Chicago Private Nightmares and Nightcaps Tour

Your group meets its costumed guide at a haunted Lincoln Park bar and orders an optional nightcap while the guide explains who else is drinking there, and for how many decades. Then you head out for about a mile of walking through historic North Chicago, past brownstones, alleys and the edges of a park that was once the city cemetery and never entirely stopped being one. The stories are the ones we save for adults: unmarked graves, violent ends and residents who refused to be evicted by anything as minor as death.

This is the right call for a friends' night out, a bachelorette crew that wants chills with its cocktails, a date night with a pulse or a work team that prefers one good drink and a lot of good stories to a long bar crawl. Private tours run every day with start times from 1 pm to 8:30 pm, and the duration, meeting location and drink stop can be adjusted to your group. If your hotel is close to the route, the guide may be able to meet you there.

Pricing starts at $325 for up to 10 guests, with additional tickets from $25, and rises to $375 from mid-September through mid-November. One guide takes 18 to 22 guests depending on the date; groups of 16 or more book by email and larger groups add a guide. This Chicago version is 21 and over with valid ID. Parking is tight, so ride-share or the train to Fullerton Station is the easy way in.

What's included

• 90-minute private ghost walk for ages 21+
• Opening stop at a haunted Lincoln Park bar with optional nightcap
• Costumed guide and storyteller for your group only
• About one mile of walking through historic North Chicago
• Flexible start time, 1 pm to 8:30 pm, any day
• Not included: drinks, food, taxes, fees and gratuity