09-05-2025
Halfway to Halloween: Ghost tours offer spine-chilling tales of Orlando history
While Orlando is known far and wide as the 'theme park capital of the world,' what many visitors may not know is that the City Beautiful has a dark and storied past.
Tales of murder and mystery adorn the pages of Orlando's history books, including appearances from serial killers and ghosts who are said to haunt the city's downtown. U.S. Ghost Adventures, which offers tours in haunted cities across America, is throwing a 'halfway to Halloween' celebration through Saturday, May 17.
In Orlando, guests can explore a ghouls-and-ghosts tour and a 'boos and booze' haunted pub crawl. During the special celebration, guides and guests are encouraged to dress up in costume weekend tours.
While not every tour will be exactly the same, the hourlong walking ghost tour begins outside the Orange County Regional History Center, where guide Paul Giandomenico noted the second-floor courtroom was where serial killer Ted Bundy had his trial.
The tour then continued onto Orange Avenue, stopping in front of the Beacham Theatre. Before it was a concert venue, the site was home to Orlando's first jail. It is rumored that the bodies of prisoners were buried in a makeshift cemetery behind the building — making it a haunted hotspot these days.
Underground tunnels connected the performance venue and the Angebilt Hotel across the street. Giandomenico told our tour group that a 1920s vaudeville performer was found dead at the entrance to one of the tunnels with a petrified look on her face but no signs of struggle, perhaps scared to death.
A stop on Pine Street showcased the Elijah Hand Building, which formerly housed a funeral parlor and furniture store run by Hand, an Indiana native who served as Orlando's first undertaker. He was also the first person in town to use embalming.
The tour continued to the Old Orlando Railroad Depot and the former location of The Strand Hotel on Church Street. The brothel and saloon that once entertained Orlando's visitors is long gone, but it is rumored that the spirits of heartbroken men and children linger.
The final stops of the experience included the Cheyenne Saloon and the Rogers Building, which now serves as home to CityArts.
While the tour didn't seem to conjure paranormal encounters, it did reveal darker chapters in Orlando's past, the remnants of which can still be experienced today.
American Ghost Adventures is another company offering Orlando ghost tours, including paranormal investigations inside some of downtown's haunted buildings.
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U.S. Ghost Adventures offers tours daily in downtown Orlando. Tickets are $17 for children younger than 13 and $26 per adult. Children ages 6 and younger attend for free. More information:
