From the Omni Parker House to the Granary Burying Ground, these are the locations where Boston's supernatural history is most concentrated.
This article is part of our comprehensive Boston ghost tours guide. Whether you're planning a visit or researching from afar, these stories reveal a side of Boston most visitors never see.
Omni Parker House — 60 School Street
What draws locals and historians to Boston's most haunted corners?
## History
The Omni Parker House opened on September 17, 1855, founded by Harvey D. Parker (1816–1884), a Boston entrepreneur and innovator, at 60 School Street (at the corner of Tremont Street), across from the Old South Meeting House in downtown Boston. It claims well-documented culinary and cultural pedigree: the hotel is credited with the invention of the Parker House roll and the Boston cream pie in the mid-19th century, and it hosted prominent figures such as Charles Dickens (who stayed November 1–28, 1867) and Malcolm X (who worked there briefly as a bellboy in 1941–1943 before his rise to prominence in the Nation of Islam). The building that stands today is the result of several renovations and a major rebuilding completed in 1927 that preserved the historic Parker House brand while adding modern amenities, ensuring its continued reputation as a center of Boston society and culture.
### Reported hauntings
Staff and visitors report an array of unexplained phenomena that are often described respectfully and without sensationalism. Accounts include footsteps heard in unoccupied hallways, muffled late-night piano music on the mezzanine that cannot be traced to a player, and bedsheet-tugging in rooms where no practical cause is found. One frequent theme in local reports is a presence that seems more curious than malevolent—an entity described as a “polite” presence that moves objects, opens drawers, and leaves lights on or off in patterns witnesses interpret as attention-seeking rather than harmful. These experiences have been mentioned in local guidebooks and oral histories collected by Boston folklorists.
### Practical notes
Guests at 60 School Street should expect a historic, busy downtown hotel with contemporary amenities and a long service record. For those taking a haunted-history perspective, the Parker House is often included in walking routes that pair culinary history with reported phenomena. As with other historical sites listed here, what is presented are reports and local lore—some investigations have been carried out by independent paranormal teams, but archival records and contemporary witness testimony form the backbone of what is known about lore at this location.
Paul Revere House — 19 North Square
## History
The Paul Revere House, at 19 North Square in the North End, is one of Boston’s oldest surviving residential structures, with parts of the house dating to about 1680. Paul Revere (1734–1818), the Boston silversmith and patriotic messenger, purchased the home in 1770 for £200 (approximately $40,000 in modern currency) and lived there during his famous midnight ride of April 18–19, 1775, warning colonists of the British troop movements, and for many years afterward until his death at age 84. The house is now a city-run historic site and museum preserving 18th-century domestic life in Boston; its provenance is well documented through property records and period inventories.
### Reported hauntings
Visitors and docents occasionally report subtle, eerily timed occurrences that are framed in terms of atmosphere rather than horror. Common reports include a sudden chill in the cellar area, faint footsteps in the second-floor rooms when tours are absent, and an occasional sense from visitors that “someone in colonial clothing” has been seen at the edge of a doorway. These anecdotes are usually recorded in the museum’s anecdotal guestbooks or shared among guides. One of the longer-run accounts compiled by local folklorists describes a late-afternoon visitor who experienced a clear scent of pipe tobacco—often associated with 18th-century interpretations—while standing in the kitchen area where no tobacco was present. For related history, see our the freedom trail's dark side: death,.
### Practical notes
As a museum at 19 North Square, the Paul Revere House operates with regular hours and guided tours; it is an essential stop for those tracing Boston’s revolutionary-era history. Any mention of hauntings at this address is presented alongside extensive, verifiable historical context—dates of ownership, Revere’s role in Boston in 1775, and the house’s restoration history—so readers understand which parts are archival fact and which belong to the city’s living folklore of places.
Old Granary Burying Ground & King’s Chapel Burying Ground — Tremont Street / School Street
## History
The Old Granary Burying Ground, established in 1660 near the intersection of Tremont and School Streets in downtown Boston, is the final resting place of several Founding Fathers and Revolutionary War leaders, including Samuel Adams (1722–1803) organizer of the Boston Tea Party, John Hancock (1737–1793) whose large signature appears on the Declaration of Independence, and Paul Revere (1734–1818). Nearby King's Chapel Burying Ground (established in 1630 on School Street) and the adjacent graveyards in the area preserve centuries of Boston’s civic memory. These sites are cornerstones of Boston’s historical landscape and are well-documented in municipal and church records.
### Reported hauntings
Cemetery-based tales are a staple of Boston’s folkloric tradition. Visitors report low-level phenomena—disembodied footsteps among the stones late in the day, the sensation of being watched, and unexplained photographic anomalies such as orbs and mists on long-exposure images taken at dusk. Edward Rowe Snow, a local author and folklorist who compiled New England ghost stories in the mid-20th century, collected oral accounts about these burying grounds that circulated among Bostonians through the 1950s and later. One recurring modern report involves tourists taking photos near Hancock’s grave who later find an indistinct silhouette in the background on developed images; the witnesses typically attribute this to light or lens effects, yet the stories persist in guidebook margins.
### Practical notes
The burying grounds are public and freely accessible; visitors should respect posted hours and local regulations. For researchers and history-minded visitors, tombstone inscriptions, epitaphs, and documented grave locations supply valuable genealogy and civic history. With folklore layered over archival facts, these spaces function as both civic memorials and loci of storytelling—quiet places where documented history and reported phenomena coexist in Boston’s public imagination. For related history, see our boston harbor islands.
Old State House — 206 Washington Street
## History
The Old State House, located at 206 Washington Street (at the corner of State Street), is the oldest public building in Boston and was completed in 1713. It served as the seat of the royal colonial government of Massachusetts Bay and played a central role in the events that led to the American Revolution, including the political rhetoric that swelled around the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, which occurred on the street directly adjacent to its front steps (now marked with a red brick circle), causing massive public outcry and contributing to Revolutionary sentiment. Today the building is a museum operated by the Bostonian Society and sits at the intersection of history and daily urban life on the Freedom Trail.
### Reported hauntings
Because the Old State House is a reenactment-heavy site and an active museum, most reported phenomena are recorded by staff and guards. Accounts include guards hearing footsteps in the Council Chamber after hours, disembodied voices near the staircases, and a sense of historical “presence” during particularly quiet winter nights. Several guards have described sensing a procession of soldiers outside—a detail that aligns with the building’s 18th-century use and the proximity of the Boston Massacre site. These reports are typically reported to museum administration and logged in staff incident reports; they are presented by historians as part of the building’s intangible heritage, not as provable scientific fact.
### Practical notes
Visitors to 206 Washington Street will find robust historical interpretation and artifact displays documenting colonial governance. Any mention of hauntings is framed within the museum’s educational mission: the Old State House's reputation for historical gravitas allows reported experiences to be contextualized with contemporary documents—trial records, eyewitness transcripts from 1770, and period maps—so researchers can separate archival record from modern anecdote in the conversation about history.
Old North Church & Copp’s Hill Burying Ground — 193 Salem Street / Hull Street
## History
Christ Church in the City of Boston, known as the Old North Church, was built in 1723 at 193 Salem Street and earned lasting fame for the lantern signal on April 18, 1775, that warned of British troop movements—“One if by land, two if by sea.” Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, just up the hill on Hull Street, dates to 1659 and contains graves of many colonial-era Bostonians. Both sites are integral to the North End’s Revolutionary War narrative and are documented in parish records and municipal archives. For related history, see our the boston strangler.
### Reported hauntings
Oral tradition and guidebook entries note atmospheric experiences at these sites: parishioners and visitors report unexplained shadows among the pews at evening services, the scent of pipe tobacco near the gift shop without a source, and the sensation of footsteps on the old floorboards when no movement is seen. Copp’s Hill, overlooking the harbor, has produced tales of spectral sailors and figures in period attire walking the paths between headstones at dusk—stories collected by folklorists and local historians, including some recounted by Edward Rowe Snow in mid-century compilations. Photographers occasionally report anomalies in images taken at twilight—spots and streaks that residents often attribute to Boston’s layered maritime past rather than to contemporary explanation.
### Practical notes
Both sites are active tourist locations with clear signage and stewardship. Those interested in the aspects will find that the most reliable approach is to combine on-site observation with parish and burial records—one can learn when individual interments occurred, who the sextons were, and how the sites were used in wartime—so the lore can be placed next to verifiable municipal history.
Liberty Hotel (Former Charles Street Jail) — 215 Charles Street
## History
The structure that is now the Liberty Hotel at 215 Charles Street (on Beacon Hill, overlooking the Charles River) was designed by Boston architect Gridley J. F. Bryant and constructed in 1851 as the Charles Street Jail. The jail was in continuous use for over 139 years (1851–1990) before its closure and subsequent conversion. In the early 2000s, the building underwent a high-profile adaptive reuse and reopened as the Liberty Hotel in 2007. The facility’s architecture—heavy stonework, thick cell blocks, and a central rotunda—remains unmistakable and well recorded in architectural histories of Boston.
### Reported hauntings
Because of its penal past, the building attracts particular attention from those interested in dark-site folklore. Staff and guests over the years have reported cold spots along former cell corridors, the sound of disembodied footsteps after midnight, and doors that open or close without mechanical cause. Anecdotes collected by local paranormal groups often include night-shift servers and housekeeping staff reporting the sensation of being watched in former cells when the areas are closed to the public. While some accounts are framed as personal impressions rather than scientific claims, the consistency across reports—cold spots, transient lights, impressions of fleeting figures—makes the Liberty Hotel one of the more frequently mentioned destinations in contemporary local lore.
### Practical notes
The Liberty Hotel is a high-end property functioning as a hotel and event venue; visits oriented around the building’s history should respect guest privacy and hotel policies. For those researching the site, prison construction records and the municipal archives provide documented facts—building dates, notable inmates, and closure records—while personal accounts from staff and guests supply the anecdotal layer that has turned many former penal sites into hubs of reported phenomena. Together, these elements allow historians and folklorists to treat reported hauntings with measured, respectful skepticism.
