Halloween is upon us once again, and there’s no better way — for those of us beyond the age of trick or treating — to get in touch with the spirit world than to join a ghost tour.

Many cities across the county, especially those with long, intriguing and strife-ridden histories, hide a haunted past. Here are seven of them that offer guided tours of well-documented paranormal sites.

Salem, Massachusetts

Salem’s history as the site of the infamous, hysteria-driven witch trials back in the 17th century make it a natural destination for exploring the occult. Founded by Puritans, this small coastal community actively promotes its paranormal past with more than a half-dozen ghostly tours.

A good one is the Salem Witch Walk Tours, guided by “real” witches. On this 90-minute tour you’ll learn the history of witchcraft and details of the horrific Witch Trials that led to the execution of 20 women accused of practicing witchcraft.

The tour visits a number of haunted sites, including one of America’s oldest cemeteries. Tours depart three to five times a day depending on the season and day of the week. Tickets are $16 per person, age 5 and older.

www.WitchWalk.com, 978-666-0884

The Salem Witch House, originally home to Judge Jonathan Corwin, the judge of the infamous Witch Trials.

Williamsburg, Virginia

During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Williamsburg was the political, cultural and educational center of Virginia — the most populous and influential of the American colonies. With all that history to draw from, there comes plenty of tales of hauntings and mysteries — and, of course, numerous tours exploiting them.

Leading the pack is an outfit named Colonial Ghosts, whose tours were rated among the Top Ten Best Bone Chilling Tours in America by US City Traveler. The company offers four ghost and cemetery tours, the most popular being the Ultimate Tour — a 90-minute guided walking adventure through the deserted streets of historic Williamsburg that runs Monday-Saturday at 10:00 p.m.

It visits 18 haunted places, including the Public Gaol (Colonial Jail), a prison that once held pirate Blackbeard’s men, America’s first insane asylum and the Jones Cemetery. The basic tour price is $21 per person for adults but there are add-on options and various discounts.

www.colonialghosts.com, 757-598-1805

Colonial Park Cemetery, Savannah’s oldest graveyard.

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is another of the country’s prime spots for ghost stories. Tales of paranormal happenings have emanated for hundreds of years from its haunted mansions and Spanish moss-hung squares and cemeteries.

Restless souls from mass graves and disturbed burial sites roam the streets and the spirits of victims of duels, murder, mysterious fires and disease haunt the places where they once lived and walked. To get the inside story on some of these supernatural sites and events, you could do no better than to join a Voices of the Dead tour offered by Afterlife Tours.

Utilizing well-researched evidence from the Savannah Ghost Research Society, your guide will walk and talk you through the histories of such sites as Colonial Park Cemetery — Savannah’s oldest graveyard — the purportedly cursed Historic Savannah Theater and Foley House, a famously haunted bed and breakfast inn. The 90-minute tour departs Telfair Square at 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Tickets are $29 per person, all ages.

www.afterlifetours.net, 912-298-7820

St. Augustine, Florida

Founded by Spanish explorers in 1565, St. Augustine is America’s oldest city. It has survived numerous wars, epidemics and natural disasters — the ghosts of which have survived as well to haunt the narrow cobbled lanes, dark corners and graveyards of the city’s remarkably well-preserved Old Town.

Whether the prospect of searching out the supernatural side of this ancient city thrills or unnerves you, you’ll be in good company with Sheriff Guy White when you join him and his deputies on a Sheriff’s Ghost Walk Tour. White was killed in 1911 but has returned to share some of St. Augustine’s secrets with visitors.

Many who have taken the 90-minute tour through Old St. Augustine and its cemeteries have experienced supernatural encounters — ghost orbs, mists and even fully formed apparitions — some of which have been documented by photos. Nightly tours depart 32 George Street (across from Colonial Quarter) at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Tickets are $18 for adults and $10 for children.

www.sheriffsghostwalktours.com, 904-540-0031

New Orleans, Louisiana

Most experts in the realm of the paranormal agree that New Orleans is America’s most haunted city. There are endless horror stories and local legends of murder, torture, ghosts, vampires, witches and voodoo priestesses spanning the city’s colorful and sometimes wicked 300-year history.

Among the many tours that explore the Crescent City’s occult side, those offered by New Orleans Ghost Adventures are notable for separating myths and legends from authentic history with tours such as its New Orleans Ghost Tour. This two-hour trek, led by college-educated historians, is founded in fact and based on intensive research as it visits numerous haunted sites, including the Lalaurie Mansion, infamous as a scene of torture in the early 1800s, Laffitte’s Blacksmith Shop, the Herman-Grima House, where “friendly” ghosts are said to reside, and the French Quarter’s unique (and spooky) above-ground cemeteries with their elaborate stone crypts and mausoleums.

Tours depart at 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. seven days a week. Tickets are $27 per-person and children under the age of six can join for free.

www.neworleansghostadventurestour.com, 504-475-5214

The haunted LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans, located in the city’s French Quarter.

Estes Park, Colorado

A small mountain resort community that serves as the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park also is home to one of the most infamous haunts in America — the Stanley Hotel — blown up on the big screen by a lunatic, chillingly played by Jack Nicholson in the 1980 film “The Shining.”

The popular horror film, adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name, was inspired by and filmed at the historic turn-of-the-century Stanley Hotel, fictionalized as the Overlook Hotel by King. Learn the story behind King’s inspiration — that came about in a vision experienced by the author during a one-night stay at the Stanley — by joining the hotel’s 75-minute Night Spirit Tour.

Guides also reveal the stories, and some fairly convincing evidence, about the many ghosts that linger in the hotel’s public areas, halls and certain guest rooms. Tours cost $25 for hotel guests, seniors, military and AAA members; $28 for non-hotel guests.

www.stanleyhotel.com, 800-976-1377

San Diego, California

With five ghostly humans — and one canine apparition — roaming its halls, the Whaley House, in San Diego’s Old Town district, is often named among the most haunted houses in America. Ghostly figures are said to roam the historic 1857 house.

Doors open and close and chairs rock, seemingly by themselves. Get exclusive after-hours access to tour Whaley House by joining a Past & Presence Ghost Tour. Led by a talented team of period-costumed docents, the tour also takes in the Adobe Chapel and El Campo Santo Cemetery, two other haunted sites nearby.

Convening at the Whaley House at 10:30 p.m., tours are 75-minutes long and cost $25 per person (age restricted to children 12 and older).

www.whaleyhouse.org/ghostwalk.htm 619-297-7511