Ghost Tours - The Corporate Takeover You Didn’t See Coming
Local ghost tours are fighting for survival as national corporations flood the market with fake stories and deceitful practices. Discover how profit-driven chains are erasing the real history of our cities, and why supporting local tours is more important than ever.
Corporate greed is wiping out authentic haunted history—one ghost tour at a time.
Quick Points:
- Corporate Chains are Taking Over: Discover how national companies are flooding the ghost tour industry, erasing local stories for the sake of profit.
- Fake History, Real Profits: These companies fabricate haunted tales and mislead customers with false histories and empty promises.
- Exploitation Over Authenticity: Learn how corporate giants manipulate reviews, avoid local taxes, and exploit your city’s history while offering cookie-cutter tours.
- Real Stories Are Being Lost: Find out why local operators who care about preserving the true history of your city are struggling to survive.
- Deceptive Marketing Tactics Exposed: See how these companies claim to be featured in prestigious publications, but their banners are built on lies.
- False Reviews Are Everywhere: Discover how these companies inflate their ratings on platforms that sell their tickets while showing much lower reviews on independent sites.
- Your Choice Matters: You have the power to support real, authentic ghost tours that honor the history and spirit of your city.
Local Ghost Tours Versus National Corporate Ghost Tours
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The Dark Side of Ghost Tours: How Corporations Are Deceiving You
Yes we are a local tour and we have to say something!
What if the eerie stories you’ve been told on a ghost tour weren’t the scariest thing about the experience? Across the U.S., ghost tours have become the latest prey of corporate greed, and it’s the customers—and local communities—that are paying the price. From fake reviews to low-quality, scripted tours, national chains are quietly replacing authentic, local experiences with manufactured, profit-driven clones. Leaving genuine local operators fighting for survival or even worse abandoned and dead..
While you may think you’re embarking on a genuine adventure into haunted history, the reality could be far different. Beneath the surface of these glossy corporate operations lurk misleading stories, empty promises, and a web of deceit designed to reel you in—while delivering far less than advertised.
The following article exposes the intentions, methods, and objectives of many of these national companies. While we cannot name specific companies for legal reasons, we have conducted extensive research on our competitors over the past four years. This article is the result of that research, as well as our suspicions and observations.
As locals and travelers who value authenticity, quality, and the true spirit of our cities, you have the power to choose experiences that honor its history, reputation and your experience. But first, let’s take a closer look at what’s really happening in this industry.
The Corporate Takeover
The Corporate Takeover
As industries everywhere grapple with the aftermath of COVID-19, the tour sector has witnessed the aggressive encroachment of large national enterprises into local markets across the U.S. Disturbingly, these entities often show a complete lack of genuine ties or commitment to the communities they operate in.
Their tactics range from misrepresenting historical facts to failing to uphold service commitments, exploiting local brand identities, hacking local websites, manipulating reviews, evading local taxes, and engaging in deceitful online practices. Profit, it seems, takes precedence over authenticity and integrity.
In our town, for example, before COVID, there were three ghost tours—two local and one operated by a national conglomerate. Post-COVID, there are now as many as nine competing ghost tours, with only two being local and seven run by out-of-town national companies.
This is just one example of how the ghost and historical tour sectors have witnessed the flooding of national enterprises into local markets across the U.S.
We aim to raise awareness about the questionable operational tactics employed by certain corporate entities that have recently entered the local ghost tour industry across the United States.
The Dark Side of Corporate Ghost Tours: Deception and Exploitation
The Dark Side of Corporate Ghost & History Tours: Deception and Exploitation
In recent years, large corporate entities have aggressively infiltrated the ghost tour industry with questionable practices. These organizations are accused of mimicking and exploiting established local businesses, causing customer confusion and tarnishing the reputation of original operators.
Their actions range from copying tour names and fabricating historical narratives to failing to fulfill promises and manipulating online reviews. Additionally, many of these corporations have been linked to tactics that evade local taxes and deploy deceitful marketing strategies on review platforms.
A troubling pattern of unethical behavior has emerged, with these companies accused of:
- Intentionally mimicking established local ghost tours, leading to significant customer confusion.
- Fabricating historical facts, eroding the educational value and authenticity of the tours.
- Failing to honor commitments, resulting in dissatisfied customers and broken trust.
- Manipulating online reviews to their advantage, often harming genuine local operators.
- Engaging in deceitful marketing practices on review platforms.
Their approach is clear: prioritize profit over integrity and authenticity. From distorting history to exploiting local brands and even hacking attempts on websites, these corporations show little respect for the communities they exploit. The pursuit of profit consistently trumps the responsibility to preserve the true spirit of local ghost tours.
An Example
An example from one national company’s website: “Embark on a ghost tour in over 100 cities or spend the night in one of America’s most haunted houses.”
Conducting ghost tours is nothing like opening a McDonald’s, where the menu remains consistent across the country. Each city has its own distinct flavor, history, and character that must be honored. Many national companies fail to do this as they expand, rolling out one cookie-cutter website after another, just like their tours. They strip away the individuality and uniqueness of each city, overshadowing local tours with their aggressive marketing tactics. Do you really want a national chain to define the spirit of your city?
Should this national company be allowed to define the histories of over 100 cities?
Do you want to support companies with tactics like that?
Fabricated Stories and Business
Fabricated Stories and False Histories
National companies can’t truly honor the cities they operate in. Instead, they invade these communities, fabricating false histories and weaving lies to entertain, without any respect for authenticity. We’ve caught them doing this time and time again.
Here’s a real-world example: we visited a local candy store, and the owner asked if we were part of the tour group that occasionally gathers outside his shop, telling stories about its supposed hauntings for 5 to 10 minutes.
The owner finds it laughable because there’s no history of hauntings at his store. He’s never experienced anything remotely paranormal there.
If you’re looking for a tour that avoids real haunted locations, then by all means, choose one of these national tours. They’ll tell you that places are haunted, but many times, they’re just making things up.
Would you want to visit places with fabricated stories and be fed a lie?
Business Strategy Over Truth and Quality
From a purely business standpoint, it’s an easy strategy. Designing a tour becomes effortless when you can make up stories at various locations. It allows tours to move faster, be simpler to manage, and fit in more each night. But our tours visit actual haunted locations—and that requires effort. It means researching the history and getting the stories right.
We’ve caught these companies countless times fabricating history and creating false stories simply because it’s convenient. Of course they do—it’s easier when you’re operating in over 100 cities!
Another Example of Lies
Some of these national competitors boast banners or graphics claiming they’ve been “featured in” prestigious news outlets and publications. One company, for instance, lists over 25 major publications. But when you click the links, you find they’ve only been mentioned in a couple—and often not even for their tours.
In one case we reviewed, only 12% of the banner’s claims were accurate. They’re name-dropping magazines and authority sites that haven’t even covered them. It’s just another example of their deceptive marketing tactics.
False Reviews – Inconsistent Ratings Across Platforms and Seasons
Fake Ghost Tour Reviews – Inconsistent Ratings Across Platforms and Seasons
We’ve observed that on certain review sites, the ratings for some national companies fluctuate suspiciously. During slower periods of the year, their ratings are lower, but during the busy season—particularly in the summer and October—their reviews mysteriously improve. What causes these spikes in positive ratings during peak times and the drops during the off-season?
Even more concerning, while some platforms show glowing 4.0 to 5.0 ratings, other sites display much lower scores—ranging from the low 3s to even 2s. The pattern is clear: on platforms that don’t sell their tickets, like Yelp, the ratings are lower. Meanwhile, platforms that do sell their tickets tend to show much higher reviews for these national tours. We will revisit this topic in another article.
Can reviews really be trusted when they’re potentially influenced by financial incentives?
Additionally, we’ve found instances where high-scoring reviews from one city are included in the ratings for tours in entirely different cities. These glowing reviews aren’t even relevant to the location being rated.
Other Review Observations
We’ve examined reviews from several other cities and noticed similar suspicious patterns. We regularly receive offers from companies claiming they can generate 5-star reviews for us on major platforms — for a price. It’s likely that these national competitors are taking advantage of such services, but we do not. Paying for reviews, suppressing negative feedback, and faking ratings is not a path we’re willing to take.
In addition, some booking platforms used by these companies manipulate the review process. If a customer leaves a 4-star review or higher, the review is posted directly to the review site. However, if the rating is below 4 stars, the customer is misled into thinking their review was posted, when it was actually diverted to the company and discarded.
Be cautious when leaving critical reviews—national companies and their booking platforms often suppress negative feedback by design.
We look forward to the day when tools, like the one Firefox provides for Amazon, can filter out fake reviews and reveal the real ratings. We’re confident that our genuine reviews will remain strong, while the inflated ratings of these national companies will drop significantly.
Overall, many reviews show discrepancies, with national companies receiving glowing reviews on platforms they have financial relationships with, while independent sites often reflect far more critical feedback.
Clearly many of these companies have mastered the art of review manipulation, making their ratings highly questionable. There’s a high probability that many of their reviews are bought, incentivized, suppressed, or simply fabricated.
Legal Disputes and Complaints
Legal Disputes and Complaints
Don’t just take our word for it. If you dig a little deeper—like a paranormal investigator—you’ll discover that many of these national companies are entangled in multiple lawsuits, often against the companies themselves or their owners. They’ve been accused of unethical behavior and are frequently in court over predatory and deceptive practices. In many cases, if you look up the owners, you’ll find they’re personally involved in legal battles over unethical conduct, including allegations related to the MeToo and similar movements.
You have to dig beyond the first page of a Google search.
Additionally, check the employee reviews for these companies. You’ll find that many of them are riddled with complaints about misleading hiring practices, toxic leadership, low pay, lack of support, and retaliation against employees who speak out.
Local Ghost Tours – A Word
Local Ghost Tours – A Word
We have researched and partnered with local tour operators across the country, and we consistently find that they operate with higher integrity, pride in their cities, and a genuine focus on the community and customer experience—putting those values ahead of profit. Full disclosure: we are a local tour, and while this article may seem self-serving, we wouldn’t have written it if we hadn’t seen firsthand how these national companies are exploiting our history and our citizens for their own gain.
We’ve even hired former hosts from national companies, and they’ve confirmed much of what we’ve outlined here. Their firsthand accounts reveal how poorly these companies, with no roots in the cities they seek to dominate, treat their employees. A quick look at employee reviews of national companies will show you the same.
The local companies we’ve worked with are dedicated to providing top-notch experiences and truly care about their customers. While, of course, there are exceptions—some local companies may not meet expectations—our experience shows that poor practices are far more common among the national corporations than the local operators.
Conclusion: A Call to Preserve Authenticity
Conclusion: A Call to Support Local
The mission of these national companies is simple: profit, at any cost. As shown above, they care nothing for the cities they operate in, the heritage they exploit, or the people who live there (as evidenced by their treatment of employees). They don’t care about you—they care about profit.
In short, the relentless pursuit of profit by these corporations, aided by review platforms, is steadily eroding the soul of genuine, local tour experiences. As consumers, it’s our responsibility to recognize and challenge this trend. If authentic, heartfelt experiences matter, we must support local tour operators to ensure that their stories—and our cities’ histories—aren’t lost in the rush toward commercialization.
It’s a story as old as time. Feel good. Support local.
Time to get your hands dirty and investigate what is really going on…
We are known for disturbing stories, authentic well-researched history, with sarcastic cheesy humor (think lines like Ash in The Evil Dead or 80’s action hero comebacks).
No jump scares, so there will be no costumed people jumping out at you. Still some people do get scared, we just consider the tour to be spooky and creepy rather than scary. If you don’t like humor mixed in or are looking for jump scares, these may not be the tours for you.
Call now 619.255.6170, or book online to reserve your plot…we mean SPOT today!
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At Haunted San Diego Ghost Tours and San Diego History Tours, we bring the vibrant history and eerie tales of San Diego to life. As a locally-owned business, our expert guides offer authentic and detailed explorations of the city’s most iconic locations.
Whether you’re fascinated by the Victorian-era buildings of the Gaslamp Quarter or crave the thrill of our spine-chilling ghost tours, we provide unique and memorable experiences for all ages. By choosing us, you’re supporting a local business dedicated to the community and its heritage. With exceptional customer service and a satisfaction guarantee, we ensure you only pay for a tour you love. Book today and discover why we are the best in the nation!
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