Review: Haunted Vegas Tour and Show

THERE'S NO PLACE quite like Las Vegas, from the glitzy suites atop the upscale hotels to the seedy underbelly of the off-Strip strip joints. It may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of ghosts and haunted places, but there are several areas in this city of neon and jangling slot machines that do have reputations for ghost sightings. The Haunted Vegas Tour and Show takes you on an exploration of these spooky locations.

The Haunted Vegas Tour and Show can be found at the cozy Greek Isles Hotel & Casino, just a block off the Strip on Convention Center Drive. At 9 p.m., tourgoers are led into a small theater where they get a brief video introduction to ghosts in general. Following is a good-natured show by two of the cast members featuring bits of mentalism and stage magic, using an audience member or two as participants or targets.

The audience is then led out to a comfortable bus for the roughly two-hour tour of Las Vegas haunts. The tour guide, dressed as a mortician, provides a joke-riddled narrative throughout, but also provides serious information about the documented history, background stories and sightings of the various locations.

Hauntings as the result of recent tragic deaths – both suicides and murders – at some of the big hotels as well as a few small, dingy motels are related in detail by the tour guide. The locations and stories of interest to most people, of course, are those of Las Vegas icons, including Vegas pioneer and gangster Bugsy Siegel, flamboyant pianist Liberace, comedian Redd Foxx, and The King himself, Elvis. Sightings of their ghosts have been reported on numerous occasions.

The stories of all these hauntings and many more have been well documented, according to the tour guide, having been culled from such books as Haunted Nevada and television documentaries.

The highlights of the tour are when the audience is allowed to get off the bus and see some of the locations close up. The first such stop is at the Tropicana, where a quick walk takes the audience to the hotel's tropical oasis, an area where there's a "tribute" to Bugsy Siegel and where his ghost is said to linger.

The second stop was way off the Strip at a city park, where a young man had been killed. His ghost is occasionally spotted there. In fact, a previous audience member took a photo there that seems to show the ghostly feet of a boy standing near one of the park's picnic tables. This photo is shared with everyone on the tour, and I have to say, it's quite interesting. While in the park, you can take your own photos to see if you can capture an apparition yourself.

The Haunted Vegas Tour and Show runs every night except Fridays. It begins at 9 p.m., but you're encouraged to get there at least 15 minutes beforehand.

There are two price tiers: $48.25 for general admission and $59.25 for V.I.P. treatment. What's the difference? The V.I.P.s get seating at the front of the bus and receive a souvenir photo and a pair of dowsing rods.

Is it worth the cost? Even without comparing it to the far-pricier stage shows in Las Vegas, the Haunted Vegas Show and Tour is a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an evening in the city while learning about its lesser-known paranormal legends and encounters. And, of course, if you're interested in ghosts and haunted places (which I assume you are), you shouldn't miss it.

More information: Haunted Vegas Tours