. My guide was a young man, who seemed genuinely interested in sharing what he knew to the entire group, even if it was a rather large one. The mix of historical fact and passed down legends/ghost tales/etc, was an interesting one. This is the real history of a city, not just what you might find in a book! My only complaint would be that the sites are rather far away from one another, leaving large gaps of just walking. This sucks if you have people in your tour who feel like lallygagging! However the distances are not something that could have been solved by the guide, and I would rather wait to hear the stories that you know are real, than have them be making up things just to get better tips! Not recommended for fussbuckets, only for fun-loving people! read more

Very displeased with the customer service from Leslie Bari. I purchased tickets from living social in the summer expecting to use them closer to the Halloween season. I am brand new to the area and thought the tour would be fun and informative. Well Leslie says since my deal expired October 4th she cannot apply my already paid dollars to the new living social deal which is a $1 more than I paid. I would gladly pay the difference but she seems to think ita fair business to charge an additional $18 for these tickets to be valid. Not good business. Sounds like the tour isn't so great anyway. I would call their living social deal thievery. read more

Great tour, but could have used some more actual ghost stories. The historical aspects of the tour was very interesting, and the walk itself was a refreshing look at the city in which I live. The tour guide was very well spoken and interesting. I would definitely recommend this experience to visitors and residents alike. read more

Summary: More of a history tour than a ghost tour. Expensive at $17/person. Large groups (25+ per group). You are able to buy tickets the day of the tour in front of the meeting spot (Cosi), which is not even 1/2 a block away from the other popular ghost tour. I would recommend asking about the group size first, there were 50 peoe so they split us into two groups but were told this was a last minute decision so I assume they run tours with more than 25 people, which is definitely way too many when crossing busy streets and such. Since both tours are close by it might be worthwhile to see which is smaller. The price is $17/person, which is definitely high for what you get. With this sort of price the tour should definitely be smaller, which allows the guide to cover more. The tour itself was good for us, as we have little knowledge of Philadelphia and the history associated with it. Because this tour turned out to be more about history than ghosts, it may be redundant to someone who has a knowledge of the history or has taken other tours. Overall I think our guide, Andrew, did a great job with the tour however it is poorly run with the high cost and large group sizes. I would also recommend bringing a small pocket / keychain flashlight if you are touring in the spring or fall, as once it is dark there are tripping hazards on the poorly lit cobblestone roads. read more

A friend of mine and I decided to do some of the "fall-ish" activities of Philadelphia last week, and went on the 'infamous' ghost tour of philadelphia. Our tour guide Celeste was personable and well-versed in the pre-written stories of the tour. However, it was clear that she was just a college student looking to make a few extra bucks, and knew nothing more than the pre-concocted stories told her. She often complained of it being too cold for her, of which I wanted to reply "then dress for the weather, the rest of us have". The tour covered approx. 12 sites in Old City Philly and our tour guide spent ample time at each site The history itself was interesting, so long as the guide didn't try to skew the history to make it worse/scarier/more judgemental than it really had to be. However it was the same old song and dance for each...."if you listen closely you will hear the ghosts"..."if you look closely, you might see a spirit lurking around" Something of this accord was said at every single site, and multiple times. Yes we understand, that is the point of these tours, however please leave some things to the imagination because it felt forced and fake and cheesy. In fact it literally made my skin crawl everytime she said it...and not because I was scared. And there was definately false advertising here. It was advertised that the tour guides dressed in costumes and carried lanterns. No such luck. Celeste had spandex leggings and a backpack asking for tips, with a big ol' throw-away cup of some sort of fancy coffee concoction from cosi. Not entirely what we were expecting. read more

Three-star tour and one-star tour guide averages to two overall. Despite my two-star rating, I don't actually discourage anyone from going on this tour, PROVIDED that you request one of the guides who doesn't suck. Note to self: when choosing a tour guide, ALWAYS opt for the pale nerdy-looking guy. Especially if you're paying full price (we got Groupon tix). My experience was much like Nicole R's except our crappy tour guide was Rachel rather than Celeste. The tour content was fine but it was hard to enjoy given how fake and canned the delivery was. You know how you can tell when someone obviously doesn't believe what they're saying and it's just a script they've recited many times? Yeah, it was like that. Really too bad, because the stories themselves had quite interesting bits of Philadelphia history that I would have liked to learn more about, like the 1793 yellow fever epidemic. Might give it another try next year if the Groupon comes up again. The best part of the night was the bangin' steak sandwich I had at Eulogy afterwards. read more

This wasn't "scary" by any means. More of a historical tour which is fine by me because I still love that stuff but if you are expecting to get spooked Dont really count on it. For a little over an hour the tour guide takes you around about 20 locations in a few block radius talking about the history and what ghosts people supposedly saw. I did knock off a star because this was supposed to be 90 minutes but my tour definitely wasn't. Tour guide was nice and educated on all of the topics. read more

The tour was AWESOME! If you are into history while being spooked, then this tour is for you. Our tour guide Michael was so enthusatic which made the tour all the more intersting and fun. read more

I've taken a lot of ghost tours, and this one is one of the worst that I've ever done. The stories are so brief they aren't really stories, and the guide we had seemed to be bored. Not recommended. read more