If there's one thing Indy loves more than traveling, it's Halloween and History (in that order). And leave it to him to find a way to combine the two- even outside the month of October! Since '07 Indy and I have been on six, yes six Ghost Tours.
What's a Ghost Tour? Allow me to explain...
Whether you believe in them or not, almost every small town across the world has some type of ghost story. And if every small town across the world has some type of ghost story, you can imagine how many more ghost stories there are in the biggest towns and cities across the globe. Go ahead, Google, "Ghost Tour" and the name of the largest city near you, and I'll bet something will come up.
From my experience, almost all ghost tours are set up similarly: You meet your tour guide (sometimes dressed in period clothing, usually wearing a dark cloak, and almost always carrying a lantern of some kind) in a public area where they begin the tour with a super creepy introductory tale, or a big, boisterous welcome speech. Then, you spend between an hour and a half to two hours on a walking tour of the area, stopping intermittently to hear a little bit about the historical importance of a particular street/building/person, followed by stories about the ghostly encounters that are rumored to have happened there.
Some ghost tours are ultra creepy. Some ghost tours are hysterically funny. All ghost tours that I have been on have been very informative, entertaining, and a fantastic way to learn more about a new city.
Here's a time line of the places we've been and ghost toured, along with a link to the company we used (although, for most major cities there are at least two companies that do this):
’07 -Philly, Penn: http://www.ghosttour.com/philadelphia.html
’08 -San Francisco, California: http://www.sfghosthunt.com/fatcow.com/Welcome.html
’08- Salem, Massachusetts: http://www.spellboundtours.com/
’12 -Brisbane, Australia: http://www.ghost-tours.com.au/Pages/tour_list_ghost_tours.htm
’13 -Edinburgh, Scotland: http://www.witcherytours.com/
’13 -Portland, Maine: http://wickedwalkingtours.com/
I can honestly say we only had one ghostly encounter in all six of these tours, and fortunately I've got the photographic proof to share!
While we on our ghost tour in Salem back in '09, the tour guide kept asking us all to snap photos at each site, explaining that some ghosts will manifest on film/digital screens better than in real life. Those little dusty orbs you always see in movies, or in an "ectoplasm"- kind of a smoke-like trail of light.
On the tour I'd been snapping and snapping away, chimping at my camera after every shot with nothing to get excited over. Yeah, there were dust balls or orbs here and there, but nothing big. Then we reached the end of the tour- a big parking lot that was once a prison yard for a prison that at one time held Massachusetts most gruesome, soulless criminals (yeah, that's what they all say!). Our guide was telling us about the ghost of one particularly scary criminal who stabbed his victims and often appeared in tourist shots. I was snap, snap, snapping away- 5 shots in a row. I took a minute to look back through my photos:
Nothing:
Nothing:
GHOST:
Nothing:
Nothing:
When I saw that "ghost" shot on my playback screen, I nearly pooped myself! I seriously got a pang in my chest and felt like I was having a hot flash. I quickly called Indy over and his eyes grew wide as saucers!
While we on our ghost tour in Salem back in '09, the tour guide kept asking us all to snap photos at each site, explaining that some ghosts will manifest on film/digital screens better than in real life. Those little dusty orbs you always see in movies, or in an "ectoplasm"- kind of a smoke-like trail of light.
On the tour I'd been snapping and snapping away, chimping at my camera after every shot with nothing to get excited over. Yeah, there were dust balls or orbs here and there, but nothing big. Then we reached the end of the tour- a big parking lot that was once a prison yard for a prison that at one time held Massachusetts most gruesome, soulless criminals (yeah, that's what they all say!). Our guide was telling us about the ghost of one particularly scary criminal who stabbed his victims and often appeared in tourist shots. I was snap, snap, snapping away- 5 shots in a row. I took a minute to look back through my photos:
Nothing:
Nothing:
GHOST:
Nothing:
Nothing:
When I saw that "ghost" shot on my playback screen, I nearly pooped myself! I seriously got a pang in my chest and felt like I was having a hot flash. I quickly called Indy over and his eyes grew wide as saucers!
Just after this spot, our tour guide lead us a block or two away to thank and dismiss us, offering to check out anyone's photos to confirm/deny ghostly activities. We hopped online and heard him dismiss everyone, "Nope....Just some orbs....Nah....Nothing....Orbs....Nope...." Then we we handed him my camera and he freaked out! "Oh my god!" He yelled, "Everyone come back, look at this- THIS is a ghost, see all the ectoplasm?!"
His excitement made me laugh, but also scared the crap out of me. He begged me to send him a copy of the photo so they could post it on their site and insisted on giving me his business card. I never did get around to sending it to them, and every October I feel badly about it- but I'm sure they've gotten plenty more since '08.
We've got plenty of time left in October for you to find and book your first ghost tour. Do it! Maybe you'll come away with a ghost photo like me! One that you can whip out every October to scare the heck out of your Photography students! More than likely you'll just have an awesome time.
They do a bunch of different tours in the Boston area, including in the Granary Burial ground in town, and especially this time of year. I have always been a little skeptical of ghost tours, but a bunch of my classmates this summer wanted to go. There is just one guy who gives tours on Nantucket and he has the kind of voice you'd hear on a late night radio show. creepy in and of itself. We had a fun time and I was thankfully only slightly creeped out. I think it's a really cool tradition you and Indy have started!
ReplyDeleteA ghost tour on Nantucket must've been both fun and beautiful! Glad you enjoyed yourself- some are more scary than others- the one we did in Edinburgh wasn't scary at all, but hilarious. I felt like I went to see a night of stand-up. Either way, they're always entertaining!
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