Fall Visitors to Old Louisville, Kentucky Surge after Shocking HBO Documentary

Advance ticket sales for the Victorian Ghost Walk® are up more than 600 percent over last year as travelers seek out America's Most Haunted Neighborhood

LOUISVILLE, KY, UNITED STATES, September 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Old Louisville is seeing a surge of fall visitors this year, and a two-part HBO documentary is a big reason why. Louisville Historic Tours reports that advance ticket sales for its Victorian Ghost Walk^®, held one weekend each October, are up more than 600 percent compared with the same point last year.

The jump follows the February 19 premiere of Murder in Glitterball City on HBO, now streaming on HBO Max. The documentary, produced by World of Wonder and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, is inspired by the 2021 nonfiction book A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City by Louisville author and historian David Dominé, who is featured in the film. It chronicles the case that began in 2010 when police discovered the body of Jamie Carroll buried in the basement of a Victorian mansion on South Fourth Street, and the two trials that followed. Dominé and his tours, including the Victorian Ghost Walk, appear throughout the film.

"People watch the documentary and want to stand on the sidewalk and see the neighborhood for themselves," said Dominé, owner of Louisville Historic Tours. "What surprises them is that the murder is one small chapter. Every block has a ghost story, a family misfortune, or a scandal older than the one on HBO, and most people leave more interested in the neighborhood than the case."

Old Louisville is home to one of the largest collections of restored Victorian homes in the country, according to Louisville Tourism, and the neighborhood has long anchored the city's fall tourism season through its ghost tours and the St. James Court Art Show.

Now in its 18th year, the Victorian Ghost Walk is a once-a-year production of outdoor theater in which lantern-led groups follow gas-lit streets into Gilded Age mansions, where costumed actors portray real residents of the neighborhood and recount their stories of scandal, tragedy, and the unexplained. Written by Dominé and directed by Keith McGill, this year's walk runs Friday through Sunday, October 16 to 18, with departures every 15 minutes from 6 to 9 p.m. from the Conrad-Caldwell House Museum at 1402 St. James Court. Tickets are $40 plus fees, and proceeds benefit the South Fourth Street Association in Old Louisville.

Dominé personally leads the Glitter Ball City True Crime Tour, a walking tour that covers the case, the neighborhood's history, and Kentucky's century-long connection to the mirrored disco ball, from the Kentuckian who patented an early version in 1917 to the Louisville factory that produced most of America's disco balls during the 1970s and '80s. The Old Louisville Ghost Tour, led by the company's team of guides, explores the neighborhood HBO describes as one of the most haunted in America. Louisville Historic Tours also operates Old Louisville walking tours, with September and October traditionally its busiest months.

Tour dates, times, and tickets are available at louisvillehistorictours.com.

About Louisville Historic Tours
Locally owned since 2004, Louisville Historic Tours offers guided ghost, walking, and true crime tours of Old Louisville and downtown Louisville led by local historians and storytellers. Founded by author David Dominé, the company is recommended by The New York Times and has been featured by HBO, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, the Travel Channel, A&E, SYFY, and more. More at louisvillehistorictours.com.

David Dominé
Louisville Historic Tours LLC
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