The Original Ghost Tours of Key West

Visited March 2015
My husband & I went on a tour this past week. Ryan was our tour guide & there was only 1 other couple on the tour which made it kinda nice. Ryan was very knowledgeable & personable! I had been on this tour many years ago so I was happy to see that they had changed it up. I would highly recommend this tour.

Terrible tour… all we did was walk to 3 places in town, sat in one location for 30+ minutes, felt like guide was practicing for his dram school. Only building we really entered that is supposedly haunted was the KW Hard Rock Café. Guide couldn’t stop yawning except to ask for tips. Would not recommend this…

We did this tour last night and really enjoyed it. I am a ghost skeptic but came away rethinking it. Tom is extremely knowledgeable about his business and Key West history. Great storyteller. Not as much ghost centered but again, interesting history of the area.

It’s ok. Tom is very nice but I am disappointed we didn’t see more. They don’t compare to any of the Ghost Tours in Savannah Georgia. Should have been filled with more places and more history.

Meh, ok. Not amazing but not the worst. It was cool to learn about haunted history but the noise of Duval takes away the fun of the tour. I know the Elena and Carl story pretty well and the tour guide gave out wrong info which I was disappointed in. It would be great to enter one of the locations (not Hard Rock, way too noisy) and explore.

Best walking tour in Key West it was very informative and a lot of fun I got chills when they told me about that doll. Also I’ve been here many times before we, have done bus tours and bar crawls but this is the only time where I felt like I took something home with me, a little bit of Key West history. Definitely something special to remember. It was only 18 bux

Tom was amazing. Well versed in the cities history, was extremely polite and humorous. The walk wasn’t so bad either. It was nice to stroll through a few of the blocks with a tour guide. A ghost tour guide. Woooooooooo. Lol.
By the way, if you do get Tom, tell him the Hugo said that he is a squid and can never be as strong as the Marine. It will make him laugh. God bless our veterans. Thank you Tom. Chest Puller is sleeping well yet again.

Ghost tours are really all about the tour guides, and the one we had last night was great. He was enthusiastic, funny, and very well versed in local lore. Plus we got ghost meters which was cool. And –this is a first for me after ghost tours in 4 other cities-​we actually had a real ghostly encounter! A great way to spend an evening in key west.

This was a perfect tour. My girlfriend and I had Tom all to ourselves so we were able to ask all the questions we needed. It was nice to have a personal tour with someone who is so clearly passionate about Key West and it’s creepy legacy.
After the tour ended, we’ve found ourselves digging in to the stories he told even more which shows the curiosity and interest Tom provoked.
I also appreciated his willingness to share so many of his own personal experiences and his own independent research. It really felt like we got an insiders account from a true local rather than a script-​memorizing tour guide.

Just meh. Kids enjoyed it and Jay was a good tour leader. I would only recommend if you have a night where your Tweens need something to do as it was merely a walk around town of someone telling stories of former residents if Key West who had creepy experiences. In fact only 2 of 5 stories were even about spirits?

Not impressed and will not be back. I’m pretty sure the stories were made up and it was hard to take the tour guide serious. It doesn’t help that the locals love to mess with the ghost tour partakers.

I had different expectations of this tour… I guess maybe I thought it would be a little scary. I kind of made up a scenario in my head before going… Thinking it was like a haunted walk through and creatures, ghosts or anything really.
But it was more of a Haunted History Tour of Key West. I didn’t mind it after I got over the whole no ghosts thing.
Our tour guide knew his history. He showed us the Marrero House and told us stories about Robert The Doll and more crazy haunted legends.
It was a bit eerie hearing the local legends… We were introduced to the old Hanging Tree which is in the middle of Captain Tony’s bar.
I’m not going to mention anymore details. I think everyone should take this tour. Also, the bus ghost tour is exactly the same only you’re in a bus and it cannot stop. So you don’t really get in depth like this walking tour.
BTW instructor takes tips– make sure to have a couple dollars for him.

I would love to write an honest and specific review of this tour, but there’s just one problem.
They never showed up.
Seriously, the company tour guides never showed up to the designated meeting place at 227 Duval (which is a bar). Nobody working there knew why or had any contact numbers. We arrived at 725 pm for an 8pm tour and sat at the street side bar until after 9pm with no show or answer from the company’s voicemail. In fact, that was three days ago and we still haven’t heard a word from them.
GO TO ONE OF THE TROLLEY GHOST TOURS!

This «ghost» tour is unique and really interesting. I put the word «ghost» in quotes because there’s nothing really scary about it, although all the vignettes are about people that have died or mildly creepy phenomena. You walk around from building to building and hear these insanely fascinating pieces of Key West lore — it might as well be a historical tour for all the fright it generates, but that makes it no less enjoyable.
I loved it and highly recommend it — great tour!

you should not expect a haunted house scenario where people jump out at you so …
We took our kids. i’d do the tour again both for the entertainment and to walk around.
Everyone enjoyed the tour
Fun to walk thru the area
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I went on the tour two nights ago and had jay as my guide — very nice, knowledgable guide. However, I already knew about most of the stories he told; and most of the time we just stood around in parking lots hearing stories about what ghost hauntings the tour company had had in previous tours. I couldn’t help but wonder — why then, did we not experience anything like it? Overall, the tour was ok — not because jay was boring but because of the few places we visited and the length of the stories we heard.

We enjoyed our tour back in October! I didn’t expect it to be believable so I was open minded. The walking tour was awesome and gave you a great tour of all the old buildings that you’d otherwise miss. It lasted about two hours. The history was my favorite part. You definitely need to experience this if you have the time. They’re great!
YOU’RE DOOMED!!!

Let me preface by saying this is not my first ghost/​haunted tour. I have toured in California, areas of Hawaii, and Colorado. All of those had some sense of believability because the tour guides owned what they were talking about.
This tour has a few fatal flaws. First, the price. Online it’s listed @ $ 15. The hotel gave me a $ 3 off coupon, yet when I purchase from them they tell me $ 15 is the discounted price. Hmmm, I started out feeling ripped off.
Second, the guide dressed up in a cliché outfit, lantern and all. Now, maybe I could have swallowed it had he not talked or acted to us rather than with us. The lines were canned and it was hard not to laugh. He had 0% believability and it seemed more like a comedy show than a spooky adventure.
Third, you walk around town with the bars blaring their music and have constant distractions. What’s even worse is you stand outside and never once enter a building or any property!
The final insult came when it was suggested to leave a positive review on their website with the «carrot» of winning a trip for two to Key Largo. So basically I wonder just how authentic any positive reviews are now.
Total waste of time. Go buy the book and check it all out yourself. That way you can spare yourself the humiliation of all the hecklers laughing at you and the realization that you have just been swindled out of your hard earned money.
But if you MUST: I highly advise drink first, and drink a lot!

*sigh*
This was one of the things I was looking forward to before we even arrived. Ghost tours at night?! Right up my alley!!! This tour left a LOT to be desired.
Met up in the La Concha hotel lobby, and some wasted dude screamed out the tour was beginning, then interrupted the tour guide mid sentence to make some crack about being loaded and needing another drink. Someone later commented that he was the owner… lovely.
Our tour guide was nice enough, knew his history, knew the stories, passed around pictures, and I guess they force him to wear that cheesy top hat and overcoat. Poor dude.
So basically, you walk around Key West, you stand in front of a house, you hear a ghost story, and you move on. No entering the house, which I understand wouldn’t be possible all of the time, but standing in the street staring up at windows wondering if a ghost is looking down at you just ain’t scary. Marrero’s wife and 8 kids. Audubon and Willie. Mr Cosgrove. The infamous Robert the doll. And the kick in the conch? Rose the cat at Truman’s Little White House!!!
So, long story short, Truman used to vacation in KW, had a maid named Rose, who died and turned into this big fat white cat who does all manner of weird ghostly things, he tells us. OK. Then he tells us we may see her, as she appears at night, and eternally bleeds from her nose. Sure enough, we see a white cat. Some people seemed amazed! Some of us exchanged sidelong glances…
Next day — we walk thru the little gate to the white house, and see a sign that Kia, the friendly white cat who lives here, has feline diabetes, and while she loves to be pet, please do not feed her as she has special dietary needs. Also, the sign assures us, Kia has an allergy that manifests itself as a really red moist nose… HOW FUNNY! Do the owners of poor Kia know there is also a fat white cat with a bloody nose who just also HAPPENS to be the ghost of a dead presidential maid, right here on this very property!!! Who knew???
Also, locals all yell BOO at you. They really get a kick out of themselves doing it. I wanted to get annoyed, but they were so impressed with themselves yelling «BOO!!» at us, I couldn’t bear to deny them this small pleasure in life.
Then at the end, the guide sort of demands a tip. We tipped him generously, because we sorta felt that he knew the tour sucked and was just doing his job anyway. Poor dude.
Keep your $ 15, and watch the Key West haunted special on the Travel channel — you don’t have to leave your couch!

This is an awesome tour of Key West and it’s history, with ghost tales galore.
Make sure to take the most pictures by the cemetary where the woman and 17 children are buried. My photo shows the woman in a dress perfectly! My first (and probably last) ghost picture ever.
Our tour guide was awesome, he really knew his stuff. Make sure to tip!