Much-loved York ghost walk The Deathly Dark Tours reached a huge milestone last week – as they led their 1,000th tour.
The business, which was founded during the first lockdown in 2020, entertains audiences in York with tales of its rich haunting history, using a blend of comedy, scares and expert storytelling.
The 1,000th tour took place on Sunday 17 March. “It’s remarkable to be honest,” founder Dorian Deathly told YorkMix. “The fact that it’s happened is quite insane.”
The milestone came just before the Deathly Dark Tours’ four year anniversary, which fell on Friday (22 March).
Dorian runs the Deathly Dark Tours with his wife, Mrs Deathly, who manages the operations.
The idea for the tour came about during the pandemic, when a close friend suggested doing a virtual ghost tour.
Dorian, who had previously worked for another tour company for seven years, took the opportunity and did his first livestream tour around York with a photo-selfie stick, microphone and a notebook with all the stories written in.
“I think we anticipated 40 or 50 people would be amazing to watch it – and it ended up being about 400.”
The virtual ghost tours proved to be extremely popular, with up to 5,000 people watching them at its peak.
During the livestream era, Dorian would provide a Paypal ‘tip jar’ “like a busker” as the virtual tours were completely free. On the last virtual tour, thousands of people from around the world chipped in – so much so that Paypal rang them up to ask what was going on.
“That was one of the most surreal moments, especially during the frightening nature of that time.”
Amidst the easing of Covid restrictions, they launched their first physical tour in August 2020. The business grew and grew, and now there are two tours per night in peak seasons and five tour guides.
The Deathly Dark Tours is not just a business, it has built a real community in York and brings together both locals and tourists.
Very own ghost
Over the four years, there have been plenty of weird and wacky experiences – including the regular appearance of a man dressing up as a ghost.
“On the back streets of York he has an apartment or house there and he will just stand in the window. And not just with a sheet over his head, this guy paints his face white and does dark bags under his eyes and wears a medieval looking shirt.
“I have no idea who he is. Every now and then I’ll hear a group go ‘Oh!’ – and he’s just standing there, for five or ten minutes. That’s been happening consistently for about three years.”
The Deathly Dark Tours have received many accolades and awards during the past few years – most recently winning both the awards they were nominated for at the Visit York Tourism Awards 2024.
They won the Experience of the Year and Independent Business of the Year awards. “That was an amazing feeling,” said Dorian.
New stories are always being added to the tour. “Our tour guides are often also historians who have their own stories which is fantastic.”
The tour has also built up a fair few regulars over the years. “Shout out to the Roberts family – I think they’ve done our tour 20 times in four years. They’re really good fun.
“A guy called Dave, who lives in York, he did the very first tour we did and we was at the 1,000th tour so that was a really lovely feeling.
“There’s the community on Facebook too.”
During the Deathly Dark Tours’ fourth anniversary, Dorian ran a livestream using exactly the same route, stories and equipment that he first did in 2020.
Will there be any changes for 2024? “We’re going to mix things up a bit,” Dorian teased.
The next milestone goal is 5,000 tours.
“I want to say thank you to all the people of York for tolerating us, and I would urge anyone that ever sees this sort of thing and thinks Hmph! to come and do it and get in touch.”
To find out more about the Deathly Dark Tours and to book onto a tour, visit their website here. You can also support them on Patreon.
Here’s to the next four years of frights and fun!