Time to Pursuits of Adventure Play explore Diversions Pleasure Catching the Spirit A ghost tour is the perfect Halloween treat. Here are a few of the eeriest. by Jeff book Our fascination with those ★ who can’t quite quit this mortal coil is undying. We love to get spooked by tales of apocalyptic zombies, bodice-ripping vampires, and especially — eternally — ghosts. Plagued by troubled pasts, doomed to dark mischief, these unmoored souls are all too human in their need to act out and act up. They capture our imagination when we’re young, and they never let go. One sign anecdotes. And sometimes they encounter some- of this is the spate of TV shows such as Ghost Adven- thing truly weird and spine-chilling. tures and Ghost Hunters, which use high-tech gad- “I was starting a tour in front of Colonial Park gets to detect spirits. There are even apps that claim Cemetery on a chilly November night, when the to communicate with the dearly departed. temperature dropped suddenly,” recalls James Cas- Small wonder that across America, ghost tours key, historian and tour owner of Savannah’s Cobble- have sprung up like toadstools after a rain. So popu- stone Tours (ghostsavannah.com). “I noticed nobody lar are these spiritual scavenger hunts that you can was listening to me — they were all staring into the find them in almost any place with a history and an cemetery with their mouths open. I turned around evocative setting. According to the Ghost Tour and saw columns of mist, the size and shape of peo- Directory (ghosttourdirectory.com), the U.S. is now ple, rising from the graves. We were all speechless.” possessed of 375 such outings. Mingling historical Freaky, weather-related fog? Or something more facts with supernatural stories and macabre humor, spooktacular? Founded in 1733, Savannah has been the tour guides aim to entertain — and raise goose called America’s most haunted city, with good rea- illustration by Frank stockton bumps. On some tours they bring along instruments son. “It’s a city marked by tragedy, from the many to record evidence of spectral activity: electromag- who died in the Revolutionary War to countless netic or thermal energy, orbs and other optical trac- victims of disease and disaster, including plagues es, and electronic voice phenomena, also known as and huge fires,” Caskey explains. “As Savannah ghost chatter. The tours are typically conducted in grew, it was built on the dead.” Indeed, the city is the evening; daytime just doesn’t work. home to Native American burial grounds, graves of A ghost tour is always open to the unexpected. colonists and slaves, a Jewish cemetery, and other Tour-goers sometimes share their own otherworldly skull-and-bone zones. usairwaysmag.com october 2013 35 Diversions of Doom. Rustling palmettos and oaks draped in Spanish moss add to the Southern Gothic mood of lamp-lit squares, stately architecture, and aged graveyards. Like McGriff, Caskey prides himself on the historical accuracy of his tours. “You don’t have to make anything up — Savannah’s history is so colorful,” he declares. “And a large part of any ghost story is the surrounding history and context.” Savannah’s ghost tours pose gripping riddles. Is the 1790 Inn haunted by a servant girl who was impregnated and Spooky Savannah abandoned by a sailor? Do slaves buried beneath Calhoun Square account for Tobias McGriff of Blue Orb Ghost stood by untrained volunteers. “That’s reported sounds of weeping? Do photo courtesy o Tours (blueorbtours.com) says that many why you started to see coffins with ethereal children make mischief in of Savannah’s ghosts are the result of alarm bells and escape hatches,” he the Kehoe House bed and breakfast, “tragic death dealt with in careless adds. “And wakes — as the name formerly a funeral parlor? Why do em- F ways, people laid to unrest. It creates suggests, they were held in part to give ployees avoid the derelict upper floors cobblestone tours a disconnect in the psychic ether.” the deceased a chance to wake up.” of Moon River Brewery? The latter is a Some victims of the city’s yellow fever Savannah visitors can troll for ghosts key stop on several haunted pub crawls, epidemics were buried alive, he notes, on foot, in a horse-drawn carriage, in a which are fun even if the only spirits their coma-like symptoms misunder- hearse, or in what’s billed as the Trolley you encounter are those in your cup. IMPRESS THEM WHETHER YOU’RE THERE OR NOT We make it easy with a wide selection of gourmet gifts guaranteed to arrive on time in perfect condition Customization and personalization options are available plus volume discounts for larger orders Contact a Business Gift Specialist today Call Click HnDBBcom Diversions Ultimately, ghost tours are sensa- LONG BEACH, caliFornia NEW ORLEANS tional history lessons, providing a vivid now permanently docked as a hotel plagues, mayhem, slavery, voodoo, sense of place and perhaps a thrilling and attraction, the ocean liner Queen vampires, and all that jazz spice up Mary still exudes transatlantic glam- the crescent city’s rich ghost-tour glimpse of the supernatural. In his book our. in a vintage stateroom or over gumbo. Master storytellers blend Haunted Savannah, James Caskey cites a posh meal, it’s easy to imagine the history and folklore on French Quarter William Faulkner’s famous quote: “The ship’s ritzy past. but the cunard liner phantoms walking tours (french also transported thousands of troops quarterphantoms.com). an ordained past is never dead. It’s not even past.” during world war ii, earning the nick- voodoo priestess who performs An apt motto for every ghost tour. name “the Gray Ghost.” according to weddings, bloody Mary leads both repeated sightings, resident spirits in- walking and van tours (bloodymarys clude a lady in white who dances alone tours.com). “i help connect people Jeff Book (jeffbook.net) writes from by a piano and a young crewmember to the spirit world and give them an Birmingham, Alabama. crushed in an engine-room accident. insider’s perspective,” she says. “My the haunted encounters tour and family has been here since 1718.” other shipboard programs highlight the apparitions (queenmary.com). SEATTLE seattle has dark stories to match its SALEM, Massachusetts gray skies. the wide-ranging vans of More Favorite Haunts the 1692 witch trials gave salem en- private eye tours (privateeyetours during notoriety. beyond the tourist- .com) stop at eerie spots such as CAPE MAY, new Jersey shop witch kitsch lurks an undeniable comet lodge cemetery and a former all of cape May is a national historic spookiness. leah schmidt’s haunted chinatown gambling den, site of a District. Many of its Victorian homes Footsteps Ghost tour weaves together killing spree 30 years ago. Mercedes are said to be haunted, including the tales of colonial sorcery, cold-blooded yaeger’s Market Ghost tours (seattle 1879 physick estate. the Mid-atlantic murder, and paranormal activity — ghost.com) unfold in and around center for the arts and humanities sometimes said to be experienced famed pike place Market, built in offers tours of the estate as well as first-hand. “we have certain hot spots 1903. “nearby was a mortuary and ghost trolley tours (capemaymac where people hear voices, feel some- a yMca where orphans lived,” she .org). or take in the spirited show one touch them, or have their cam- says. “underneath are burial grounds at elaine’s haunted Dinner theater, era batteries drained,” schmidt says. for native americans, early settlers, followed by her lively walking Ghost “strange things occur with startling and chinese immigrants. let’s just tour (elainesdinnertheater.com). regularity” (salemhistoricaltours.com). say i’ve seen things i can’t explain.”.