In the heart of the New Orleans French Quarter stands a $4.3 million Greek Revival mansion with a dark history. Once the site of an infamous torture chamber, the Lalaurie Mansion is now the primary residence of Lance Zaal, a 42-year-old Marine veteran and MBA graduate who has become the most polarizing figure in the American paranormal industry. To his supporters, Zaal is a savvy entrepreneur who has professionalized a fragmented market; to his critics, he is the leader of the “Walmart of Ghost Tours,” an expansionist force that they claim is crushing local “mom and pop” operations through aggressive litigation and predatory business practices.
Over the last five years, Zaal’s company, US Ghost Adventures (USGA), has expanded into more than 250 cities and towns. The company employs over 1,000 guides and has systematically acquired some of the most famous haunted landmarks in the United States, including the Lizzie Borden House in Massachusetts, the Villisca Axe Murder House in Iowa, the McInteer Villa in Kansas, and historic properties in Gettysburg. The rapid expansion coincides with a massive shift in American culture. In 1978, only 11% of Americans believed in ghosts; by 2025, that number has climbed to 39%. This surge in supernatural interest has fueled a “dark tourism” market valued at approximately $32 billion and projected to reach $39 billion by the end of the decade.
Zaal, who describes a hardscrabble childhood marked by periods of homelessness and early supernatural experiences, has adopted a philosophy of ruthless market competition. “You’re on your own. You have no friends. The market is God,” Zaal once remarked in an interview, outlining a worldview that has left many in the industry feeling embattled. Local operators across the country allege that USGA uses confusingly similar names to divert business from established tours. In Baltimore, Melissa Rowell, who has operated Baltimore Ghost Tours since 2001, began receiving complaints from angry customers who had actually booked with Zaal’s affiliate, “Baltimore Ghosts.” Rowell noted that rather than resolving the confusion, USGA reportedly began using “Baltimore Ghost Tour” in its own promotional materials.
The pattern of naming disputes has led to a flurry of litigation. In Austin, Texas, USGA was sued by the owners of a local “Booze and Boos Tour” after Zaal launched a “Boos and Booze” tour. Similar lawsuits have emerged in Savannah, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Zaal has generally defended these choices in legal filings, arguing that the names are too generic to be trademarked and accusing his rivals of being a “gang of competitors” desperate to maintain local monopolies.
The conflict extends beyond names to the very content of the tours. Laine Johnson, who spent a decade developing a ghost tour in Durango, Colorado, based on local archives and firsthand interviews, discovered that a new competitor owned by Zaal followed her exact route and used nearly identical phrasing. She believes her material was harvested from a virtual tour app called Junket, which she had used during the pandemic and which Zaal also owns. Furthermore, Angela Taverniti of Colonial Ghosts in Williamsburg alleged a technical manipulation of reviews, sharing evidence of a system that redirected high-star ratings to USGA’s Google page while steering low-star ratings toward her competing business.
Zaal’s approach to property management has been equally litigious. After purchasing the Lizzie Borden House, he sued a nearby small business, Miss Lizzie’s Cafe, claiming their blood-stained hatchet logo infringed on his trademark. While a judge eventually sided with the cafe owner, Joe Pereira—noting that the logos were substantially different—the legal battle cost Pereira over $31,000 in fees due to missed filing deadlines.
Beyond tours, Zaal’s empire includes a ghost detection gear brand called Ghost Daddy, selling kits for as much as $629. This branch of the business recently faced its own scandal when ceramics artist Trevor Foster accused USGA of stealing his intricate skull-shaped mug design. Foster provided evidence that Zaal had purchased one of his handmade mugs before a nearly identical mass-produced version appeared on the Ghost Daddy website. Zaal eventually settled with Foster, attributing the incident to a mistake by an overseas supplier.
As USGA continues to grow—reporting a staggering 2,600% revenue increase between 2019 and 2023—the company is now moving toward the use of AI. A recent job posting for an “AI Creative Specialist” suggests the company plans to use artificial intelligence to draft tour scripts and marketing copy, a move that could further distance the business from the local storytelling traditions that originally defined the industry. Meanwhile, even the supernatural residents of Zaal’s properties appear to be restless. Paranormal investigators at the McInteer Villa reported that a medium described the local ghosts as “irritated” by the new ownership, claiming the spirits felt the site had been turned into a “circus.”
