Walk Old Philadelphia by Candlelight With a Costumed Storyteller
A night walk past Independence Hall, Washington Square and Powel House, with the city's ghost stories told by a guide in costume.
The operator describes this as old-fashioned storytelling. Its FAQ says a live guide spins each tale with personality and the story itself as the special effect, without props, videos or contrived encounters. The walk covers Independence Park, Old City and Society Hill after dark, on the lesser-traveled streets, and the tour is based on the book Ghost Stories of Philadelphia, PA, which the operator sells alongside its tickets.
By the operator's account, its storytellers typically spend two months learning the stories, and each guide brings a different style. A guest in May 2025 described the rhythm at each stop: the storyteller first gives the historical explanations, then tells a ghost story.
The booking calendar sells one departure, at 7:30 PM. The booking page lists USD 29 per adult, from age 13, and USD 18 per child, ages 4 to 12, and children have to come with an adult. A full refund applies to cancellations made at least 24 hours before the start.
Ghost Tour of Philadelphia by CandlelightCandlelight walk from Signers' Garden · 7:30 PM · Costumed guidewww.viator.comFour Listed Stops, Seen From Outside
The listing names four places and gives each about five minutes. At Independence Hall, the story involves the building's security guards and an unknown entity. Library Hall on 5th Street is one of the places where, the listing says, Ben Franklin's spirit is known to appear. Washington Square, now a public park, is described as a one-time burial ground home to a wandering ghost, and Powel House in Society Hill as a colonial mayor's mansion that harbors more than one lost soul.
None of the four includes admission. Plan on hearing the stories from outside. A guest in November 2024 wished the tour went inside at least one of the haunted places. The operator's own page also names City Tavern among the sites it talks about, and guests in 2023 and 2026 wrote about seeing figures at the Bishop White House.
Washington Square Was a Burial Ground First
The ghost story at Washington Square sits on documented ground. The park service says William Penn patented the square in 1706 as a Potter's Field, a public graveyard for the poor, that it served as a military cemetery during the Revolutionary War, and that more than 1,300 victims of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic filled the remaining space. The memorial there, designed by architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh in the 1950s, holds the remains of an unknown Revolutionary War soldier, and its inscription says that within this square lie thousands of unknown soldiers of Washington's army who died of wounds and sickness during the Revolutionary War.
The walk ends at 2nd and Walnut, by City Tavern. The park service notes that the original tavern was demolished in 1854 and that the building standing there today is a 1975 reconstruction.
How Big the Group Gets
The listing sells up to 35 places on a shared departure, and one booking takes up to 10 people. The operator says tour sizes are limited and that it calls in additional guides as needed. A guest in August 2026 still found too many in the group, and a 2023 guest wrote that the guide walked fast enough to leave people behind at street crossings.
Rain, Wheelchairs and Kids
The walk goes out in the rain. The listing says it operates in all weather conditions, and the operator's FAQ says it makes every attempt to run, suggests an umbrella, and typically decides at tour time if conditions turn severe, in which case cancelled tours may be rescheduled or refunded.
Both the listing and the operator's FAQ say the walk is wheelchair accessible. A guest in May 2025 described lots of walking over uneven surfaces, and comfortable walking shoes are the operator's own advice. The park service says paved sidewalks with curb cuts run along the perimeter of all blocks in the park, and the walk also goes beyond those blocks into Society Hill. The operator calls the tour family appropriate. A parent who went with a 12-year-old in 2023 wrote, "It wasn't spooky, just very interesting."
🕯️ Meet at Signers' Garden, the fenced-in courtyard at the southeast corner of 5th and Chestnut Streets. The operator asks guests to arrive at least 10 minutes before tour time.
- Getting there: SEPTA's 5th St/Independence Hall station on the Market-Frankford Line sits at 5th and Market and is listed as ADA accessible. The park service points drivers to the AutoPark at Independence Mall, a paid underground garage beneath the Independence Visitor Center, which the parking authority lists as open 24 hours a day.
- Restrooms: the park service lists its nearby restrooms, at the Independence Visitor Center and at the northwest corner of 5th and Chestnut, as closing by 6:00 PM.
- Dates: as of October 21, 2026, the booking calendar shows the 7:30 PM walk nightly through November 14, then Fridays and Saturdays only through November 28, with nothing loaded after November 30. The operator's own schedule lists weekends only from December through February.
- Not included: gratuities and hotel pickup. Tickets bought directly from the operator are non-refundable; the 24-hour refund above applies to this booking.
Bring a camera. The operator says many people have sent it creepy photos taken on the tour.