Why attracts people to "ghost tours?"
By: Arlene Santiago
http://www.umw.edu/news/2017/10/13/ghostwalk-floats-fredericksburg/
The first time I’ve ever heard about the University of Mary Washington Ghost Walk was my first semester. It was a couple of weeks until Halloween, and I was interested in what was going on around campus for the holiday. When I was clicking through the university’s calendar of events I saw it mentioned. Halloween events have always had a special place in my heart.
The idea of a Ghost Walk was intriguing. The name itself made it sound quite interesting. A “Ghost Walk?” Was it going to be a walk around Downtown Fredericksburg telling us about the ghosts that have been seen in past years? Or was it going to be a bunch of people dressed as ghosts walking us around places that have been known as being “haunted.” Those answers could only be answered if I went on this walk. But what are the exact reasons people have been drawn to “ghost adventures?” Were they, too, curious about what they consist of? Or is it more of the idea behind wanting to be scared?
I didn’t get around to it then, but I always intended on hitting it p in the future, which is why this semester when I saw a sheet of paper taped to the door of the Historic Preservation Department with “The 33rd annual Ghostwalk” on it, I perked up. The precious words “email UMWGhostWalk@umw.edu to reserve tickets” caught my eye.
* * *
The walk began at the James Monroe Museum, behind most of the busiest roads in downtown Fredericksburg. It was dark on the sidewalk. A medium sized, neon green (missing word?) stood up at the sign of the museum with the words, “University Mary Washington Ghost Walk” on it with two small pumpkins under it. Seconds after I bought my ticket, a tall young man in a North Face jacket shouted “6:50 P.M. tour this way,” as he looked to his clipboard. There were many confused faces.
One of the young women working at the cashier table picked up her phone and said, “you mean 8:50?”
“Oh, yes, yes!” he said. A group of people were huddled in the entrance of the Ghost Walk tour waiting for it to start. He began: “My name is Sam Taylor and I’ll be your guide for the night,” he said reading word for word off of his clipboard. “Now take a deep breath, grab your friends, significant others, or anybody and let’s begin this tour!” Giggles filled the exhilarated air as we? headed to the first site. There was nothing but silence in the first five minutes as the tour guide flashed his light towards the uneven sidewalk. “Watch your step here. There is a very big bump.”
Two tour-goers were talking about a pizza place in town when anachronistically, two “ghosts” stopped in front of the tour guide, which forced him to look at what was once a girl’s orphanage to the left of him. The two dark-circled eyed women swayed left and right, telling a story about a headless woman. Her talking distracted the audience enough for them not to notice the blue dressed woman running towards them. Chuckles came from the mouths of the audience as they watched the woman float around them.
“Now, let’s get away from here before she follows us,” Taylor said in a monotone voice. We began following behind him as the “headless woman” followed us a few feet away from the site. The group followed him in another wave of silence for about two minutes. I was curious about what was going to happen next. Downtown looked much darker when walking around in the night. Street lights look dimmer than when driving.
Our next stop was at the old Freelance Star building. The two “ghosts” were dressed to be Lady and Governor. They compared the tour group, and their garb, to what was worn in their time. The Lady Ghost said to the Governor, “look at these women here with pants on. Not like when we were alive.” The two began bickering about how there have been ghosts haunting people within the building since November 1985.The crazy part was, Lady and Governor were not the “ghosts” that were haunting the Freelance Star building. They were more like reporters telling the audience about what hauntings have happened within the building.
At the stop at Betty Washington’s plantation, there was a skit with two girls who were trying to bring back spirits from the past. They wanted the audience to join in. Another stop was at the St. George’s Church, where a “ghost” called the “weeping bride” was reenacted in the graveyard. The last stop was at the Masonic Cemetery, which I must say was the scariest of them all. The three “ghosts” were waiting for our group to show, to explain how their graves were dug up and placed in that cemetery. The three of them began closing in on us saying “how would you like it if your graves were dug up?” The audience backed away and walked straight out of the graveyard, but it didn’t stop there. A loud “AHH” came from the left side of us as one of the “ghosts” popped there head up from the wall.
Overall, I didn’t get it. I wasn’t sure I understood the point of this event. It was a great time to be able to laugh and enjoy the company of others, but it did seem as though a lot of the actors were exhausted by the time I got there. A lot of them forgot their lines, and others seemed to want the night over with. One of the actors on this walk, Gabrielle Walkey said, “On Friday it started at 6 P.M…. and by 10 P.M. on Saturday I had very little energy.” For the most part, there were still some great laughs, but I expected it to be more focused on the History of Fredericksburg rather than the bits that were put on.
During the walk, I wondered why people come to these types of events…Is it because Halloween was right around the corner and they wanted to get in the Holiday spirit? Is it a tradition that they started within their family? Or is it because they are interested in learning more about the History of certain towns, especially a very Historic town like Fredericksburg, VA.
* * *
The Ghost Walk Chair, Ilana Bleich, gave me some insight. “I think that what people get most out of Ghost walk is the Halloween spirit. While the tours are educational, I think that people enjoy them for the fun and spooky atmosphere,” she said. I can’t disagree with her thinking. One of the main reasons I have always found any type of Ghost Tour fascinating is the “spooky” feeling. After asking a younger man, Alexander Romero, the same question he said, “I came here out of curiosity. I heard about it from a friend and wanted to see if it was scary at all.” Throughout the entire walk he didn’t jump at all. He mostly joined along with the acts and tried to make the rest of the group laugh along.
It appears this all has to do with a simple thing called “dark tourism.” Many visitors want to partake in eerie events that can give them the chills. It has become a huge phenomenon where people visit places that have had a “dark” past. This includes places like, Auschwitz, the World Trade Center, abandoned jails, and even battlefields. The reason why people have an interest in these events and places may never really be understood. It is said that it may be because they want to raise awareness, or possibly to make sure things like that never happen again. But then again, visitors may just like to put themselves in a position of slight panic.
The Ghost Walk may have not been as spooky as some would have wanted, but it did not get in the way of the experience many of us will keep with us. We were able to be introduced to historic places within Fredericksburg that we may have not known about, and we were also able to learn about them as well. Whether we choose to go to a Ghost Walk/Tour for the spook factor or just for the history, it is best to always keep an open mind about these events.