Traverse City: Ghost Lantern Walking Tour & Haunted Stories

4.81

(135 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect the air to feel so thick on Front Street after sunset — you know that feeling when a place suddenly seems older than it looks in daylight? We met our guide outside the Higher Self Bookstore, lantern swinging a bit in her hand. She grinned and said, “Don’t worry, most of the ghosts are friendly.” There were a couple of kids in our group (one had a plastic pumpkin for candy, which made me laugh), plus some older folks who seemed way more into the history than the hauntings at first.

As we wandered along downtown Traverse City, our guide pointed out spots I’d walked past before but never really noticed. She told us about the Perry Hannah House — apparently there’s a piano that plays by itself sometimes. The stories weren’t just spooky; they were weirdly personal. At one point she paused to let us listen to the wind rattling old windows on 6th Street. It was chilly, but not in a bad way — more like the kind of cold that makes you huddle closer together. Someone asked if she believed in ghosts herself and she just smiled, didn’t answer directly. That stuck with me for some reason.

The last stop was this patch of grass where Traverse City’s first cemetery used to be. No headstones now, just trees and that statue of Perry Hannah looking sort of stern in the dark. We got to try some ghost-hunting equipment — I have no idea if my EMF meter actually beeped because of a spirit or just my phone, but it made everyone laugh nervously anyway. I still think about how quiet it got there for a second, like even the city held its breath.