York Haunted Walled City Self Guided Ghost Tour

1 h 30 min Free cancellation Private tour

York Haunted Walled City Self Guided Ghost Tour, photo 2 — Photos: the activity supplier, via Viator

About this activity

York calls itself the most haunted city in Europe, though nobody has ever produced the survey that says so. This self-guided ghost walk takes the claim seriously enough to test it.

With the Questo app you work a case file on the walled city that has been open since 1953. In February of that year, an apprentice fitting a boiler in a cellar behind the Minster saw Roman soldiers come through the wall, visible only from the knees up. Some stories hold up better than you'd expect. Others, like Mad Alice of Mad Alice Lane, fall apart the moment someone checks the gaol records.

Thirteen stops lead from the old castle prisons and Clifford's Tower over Ouse Bridge to the Minster, then along the Shambles to the Merchant Adventurers' Hall. Each has a puzzle you solve on the spot, from a scrambled message to a doctored photo of a carved doorway.

The walk covers about 2.6 km and takes most groups two hours. Hints and 24/7 support are built in. There are no jump scares, by design.

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At a glance

Duration: 1 h 30 min
Confirmation: Instant confirmation
Ticket: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Group: Your group only
People per booking: 1–30
Written guide: English
Operated by: Questo

Ages: Adults (14–99 years)

What is included

Included

Included: Full availability: Every day of the year.
Included: Flexibility: start, take a break and continue at your own pace.
Included: Access to the self-guided city exploration game in the Questo app

Not included

Not included: Live game master or physical guide
Not included: Private transportation
Not included: Meals

Itinerary

York Castle Museum

6 min

The case opens on the green between the old castle prisons, now the York Castle Museum. Part of the lettering on the building is cut out of your photo, and a number code turns the real thing into a password. In 1801 a cattle thief named Samuel Lundy was the first man hanged on York's new gallows here.
Clifford's Tower

6 min

On the mound above sits Clifford's Tower, shaped like a four-leaf clover. You'll pick the right version of the English Heritage sign out of four. In March 1190, about 150 people, York's entire Jewish community, died in the wooden tower that stood here before it, and the only plaque went up in 1978.
Fairfax House

6 min

Along Castlegate, Fairfax House was bought to marry off a daughter, and you'll track down the name of the man who built it. Her father opened it in 1763 with a ball of sixty-three courses and 6,700 bottles of beer. Anne Fairfax never married.
Ouse Bridge

6 min

At Ouse Bridge, you'll unscramble a message and answer its question on the spot. A toll booth on the old bridge is where Margaret Clitherow, a butcher's wife who hid priests, was put to death in 1586 after refusing to plead so her children wouldn't have to testify.
All Saints Church

6 min

All Saints on North Street has some of the finest medieval glass in England and a small cell stuck to its side. You'll fill in a word missing from a handwritten list. Dame Emma Raughton had herself walled in there in 1425, dead in law, and the Earl of Warwick still came to ask her advice.
Yorkshire Museum

6 min

Across the river, Museum Gardens has abbey ruins, peacocks and a carved stone drinking fountain whose date is hidden in your photo. In 1953 the museum's caretaker found an old man reading in the library after closing and put a hand on his shoulder. There was no shoulder.
York Minster

6 min

At York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, a riddle leads you to a bronze model of the area and the number of a red house. Across from the south door stands a Roman column, found under the cathedral only because its central tower started to sink.
Treasurer's House

6 min

Behind the Minster, the Treasurer's House holds the best-attested ghost in the whole file. You'll uncover what a sticker hides on a stone pillar outside. The 1953 apprentice saw the soldiers only from the knees up, and a Roman road was later found fifteen inches below the cellar floor.
St William's College

6 min

Timber-framed with a red door, St William's College housed the Minster's chantry priests from the 1460s. You'll spot what's missing from a photo of its carved doorway. People paid those priests to pray for their souls forever, until Parliament cancelled the deal in 1547.
Holy Trinity Church

6 min

Through an archway off Goodramgate, Holy Trinity is the one church in York nobody got round to modernising. You'll pick the right version of a nearby shop sign out of four. Inside, the floor still rises and falls over the graves beneath it.
Low Petergate

6 min

Mad Alice Lane is one of York's snickelways, lanes too narrow to be streets, and a rhyming riddle leads you to its sign. Then you'll see the gaol records: there was never an Alice hanged in 1825, and the lane's real name is Lund's Court.
Shambles

6 min

The Shambles still has the meat shelves and hooks of its butchers' days. At Margaret Clitherow's shrine you'll find the day of the month that her death and her canonisation share. The shrine is very probably in the wrong house.
Merchant Adventurers' Hall

18 min

The file closes at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall on Fossgate, a timber hall that has served the same trade for over six hundred years. At the main gate you'll solve one last logic puzzle by ruling out half of what you see. The merchants met upstairs, directly above the almshouse they paid for.

Meeting point and pickup

Everyone meets at the meeting point.

Meeting point

The game starts at York Castle Museum. After booking, we'll message you a code and activation link. Activate with your own email, then log in to the Questo app with that email. No message? Open the Questo app, tap "Bought a quest somewhere else?" and enter your booking reference number.

End point

The game ends at the main gate of the Merchant Adventurers' Hall on Fossgate.

Using your ticket

Thank you for booking with Questo. Your code is your booking reference number: the digits after "BR-".

Here's how to play it:

1. Activate your quest. Go to the unlock page on the Questo website (questoapp.com/unlock), enter your email and your code.

2. Download the Questo app on your phone (App Store or Google Play) and create an account with the same email used for activation.

3. Once you're logged in to the Questo app, open the Quests section. Your quest will be there, ready to be played.

IMPORTANT

Booked more than one ticket? You can invite the other participants right after activating, or later from the Quests section in the app.
If you don't see your quest in the Quests section in the Questo app, tap "Bought a quest somewhere else?" and enter your code again. You can also upload a screenshot of your booking confirmation there.

GOOD TO KNOW

The quest is available every day, at any hour. Go to the starting point and begin whenever you're ready.
Download the story and the map before you head out. After that, it works without internet.
Start with at least 50% battery.

Still have questions? Send us a message or talk to our customer support at: questoapp.com/chat

Cancellation

Free cancellation

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

If you cancel	You get back
At least one day before	100%
Less than a day before	0%

Good to know

Service animals allowed
Public transportation options are available nearby
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
A charged smartphone with internet is required to play the game in the Questo app
Comfortable walking shoes are recommended