Harpers Ferry Ghosts Self Guided Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Begin high above Lower Town at historic St. Peter’s, the only Harpers Ferry church to escape serious Civil War damage. Father Michael Costello reportedly protected it by flying a British Union Jack, and today visitors tell stories of his ghost walking beside the church, reading from a book before seemingly disappearing through a wall. Greg Harpers Ferry Ghosts Walki…

   10 min

2. Descend a remarkable staircase cut by hand into the bedrock during the 1800s and now incorporated into the Appalachian Trail. Generations have worn the stone smooth—and according to local lore, not every set of footsteps heard here belongs to someone still living.

   5 min

3. See one of Lower Town’s oldest buildings, begun by town founder Robert Harper in 1775. Legend says his wife Rachel secretly buried money near the house before dying in 1780, and visitors have reported seeing an old-fashioned woman staring silently from an upstairs window—as though she is still guarding the missing fortune.

   Passes by

4. Stand where two federal arsenal buildings once held an enormous stockpile of weapons. Federal troops burned the arsenal in 1861 rather than let it fall intact into Confederate hands, but ghost stories here reach even further back: visitors report phantom drums, fifes and the synchronized footsteps of an invisible military column.

   10 min

5. Step into the tiny brick building where John Brown and his surviving raiders made their final stand in October 1859. Visitors have reported seeing an ordinary-looking bearded man near the doorway—sometimes identified as Brown—only to discover afterward that the mysterious figure wasn't visible in their photographs. Greg Harpers Ferry Ghosts Walki…

   5 min

6. Walk the narrow passage associated with Dangerfield Newby, the first of John Brown’s raiders to die. Newby had joined Brown after unsuccessfully trying to purchase the freedom of his wife and children, and local ghost lore tells of a solitary man in an old-fashioned hat still wandering the alley as though searching for something he lost. Greg Harpers Ferry Ghosts Walki…

   10 min

7. One of Harpers Ferry’s most frightening legends lives along these railroad tracks. “Screaming Jenny” is said to be the spirit of a woman whose clothing caught fire before she ran onto the tracks and was struck by a train; later engineers reportedly described seeing a fiery female apparition racing toward their locomotives on dark and misty nights. Greg Harpers Ferry Ghosts Walki…

   10 min

8. These two historic houses predate the Civil War and now form one of the tour’s classic haunted-inn stops. Guests and staff have reported unexplained footsteps, mysteriously moved objects, a woman appearing inside the building and an apparition dressed as a soldier.

   Passes by

9. Robert Harper set aside these four acres as a burial ground in 1782 and was buried here himself that same year. Many graves eventually lost their markers and identities, while ghost stories tell of sudden cold spots and silent human-shaped figures appearing among the headstones and trees. Greg Harpers Ferry Ghosts Walki…

   10 min

10. Finish at one of the most historically layered buildings on the tour. Built in 1848, Lockwood House became a Civil War headquarters, jail, supply depot and hospital before later becoming a school for formerly enslaved African Americans; visitors have since reported unexplained footsteps, noises and dark human-shaped figures moving through apparently empty rooms. Greg Harpers Ferry Ghosts Walki… Greg Harpers Ferry Ghosts Walki…

    Passes by

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Know before you go

How it compares in Frederick

• Its from-price is 98% below the median of the 15 experiences we list in Frederick.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Frederick

Frederick is a historic Maryland city of church spires and brick streets in a valley beneath the Catoctin Mountains, close to Civil War battlefields.

Frederick sits in a broad valley beneath Catoctin Mountain in north-central Maryland. Its centre of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century brick buildings is known as the City of Clustered Spires for the church steeples that rise above its roofs. Carroll Creek Linear Park, a landscaped promenade with bridges and a mural, runs through downtown. Francis Scott Key, who wrote the words of The Star-Spangled Banner, practised law in Frederick and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Top-ranked sights in Frederick: National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

See all 15 experiences in Frederick