Catalina Island: Avalon Ghost Tour with Headphones & Local Tales

4.69

(143 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

"Did you hear that?" someone whispered behind me, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if they were joking or not. We’d just stopped in the grand entryway of the Casino in Avalon—our guide, Maria, had this way of pausing mid-story so the silence felt heavy. The air smelled a bit salty, mixed with old wood and something colder I couldn’t place. She told us about the difference between spirits and ghosts (I didn’t know there was one), her voice echoing off the tiles while a couple of locals strolled past like nothing weird ever happened here.

I kept fiddling with my headphones—helpful since it was breezy and sometimes hard to catch every word. Maria pointed out a window where she swore she saw “the Lady in Blue” once. There’s always one person in every group who tries to snap a photo at just the right moment; tonight it was this guy named Steve, who kept showing us blurry shapes on his phone. Not gonna lie, I half-expected to see something myself. The walk wasn’t long—maybe an hour and a half—but we covered these winding little streets I’d never have noticed on my own during this haunted Catalina walking tour.

At one point, Maria laughed when I tried to say “Avalon” the way she did—hers sounded softer somehow. The stories got under my skin more than I thought they would. Something about hearing them at night, feet crunching over uneven pavement, made it all feel close and kind of personal. Even now, back home, I still think about that chill in the air outside the old hotel. Maybe it was just the sea breeze… or maybe not.