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Ghost Tours

Kiless

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This has been a little holiday hobby of mine (and now work has restarted so it might be the end of this for a while).

A student mentioned to me around the last 31st October (a day which has no particular significance in Australia, except for interesting Simpsons episodes and the occasional bereft child who does doorknocks and discovers that the neighbourhood derides 'Yank customs') that there was a ghost tour in my local town and suggested that I check it out.

After doing so this holiday, and finding a few links, (eg. this is the one I checked out - Fremantle Ghost Tour and I also became interested in this Halloween Ghost Walk London - nothing to do with the London Dungeon, though, which I did spot in the UK. I didn't get to check that one out, perhaps next time) I've discovered that this is a bit of a popular trade around the world.

Never really thinking that people would seriously hawk ghosts and hauntings and develop tours around them, it spiked my interest. I couldn't really see how it would be much more of a draw than say, a usual tour of a building. But the group I went with on a Wednesday evening seemed very into it and just getting all jumpy and claiming that they were feeling 'vibes'. The age of the group was in their 40s, about eight of us. The guide was very polite and although didn't exactly throw items around the room or shake tins full of bolts when we were facing the other way, did leave lots of... pauses.... in between.... telling.... the beliefs of those.... who had experienced phenomena.... and ended up having people in the tour group with me elbow each other subtly and react to shadows in the corners with starts. I ended up feeling like someone had suggested to the guide to let us build up the suspense amongst ourselves rather than make any effort on their part - a bit like 'the madness of crowds.'

The first mention I discovered on a TV show was in the first series of Bulls*it in an episode about ouija boards (which is why the student raised the topic with me, as I used this ep in a class last year), which mentioned a hotel in Salem that apparently featured a resident ghost. I found two books in my local library - 'Walking Haunted London' and 'And Their Ghosts May be Heard', by a local publisher, prompting me to find about about a boat ghost tour of the Batavia wreak up north of Perth.... that might no longer be operating. Pity that, I might have been able to do that one.

There's quite a few of them out there! I typed in a few google searches over the break about reports of hauntings in houses / hotels / towns and if people were developing tours or businesses based upon reported phenomena. Are there any in your area and have you tried them? :)
 
Next time you get to Sydney go check out the Ghost Tour at Manly's Quarantine Station. I've been on it several times - a friend has been to so many he knows more stories than most of the tour guides! They also have historical tours of the premises. It's an amazing place with a magnificent view!

Some of the Aust. Skeptics just attended a Ghost tour in Picton. In NSW, there are tours of Monte Cristo house in Junee, Parramatta Gaol and barracks, old Parliament house and also Rookwood cemetery.

There are heaps in London, walking ghost tours, even a tour tracking the trail of Jack the Ripper!

There are many here in SF too, that I want to get to - one is a Vampire's tour of SF, whatever that is! There is one in Chinatown, one in downtown SF and one in the Haight-Ashbury district. If nothing else they'll be good for tourist value!


Karen.
 
There is a picture from a Ghost tour in the Mystery Investigator, free to download. There will also be a report in the next issue of 'the Skeptic'
 
Ghost tours

Hi Kiless and others,

I run my company's social club and I have taken parties on London ghost tours and the Jack The Ripper tour. Excellent fun and very popular. We didn't see any ghosts, but the evenings are a great way to meet others.

Doorknocking/trick and treating on Hallowe'en isn't a 'Yank custom.' It's a very old English one. Hallowe'en is a very ancient pagan custom, which marks the end of one year and the beginning of another. During Anglo-Saxon times, people would bake cakes for the village especially for Hallowe'en day. In the evening, bonfires would be lit and a village resident would go around calling on the good folk of the village asking for a cake. The woman of the house would only give a cake if the caller promised to pray for all the souls in the house, both dead and alive. The cakes were known as 'soul cakes.' If the caller refused to pray, then he would be denied a cake.

When the English settlers arrived in America the custom was kept but invariably a few revisions crept into it over time e.g. the dressing up as scary characters, which are fun games, but have no real significance to the occasion. Nowadays it has become an excuse for vandalism and anti-social behaviour, something that was never a part of the Saxon custom.

When Hallowe'en time comes around and I am chosen by 'trick and treaters' I give them sweets on the understanding that they go away and find out what Hallowe'en and trick and treating are really about.

All good fun!

Patsy.
 
Re: Ghost tours

songstress said:
Doorknocking/trick and treating on Hallowe'en isn't a 'Yank custom.' It's a very old English one.
Click to expand...

Here it's 'Bloody Americans and their stupid customs; next you'll be expecting Thanksgiving you daft kids - you're not going out you'll only get kidnapped by paedophiles, poisoned by perverts and their drugged lollies or end up trashing the neighbourhood and who's going to have to bail you out of that one, I don't know....' :)
 
Every year, right around Halloween, Carson City has its annual Ghost Walk, where a path is marked through the oldest section of town and at certain stops (mostly old historic houses and saloons) someone will be there, dressed up in an old costume to talk about the historic site and any ghost sightings associated with it. They also have an interseting mix of people in scary costumes and historical re-enactors along the way.

It's fascinating for the history part but annoying as hell that the city is giving credence to the ghost stories. Still, I find the historical aspect to be worth my time, especially since the ghost stories are, in most cases, played off kind of tongue in cheek. More like scary campfire stories than anything else.
 
Re: Ghost tours

songstress said:
Hi Kiless and others,

I run my company's social club and I have taken parties on London ghost tours and the Jack The Ripper tour. Excellent fun and very popular. We didn't see any ghosts, but the evenings are a great way to meet others.
Click to expand...

My mother and I also went on a Jack The Ripper tour run by Martin Fido (I believe that was his name) back in 1989. It was great just walking through the streets at night and meeting different people. The same can be said for the Ghost Tour through Cape May, New Jersey. It's a great way to see all the old Victorian mansions lit up at night and imagine the streets as they were 100 years ago. No ghosts, just nice stories.

Michael
 
I've been on one in Edinburgh, I think it was by a company called Mercat Tours (named after the mercat statue on top of the pillar).

Great fun as the guide recounts stories of old Edinburgh, the places that Burke and Hare did their thing, the plague tenements still filled with bodies etc. etc. Best bit was when the guide was recounting a story in a graveyard and gradually lowered her voice to a whisper then suddenly turned around and spoke at normal volume straight into someones face who yelped and jumped a mile off the ground!

Some of the tours use 'jumpooters' - people dressed in costume who jump out of dark places as the tour passes by - to add some drama/heart stopping moments.
 
Lol, have never heard of anything like that occuring as so here in Sweden.
Sounds colourful and theatrical, which is stimulating at times.

The most colourful tradition that is a typic swedish one is the celebrating of midsummer's eve with the infamous midsummer's pole.
Which is a tradition from the viking era where they built a giant libido pole turning it up-side-down.
A celebration of fertility for the soil, clans and animals. The eve of mating.
That always crack's tourists up I've noticed.
 
They've become big business here in New Orleans. Years ago I remember there being only one. It was sparsely advertised, and if you wanted to go on it, you would go to the steps of the St. Louis Cathedral at midnight and wait for the guy with the black suit, top hat and sunglasses to show up. These days it seems like there are dozens of them, all running multiple times a night, originating from bars and cafes all over the French Quarter, with ads everywhere you look and tickets on sale at every tourist kiosk. I went on one and found it only marginally historically interesting, not at all spooky, and way, way too long.
 
We used to have a ghost tour in the city I'm living in now. This woman would dress up as a witch and take tourists to the most haunted spots in the city in a small shuttle. As far as I know, the tour is now defunct for the following reasons:

1 - We don't get that many tourists to this city (when I moved up here, one of the moving men told me that the city was a place people moved away from, not move to).

2 - All the locals already know all the "haunted" spots in and around the city.

3 - The whole thing was just too cheesy to be even entertaining, let alone credible.

I was wondering if anyone has ever taken a most haunted tour of hollywood? I've heard it is supposed to be quite good entertainment-wise.
 
I remember seeing ads for a ghost tour in Las Vegas, when we were there for TAM3.

I was going to go but thought the $45 fee could be better spent! ;)



Karen.
 
Re: Ghost tours

songstress said:
When Hallowe'en time comes around and I am chosen by 'trick and treaters' I give them sweets on the understanding that they go away and find out what Hallowe'en and trick and treating are really about.
Click to expand...

We haven't had a Trick-or-Treater in 10 years, ever since we moved into this house. The house isn't haunted or anything, it's only 12 years old.

I wonder if the Catholic cemetery next door has anything to do with it?
 
Hey Kiless,

I live in Mandurah, just south of Freo. I might need to head up one night and check it out lol.
 
Kiless said:
There's quite a few of them out there! I typed in a few google searches over the break about reports of hauntings in houses / hotels / towns and if people were developing tours or businesses based upon reported phenomena. Are there any in your area and have you tried them? :)
Click to expand...

Yes. I've taken two, both terrific disappointments. I'm planning to take a couple more.

The two I took were in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia and Philadelphia. Harper's Ferry is full of US Civil War history. It was the site of the armory which John Brown attacked and took over briefly before the army (under the command of Robert E. Lee I believe) managed to take it back. During the war its strategic location made it desirable to both sides and it changed hands something like 15 times. There wasn't much left of the town by the end of the war.

Anyway, it's full of ghost stories, but the tour consisted of walking around town while the guide pointed to buildings and told us ghost stories. Never entered a single building.

Not to be deterred, I talked my family into another tour in the most historic area of Philadelphia, "Old City". Much to my disgust, at the beginning of the tour the guide told us we wouldn't be going into any buildings. Then once again we walked around while he pointed at buildings and told ghost stories.

There are two more on my list in this area (what can I say, I love ghost stories) that I have slightly higher hopes for. The Gettysburg battlefield does tours, and while it's probably outside as well, so are most of the ghost stories. So at least I'll be "on site". Right by the Philadelphia airport is an old fort called Fort Mifflin which has a ton of stories associated with it. A local ghost-hunting society conducts the tours and they do go inside and explore the areas most-associated with the stories. No hokey touristy stuff, they're hoping for real sightings (and they claim to have had some on the tour).
 
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