Ghost Stories From the Coates House to the Folly Theater
An 8:00 PM ghost walk in downtown Kansas City, from the Coates House corner on Broadway through Quality Hill to the Hotel Phillips.
Ghost City Tours starts this walk on the sidewalk at 1005 Broadway, under the bay windows of the old Coates House Hotel. There is one departure a night, at 8:00 PM, led in English.
The booking has two age bands: an adult ticket from age 12 and a lower child fare for ages 6 to 11. Every booking needs an adult, and cancelling at least 24 hours before the start brings a full refund.
The Ghosts of Kansas City Tour Haunted History and Jazz SpiritsListed at 90 minutes on foot · 8:00 PM nightly · Meets at 1005 Broadway Blvd, Kansas Citywww.viator.comThe First Twenty Minutes Stay at the Coates House
The walk does not leave the meeting point right away. The listing gives the Coates House its first twenty minutes: a grand hotel from the years when Kansas City was growing from a river town into a Midwest destination, and in the listing's words the site of one of the city's deadliest fires. The guide tells the legend of the Ghost Bride here and turns the group toward the upper windows, where figures are said to appear.
Every story on this route is told from the sidewalk; the operator says the walk does not go inside private buildings.
From there the group moves into Quality Hill. The stop notes describe it as the neighborhood where bankers, railroad executives and lawyers built homes overlooking the city, and they make room for the servants and workers whose names history dropped. The stories here are footsteps and figures that vanish.
A Theater From 1900 and a Hotel From 1931
The Folly Theater is the third stop, and the group stands outside it. The listing dates its opening to 1900 and ties its ghost to Joe Donegan, the longtime manager said to still keep watch over the building. Phantom footsteps and applause after the house has emptied are the stories told on the pavement.
The fourth stop is the Hotel Phillips, which the listing says opened in 1931, in the city's era of jazz, nightlife and politics. The stories there are footsteps in empty hallways, voices with no one behind them, and guests who wake to a room that may not feel empty.
Twenty minutes at each of the four listed stops accounts for eighty of the ninety minutes the listing sells.
Four Listed Stops, and Other Names Around Them
The listing's stop list has four entries. Its description names two more hotels, the Savoy and the Muehlebach, as places whose stories you will hear, without giving either a stop of its own.
The operator's own page for this walk reaches further. It talks up Union Station and the 18th & Vine jazz district, neither of which appears among the listing's stops, while the same page puts the whole walk at about a mile through downtown.
Book on the strength of the four listed stops; the Savoy, the Muehlebach, Union Station and 18th & Vine carry no stop time in the listing.
Ninety Minutes on the Listing, Two Hours on the Operator's Page
The listing sells this as a ninety-minute walk. The operator's own page calls it a two-hour tour and adds that the length varies by night. Keep two hours free after the 8:00 PM start.
The operator's own page lists children five and under as free, while the booking page sells tickets only for ages six and up.
Both the listing and the operator's page tick wheelchair and stroller access, and the operator's general answer is that most of its routes stay on city sidewalks and paved areas. The operator welcomes well-behaved, leashed pets on this walk, where the listing mentions only service animals, and it asks guests not to bring alcoholic drinks. The walk runs rain or shine.
Meet the guide on the sidewalk next to the low brick wall at 1005 Broadway Blvd. The parking lot beside the meeting point is private; the listing and the operator both ask guests to stay out of it. The operator suggests arriving 10 to 15 minutes early and points drivers to paid lots and street parking around downtown, or to ride-share.
The listing gives the finish as a separate point from the start, so plan the trip back to wherever you parked. Tips for the guide are not included. If the departure is called off for bad weather or too few travelers, the listing's terms offer another date or a full refund.
Then the first story starts right there, under the Coates House windows.