Scary DC

My wife and I have been on Haunted Tours in Charleston, Boston, Salem (MA), Savannah, etc… This was by far, the worst «Haunted Tour» we’ve experienced. When we go on these tours we want to hear about the dirty, grimy, historically accurate stories that you don’t read in history books. Why do ‘they’ still roam the halls at night, wailing and howling… But we didn’t really get that on this tour.
Yeah, we too, got Christopher (dressed as Samuel Chase) as a guide. He got his «facts» mixed up at certain times and would laugh it off. His stories were much more history based than having to do with hauntings, ghost/​apparition sightings, and the like. His delivery of his stories was w/​o rhythm, so his lead to the «punch line”/oooh-ahh scary ‘moment’ was about as enthralling as a mouse fart in church. And it really took too long to get to the punch line. By the second or third stop on the tour, my wife told me she’d stop listening to him already.
If you want slow-​paced history tour where you continually get asked if you know «this historical figure or that historical figure». This is it.
We love to tip, but we tipped nothing, nor did said good-​bye to Christopher. To boot, he had some girls following him around all night with a microphone, recording him. They were annoying and distracting.
I would not recommend this tour.
–Charlotte, NC
Another good point by a poster below, our guide did give his political opinion throughout and his grand finale was laced with some sort of anti-​GOP rant… Unnecessary.

We bought 2 tickets via livingsocial. It started off promising with the tour guide dressed like Samuel Chase and make some fun ghostly puns.
The tour itself was very «bleh.» The guide has lots of history stories somewhat related to the buildings and locations we were at. But the stories were not exactly ghost stories nor scary (and doesn’t really fit together or make much sense). He would tell you about a historic figure’s story. Then say. oh yeah at 2am sometimes, a custodian guard will hear sounds or see sightings and the guard will never come back… etc. For what is worth, he does deliver his stories dramatically with occasional surprise «yelling» that will startle the audience. I would not call not a scary tour though.
The guide also made a lot of political comments. Even though we agree with his comments, it is to the extent that seem inappropriate for a general audience. I would be pretty annoyed if my political view are not in line with his.

They must’ve changed things around since the bad reviews were written because I went on a tour tonight and it was awesome. Samuel Chase (real name: Christopher) was a great guide and wasn’t just talking at us but rather performing and being inclusive of guests.

«Samuel Chase» put his all into guiding us through the Hells of Capitol Hill. He brought history to life as we walked around the Capitol and Supreme Court and if your brought your imagination along, you could almost hear the protests of the long dead characters. Without access to all of these grand buildings (Library of Congress, Cannon, etc) it is very hard to make the floors creak but his animated delivery was excellent. It was a delightful tour on a wonderfully clear fall night (rainy, windy, and dark would have helped the mood… so glad ours was clear)! Thanks Samuel and Scary DC

Sort the reviews by date if you want a truly accurate assessment. Apparently this tour sucked when it first started a couple years ago. Now they’ve switched from boring grad students to animated historical actors, and while it is true that the tour is more historical than «scary,» I had a great time and the tour leader («Samuel Chase») was fantastic.

If Unilocal allowed me to put 3.5 stars, then I would because that’s what this tour deserves. No, it’s not really scary. Actually, it’s not scary at all, unless you have a bright imagination and can picture dead presidents haunting the Supreme Court or other institutions. It’s definitely focused more on historical narratives, which is actually quite enjoyable if you like learning about the U.S.‘s past. I think the scariest part is the truth behind politics and the current corruption that exists within all political systems, including the «justice» system of America. The guide played well into his character. It’s important to keep in mind that the Scary DC employees probably make less than or equal to minimum wage. They rely more on their passion for acting, and that’s something I can respect. Those who gave 2 stars or less are probably privileged folks who would most likely fare better sitting at a Starbucks and drinking $ 10 lattes, rather than walking around and learning about their nation’s history. Jussayin’!

Groupon is how I found out about the Capitol Hill «ghost» tour.
It was more «historical» than scary. The walk around the Hill was nice (though you can do that for free.)
Our tour guide was a little overly dramatic and people in the group were being obnoxious. He got some facts (like death dates…) wrong though and that can easily be fixed…
Over all it was something different to do in the city.
It should be scarier especially since the name of the tour is «Scary DC.»

Bought a groupon. Had I paid full-​price, $ 25 per person, I would’ve been extremely disappointed. but 2 for $ 25 was okay. If you think about it, that’s cheaper than two people going to a movie.
Heard some interesting stories from the guide, although her delivery was painful. As a former tour guide, i just wanted to hand her some index cards with bullet pointed facts. She spent alot of time, seemingly searching through her memory as to what to say at each stopping point. Maybe she was pausing for dramatic effect, but it really seemed like she was a rookie tour guide.

Pass on the groupon. The tour is getting to stand outside a bunch of buildings (that you could actually go inside and, you know, actually see things if you went on your own time during the day) for what feels like 5 hours at each one while you hear a historical story (with some added «spookiness») that you could just look up yourself on wikipedia (or again, visit the places during the day so you can actually go inside and SEE stuff) told lamely by your lame tour guide who attempts to make the most mundane things sound dramatic. I wanted to leave early but stuck it out till the end just to see how lame the stories could possibly get (they got lamer as the night went on and the tour guide’s enthusiasm wore out. Can’t say I blame her.) The best part is that you get to see some landmarks looking pretty at night… which you could do yourself without paying anyone to tell you lame stories. Boo. Did I scare you?

2.5 stars for effort.
If it weren’t for the Groupon Deal, I would have never heard of this experience. I thought some of the stories weren’t bad, not really spooky but interesting. The tour itself around the Capital was good. I got to see buildings such as the Library of Congress that I’d like to book a tour to visit in the daytime. Our tour guide was good at bringing together the historical and paranormal elements together. It would have been cooler if we could see inside some of the buildings in the evening!
I’m not sure what they could have done better because it was just mostly stories but I wasn’t highly impressed with my whole experience. If you find a Groupon then it might be worth a look but don’t come with any expectations. Or you could just look up the stories on your own and go on your own tour of the area in the evening and see the same sights which was the real highlight of the experience.

Absolutely displease with the service. We bought this on groupon and got schedule for a tour. They told us the time, and when we arrived the tour started ½ hour early. To be able to talk to someone that
represents the business was next to impossible. Poor service, crappy experience. I recommend you don’t go.

My sister and I purchased a groupon for this tour. I wasn’t expecting it to be scary at all. I was expecting to hear some ghost stories with historical facts mixed in. And I got exactly what I expected. If you are looking for something that will scare your socks off, go watch a horror movie. But if you are looking to hear historical facts mixed with tales of what people saw, then this is the right place for you. Our tour guide, Justin, was very much into what he does. While I think he may have used a few too many ‘dramatic pauses’, I like the way he made sure to make eye contact with everybody. He did his best to make the stories frightening without embellishing them with too many fictional add-​ons. He knew his script well and answered all of our questions. It was fun and entertaining. It’s a great evening for all to enjoy. There were even a few kids on the tour and it was appropriate for them as well.

I am so amused by these other reviews — I should have read them before buying the groupon! Because they are exactly right. I have never heard anyone — let alone an entertainer — speak so. slowly. with. pauses. between. every phrase. I would forget the first half of each sentence before we got to the end.
We did actually leave after 50 minutes (I think the tour was almost over anyway) because we were so bored. Most of it was obvious historical stuff, which considering the group was entirely DC-​local, I’d think we all knew already. There were a few «ghost» stories, which were all taken from more respectable books and then elaborated on in patently ridiculous ways. Like the black cat in the Capitol that appears before national disasters? Well, did you know it grows to the size of a MOUNTAIN LION with FANGS that ATTACKS PEOPLE? This stuff appears to have been taken from wikipedia instead of more respectable sources.
An 8-​year-​old on the tour was frankly admiring, though, and told the guide, «You make it sound so interesting!» HAHAHA. Oh, 8-​year-​olds. You have so much to learn, you think this is entertaining.
Our guide apparently thought it would be scarier if he walked up to each person on the tour individually and stared them in the eye while telling the stories. That just makes us all uncomfortable, terrible theater guy.

This was really bad. The walking tour included basically 3 spots around the Capitol that could all be seen from each spot. The tour guide spoke so slowly (to induce suspense?) that it was painful. The stories (which were mostly history… not a whole lot of scary) were so boring I kept tuning out. Also, If you’re going to claim that, for example, guards in the capitol hear ghosts arguing or students in the library of congress see books falling or whatever, don’t throw in a disclaimer after every single story suggesting that maybe the witness was drunk or simply made it up. I stayed for the whole thing hoping that it would get better, but probably should have left like half the group did.
I love the idea of this Capitol Hill tour. Make it scarier! Hire tour guides that know what they’re talking about and have at least mild levels of energy.

I don’t even know where to start on this awful tour and company. It was the worst walking tour my wife and I experienced by FAR. We’ve done a bunch of tours in different cities, some of them free or much cheaper than this tour, that were far superior in every way. The guide was just plain awful. Not only did he not know anything about the topic he was giving a tour on, he was possibly the worst public speaker on the planet. My favorite part was when he condescendingly scoffed at a member of our group when she answered that James Madison was a former president (which he was). He later looked at his notes, which he did often, and excused himself because ‘it was a long day’. Inexcusable. I know it wasn’t just my wife and I that hated this tour as the group of around 15 – 20 ended up being about a half dozen at the end. Perhaps even more left after us, but we were so disgusted by this tour we didn’t wait until the end to find out.
Worst of all is I reached out kindly to the tours owner/​operator with my concerns and he ignored it. I wasn’t even asking for a refund, just an explanation of why we had such a bad experience, if the tour guide was a replacement or what and NOTHING. Terrible business practices for a new company.
That said, you’ve been warned, it’s not the ‘ghosts’ on this tour that will scare you, but when you realize how much time and money you wasted on this that will.