Boston Strangler Tours — Walking the Sites of America's Most Chilling Case
# Boston's True Crime Tours Put You on the Streets Where the Strangler Struck
In the early 1960s, a serial killer terrorized Boston, Massachusetts, murdering at least thirteen women in a two-year reign of fear that shook an entire city and became one of the most debated criminal cases in American history. Today, walking tours across Boston revisit that era — guiding visitors through the neighbourhoods where the crimes unfolded and examining a case that, decades later, still divides criminologists and historians.
The Case That Haunts Boston
Between 1962 and 1964, thirteen women were found strangled in their apartments across Greater Boston. The murders were attributed to Albert DeSalvo, a local handyman who confessed to the killings while imprisoned on unrelated charges. However, DeSalvo was never formally tried for the stranglings — a legal and forensic gap that has fuelled controversy ever since. He was stabbed to death in Walpole State Prison in 1973, taking many unanswered questions with him.
In 2013, DNA evidence recovered from the scene of the final victim, Mary Sullivan, was found to match DeSalvo's profile — the strongest forensic link ever established between him and the crimes, though debate about his sole guilt continues among researchers and true crime scholars. The Boston Strangler case has inspired books, films, and a 2023 Hulu drama series, cementing its place in the cultural memory of American crime history.
What the Tours Cover
Several true crime and ghost tours operating in Boston incorporate the Strangler case into their itineraries, placing the crimes in their historical and geographic context. The Boston Ghosts and Gravestones Trolley Tour is among the established operators that reference Albert DeSalvo as part of a broader narrative about Boston's criminal past. Similarly, evening walking tours of the city include commentary on the Strangler case alongside other chapters of Boston's dark history.
