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By Sandy Klim
> Read Ghost Stories from Haunted Hotels
More Halloween Tours
Ghostly tours are the perfect way to frightsee your way around these haunted locales.
(Reservations highly recommended due to popular demand during peak season.)
> Alabama
> Florida
> Georgia
> Ohio
> New York
> Tennessee
> Virginia
Historic Selma
Ghost Tour
Tour Grace Hall and other residences on this haunting tour. Grace Hall is a beautifully restored antebellum home in which resides the ghost believed to be "Miz Eliza," who has been a regular guest since 1982. Several other ghosts have been spotted over the years for a total of five spirits believed to share the home with the owners and their guests.
For more information, call 1-800-45-SELMA or visit Selma Ghost Tours www.selmaalabama.com
St. Augustine
Ghostly Encounters
This tour was recently featured on the Travel Channel after the North East Florida Paranormal Association certified the Spanish Military Hospital Museum as an actively haunted building. You will journey through the dark and narrow streets of historic St. Augustine where the guides enlighten you of the haunting tales of the past.
$ 10.00 for 1 1/2 hr tour. Children free (under 6). For more information, call 800-597-7177 or visit Ghostly Encounters www.infoperson.com/ghost_02.htm
St. Petersburg
Downtown St. Petersburg Ghost Tour
Stroll the downtown streets of St. Petersburg and peer into the shadows on this 90-minute tour of the city's most haunted locations. From the historic 1880s hotel where the debonair "Captain" still lurks, to the beautiful waterfront resort, home to the shadowy "Lady in White," costumed tour guides weave fascinating tales of ghostly hauntings and quirky characters from St. Petersburg's past.
$15 per person. $8 ages 4-12. For more information, call 727-894-4678 or visit Downtown St. Petersburg Ghost Tour www.ghosttour.net/
Key West
The Original Ghost Tours of Key West
Take a lantern-led evening stroll down historic Old Town's shadowy lanes and discover the ghosts, ghouls and legends of this haunted island paradise. Tour was founded in 1996 by David L. Sloan, author of Ghosts of Key West. This tour is routinely rated one of the best in the country! A must-do experience.
$15 per person. $10 ages 4-12. Tickets may be purchased online. www.hauntedtours.com
Savannah
Savannah Haunted History Tours
Take a candlelit walk through the streets of Historic downtown Savannah, where knowledgeable guides dressed in period clothing tell fun and chilling tales of ghosts and spectres, and stories of tragedy and romance all throughout Savannah's history.
$10 adults*, $8 seniors*, $5 children (age 5-12), Under 5 is free. *Download free discount coupon at ghostsavannah.com. For more information, call 912-604-3007.
Manhattan
The Ghosts of the City
Walk in the ghostly footsteps of Alexander Hamilton, Edgar Allan Poe and other spirits that haunt downtown Manhattan. $15. Meeting Place: Inside Blimpie's restaurant at 38 Park Row between Beekman and Spruce streets across from City Hall.
$15. Meeting Place: Inside Blimpie's restaurant at 38 Park Row between Beekman and Spruce streets across from City Hall. For more information, contact Dr. Schoenberg at 718-591-4741.
Niagara Region
Haunted History Ghostwalks
Three tours (Allentown, East Aurora, Theater District). Also, new Haunted History Ghost Walk tours of Batavia, Fredonia, Orchard Park and Williamsville are being added in September.
$10 adults, $5 children (age 1-7). For more information, call 716-655-6663 or www.masonwinfield.com.
Ohio
Northeast Ohio
Warehouse Ghost Tours
Considered one of the best ghost tours around and offers a unique and refreshing approach to the world of the unknown. Led by proven psychic mediums, and on most tours people experience or witness a paranormal encounter. Participants learn of the area's haunted past and present and get a course in the art of spirit dowsing with divining rods and paranormal investigation. $20 all ages.
$20 all ages. For more information, call 330-854-1111 or visit Ghost Tours of Canal Fulton www.ghostsofcanalfulton.com.
Clermount County
Haunted tour includes a haunted jail and a ghost-filled residence that served as the birthplace of a U.S. President. Here visitors also will find the amazing Loveland Castle, one of Ohio's most interesting haunted locations.
For more information, call 513-753-4642.
Tennessee
Nashville
Nashville Haunted Ghost Tour
Step into the world of the unknown with the Ghost Tour of Nashville and experience a hair-raising 90-minute tour into the spirit realm of Music City USA. Take a leisurely stroll along the shadowy streets of downtown Nashville and hear stories of the strange and unexplained. Hear about haunted buildings in the downtown area, and about a bitter rivalry between two men at the State Capital that still continues.
$9.95 or $14.95 if purchased online, $10 ages 8-14. Younger children free. For more information, call 888-881-3279 or visit nashvillesightseeing.com.
Gatlinburg
Haunted Ghost Tours
Take a leisurely stroll along the shadowy streets and alleys of Gatlinburg to hear stories of the strange and unexplained. Learn about a number of haunted hotels and buildings in the downtown area, about a gruesome murder committed at a very famous hotel and the young girl and security guard who still haunt it.
Adults $17, Children $9 (ages 8 to 14, 7 and under free). For more information, call 828-221-2440 or visit Gatlinburg Haunted Ghost Tours hauntedghosttours.com.
Leesburg
Ghost Tours
Leesburg Ghost Tours conducts walking tours of the 220-year-old Historic District. The tour presents the sites, case studies, equipment and techniques used to conduct research of the world of the paranormal and the people who witness it. Learn the science behind the mysteries.
For more information, call 703-899-4993 or visit Leesburg Ghost Tours www.vsra.net/.
Haunted Hotel Ghost Stories
True tales about the notoriously haunted Marshall House in Savannah, GA, and the Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach, FL.
Marshall House
Savannah, Georgia
Dear Innkeeper,
I just thought that you might be interested in my recent stay at your hotel. My husband and I stayed at Marshall House for our anniversary celebration June 6-8, and we had a great time. However, we were unaware of any of the hotel's paranormal history until we were checking out.
When we first entered our room on the fourth floor, we were overcome with a nauseating smell, but we didn't really think about it. We simply sprayed some room spray that we had brought with us, and we didn't notice it again until the next day. That night, my husband heard what he said sounded like someone walking on crutches outside of our room throughout the night. Again, we wrote it off as another guest walking outside our room (even though we thought it was odd that he heard the sound during the entire night).
The next night, we went to sleep, and not an hour later, I felt someone or something tickling my feet. I sat up in the bed and asked my husband if he had tickled my feet, and he said no. I felt the tickling sensation two more times, and each time, it felt like someone lifted the comforter up to tickle me. I looked at my husband to see if he was playing a joke on me, but he was sound asleep.
We did not think anything of the occurrences until we were checking out and the desk clerk handed me a list of the paranormal history at the hotel. The hairs on my neck stood up when I read the doctor's story that included the ghost of a little girl tickling his feet three times in one night. His story sounded exactly like what I experienced, except that I did not actually see an apparition.
After I read this particular story, I began questioning the other occurrences—the sound of someone walking on crutches throughout the night and the strong, strange smell.
I don't know if we were surrounded by spirits or not, but it definitely gave us chills to think about the possibility!
We thought you might enjoy reading about our experience. We loved your beautiful hotel, and we plan to stay there again in the future. We were really impressed by your staff and their Southern hospitality.
Thanks,
Stephanie Edwards
Knoxville, Tennessee
AAA Marshall House packages available click here.
Don CeSar
St. Petersburg, Florida
Years of rich history inspired by love, the Don CeSar Beach Resort, a Loews Hotel, couples luxury and a haunting past. Hotel guests have confirmed that Rowe and Lucinda have finally been reunited, as they have been seen walking hand-in-hand in the lobby, where the pair promised to be together forever decades before.
1972 brought life back to the pink palace as a new owner began renovations. Construction workers repeatedly saw a man with white hair in an old-fashioned suit inspecting the work for quality at the end of the day. Many of these men thought he was the new owner; however, when the actual owner visited the site one day, the workers became confused and nervous, asking, “If he’s the owner, who is the man with the white hair that walks around inspecting our work?” It was not until an article with Thomas Rowe’s picture ran in the local paper that the men realized it was he who had been monitoring them so closely for several weeks.
A few months before the Don was ready to open, three men went to the rooftop, which remains locked to the public, to watch Fourth of July fireworks. After relocking the door behind them, the men noticed another man already on the roof with white hair, wearing an old-fashioned suit. He turned to the men and said, “Good evening, gentlemen. It’s a nice evening isn’t it?” They agreed and quickly moved to the other side of the roof, knowing full well who the man resembled. Once the fireworks were done, the men noticed the man had disappeared, and when they went to leave the roof, the door remained locked, as if no other had gone through it.
Many guests, upon the opening of the hotel, were quoted as saying the hotel owner asked them if they enjoyed their stay at the Don CeSar, usually while walking on the fifth floor. After months of the same story, the current owner went to the fifth floor and “talked” out loud to Rowe that the word is out that the original owner is “staying” in the hotel and may be bad for business. He explained he understood Rowe’s commitment to his palace, but guest interaction should be limited.
Nevertheless, hotel employees have reported over the years to have personal encounters with Thomas Rowe. Most have received a friendly hello and were asked if they enjoy working at the hotel. One employee staying at the resort reported seeing Rowe on the beach from her balcony mistaking him for Panama Jack because of his signature hat he was wearing. When she saw a picture of Rowe in the hotel later that day, she was so excited, she told her husband, who then laid out cigars to invite him back, which did not result in a second sighting. Going back to WWII, one massage therapist reported that during a treatment, she looked up and saw a nurse from WWII standing in the room, watching with her arms crossed. She noticed the patient’s back muscles tense up, but remaining professional she did not say anything about what she saw. At the end of the massage, the masseuse asked why she tensed up, to which she replied, “Didn’t you see her?” The masseuse replied, “Yes, but I wasn’t sure you did!”
Years of rich history inspired by love, the Don CeSar Beach Resort, a Loews Hotel, couples luxury and a haunting past. Hotel guests have confirmed that Rowe and Lucinda have finally been reunited, as they have been seen walking hand-in-hand in the lobby, where the pair promised to be together forever decades before.
Don CeSar Hauntingly Romantic Halloween 2-night Package. Now available for stays October 10 through November 11, 2006 click here.
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