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.

The Flying Nun

I entered this business unconvinced about the reality of ghosts -- unsure, but open to their existence. Now, 18 months later, I must admit: There IS something out there. This photograph was one of those instances that made me draw this conclusion.

The Story Behind the Photo
Chris Krukar of Louisville, KY took this photo on one of my tours on Church Street -- one of Asheville's two most haunted pathways. When I first saw it, I immediately thought/ sensed it was a nun. Yet, this made no sense; there are no Catholic churches on Church Street.

Two weeks later, I uncovered a ghost story that explained it all. Apparently, the Trinity Episcopal Church once had priests and nuns in service. The nun met an untimely and sordid end (this tale is told in detail on the Ghost Hunters of Asheville Downtown Interactive tour) and her restless spirit haunts the area. This picture was taken on the street corner across from the Trinity Episcopal Church. It took a few psychics and some investigative research to uncover the nuances of the story, but my first intuitive thought was correct: This spirit is a nun.