Spooky season is around the corner. Here is a sampling of places in the Tulsa area that have a chilling reputation (visit at your own risk).
Tulsa Spirit Tours
Founded in 2003 by Teri French, Tulsa’s longest-running ghost tour returns this fall with more ghostly goodness. If haunted history intrigues you, check out their flagship tour, “Haunted Tulsa,” is a bus tour (two hours, $40 plus fees) that teaches about Tulsa’s ghost stories, urban legends and more.
Tour guides do not guarantee participants a paranormal experience but advise them to be prepared, just in case, since the places being visited have had accounts of paranormal activity. Guests will be shown chilling photos and hear real EVPs (electronic voice phenomena, aka disembodied voices on a digital recorder).
If (ghostly) pale ales are more your style, Tulsa Spirit Tours also offers a Haunted Pub Crawl (2 1/2 hours, $30, includes food/appetizers). On this walking tour through the Tulsa Arts District, you’ll learn about the haunted history of some of the bars in downtown Tulsa.
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Other tours include the Serial Killers Tour and the Creepy Christmas Lights Tour. See the full schedule and buy tickets at tulsaspirittour.com.
Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum, Pawnee
The home of the Wild West entertainer is said to still be occupied by the man himself — as well as his wife, May Lillie, and others. Visitors might see the ghost of Pawnee Bill in an eerie painting upstairs in the 14-room, two-story mansion. Visitors have reported cold spots in the home, including in an upper bedroom and near the front door. An unexplained chill reportedly also has been felt near the radio tower, where Bill’s son Billy tragically hanged himself at age 9 while playing with a friend.
The all-ages Mansion Tour (which, it should be noted, is not a “ghost tour” per se) lasts 35 minutes. Admission for adults is $7, seniors (62+) $5, students age 6–18 $4, children 5 and under free, veterans and active military (with ID) free. See okhistory.org for more.
Hunter’s Home, Park Hill
Last year, Oklahoma’s only surviving antebellum home offered Virtual Ghost Stories during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guides told of the legends that surround the former George M. Murrell Home, such as the mysterious black dog that suddenly appeared along the local creek behind the home one night more than 150 years ago, the apparition of a woman who appears in the home’s attic window or the specter of a little girl who has been seen on the stairs.
The museum didn’t have any in-person events scheduled for this fall at press time, but a representative said to stay tuned to the Hunter’s Home Facebook page for an announcement soon to come. In the meantime, the home’s YouTube page is frequently updated with videos, giving viewers the taste of a tour: youtube.com/user/murrellhome/videos.