Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

4 Best Haunted Tours, from Dungeons to Chernobyl

Mike Richard
By

Halloween is the perfect time of year to embrace your morbid side. For some, that means keeping it family-friendly; others want modest scares at, say, a haunted house; while still others are looking for a terrifying and life-changing self-torture experience a la McKamey Manor (seriously, don’t click that link). Whatever your poison, here are four haunted adventures worth checking out for Halloween 2018. However, if you can’t make it in time, don’t fret — these unique experience can scare your year-round.

Meet the Diseased Ghosts of Australia

Sydney, Australia

sydney q station haunted ghost tour
Q Station Manly/Facebook

Ghost tours tend to be pretty lame, but when the tour is inside a 19th-century quarantine station where at least 600 souls died of various and horrible contagious diseases, it definitely ups the spook factor. Sydney’s Q Station is long reported to be one of the most haunted places in Australia. During a 50-year period, thousands of immigrants to the country were quarantined here for as much as 40 days to stave off the spread of things like typhoid and tuberculosis. It’s now such a hotspot for paranormal activity that the location has been running ghost tours for nearly 100 years. The Extreme Ghost Tour (AUS $75) is an adults-only experience designed to explore the darker side of the station’s history told through mediums and psychics. For something more immersive, the Spirit Searching Sleepover (AUS $155; runs once a month) promises a far more in-depth look at the spirits within. High-tech paranormal investigation gear is provided.

Recommended Videos

Join a Séance at The San Francisco Dungeon

San Francisco, California

san francisco dungeon seance
The San Francisco Dungeon/Facebook

In San Francisco, it doesn’t get more touristy than Fisherman’s Wharf. Still, it’s one of the city’s most iconic districts, and every out-of-towner should visit at least once. With its live-action exhibits and interactive, 360-degree experiences, The San Francisco Dungeon is the perfect place to embrace the cheese factor of Halloween. This year, the popular tourist attraction is offering fully guided séances complete with a picture-perfect horror movie decor and an all-seeing crystal ball. Visitors can try their best to conjure some of the city’s most wicked spirits. Guided séances at The San Francisco Dungeon run through November 4.

Related

Risk Your Life Amid the Fallout of Chernobyl

Pripyat, Ukraine

chernobyl ukraine
Jorge Franganillo

If you haven’t seen Chernobyl Diaries, don’t — not because it’s scary, but because it’s an abomination of a horror movie. What the film was good for, however, was highlighting just how bad things can get in the wake of a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. Think subterranean zombies hell-bent on eating every living thing in sight. More than 30 years after the famous meltdown in Chernobyl, the government has given the “all clear” for visitors to explore the ruins (nevermind the scientists declaring the area not fit for human habitation for the next 20,000 years). Photographs of the town — once home to thousands of families — are creepy-as-f**k snapshots in time. With the right tour guide and permits, visitors can tour the ruins for around USD $25. Just remember to update your life insurance policy and pack plenty of hand grenades to fend off the irradiated brain-eaters.

Explore the Hotel That Terrified Stephen King

Estes Park, Colorado

Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, Colorado)
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s difficult to imagine Stephen King being scared by much of anything. however, Colorado’s Stanley Hotel so haunted and inspired him that it spurred the author to pen The Shining. The hotel is a worthwhile destination in its own right even if only to appreciate its history, but the 75-minute Night Spirit Tour takes guests into the darkest, most haunted corners of the 100-year-old hotel. Unlike typical ghost tours designed solely to scare, this tour educates visitors on how to find and interact with the ghastly presences within. Rates start at USD $25 per person, and tour-goers are encouraged to bring their own photography and other personal investigation gear.

Editors' Recommendations

Mike Richard
Mike Richard
Contributor
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
From Raising Arizona to Renfield: These are the best Nicolas Cage movies (some of these are seriously underrated)
If you're a fan of Nic Cage, check out this list his best films
Nicolas Cage (right) and Pedro Pascal (left) in 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

 

Since becoming a major movie star in the 1980s, Nicolas Cage's career has continued to shift and evolve. For a time, he was widely regarded as one of the most exciting and talented young actors in Hollywood. Then, his career fell off a cliff, and it suddenly felt like you couldn't turn a corner without someone making fun of him for his latest terrible performance in a direct-to-video release. While it's true that the actor has racked up more than 100 acting credits over the course of his career, lately he's managed to choose some more interesting roles that have the public reevaluating him yet again. 
Being the nephew of the great Francis Ford Coppola, Cage had aspirations for greatness, hoping to create his own legacy after having changed his last name to Cage. Cage eventually broke into acting with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and his career only blossomed further from there. He's one of the most divisive performers of our modern age, and that's what makes him such a legend. Here's a list of the best Nicolas Cage movies.

Read more
From food to true crime and sports, here are the 14 best Netflix documentaries to stream right now
Here are our top picks of documentaries from all genres
Wild Wild Country

Documentaries come in so many different shapes and sizes that any movie fan can find one they're interested in. Documentaries can be about your next great travel destination, the best ways to find and appreciate great food, or about a murder case that has been unsolved for decades. What unites great documentaries are the stories they tell and the powerful emotions they evoke. The best documentaries on Netflix also come with the same diversity described here.

It can definitely be overwhelming trying to find the best titles from among their expansive library, though, so we've decided to do some of that for you. These Netflix documentaries are sure to fascinate and entertain any audience. If you're caught up on all of these, you can also check out the best movies or TV shows to watch on Netflix.

Read more
From college to the barbershop, here are the 10 best Simpsons episodes of all time, ranked
These early episodes of The Simpsons are all the proof you need that the show deserves its extended run
The Simpsons

Wherever you look in the streaming ear, you're likely to find a great animated series to watch. Some of those series are serious, while others are basically sitcoms with animated characters. That latter category is entirely indebted to The Simpsons, the longest-running scripted series in TV history.

The difference between The Simpsons and many of the other great comedies in TV history (animated or not) is that The Simpsons, at its best, was always pushing its own limits. Although the show has famously had its ups and downs over the years, few shows in TV history can stand up against what The Simpsons was doing when the show was at its best. Generations of viewers grew up with Homer, Marge, and their family, and they grew to love the characters, even if they didn't reliably tune in every week. In its way, the show has become an institution.

Read more