Ryman Auditorium is swinging its doors open after dark again this October, inviting guests to walk its aisles and climb onto its famous stage while guides spin tales of the ghosts said to linger there. The Ryman Haunted History Tours run through Halloween night, giving visitors a 45-minute guided walk through the venue at dusk, including a stop beneath the stage itself.
According to News Channel 5 Nashville, the tours are built around the building's 133-year history and promise guests a chance to learn the stories behind mysterious sightings and occurrences reported inside the hall over the decades. The outlet reports that guests can also stand on the iconic Nashville stage and venture beneath it, with each tour capped off by a commemorative photo. On Halloween itself, tours run from 6 to 8 p.m., departing every 15 minutes so small groups can move through the building without the place feeling overrun.
Tickets for the experience run $50 per person, with sessions capped at 25 guests each and tours lasting 45 minutes on select October dates, according to Nashville Guru. Tickets are on sale now at ryman.com, per the same News Channel 5 report.
From Gospel Tabernacle to Mother Church of Country Music
Long before anyone whispered about ghosts in the balcony, the building was a straightforward act of faith. Riverboat captain Thomas G. Ryman funded construction between 1885 and 1892 after a religious conversion at a tent revival, pouring roughly $100,000 into what was then called the Union Gospel Tabernacle — a sum equivalent to more than $3.5 million today, according to Wikipedia. Ryman had converted after attending a revival led by evangelist Samuel Porter Jones, and the hall was designed as a house of worship but also leased for nonreligious events in its early years.
The building took its founder's name only after his death. Ryman died on December 23, 1904, and evangelist Sam Jones proposed renaming the tabernacle in his honor during Ryman's memorial service. Decades later, the hall found a second identity entirely: it served as the permanent home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show from 1943 to 1974, earning it the nickname the Mother Church of Country Music, per the same Wikipedia account. When the Opry relocated, a six-foot oak circle was cut from the Ryman stage and installed at the new Opry House to preserve that continuity.
That legacy earned the auditorium a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and a National Historic Landmark designation on June 25, 2001, recognizing its role in expanding country music nationwide, Wikipedia notes. The hall was also named a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark in 2022. Inside, visitors still sit — or in this case, walk past — the original curved wooden church pews installed during the tabernacle era, with the auditorium holding a seating capacity of 2,362 guests.
The Ghost Stories Guides Share After Dark
The haunted reputation that gives the tour its name stretches back more than a century. Local legend holds that the spirit of Thomas Ryman himself still stomps through the aisles during performances he might have found morally objectionable, a story associated with the opera Carmen, according to Ghost City Tours.
Other spectral accounts tied to the venue include “The Gray Man,” believed by some to be the ghost of a Civil War Confederate soldier seen in the balcony, and a female spirit tour guides say has been spotted singing on center stage at night, per Nashville Sites. That balcony was added in 1897 as the Confederate Gallery for a veterans convention. Urban legend also attaches an “Opry Curse” to the hall, with a rumor naming 37 people, including Patsy Cline and other artists. Believers in that legend claim the curse persisted even after the Opry moved to its current location.
A Historic Stage With an Uncertain Business Future
The haunted tours arrive as the Ryman's corporate parent weighs major changes behind the scenes. Parent company Ryman Hospitality Properties hired Morgan Stanley in June to market a controlling 70% stake in Opry Entertainment Group, which operates Ryman Auditorium, the Grand Ole Opry House, radio station WSM, and the Ole Red brand, Hoodline previously reported. The company had recapitalized the entertainment arm back in 2022 before turning to new strategic buyers this year.
Whatever happens with ownership, the stage itself keeps hosting a packed calendar. The Ryman is set to host Slash and Marty Stuart for a concert on October 27, 2026, saw Dolly Parton honored with an Americana lifetime award, and saw a mid-performance collapse during Ray LaMontagne’s concert. For now, though, the spotlight turns to the building's quieter corners — the under-stage passages, the darkened pews, and the balcony where the Gray Man is said to keep watch.
