Haunted Atchison Trolley Tours 200 South 10th Street Atchison, Kansas 66002 (800) 234-1854 Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays in October $12/person

Haunted Atchison Trolley

Atchison, Kansas was named the "Most Haunted Town in Kansas" in the 1997 book Haunted Kansas: Ghost Stories and Other Eerie Tales. For many years Haunted Atchison Trolley Tours have been offered by the Chamber of Commerce in the fall.

In 2023, the 1 hour ghost tours are offered Thursday, Friday & Saturday afternoons in October plus October 30 & 31. The tours leave the Visitor Information Center in the 1880 AT&SF freight depot at 200 S. 10th Street.

This reporter first took the Haunted Trolley Tour in 2004. The tour was fun, but would have been more effective if the guides provided all the commentary instead of the slightly cheesy tape recording. 

The Haunted Trolley Tour changes from year to year and different locations are visited. A tour guide said they could do three days of tours with different haunted locations in Atchison.

We have done this tour twice in more recent years, and no one has reported seeing a ghost during any of our tour. While the guides describe some of their own experiences with Atchison's many haunted locations, they didn't say that there were ghost sightings on previous trolley tours.

The trolley tours sell out early, so contact the Atchison Chamber tours as early as possible. Tickets are $12 for all ages.

Self guided tours of the Sallie House are available through out the year on Sunday to Thursday by appointment for $20/person and overnight stays cost $125-150/night with a two person minimum. Details and Reservations

It is also possible to book self guided tours for $15 or an overnight stay at the McInteer Villa for $300-400 for up to 10 people. Details

Two hour tours of the Dilgert House are $20 and 4 Hour Paranormal Investigations are $150.  Details  

Guided tours of the R.A. Park Home are $20. Details  
 
 
 

The first house on the 2019 tour is the McInteer Villa on Kansas Avenue. It was built by Irish Immigrant, John McInteer in 1890. John was a skilled harness maker. Among the activities reported in this house are lights in the tower which has no lighting, ghostly figures appearing in the tower windows and in family photographs. When things are active, there are footsteps, other noises and doors slam shut. The guide on my 2007 tour was a friend of the family who then lived in the house and had personal stories to share. The McInteer Villa is just one of 24 buildings in Atchison on the National Register of Historical Places. Many of the homes are included on the tour of haunted houses. Different angle of the McInteer Villa. One of the most famous haunted Atchison homes is the Balie (B. P.) Waggener home on N 4th Street. Built in the mid 1880's by a railroad attorney and politician. Legend is that Waggener became wealthy through a pact with the devil and the gargoyles were place on the roof to honor the pact. The second owner of the home is reported as attempting to remove the gargoyles, but fell to his death on the staircase. When the Travel Channel did a segment about haunted Atchison, Kansas, they brought paranormal investigator Sueanne Pool and Verle Muhrer to the Waggener home. Pool and Muhrer walked around the home and claimed to have felt the presence of ghosts and picked up the presence of ghosts on their special equipment. The Atchison Daily Globe says that the "current owners - Paul and Marsha Adair - say that the figures are not gargoyles, but griffins that watch over the house." The B. P. Waggener home  is another building on the National Register of Historical Places. This vacant lot in the 1100 block of Riley Street was once a road house. The road house may have been the eastern terminus of the Pony Express during the last few months of its brief existence. Some people report hearing the sound of fiddle playing and dancing coming from this location. The Old Hoof & Horn at the Riverhouse Restaurant is a part of the 2019 Tour. (now closed) During a meal at the restaurant in 2007, I asked my server about the ghost, and she told me that a female ghost has been seen in the ladies rest room. She hadn't see the ghost, but had experienced a mirror flying off the wall and breaking, and a cell phone flying of a table and across the room. The Riverhouse closed and was replaced by the Pepper Mill & Co, but that restaurant closed as well. .

copyright 2004-2024 by Keith Stokes