Inspired by the spine-tingling and sometimes terrorizing tales of Richmond’s spirited past, Haunts of Richmond was founded in 2004 by Scott and Sandi Bergman as a haunted house attraction in Richmond’s historic Shockoe Bottom neighborhood. As people learned that the haunted house was in fact based on the legends and lore of Richmond, they began to ask for more details about these real-life historic hauntings. This inspired Scott and Sandi to launch Richmond’s first ghost tour in 2005, with the Shadows of Shockoe Ghost Tour.
The immediate success of the Shadows of Shockoe resulted in an expansion that quickly eclipsed the haunted house attraction. More guides were hired, and additional research was conducted to share more of Richmond’s haunted history. By 2009, Haunts of Richmond Ghost Tours had added Haunted Capitol Hill, Church Hill Chillers, and the Spirits & Spirits Pub Crawl to our offerings, hosted by a cast of Richmond’s most experienced and professional ghost guides. The haunted house storefront had closed to focus on storytelling, and it became a seasonal attraction known as Blood Lake Haunted Trail that you can still find terrorizing guests around Central Virginia every October. The Bergmans continued to operate the ghost tours until 2016 when they decided to retire from the tour business. At that time, long-term employees Beth & Chris Houlihan took the helm to continue pushing Haunts of Richmond forward.
Today, Beth and Chris are ensuring that Haunts of Richmond continues to be a leader in sharing the haunted history of Richmond and points beyond. Additional research and growing partnerships are resulting in more tour offerings, special events, paranormal investigations, community sponsorships, and other exciting and spooky endeavors. We’re looking forward to a future full of ghostly stories and mysterious events, and we hope that you will be joining us for the ride!
