Greensboro is so SCARY!

On Friday afternoon I was talking to Ben while he was still at work about our plans for date night. We were going to see a movie but just found out it wasn't playing anymore, so I encouraged Ben to choose something for us to do and I promised I would enjoy whatever it was.

He came home asking how my body felt-- was I sore? Tired? 
Why?

Because he made reservations for us to go on a 1.5 hour walking ghost tour of Greensboro that starts at 8 pm :)

I have to admit I was excited to do something so fun in our own community, but I did expect to be tired and feel run-down by 8pm. I was excited but not too eager until we arrived at the rendevouz point of our guide and other tour members and saw a tall man in a top hat and tails carrying a candle-lighted lantern.

Ok, this would be pretty darn fun. 

The tour guide had spent years collecting ghost stories from local business owners and history buffs of places downtown, and spent the 1.5 hours walking us around just a few streets (enough to get a brief tour of downtown, not enough to get really tired) and pointing out places with extraordinary paranormal activity (even some documented by professional paranormal investigators and deemed certifiably haunted). I don't want to re-tell any of the stories in case some of you plan to go on the tour, but here are some pictures of memorable locations....

{These are all taken with Ben's new Blackberry touch, which has a really terrific camera but terrible flash.  

The pictures didn't from night-time didn't turn out too well, so I had a lot of fun experimenting 

with Picasa's new editing settings to make them look creepy!}

What I loved about the tour was the enthusiasm of the guide. Ben and I had been on ghost tours in Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA, two of the most haunted cities in America, so the stories here were good but not knock-your-socks-off like we'd heard in the past, but the guide obviously loves Greensboro and respects the history here and really emphasized to us that in a city as old yet modernized as ours you just never know what used to be where you're currently standing.  This street used to be a cemetery.  That building has burned down three times. It was so fun to get the entertaining ghost stories (which I do believe are real and interesting) along with the short history lesson and architecture tour all in one! 

The tour guide loved that we live locally but wasn't surprised that we hadn't been raised here.  He said very few "locals" have ever been on the tour, which I think is a shame.  It was a really fun and unique date night, and I love being a tourist in my own town! There is always something fun to do and something to learn! 

And you never know what's lurking just around the corner... 

Thanks to Carolina History & Haunts for this awesome experience! We would definitely recommend the Greensboro Ghost tour :)