HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Downtown Ghost Walks, a Haunted Pub Crawl, and Ticketed Paranormal Investigations Inside the Historic Donnelly House
230 W 3rd Ave, Mount Dora, FL 32757
Research updated September 2026
Age
Varies by tour; the downtown walking tour is open to most ages, the Donnelly House investigation and Dinner with the Vampire are geared toward adults.
Cost
$$
Mount Dora Ghost Tour from about $26.50; other programs including the Donnelly House investigation, Haunted Pub Crawl, and Monster's Masquerade priced separately per the operator's booking system.
Access
Wheelchair OK
A 2-hour outdoor walking tour of downtown Mount Dora and the Lakeside Inn area; the Donnelly House investigation involves interior stairs in a historic Victorian home.
Equipment
Photos OK
Lakeside Inn (1883 Victorian-era hotel) · Donnelly House (1893 Queen Anne Steamboat Gothic Victorian, NRHP 1975) · Historic downtown Mount Dora
Mount Dora Ghost Tours operates a roughly 2-hour downtown walking tour covering the Lakeside Inn, a Victorian-era hotel built in 1883, alongside other downtown Mount Dora locations. Owner Doc, who leads the company's investigations, has described a practice of reviewing camera footage from every tour, citing reported orbs, swaying chandeliers, and moving furniture during the company's paranormal programming.
In November 2021, the company received permission to conduct baseline paranormal readings inside the Donnelly House, an 1893 Queen Anne Steamboat Gothic Victorian built by Mount Dora's first mayor and owned by a Masonic lodge since 1939; by June 2022, it began offering ticketed public investigation nights there, one of very few active Masonic halls in Florida open to commercial paranormal programming. The company was profiled by Lake & Sumter Style, a regional lifestyle magazine, and maintains an active TripAdvisor and Yelp review presence. Mount Dora Ghost Tours is a separate, independently operated company from both US Ghost Adventures' Mount Dora program (meeting at Sunset Park) and the multi-city American Ghost Adventures chain, which also runs Mount Dora tours.
Sources
The operator's route material for the downtown walking tour centers the Lakeside Inn's Victorian-era history and reported hauntings tied to the hotel's long operating history. For the Donnelly House, owner Doc describes reviewing recorded footage from every investigation and reports orbs, swaying chandeliers, moving furniture, and unexplained bangs captured during guest ghost hunts, alongside a documented count of 22 known deaths at the property across its 140-plus year history.
All of this is the tour operator's own marketing and narrative material, not documented history independently verified for this listing; it is included here as a description of what the tours cover, not as an endorsement of any specific claim. See the Donnelly House's own listing for its independently sourced history and reported phenomena.
Media Appearances
A 2-hour walking tour through downtown Mount Dora, covering the Lakeside Inn, a haunted Victorian-era hotel built in 1883, and other reportedly haunted downtown locations. $26.50 total; tickets are available on the operator’s page.
A ticketed nighttime paranormal investigation inside the historic Donnelly House, a Masonic-owned 1893 Queen Anne Victorian. Guests conduct baseline readings and investigate the tower and main rooms with provided equipment.
An adults-oriented pub crawl from Sunset Park, 230 W. 4th Ave., through downtown Mount Dora bars, paired with the operator's ghost stories and local history.
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Featured stop; site of the operator's ticketed Donnelly Paranormal Experience investigations, run under a permission agreement with the Masonic lodge since 2021.
Featured stop on the Mount Dora Ghost Tour; a Victorian-era hotel built in 1883.
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