Discover Boston’s Freedom Trail® After Dark Lantern Tours Return in September and October

Discover Boston’s Freedom Trail® After Dark

Lantern Tours Return in September and October

Discover the Freedom Trail in a new light – after dark – on the official Freedom Trail® Lantern Tours. Freedom Trail Foundation announces the return of the unique Lantern Tours, offering visitors and residents the opportunity to experience the sinister history and mystery of the Freedom Trail by lantern-light! The annual Freedom Trail Lantern Tours will be offered on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. from September 14 until October 29, and Sunday, October 29 and Monday, October 30 in honor of Halloween.

Fatal sword duels, the grave of a ruthless pirate, scandalous murders, and the punishment and hanging of convicted witches: all real and explored on the Freedom Trail Lantern Tours. Investigate the ghoulish side of Boston’s iconic red-lined-path and hear historic tales too dark and macabre for daytime. Join Freedom Trail Players®, darkly garbed with lanterns, and bring true accounts of appalling crimes, spies and assassins, cold-blooded killings, and demonic possession to life on these 90-minute walking tours.

Lantern Tours start on Boston Common, where one of Boston’s most notorious murder victims is commemorated and accused witches and villains met their fate. The tours illuminate the Granary and King’s Chapel burying grounds as the final resting places of convicted pirates, victims of vicious murders, and others connected to Boston’s less-illustrious past. Locations such as the Boston Massacre Site and the former site of the Old Gaol (Old Jail), adjacent to the Old State House and home to many of old Boston’s most infamous criminals, are also featured along the way on the Freedom Trail.

“The Freedom Trail welcomes the return of the annual Lantern Tours as it gives visitors and residents the opportunity to experience true, lesser-known and dark, Boston history. These unique tours offers a one-of-a-kind voyage through Boston’s most historical sites by lantern light and is a must do!” says Suzanne Taylor, Executive Director, Freedom Trail Foundation.

Led by 18th-century costumed guides, Freedom Trail Foundation walking tours are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors/students, and $8 for children 12 and under. Purchase of a ticket includes a $1 donation to the Freedom Trail Foundation’s Preservation Fund, which helps support preservation projects at official Freedom Trail historic sites. Tickets may be purchased at the Boston Common Visitor Information Center (9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.) or online at TheFreedomTrail.org. Lantern Tours may also be scheduled as a private group tour year-round. For more information, please contact the Freedom Trail Foundation at (617) 357-8300 or visit TheFreedomTrail.org.