Do you go inside any of the haunted buildings?

We focus on building exteriors and outdoor spaces. Businesses and public places are open for you to visit during regular business hours. Otherwise we respect the privacy of individuals and organizations and expect that our guests do the same.

Do guests really see ghosts on this tour?

We can never guarantee a supernatural encounter, but we will explain paranormal phenomena such as cold spots and residual hauntings. What we do guarantee: Our local connections and dedication to research means you'll get authentic accounts — in all their shocking detail.

Service animals are welcome. However, for liability issues, please leave your furry friends at home if you don’t require their assistance.

Is this ghost tour kid-appropriate?

While our tours do not contain anything too graphic or inappropriate, we find that kids that enjoy history have the best time. You know your children and that's left up to you. We do not recommend bringing children in strollers because sometimes that can be difficult with larger walking groups.

What if I'm late or cannot find my guide?

We do our best to answer calls and emails as promptly as they are received. Please make sure to leave a voicemail with the city and tour time. We try to accommodate travel and weather issues, but our public tours cannot wait for more than 10 minutes. Reschedules are available if the date you are interested in is not sold out.

What is your cancellation policy?

Because this is a limited capacity tour, all sales are final. If we cancel the tour because of weather or another event, we offer a full refund. We will do our best to accommodate rescheduling requests, but cannot guarantee changes because other tours and dates might be sold out.

Naperville Hauntings Ghost Walk | American Ghost Walks

The ghosts in Naperville draw near! Since 2004 “America’s Ghost Storyteller”, Diane Ladley, has delighted guests with her hometown's real ghost stories and authentic haunted history on the Haunted Naperville Ghost Tour. Come see for yourself why this suburban Chicago ghost tour was awarded Naperville’s Best Attraction for three years in a row!

The Haunted Naperville Ghost Walk Tour was the first tour nationwide to offer guests genuine EMF Ghost Meters to use free of charge. You are the ghost hunter as you enjoy a lantern-lit, evening stroll of Naperville's beautiful Historic District with its many elegant Victorian mansions. Shudder as Diane masterfully relates Naperville's haunted history, paranormal encounters, and scary true stories, their historical accuracy authenticated by the Naper Settlement Living History Museum's own historian. Thrill as the EMF Ghost Meter suddenly flashes, warning that there might be a ghost standing right beside you! Nothing is rigged or staged, no one jumps out at you...yet unexplained paranormal activity occurs with uncanny frequency.

Naperville's picturesque beauty has won national acclaim and admiration. For three years in a row Money magazine named Naperville among the top three Best Small Cities to Live in the U.S. The quaint, brick-paved sidewalks, old-fashioned street lamps, and stately Victorian mansions of the Historic District make a picture-perfect backdrop for a night of spooky ghost stories. Get your tickets today!

The Naperville Hauntings Ghost Walk was founded by Diane Ladley, who literally wrote the book on Haunted Naperville.

Diane Ladley is a nationally award-winning storyteller, folklorist, author, and podcaster, acclaimed by her peers as America's Ghost Storyteller. She was honored as a State of Illinois ArtsTour Artist in 2001-2003, and again in 2003-2005. Her adaptation of a classic folktale, "The Liver" from her Late Night Fright CD, won a national Storyteller World Honor Award for "Best Story of the Year for Adolescents". She is the author of two books: Naperville's Haunted Memories (formerly titled Haunted Naperville (Arcadia Publishing), and Haunted Aurora (The History Press). And, available on all podcast providers, is Diane's Hist-eerie podcast of history's eeriest, true ghost stories. It's history...with the lights out!

She was a contributing author to Telling Stories to Children, published by the National Storytelling Network, and to the Encyclopedia of Haunted Places, Ghostly Locales from Around the World by Jeﬀ Belanger, best known as the researcher for the Ghost Adventures TV show, and the Emmy-nominated New Englands Legends series on PBS and Amazon Prime. A few of Diane's notable performance venues nclude the World Horror Convention and the National Storytelling Network Conference.

After a life-changing illness in 2004 and unable to work her full-time job or meet the travel demands of a professional storyteller, Diane turned her physical therapy walks into a new career. She utilized her extensive knowledge of local history and urban legends to found theHaunted Hometowns company of ghost tours and cemetery ghost walks in Naperville, Aurora, and Elgin in the far western suburbs of Chicago Illinois. In 2021 Diane retired and sold her company to American Ghost Walks LLC, yet still continues as Ghost Host for the Haunted Naperville Ghost Walk Tour, the Two Brothers Roundhouse Ghost Tour, and occasionally for the Downtown Aurora Ghost Walk Tour. As she says in a recent interview for American Ghost Walks, "Now I get all the fun of telling my ghost stories without the hassle of running a business!

"My style isn't like most other ghost tour guides you might have had," she says. "Where they tell you the facts and particulars about a haunting, instead I weave a tale that sets in motion a movie in your imagination, just as if we're sitting by the campfire telling ghost stories. I carefully craft my voice, pacing and gestures to heighten the emotional impact or relieve the tension exactly when it works best. I work in tandem with your imagination and carefully researched history to bring the tales of the dead to life."

Diane adds, "Guests on our ghost tours often tell me that when they googled for some fun weekend activity to do, or a Halloween event in the Chicago area, they're surprised to find ghost tours so near. But me, I believe every town has their unique urban legends and ghost stories that kids whisper about at slumber parties with the flashlight tucked under their chin; or has that particular haunted house that they hide their eyes from as the car drives by. You don't have to go far to find spooky, scary stories. But my favorite ones are those I tell on the Haunted Naperville Ghost Walk Tours. And I look forward to scaring you soon."

One ordinary person can change the course of world history, yet their names and deeds are never known. One Naperville man is one such unsung hero, whose remarkable grit and unbreakable courage single-handedly saved France and England in World War I...and who still haunts his ancestral home today.
Naperville is the site of one of the worst train collisions in American history, with the loss of 47 lives. Do their spirits wander along the road where their bodies had been laid, eternally trying to find their way home? Astonishing paranormal EMF activity experienced by guests during the Naperville ghost tours suggest that is the case!
There must be a paranormal principle behind why every theater seems to be haunted. Pfeiﬀer Hall theater on the campus of North Central College, is an overachiever. It can claim as many as seven diﬀerent ghosts haunting its halls! Hear about Naperville's most famous Pfeiﬀer Hall phantom, the Lady in White.
Tragic tales of love lost abound in Naperville. Such is the case of the Seminarian Specter of Seibert Hall, and the Weeping Bride. Diane relates her own personal encounter with the Bride!
And what in the world is going on with that strange tree?! Trees don't give oﬀ electricity! But this one sometimes does...and a lot of it too.

Do you go inside any of the haunted buildings?

We focus on building exteriors and outdoor spaces. Businesses and public places are open for you to visit during regular business hours. Otherwise we respect the privacy of individuals and organizations and expect that our guests do the same.
Do guests really see ghosts on this tour?

We can never guarantee a supernatural encounter, but we will explain paranormal phenomena such as cold spots and residual hauntings. What we do guarantee: Our local connections and dedication to research means you'll get authentic accounts — in all their shocking detail.
Can I bring my pet?

Service animals are welcome. However, for liability issues, please leave your furry friends at home if you don’t require their assistance.
Is this ghost tour kid-appropriate?

While our tours do not contain anything too graphic or inappropriate, we find that kids that enjoy history have the best time. You know your children and that's left up to you. We do not recommend bringing children in strollers because sometimes that can be difficult with larger walking groups.
What if I'm late or cannot find my guide?

We do our best to answer calls and emails as promptly as they are received. Please make sure to leave a voicemail with the city and tour time. We try to accommodate travel and weather issues, but our public tours cannot wait for more than 10 minutes. Reschedules are available if the date you are interested in is not sold out.
What is your cancellation policy?

Because this is a limited capacity tour, all sales are final. If we cancel the tour because of weather or another event, we offer a full refund.
We will do our best to accommodate rescheduling requests, but cannot guarantee changes because other tours and dates might be sold out.