Press Play in Old Settlers' Cemetery for Charlotte's Ghost Stories
A recorded ghost walk through Uptown Charlotte that starts in an 18th-century burial ground and plays on your phone at your own pace.
No guide meets you on the corner for this one. You book on Viator, unlock the tour in the WalknTours app, and press play once you reach North Poplar and West 5th Street, at the edge of Old Settlers' Cemetery. The city says burials there began before Charlotte was established in 1768, though the oldest grave the county's landmarks commission could date is Joel Baldwin's, from 1776.
The recording opens with the people buried there and the grave robbers the listing says once worked these grounds. The commission's 1984 report mentions vandals and thieves who went after the gravestones.
From there the route threads through Uptown and Fourth Ward on your own clock. The listing invites you to stop for a pint along the way or roam the cemetery longer for photos, then press play again.
One booking covers up to 15 travelers and comes with a single experience code. The booking page sells one ticket type, for ages 12 and up.
Charlotte Ghost Walking Tour - Smartphone guided audio/gps Tour at your own paceA self-guided audio ghost walk through Uptown Charlotte, played in the WalknTours app and unlocked with a code from your booking.www.viator.comGrave Robbers, a Hotel Ghost Named Dusty and Mattie's Window
After the cemetery, the app tells a story at each stop the listing names, mostly from the sidewalk. It pauses outside Founders Hall for the ghost said to walk its halls, then outside a pub the listing does not name, then at the Dunhill, a hotel on North Tryon Street where the listing places the ghost of Dusty, among others.
The Dunhill opened in 1929 as the Mayfair Manor, according to the landmarks commission. WCNC reported in 2017 that the Dusty stories began after a man's remains were found at the bottom of the elevator shaft during a 1980s remodel, and in 2023 that police had used DNA to identify him as an Army veteran of World War II.
The McGlohon Theater comes next. It has been closed since Spirit Square shut in 2021 for the rebuilding of its block, according to Blumenthal Arts, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation expects the new Main Library next to it to open in spring 2027.
Then comes the site of an apartment fire the listing describes, on North Tryon Street. Creative Loafing reported in 2012 that the Tryon House there was once the Guthery Apartments, and the Charlotte Fire Department's own history records a March 1940 fire at the Guthery that killed nine people, the largest loss of life in any fire the department had fought as of its 2014 account.
The McNinch House restaurant follows, with the story of Mattie, whom the operator says you might catch peeking out of her window. The restaurant's own history says Miss Mattie McNinch, a daughter of Sam McNinch, mayor of Charlotte from 1905 to 1907, never married and lived in the house until 1978.
Settlers Lane is pitched as the site of the old hanging tree. TreesCharlotte lists a Fourth Ward hackberry on private property that some have claimed was used for public hangings, and says historians have found no evidence of that. Lightning split it in fall 2019, leaving an 8-foot stump.
The last stories belong to Alexander Michael's, a tavern the listing says is haunted by its former owner, and a bootlegger's house whose story, the listing says, includes being moved.
Unlock the App Before You Reach the Corner
The tour plays in WalknTours' own app, separate from the Viator app. Your confirmation carries an experience code: download the WalknTours app on iPhone or Android, register an account, choose Charlotte, find The Queen City Haunted Walking Tour and enter the code.
The operator says a downloaded tour runs offline, so load it while you still have a signal. As you approach each stop the audio plays on its own, and if you drift off the route an arrow on screen points to the next stop.
One traveler who could not log in, in January 2025, got a reply from the operator pointing to the instructions under the Ticket button in the Viator booking. Another, in April 2025, advised against crossing a street until the recording tells you to.
A Mile or So, Ending a Few Blocks From the Start
The listing puts the walk at 35 to 75 minutes. The operator's tour page says 55 to 75 minutes over 1.1 miles.
It ends at the bootlegger's house, a few blocks from where you started. When the audio ends, the operator says the app shows a button for directions back to the starting point, which opens Google Maps or Apple Maps. A traveler in 2023 wrote of being left on a corner with no idea how to get back to the car, and that button is the operator's answer.
In October 2024 another traveler found construction made some stops hard to pick out. Pausing is built in, and two travelers mentioned stopping at Alexander Michael's, one of them for lunch. The tavern's own site lists Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 10 pm, closed Sunday and Monday, and it takes no reservations.
Outdoors, One Phone and a Ticket From Age 12
Tickets are sold for ages 12 and up only, and the listing does not say whether younger children can come along. The same listing marks the route stroller friendly and suitable for all fitness levels, and service animals are allowed. The operator's tour page and FAQ say nothing about wheelchair access.
Everything happens outdoors, and the listing does not cancel for bad weather. You get a full refund if you cancel at least 24 hours before your scheduled date.
The city's page for the cemetery gives no hours. A January 2026 Charlotte Stories article lists it as open every day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the nonprofit Historic Elmwood Pinewood says there is no entrance fee.
One traveler suggested running the app on a single phone to cut down on confusion, and the operator's FAQ notes that many travelers bring headphones for better audio.
The walk starts at Old Settlers' Cemetery, on the corner of North Poplar and West 5th Street. The map pin marks a later stop, the Dunhill Hotel on North Tryon Street, which the route reaches after Founders Hall and a pub.
Storm drain work is underway on West 6th Street between Poplar and Church, the far side of the cemetery's block. Queen City Today's closure list, updated October 23, 2026, has the 6th and Poplar intersection closed through January 1, 2027, and the city asks pedestrians to follow all signs.
Get there, open The Queen City Haunted Walking Tour and press play. The narrator's spooky voice, themed music and sound effects take it from there.