Spooked by Spooky: A tale of a ghost tour in Gettysburg
By Julia Hatmaker | [email protected]
on June 29, 2013
"My name's Johlene "Spooky" Riley. As for
'Spooky,' I've earned every single letter."
Ghosts are hard to escape in Gettysburg.
Walking down Steinwehr Ave., there is a ghost tour being
advertised every few feet. No trip to Gettysburg would be complete, it would
seem, without attending at least one of these walks.
Being PennLive's resident ghost reporter, it only seemed
natural that I would go on a supernatural adventure.
I opted to join the Gettysburg Ghost Tours' Author's Black
Cat Tour with Johlene "Spooky" Riley, author of "Ghostly
Encounters of Gettysburg."
Spooky did not disappoint.
Garbed in a black 19th century gown, complete with hat and
veil, she looked every bit the part of ghostly tour guide.
"My name's Johlene "Spooky" Riley," she
greeted us, holding her candlelit lantern close to her face. "As for
'Spooky,' I've earned every single letter."
A guest screamed - spooked by what turned out to be a
firefly.
"If you're scared of a lightning bug, my dear, you
aren't making it on my tour," Spooky laughed, before leading the group
down an alleyway. It was an alley were multiple soldiers had met their death,
she said.
Later in the tour, Spooky told us that she thought
storytelling was a lost art - but it was clearly alive and well with her. She
set the scene and used her entire body to tell the story. As the tale got
scarier and scarier her entire body would retract, getting tighter and tighter
so she could figuratively burst wide open for maximum effect.
The hour long tour hit on the Dobbin House and the Rupp
House, traditional spots on a Gettysburg ghost tour. She also took us to
"the haunted creek bed," in which many soldiers had met their end.
Instructing everyone to sit on the stone wall bordering the creek, she warned
that people had been known to be pushed by unseen forces from that perch.
She paused a moment, when all of a sudden a loud cough sound
was heard behind me. I jumped clear off the wall. "A bullfrog,"
Spooky informed me with a knowing eye.
The bullfrog made no other noise, so slowly I sat myself back
up on the wall. Immediately the bullfrog sounded again and off I went - mostly
out of fear the wretched thing would jump on me. This time I didn't even try
and get back up. The bullfrog went mute.
There was a rustle in the creek bed - the frog again, no
doubt, moving around. But all the sounds were effectively creating a, well,
spooky atmosphere.
We were encouraged to take photos. I got nothing on my camera
and my technology worked fine for the entirety of a tour. However, that was not
the case for everyone. One man reported his iPhone had magically rebooted
itself. Another woman complained of a delay on her flash for her camera. Yet
another described how her photos were blurry on the top and bottom, but all
featured a line straight through the middle.
The tour moved on to
location after location - I would share all the stories, but you really ought
to check out the tour yourself - finally ending at the backyard of the
Victorian Photo Studio. It was a backyard that all other tour guides refused to
enter, Spooky told us.
As she concluded her tour, Spooky reminded her charges that
ghosts lurked everywhere in Gettysburg, from the McDonalds drive-thrus to the
museums. She asked where each of us were staying. I told her I was in
Gettysburg College for the night - I could practically see her light up with
glee. Lucky me, she said. There's the woman in white and the blue boy -
"if they knock, don't let them in."
I couldn't help it, I got the goosebumps. I may have left a
light on when I went to bed (the curse of having an overactive imagination).
While the scares were few and the ghosts arguably
nonexistent, the tour was incredibly fun and informative. I walked away with a
greater knowledge of the war and a few good stories. Family appropriate it
delivered on the creepy factor without turning into an all-out fright fest.
Personally, I'd recommend getting spooked with Spooky any day.
For more information on Gettysburg Ghost Tours, visit
www.gettysburgghosttours.com.
By Julia Hatmaker | [email protected]
on June 29, 2013
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