Inside the Walmart of ghost tours
Lance Zaal has built a massive empire of ghost tours and haunted property acquisitions, earning him the nickname 'The Walmart of Ghost Tours.' His aggressive expansion and ownership of infamous sites have drawn both commercial success and criticism from local tour guides.
Why it matters
This story illustrates the commercialization of paranormal tourism and the tension between independent local operators and large-scale corporate consolidation in niche travel markets.
Elizabeth Frantz for BI The king of ghosts lives in a haunted $4.3 million dollar mansion in the heart of New Orleans' French quarter. The dozens of paranormal tour guides who lead tourists through the neighborhood are sure to know of him and have an opinion of him. Lance Zaal is the most controversial man in America's booming ghost business, CEO of what competitors have dubbed "The Walmart of Ghost Tours ." Over the past half-decade, Zaal, 42, and his company, US Ghost Adventures, have opened ghost tours in more than 250 cities and towns, employing more than 1,000 guides, according to his company's website. He's also been buying up the country's haunted landmarks like it's the first trip around the Monopoly board — the Lizzie Borden House in Massachusetts, the Villisca Axe Murder House in Iowa, the McInteer Villa in Kansas, and two historic houses in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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