Looking for the BEST ghost tour in Pittsburgh, PA?! I tried a haunting tour with US Ghost Adventures and I’m sharing my review. And spooky update: this tour is available in both Pittsburgh and across 100 cities in the US!

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If you think fall is the best season, and you’re looking for spooky tours and activities to try out this year, look no further than US Ghost Adventures. I had a chance to try out this top ghost tour in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I’m sharing my review, what to expect from the tour, and how you can take this tour too – either in Pittsburgh or in your own home town; it’s available in over 100 cities in the US! Imo it is the ULTIMATE bucket list adventure for scary season, and is the perfect way to get into those spooky vibes this fall.

If you love chasing paranormal occurrences, love ghost stories, or are looking to enjoy moderate scary vibes, then a US Ghost Tour is for you! It’s a fantastic way to do a fall tour that is not overly scary; just enough spooky vibes that is ideal for friends, couples, and is also family-friendly. It’s also for anyone who loves history and wants to explore more of their local city and learn stories from the past.

The tour lasts 60-90 minutes depending on which option you book, and takes place at 7pm, which is usually right after sunset. There is generally a good amount light walking through the city streets though, so just bring a small water bottle and comfortable shoes. But if you are nervous about the darkness, you can bring a small flashlight or use your phone flashlight to help you with your footing in the city at night. Overall, I would rate the activity level as light and the amount of walking easy. Children will be able to keep up easily as well with the level of activity.

I went on the hour-long Pittsburgh Ghosts: Sinister Shadows of Steel City tour, but there is also a 90-minute extended option, as well as a cute optional ghost-plushy you can take home! If you really want to lean into the paranormal vibes, you can even rent an EMF Activity Detector. 

You’ll arrive 15 minutes in advance of the tour and meet your guide, who will be wearing a US Ghost Adventures T-shirt and carrying a lantern. Not going to lie – I was so excited about the vibes of the lantern that I brought my own! It’s definitely not something you need, I’m just extra like that when it comes to spooky season.

On my tour, we had seven different stops (up to four more stops on the extended tour!) at different haunted locations around Pittsburgh (but the total number of stops can vary from tour to tour). Our guide (shout out to Evan!) walked us to different locations and at each stop, told us about the history of the building, the area, and then told us ghost stories and hauntings that happened at the locations. I hadn’t explored much of Pittsburgh before this tour, and I was struck by how stunning and spooky so many of the historic buildings are! There is SO much history here – through the mid-1950s, Pittsburgh was the nation’s EIGHTH-largest city, accounting for nearly half of national steel output. And of course with all that history is a whole lot of hauntings!

During the Pittsburgh Ghost Tour, we stopped at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, the Pittsburgh City Council (to hear stories about the University of Pittsburgh), the Allegheny Health Department (which used to be a morgue!), the Allegheny County Jail, the Frick Building, the Union Trust building, and the most haunted of all – the Omni William Pen Building, which was commissioned by Henry Clay Frick and is currently a world-class hotel that many US Presidents have stayed at!

Our tour guide told us stories from each building and historic site – from the Lady in White, an actress at the Pittsburgh Playhouse who shot her cheating husband and then herself, and Weeping Elinor, who died in a fire and can still be heard shouting for her daughter, to the ghost of a ballerina who committed suicide and will wake anyone who falls asleep in the Union Red Room at the University of Pittsburgh to escape her own fate of missing an important event (for her, a performance, for you, an exam!). Our guide told us if we looked closely, we might even see the chandelier move in the Union Trust Building, which used to be an arcade (like a big shopping mall!), and before that the site of St. Paul’s Cathedral – the old street preacher Joseph Barker might still be haunting the scene!

It was a very fun, low-key fright-filled night of spooky tales and I greatly enjoyed not only hearing the ghost stories, but I also just enjoyed learning more about the history of such a storied city! I definitely want to head to these buildings on my own time, maybe stay in the Omni William hotel, and try to see if I notice any sights of hauntings – disembodied voices, doors closing inexplicably, or other signs of paranormal activity.

The only thing that could have improved the tour is if we had been able to go inside at least one of the buildings to see a bit more and feel more immersed in the ghost stories. That being said, I can totally understand businesses not wanting nonstop tours every night disturbing their customers! A lot of the buildings had one historic purpose and have since transformed into new businesses so it may not be viable to have the tour get access to the inside (or might not even be open to the public). I think this just means that next time I need to do the US Ghost Adventures’ special overnight tour and stay a night in the haunted house in Gettysburg, PA – The Welty House!

All in all, I would rate this Pittsburgh ghost tour a 10/10 spookies, and would highly recommend it for all fall-, history-, and ghost-lovers! If you’re not in the Pittsburgh area, definitely check out one of the other US Ghost Adventure tours happening – they have them in multiple cities across the US, from a San Francisco ghost tour to an Orlando ghost tour. It was such a great way to fully get into the spooky mood of the fall season, and I loved getting to explore more of Pittsburgh at night.

The Pittsburgh Ghosts Tour costs $29 per adult, $19 per child under the age of 13, and is free for children under the age of 6. It’s available every night at 7pm, Saturday through Sunday (I went on a Friday night!). You can book a spot online for the best ghost tour in Pittsburgh here, and if you use code “ROAM” you can get 10% off your tour!

If you do not live in or near Pittsburgh, PA, never fear – you can do a similar tour specific to YOUR home city! US Ghost Adventures offers tours in over 100 cities across America, and you can easily book your own city ghost tour online here – make sure to use code “ROAM” for 10% off your tour! I would definitely recommend booking in advance for a weekend, but tours are available weeknights as well and are likely less popular than the weekend tours.

If you are looking for EVEN MORE spooky, you can book an overnight stay at a haunted house (!): Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca, IA, Lizze Borden House in Fall River, MA, or The Welty House in Gettysburg, PA.

There are also haunted pub crawls you can participate in in multiple cities across America, which would be such a fun evening adventure too!

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