Summit Avenue Historic District · Cathedral of St. Paul
The St. Paul Ghost Walk was developed by American Ghost Walks owner Mike Huberty in 2016, while he was living in the Twin Cities and talking to local business owners about reported hauntings in their buildings. Over the following years the tour's material was expanded by Minnesota storyteller Dangerous Linda Lee, who researched and designed the current Spirits of Summit Avenue route, described by the operator as based on original interviews and historical records.
The tour covers Summit Avenue, a street the operator's site states was home to roughly 40 millionaires by 1890, during the era when 19th-century industrialists and railroad barons built mansions along the bluff overlooking downtown St. Paul. American Ghost Walks also operates tours in Minneapolis, Stillwater, and Red Wing, Minnesota, part of a broader multi-city brand with programs across the Midwest, Maine, and beyond.
The tour meets at the Cathedral of St. Paul parking lot, 239 Selby Ave, and lists a minimum age of 13.
Sources
- https://www.americanghostwalks.com/st-paul
- https://www.americanghostwalks.com/tour/st-paul-summit-avenue
ApparitionsUnexplained FootstepsUnexplained KnockingCold Spots
The Spirits of Summit Avenue tour is built around Summit Avenue's Gilded Age mansions. The operator's site recounts a February 1969 seance at the Griggs Mansion covered by the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, in which reporters described unexplained footsteps and knocking sounds and quoted the psychic medium present as saying the house held 'a heaviness about it.' Forepaugh's Restaurant, a former mansion, is tied by the operator to what its own copy calls 'the tragic story of Molly,' one of the home's former staff, without further detail on this listing's part. The William Butler House is referenced by the operator as the former home of an unnamed author.
The operator's own FAQ also names Rice Park, the St. Paul Hotel, the Landmark Center, and the Wabasha Street Caves as places 'some tours also include,' alongside a note that St. Paul aviator Amelia Earhart has a documented connection to the city.
All of this is the tour operator's own marketing and narrative material, not documented history verified independently for this listing; it is included here as a description of what the tour covers, not as an endorsement of any specific claim.
Media Appearances
- Stillwater Gazette
- The Minnesota Daily
- MSP Magazine
- St. Paul Pioneer-Press