I'm taking a road trip next Saturday. My baby sister is visiting, and we're going an hour down the coast to St. Augustine.
The Old City (some call it the Ancient City, but honestly - where but in "The New World" of America would we call something 440 years old "ancient") fascinates me. I can (and have) spend hours wandering around the fort - Castillo de San Marcos - getting lost in the feel of history within those "ancient" stones. It's an impressive site, and one I won't ever get tired of visiting.
And if you wander the narrow streets beyond the fort you'll find plenty to entertain. There's a story on every street corner, and usually a tour that will guide you. I'm going to try out something new to me this trip - a ghost tour.
I'm tired of sticking with the usual - Ripleys Believe It or Not has lost it's ability to bemuse, and the Alligator Farm isn't going to cut it this visit. No, I'm ready to "Saunter with the Spirits from dusk to darkness", and I'm going to tag along with a tour guide to make sure I don't miss a single spectral resident.
There are quite a few to choose from - there'a regular cottage industry of them going on in St. Augustine - but I'm gong to give Ghost Tours of St. Augustine a try. Their website has dozens of pictures taken by visitors. Some of them look like just badly blurred pictures - is that a ghost, or a car driving past? - but there are plenty of other pictures that make me stop and wonder.
I don't know what I really expect to get out of the experience. Not proof. But I'm ready to have my eyes opened by the experts.
I'll let you know how it went after I've had my first taste of St. Augustine's paranormal tours. And I'll be taking many pictures - maybe I'll even have my own contribution to the sightings page to show for it.
If you've ever been on a guided ghost tour, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.
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4 comments:
We've done the Charleston, SC ghost tour - didn't see any ghosts, but the stories the guide told were enough to raise your hair! He told one about a cemetery that happened to be right near where we were staying, so we stopped by there on the way home. At midnight. Yeeeee!
We've also visited that fort at St. Augustine. I remember there being a woman in period costume sitting in the shade, making string by braiding 4 or 5 smaller threads together. She tried to teach me - it looked so simple! But the harder I tried the more I got it tangled up. LOL
I love St. Augustine. One of the best days of my life was spent there wandering the fort and then going shopping in the little "town" across the street where the old schoolhouse is. There was such a sense of oppression left behind in the cells and the marks left by prisoners held there just made it all the more real.
-Kat
I've never been on a ghost tour, but I'd love to see your blog entry about it -- with pics! St. Augustine sounds fascinating. The spookiest place I've ever been is deep in a cave with a broken flashlight. No ghosts, just a lot of damn rats.
Jody W.
You are a brave soul. You wouldnt catch me on a tour! I'll look at the stuff on tv but wouldnt want to in real life! I mean *shivering* what if I saw something?! LOL
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