We at Ghost Hunters of Asheville strive for ghost tours offering the greatest of entertainment, excitement and thrills, but there are times we just can't compete with the City of Asheville. Take tonight: The ghosties were plentiful, but so was Asheville oddity.
Thirteen of us launched from the Haywood Park Hotel. Immediately, we ran into a questionable young fellow with a basketful of paper slips -- ostensibly our personal fortunes just waiting to be plucked from the pile. There was no getting past him. We lined up and chose our fortunes -- prophetic declarations as "When you give love, you will receive love. This is the law of attraction" and "There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." All courtesy of Brett Rodgers, massage therapist, phone number, website. Hm-m-m. Well, Brett gets an "A" for creative marketing, but an "F" for actual prophecy. Not one of our fortunes carried even a whiff of warning for the 4th "911" call I'd make in my 18 months of touring.*
We were benignly walking down a sidewalk when it happened -- a car suddenly veered right in front of us, hitting a parked motorcycle, then driving down the street. Throwing down my backpack and notebook, I took off after him. It is testament to my stubborn sense of justice and Asheville red lights (certainly not ANY modicum of fitness, I assure you) that I caught the car 3 blocks away. The New Yorker got his tag number called into "911" and the tour was supportive of the slight delay. There was no extra charge for added excitement.
Ghost touring is never boring. On any given evening, you never know what's in store -- paranormal or otherwise.
*(Other calls involved a fight among locals and 2 passed out 'inebriates'.)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
100 Years and Counting
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Ghost Hunters of Asheville's newest tour takes a haunted stroll through Asheville's most elegant and historic neighborhood of Montford, seeking out the many spectres that reside there among the manses built between 1890 - 1920s. (I personally think the majority of Montford's homes are haunted and this is not a claim I make lightly.) Here is a prime example.
The Story Behind the Photo
The proprietors of the Inn on Montford 1900 were kind enough to share this photograph shot by a guest in their backyard. Famous psychic Sylvia Brown investigated this case, revealing that the middle figure is Elizabeth Anderson. In 1895, this young woman lost a golden locket on the then-barren lot. So focused on searching for the necklace, Elizabeth never heard the trolley coming. It struck her dead, and over 110 years later, she still roams the property in search of her precious necklace.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
The Ghoul in School
I have read the most haunted buildings are churches and schools, the latter typically haunted by former students. One of Asheville's most famous spirits seems to reside in Asheville High School.
The Asheville High School building was constructed between 1927 and 1929 by one of Asheville's premier architects, Douglas Ellington. Ellington specialized in art deco design; he used art deco's colorful architectural elements in Asheville High School's design as well. The high school has been placed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Old buildings usually have ghostly tales to tell. Asheville High School certainly does. One of their night motion detectors captured an active ghost in the school one evening -- a clip that was eventually elevated to CNN news schedule and seen nationwide.
The Asheville High School building was constructed between 1927 and 1929 by one of Asheville's premier architects, Douglas Ellington. Ellington specialized in art deco design; he used art deco's colorful architectural elements in Asheville High School's design as well. The high school has been placed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Old buildings usually have ghostly tales to tell. Asheville High School certainly does. One of their night motion detectors captured an active ghost in the school one evening -- a clip that was eventually elevated to CNN news schedule and seen nationwide.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Spooked, Freaked, Scared
One of the most frequently asked questions on the tour is "What has been your spookiest experience [on the tour]?" Ghost Hunters of Asheville's Downtown Interactive Tour is a family-oriented, kid-friendly tour so there really wasn't much of an answer to this ... until now.
It was an intimate, adult-only tour. There was an opportunity to enter a darkened, extremely haunted, venue. Paranormally sensitive guests and psychics had warned that a very angry ghost inhabited this structure. An older balding man in overalls, the spectre doesn't even realize he's dead. He is angered by ouside presences and photographic evidence points that he has chased away most of the numerous spirits who once inhabited the place.
Walking through a dark, haunted facility, armed only with flashlights, was thrilling, fun, and exhilarating -- until we came to the doorstep of a basement room. I lack the words to adequately describe the foreboding, heaviness, all-nerves-on-alert feeling that literally slammed my psyche. I asked a guest to take a picture of the room. It was filled with pilot blue orbs in every photo he took. There would be no paranormal photos in any other space of the building.
It may seem a fairly innocuous experience (e.g., What's the big deal?), but to someone who has never before felt this type of presence, it was shatteringly disturbing. I actually felt dirty and shaken until mid-day the following afternoon. It was, for all intents and purposes, my first truly paranormal encounter. That I "called" it -- verified by photos -- increased my awe and shock.
I've purposely stayed paranormally insensitive, but have noticed a recent intuitive awakening. I guess you can't be around this stuff as much as I am without it affecting -- and changing -- who you are. Nonetheless, I find it jolting. Believing something is "out there" is very different from experiencing what is out there.
It was an intimate, adult-only tour. There was an opportunity to enter a darkened, extremely haunted, venue. Paranormally sensitive guests and psychics had warned that a very angry ghost inhabited this structure. An older balding man in overalls, the spectre doesn't even realize he's dead. He is angered by ouside presences and photographic evidence points that he has chased away most of the numerous spirits who once inhabited the place.
Walking through a dark, haunted facility, armed only with flashlights, was thrilling, fun, and exhilarating -- until we came to the doorstep of a basement room. I lack the words to adequately describe the foreboding, heaviness, all-nerves-on-alert feeling that literally slammed my psyche. I asked a guest to take a picture of the room. It was filled with pilot blue orbs in every photo he took. There would be no paranormal photos in any other space of the building.
It may seem a fairly innocuous experience (e.g., What's the big deal?), but to someone who has never before felt this type of presence, it was shatteringly disturbing. I actually felt dirty and shaken until mid-day the following afternoon. It was, for all intents and purposes, my first truly paranormal encounter. That I "called" it -- verified by photos -- increased my awe and shock.
I've purposely stayed paranormally insensitive, but have noticed a recent intuitive awakening. I guess you can't be around this stuff as much as I am without it affecting -- and changing -- who you are. Nonetheless, I find it jolting. Believing something is "out there" is very different from experiencing what is out there.
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