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A pretty but spooky city
Pretoria's ghost tours
Pretoria's ghost tours offer a spooky view of the capital city.
© Chris Marais
Did you know?
The Sammy Marks Museum in Pretoria is South Africa's only fully-preserved Victorian-era house.
Pretoria, for all its pretty Jacaranda trees and leafy suburbs, is a city of ghosts. You might not think so by day, as Pretoria goes about its business, but there's talk about children in secret rooms under the stairs, fights to the death in cellars and ghost babies crying in the nursery of an historical house called the Sammy Marks Museum.
Pretoria's ghost tours bring the skeletons out of the capital's cupboard.
There are ghosts of the Pangaman and his terrified teenage victims at the various drive-in theatre sites around the city. One of the haunted places in Pretoria is the former home of General Jan Smuts in Irene, which is said to be haunted by 'a little grey man' – not from the taxman's office, one is assured – and the ghost of a Royal Hussar who committed suicide on the premises.
First prize for 'Pretoria's saddest ghost' has to be awarded to an apparition who makes a bit of a pest of himself in a home in the suburb of Silverton. No one knows who he was in life; he just enters the sitting room in the evening, sits down in a particular chair wearing a red jacket and begins to read a newspaper.
As part of your Pretoria ghost tour, you will hear about the most 'Gump-ish' ghost in Pretoria, an English soldier from the Anglo-Boer War, whose remains were stashed in the Uncollected Goods section of the Pretoria Railway Station, before being moved to Lost Goods. He has been seen wandering about the station late at night ever since.
Your evening of Pretoria ghost stories begins at The Dros restaurant on Atterbury Road, proceeds to the Erasmus Castle ghost house, the railway station, Church Square (another quick pit-stop) and finishes at the Church Street Cemetery.
Travel tips & Planning info
Who to contact
Mystery Ghost Bus Tours
Mobile: +27 (0) 79 193 7536
Email: tour@mysteryghostbus.co.za
Web: www.mysteryghostbus.co.za
How to get here
Pretoria is an hour's drive north of the O.R. Tambo International Airport outside Johannesburg.
Get around
The tour company supplies transport.
What will it cost
Costs depend on the tour and tour company but a ghost tour of Pretoria costs in the region of R300 per person.
What to pack
Wear comfortable shoes and bring a jacket for chilly winter evenings. A flashlight, a camera and some extra money for drinks and food are also recommended.