Galveston ghost tours

Night settles over Broadway, the old mansions go quiet, and your guide starts talking. Ashton Villa, the Adams League Mansion, the Mansard House: every house has a story, and some have residents who never checked out.

This is the ghost tour to start with. Spooky enough for goosebumps, easy enough for the whole family, and over before anyone gets tired.

The city lights shimmer on the water, the ships loom in the dark, and the stories begin: the haunted legends of the port and the people who lived and died on Galveston's waterfront.

Done walking for the day? Sit back, feel the breeze and let the harbor deliver the spookiest hour of your trip.

As darkness falls, you step between weathered headstones in three of Galveston's historic cemeteries, half an hour in each, among the graves of the families who built the island.

Every grave has a name, and many have a story. Your guide tells them where they rest, along with the ghost tales that go with them. Bring your nerve.

Round up the kids and head downtown after dark. Past the Tremont House, the old opera house lofts and St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica, your guide reveals the ghost stories hiding behind Galveston's prettiest facades.

A little history, a little fright and a story at every stop. Nobody has to stay at the hotel tonight.

Yellow fever swept the island. Then came the 1900 Storm. The people Galveston lost rest in the Broadway cemeteries, and after dark your guide brings their stories back to life.

Bring your phone: guests are invited to try for a ghost photo of their own. Who knows what shows up on the screen.

By day the Strand is shops, oyster bars and ice cream. After dark it shows its other face: Victorian buildings where people report things they can't explain, and the stories behind them.

Dinner first, ghosts second. It's the perfect way to end a night downtown.

Ghost stories go down easier with a drink in hand. Murders, Civil War soldiers, hurricane victims: between rounds at downtown's bars, your guide serves up Galveston's darkest tales.

Bring the birthday crew, the girls' weekend or just your partner. It's a night out and a ghost tour in one, and nobody has to plan the route.

One storyteller, the old Strand streets after dark and 90 minutes of tales. This walk carries on Dash Beardsley's Strand ghost walk, starting on the Railroad Museum steps.

Old-school and atmospheric, it's for anyone who loves a good story told well.

When the family tours go home, this one begins. True crime, historical violence and the stories nobody tells the kids, in three long stops around the Strand.

For adults and older teens who want more than a gentle spook. Come curious, leave a little rattled.

Galveston once ran wide open. Behind the respectable facades were brothels, bootleggers and mob money, and this walk takes you right to their doors.

History with an edge and plenty of scandal, for grown-ups who like their stories unfiltered.

Behind the grand facades near downtown, real crimes happened. You stop at historic mansions and hear what went on inside, no ghosts required.

For true-crime fans and anyone who finds real history scarier than any ghost story.

Haunted houses, old cemeteries and island legends, and you glide between them on a Segway. Pirates, epidemics, the mob and the hurricanes: two hours of stories across far more of Galveston than a walk can reach.

A ghost tour and a joyride in one. Your feet will thank you.