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Interested in booking a tour in Roanoke? Book here!

We are not part of the roughly half of Americans who believe in ghosts. (Various surveys report between 40-60% of Americans believe in ghosts.) So, when US Ghost Adventures contacted us to see if we’d like a complimentary ghost tour in one of several cities, my natural inclination was to decline. But then I thought, what the heck, why not?! Neither of us has ever gone on a ghost tour before, so we had no preconceived idea of what to expect. Part of the reason I’ve never gone on one is because it’s not really my thing; for another, when I’m in a city, a ghost tour would never make anywhere near the top of my priority list of what I want to do; and also, I’ll admit that I get scared pretty easily. As Dustin is quick to point out, how can you get scared if you don’t believe in ghosts? Fair point. And I think it’s the idea that something could be creeping around that weirds me out, even if I don’t think there is. I was the kid who at sleepover stories would go hide in my sleeping bag covering my ears when the ghost stories came out. So a small part of me said yes to prove that I can totally handle this! My 10-year-old self would be impressed.

In this post, I’ll share a bit about US Ghost Adventures, which operates in many locations, and I’ll also focus specifically on the experience on the Roanoke, Virginia, tour.

What is US Ghost Adventures?

(If all you’re interested in is the Roanoke, Virginia, experience, please skip ahead to the next section!)

The origin story of US Ghost Adventures is pretty interesting in and of itself. Its early origin dates to 2012 when its founder, Lance Zaal, decided to try his hand at an entrepreneurial endeavor. After September 11th, a 17-year old Zaal enlisted in the US Marines and completed a couple of deployments in Iraq and one in Latin America before heading to college. There, he began early entrepreneurial efforts like creating a not-for-profit to assist other veterans. Zaal worked on his MBA and got exposure to consulting firms. As part of his graduate program, he needed to develop a business and since he was a bit of a foodie who made recommendations to friends in town, he started a foodie tour and learned a lot about running a business. During his final semester in business school, he was laid off from his full-time job and long story short, ended up creating a ghost tour business after going on a ghost tour and identifying ways to make it even better.

What’s also interesting about Zaal is that he is a mission-driven individual focused on improving lives of others around him. His business donates to various causes that align with the mission to better lives (read more here), and as it got established, it started building in a historic preservation component. US Ghost Adventures' first major purchase was the Lizzie Borden House in 2021, followed by several other historic properties.

You can read more about Lance Zaal on his personal website here.

Today, US Ghost Adventures operates in over 200 US cities with the goal of ‘shining a light on the forgotten, honoring the past, and making the world a little better - one story, one experience, one guest at a time.’

US Ghost Adventures - Tour in Roanoke, Virginia

The Roanoke US Ghost Adventures tour is currently (as of Fall 2025) offered nightly at 8pm. The tour meets downtown at the First Baptist Church at 7:45pm. We selected a Saturday night in mid-October, which I imagine may be a more popular time - beautiful weather and spooky Halloween around the corner. In addition to us, there were ten other individuals, mostly adult couples. Our tour guide was friendly, a great storyteller, and brand new - she told us we were her first tour and her prior experience shadowing a colleague was in another city. She definitely had studied in advance and did a great job for her first tour.

How long is the US Ghost Adventures tour in roanoke?

The tour is supposed to last an hour with one mile of walking. By the time we made it back to the car, it was about 70 minutes in total and 1.7 miles according to my GPS watch. There is an ‘extended tour’ option, which we did not have, which is supposed to add another 30 minutes and up to four additional locations.

what route does the us ghost adventures tour take in roanoke?

After starting at the First Baptist Church, the tour proceeds along the tour route with stops as specific points for the tour guide to share stories of hauntings at that location. The route took us first to the beautiful Tudor-style Hotel Roanoke and the nearby O. Winston Link Museum before crossing the train tracks via overpass to the main part of downtown Roanoke. Once in the heart of downtown Roanoke, the stops included the historic City Market building, Corned Beef & Company (restaurant), Bernard’s Gastropub (restaurant), Mill Mountain Theater, and old Opera Roanoke (now a modern hotel).

what to expect on the roanoke ghost tour through us ghost adventures

It is important to note that the tour guides do not have permission to access any of these buildings and so the tour will remain outside while stories of the location are shared. If you go on a beautiful night like we did, it’s a great way to get to explore Roanoke at night and get some fun night photography along the way.

In addition to sharing prepared stories as part of the tour, our guide shared her one personal tale of a haunting, and she encouraged others on the tour to share theirs. Two individuals indicated they’d had some potential experience with a ghost and shared their stories.

In addition to the regular tour or the extended tour option, guests can also rent (in advance) an EMF detector that will (purportedly) tell them if ghosts are nearby. On our tour of 12, two individuals had EMF detectors, and neither detected anything. (The science of an EMF detector is that it indicates Electromagnetic Fields. These can be caused by all sorts of electricity and electrical devices.)

would we recommend us ghost tours roanoke?

It depends on what you’re looking for. If you are a ghost and hauntings aficionado, then absolutely. If you enjoy ghost stories and the idea of a guided tour through a city at night, yes. If you don’t believe in ghosts, aren’t particularly interested in a nighttime walking tour, and have a high expectation of compelling ghost stories, this probably isn’t the right activity for you. At least one other guest on our tour talked about taking other ghost tours in other cities, so this definitely seems to be a whole world of ghost tours that we previously knew nothing about. We appreciate the opportunity to have this experience and view our city in a new way. Want to book your own tour in Roanoke or one of the hundreds of other cities? Book a tour in Roanoke here. And view the currently available other locations here!