When David Dominé moved to Louisville, Kentucky, for legislation faculty within the Nineties, he was captivated by the historic district of Previous Louisville, lined with stately Victorian mansions. After he purchased a apparently haunted residence within the neighborhood—and had “some unusual issues occur” there—he started researching the ghost tales instructed within the space. That led Dominé to write down books in regards to the group’s legendary hauntings.
Quickly, reader curiosity satisfied him to supply excursions, resulting in a enterprise he calls Louisville Historic Excursions. Dominé’s firm now has about 9 tour guides, largely individuals occupied with native historical past. Many reside within the neighborhoods the place they offer excursions. “We began off with ghost excursions—these appear to be the preferred—however we additionally do historical past and structure excursions, [and] we do meals excursions,” he says.
Throughout the nation, individuals enthusiastic about historical past and curious in regards to the supernatural have adopted the same path. In an age of ghost-hunting TV reveals, YouTube channels, and podcasts, they mix historic storytelling with spooky native legends—and steadily function at evening after different points of interest shut down. “They stunned me for being these wealthy and sort of sophisticated little storytelling tasks, although they had been clearly sensationalist generally,” says Heidi Aronson Kolk, a professor at Washington College in St. Louis who has written about ghost excursions.
However the recreation has modified, because of the ascendance of multicity ghost tour chains. As with different industries, from trip hailing to information media, the web has contributed to their rise. These outfits benefit from economies of scale in centralizing operations like reservations, human sources, and even tour route planning, whereas leveraging search engine marketing and internet advertising experience to be the primary ghost tour choice vacationers see.
The rise of on-line advertising has, nonetheless, introduced with it quite a few disputes between native ghost tour operators and a handful of nationwide chains over mental property, with tour firms accusing each other of copying tour titles and enterprise names in an effort to recreation search listings. Huge tour firms have additionally confronted allegations of plagiarizing tour content material from native operators in a rush to develop. Some have additionally confronted allegations of violating labor legal guidelines round topics like unbiased contractor classification and additional time pay as they recruit a nationwide workforce of tour guides and different workers.
Lengthy-standing tour operators say chain operators can seem like simply one other internet-based hustle with little consideration for what was as soon as a comfy business presided over by native historical past buffs. “Competitors isn’t a nasty factor, however you’ve bought to sort of be respectful,” Dominé says. “You may’t simply go in and replica what somebody’s doing, use their info, and issues like that.”
“You may’t personal historical past”
Dominé has firsthand expertise with these types of disputes. In 2022, he sued a ghost tour chain known as Ghost Metropolis Excursions, which payments itself as “the world’s largest and finest ghost tour firm,” serving greater than 600,000 prospects per yr and promoting excursions in a minimum of 26 U.S. cities. Dominé alleged copyright infringement and unfair competitors, saying Ghost Metropolis included tales from his books—together with fictionalized parts—into its excursions and labored his title into advertising supplies, falsely implying his endorsement. Citing a nondisclosure settlement, Dominé declined to touch upon the case, which settled in 2023. Ghost Metropolis Excursions declined to make somebody out there for an interview for this text, citing considerations about revealing proprietary info.
One other chain, known as US Ghost Adventures (USGA), presents excursions in additional than 150 cities, from Akron, Ohio, to Yorktown, Virginia, and claims to have greater than 1,000 “native consultants and skilled guides” on workers. The corporate was based by serial entrepreneur and Marine Corps veteran Lance Zaal, who has mentioned the enterprise grew out of efforts to construct a cell tour information app. Zaal, who didn’t reply to questions requested by way of e-mail, additionally operates a broader tourism web site known as Tourismo.
Lately, Zaal has additionally bought apparently haunted historic properties. They embrace the Lizzie Borden Home in Massachusetts, website of the infamous 1892 axe murders of Borden’s dad and mom and now a bed-and-breakfast, and New Orleans’s LaLaurie Mansion, a French Quarter website related to the torture of enslaved individuals within the 1830s. (Zaal at the moment lives on the mansion.) Zaal additionally operates a web based ghost looking tools retailer known as Ghost Daddy—which boasts that it exams its merchandise on the Borden home—and even based a Ukraine-focused assist group known as Ghosts of Liberty.
Zaal’s companies have been on either side of ghost business mental property disputes. In 2023, US Ghost Adventures sued Miss Lizzie’s Espresso, a newly opened espresso store subsequent door to the Lizzie Borden Home, for allegedly infringing emblems on the Lizzie Borden title and a hatchet emblem.
USGA says customers and even native officers had been confused into believing the companies are associated. “I mentioned, ‘That is ridiculous,’ as a result of I at all times knew Lizzie Borden as a historic determine,” says Miss Lizzie’s proprietor Joe Pereira. “And you’ll’t personal historical past.” Thus far, USGA has didn’t persuade a federal decide to challenge a preliminary injunction within the matter, and the case stays earlier than the court docket.
Mimicry
USGA has itself been repeatedly accused by different ghost tour firms of mimicking their enterprise and tour names. The corporate was sued in 2024 by the proprietor of Queen Metropolis Excursions in Charlotte, North Carolina, for allegedly infringing its emblems in working excursions beneath the title Queen Metropolis Ghosts. USGA has filed its personal authorized problem to the Queen Metropolis Excursions trademark, and the instances stay pending. Queen Metropolis Excursions didn’t reply to an inquiry from Quick Firm.
Terror Excursions, the corporate behind a line of haunted pub crawls often called Nightly Spirits, additionally sued USGA in 2024 for allegedly infringing its “Booze and Boos” trademark. In its lawsuit, the corporate mentioned USGA operated “Boos and Booze” excursions, which confused customers, together with some who mistakenly introduced complaints to Terror Excursions. The case was settled in 2024. Founder Jared Broach declined to touch upon the matter, citing a nondisclosure settlement.
In Baltimore, USGA has marketed beneath the title Baltimore Ghosts, which has similarities to the title of an area ghost tour firm based in 2001. Melissa Rowell, one of many founders of Baltimore Ghost Excursions, says her enterprise has acquired messages from prospects looking for USGA, together with an indignant voicemail she shared with Quick Firm. And, she says, Google at one time erroneously merged the enterprise listings for the 2 tour operations. The 2 firms have exchanged cease-and-desist letters, which Rowell shared with Quick Firm.
Attorneys for Rowell’s firm have claimed USGA is infringing on Baltimore Ghost Excursions’s trademark as a part of a plan “to trip on the coattails of a longtime enterprise” in varied cities by related naming. USGA attorneys have questioned the validity of the “geographically descriptive” Baltimore Ghost Excursions trademark and alleged misconduct and defamation involving allegations across the Google challenge.
Jeanine Plumer, proprietor of Austin Ghost Excursions, says she’s spoken to a number of tour firms who’ve reported related ways by USGA. Mike Carter, proprietor of Excursions & Crawls in Annapolis, Maryland, says he’s additionally acquired texts and voicemails from confused prospects who will typically end up to have really booked with USGA. “I get calls nearly each day from any person who’s confused or needs to confirm which firm it’s,” he says.
USGA entered that market round 2023, utilizing quite a lot of names together with “Ghosts of Annapolis,” which Carter had beforehand used, he says. After he complained by an lawyer, he says USGA started utilizing the title “Annapolis Ghost Excursions,” which Carter additionally beforehand used.
“Taking over the Goliath”
In 2024, Carter registered the area usaghostadventures.com, one letter off from the USGA website, itemizing native options in cities the place USGA operated, together with the message: “Don’t be tricked by the massive nationwide chains who fake to supply the native tour expertise you’re looking for,” in response to Zaal’s authorized filings.
Zaal filed a authorized grievance with the World Mental Property Group, which handles area title trademark disputes. The group awarded Zaal possession of the area after discovering Carter “went past providing criticism and advocacy” in linking to USGA opponents, together with his personal enterprise. “I abided by that call,” Carter says. “I understood the place it got here from.”
However in June, Zaal and USGA sued Carter and his firm in federal court docket. They alleged Carter continued to infringe USGA emblems with a brand new “Native Ghost Adventures” website and defamed USGA and Zaal by disparaging weblog and social media posts, in addition to feedback to an Annapolis tourism group. Zaal’s lawsuit additionally cites feedback by different ghost tour operators across the nation criticizing the corporate, arguing Carter and his firm “actively interact with fellow competitor ghost tour operators and potential prospects to encourage dangerous and deceptive assaults,” partly by way of a non-public Fb group for native ghost tour operators.
Carter acknowledges that he’s energetic on such a bunch, however says members usually tend to share web optimization and advertising suggestions or suggestions for graphic designers, together with different recommendation for working a ghost tour within the web age, than they’re to debate explicit opponents. “It’s extra about sharing info than it’s taking up the Goliath,” he says.
“Loss of life entice”
Like another companies which have quickly expanded because of the web, USGA has additionally confronted accusations of violating employment legal guidelines. In 2023, two Pennsylvania girls sued USGA and Zaal, saying they’d been employed by the corporate as content material creators documenting ghost excursions however had been improperly denied additional time pay, even when working greater than 80 hours per week. “Plaintiffs protested the dearth of additional time wages to Mr. Zaal personally who erroneously said that Plaintiffs had been ‘1099’ [independent contractors] and refused to debate the matter additional,” they alleged.
The ladies additionally alleged that Zaal and USGA offered them with an RV and pickup truck to make use of for ghost excursions however mentioned the truck wasn’t giant sufficient to tow the RV, with prospects allegedly referring to the association as a “dying entice.” After they complained, they mentioned Zaal and USGA traded within the RV for a smaller mannequin at a loss, and commenced to illegally deduct the fee distinction from their paychecks. Zaal and USGA denied the allegations, and the case was settled for an undisclosed quantity earlier this yr.
In one other case that continues to be pending, a Kentucky girl named Emily Menshouse alleges she labored for USGA-affiliated Zaal Ventures in administrative roles and was misclassified as an unbiased contractor, illegally underpaid for additional time and breaks, and fired when she complained. Menshouse, who beforehand appeared in a TV present known as Paranormal Journeys and has a supernatural-themed video podcast, says she had hoped the place can be her “dream job.” Zaal Ventures has denied the allegations however made a fee to Menshouse after the lawsuit was introduced, although Menshouse says the quantity was insufficient to resolve the matter.
Ghost Metropolis Excursions additionally confronted an employment lawsuit filed in 2024 by San Antonio tour information JoAnn Valenzuela, who alleged she was fired after complaining to the federal Division of Labor that she wasn’t paid her $50-per-hour wage for greater than 20 hours of obligatory coaching. The corporate mentioned in a authorized submitting that Valenzuela was fired for not displaying up for shifts, not due to the grievance, and that whereas she had attended the corporate’s “public tour information coaching courses that are provided to members of the general public,” she had signed a suggestion letter that mentioned she wouldn’t be paid till she completed her first solo tour. The case was settled in 2024.
Dedicated to the supernatural
For his or her half, leaders of ghost tour chains have usually mentioned they’ve the identical dedication to supernatural storytelling as their unbiased rivals. Mike Huberty, founding father of American Ghost Walks, which has expanded from a single operation in Madison, Wisconsin, to greater than 25 cities throughout the nation, says he nonetheless gathers tales personally earlier than launching excursions in new locales. He claims to speak to everybody from museum staff to busboys about legends which may match right into a tour, and infrequently merely asks whether or not a specific place is likely to be haunted. “I’ve repeated that query in all probability to five,000 individuals in my life,” he says. “That’s the way you begin gathering the tales.”
Zaal and USGA have emphasised their devotion to preserving their historic properties and bringing “meticulously researched” tales to life. And in a weblog publish, Ghost Metropolis Excursions founder Tim Nealon wrote about changing into occupied with ghosts after believing he had recorded the voice of 1 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and his firm’s dedication to telling actual, well-researched tales.
However to some native opponents, sure chain operations can really feel like simply one other on-line get-rich-quick scheme, disrupting long-standing mom-and-pop companies in pursuit of a buck.
