Ghost tours on Shore: Mix of history, mystery and the truly eerie. Go on one if you dare.
What are you most interested in, ghosts or history?
That was the question guide Bre Bittner asked before the start of a recent Chesapeake Ghost Tour in Princess Anne, Maryland.
An emphatic GHOSTS was what the majority of those taking part in the tour said they were most excited about.
“People want to be scared. They watch ghost adventurers or ghost hunters on these reality shows that are looking for ghosts and, you know, they always find one,” Mindie Burgoyne, author and owner of Chesapeake Ghost Tour, said.
A mix of history and mystery on ghost tours
Finding ghosts on a walking tour isn’t as easy as it appears to be on TV shows, even at active properties, Burgoyne said.
The guides leading tours like Bittner work to manage expectations, since seeing a ghost or having an experience isn’t guaranteed.
“So, we’ll start by saying, look, the experience is going to be a little bit of history, and that’s the frame around the mystery. We’re going to tell you about the mysterious things that happened here, but we’re also going to tell you what history might be linked to it,” she said.
That history is researched though newspapers, local folklore and from the people who live there. Sometimes the history related to a haunting can be interesting story, and many other times it can be horrific.
Ghost tour explores dark chapters in Princess Anne history
The history that is told on the Princess Anne tour can indeed be disturbing.
One of the retellings is of the lynching of George Armwood in 1931 at the Princess Anne jail, which currently is the Princess Anne Police Headquarters.
The headquarters was the third stop of the night with Bittner telling the group some workers refuse to work inside if they are alone.
Armwood’s was the last lynching in Princess Anne, and Bittner recounts the terrible events leading up to and after his murder during the tour.
A second murder and the suicide of a judge are also part of the history explored on the Princess Anne tour.
WHAT'S HOT FOR HALLOWEEN: Trick or treat, Maryland! Here's your favorite Halloween candy, costume and movie of 2023
SCARY MOVIES MADE IN MD.: Maryland movies to make you scream: Check out this list of horror flicks shot here
The tour is listed on the Chesapeake Ghost Tour website as the most disturbing walk and children under the age of 12 are not allowed on the tour.
“I had a hard time getting the stories for Princess Anne. It wasn’t an easy tour to write. There wasn’t a lot in the folklore collection. Teackle mansion, there’s tons of stuff about that, but it was the people in the town that eventually came forward,” Burgoyne said.
Ghost tours all around Lower Shore, with Ocean City the most fun one
Chesapeake Ghost Tours has 11 ghost walks in historic towns on the Eastern Shore. When asked if she had a favorite, she said that would be like asking who your favorite child is.
“They’re all the same to me as far as which one I like. I crafted them. I like them all,” she said.
Her tours take place in Saint Michaels, Berlin, Ocean City, Cambridge, Pocomoke, Denton, Princess Anne, Snow Hill and Easton.
The one she has the most fun working on is the tour in Ocean City.
“All the stories in Ocean City, they’re like all happy stories. It’s people that died on vacation or went there to die because they loved it so much,” Burgoyne said.
Each city offers a different atmosphere, based on the environment and the people the stories are based on.
The Boardwalk and ocean play a big part in the story of Ocean City.
“The summer is so vibrant and in the winter it’s so desolate, the lighting is just so grayish. Ocean City is just a great tour,” Burgoyne said.
With the wealth of stories to be told in Ocean City it’s also one that she goes back and changes.
'Pocomoke scares me!' The spookiest tour of all
An interesting question to ask Burgoyne would be which tour she likes the least.
That tour is the one that leads groups through the Pocomoke Forest.
“I like them all, but Pocomoke scares me! I have been so scared on that tour personally as a guide and trying not to let that show to the guests that I am freaking terrified,” she said.
A SPOOKY NIGHT IN POCOMOKE FOREST: A night in the Pocomoke Forest: Is it as haunted as we all think?
MERMAIDS AMONG US: Mermaids among us? Yes, and they're bringing joy and wonder to those that see them
There was one occasion while in the forest that she wanted to say they’re all running out.
“There are things that happen in there at night that are not right, okay. They’re just not of this world.” She said.
Phantom lights, eerie noises and more in the forest
Burgoyne has 10 years of experience with the Pocomoke Forest. A one-time trip may not guarantee having something happen, but she said that over time things happen and are captured in pictures that you can’t explain.
They’ve been pelted with things from trees, seen phantom lights, heard noises and seen things that suddenly vanished.
While training one of her guides, Christopher, he saw an apparition behind Burgoyne.
“I looked and he was there. When we’re talking about the very spirit that’s supposed to be right there,” she said.
Children are allowed on the Pocomoke Tour with the warning to keep them in the middle, so they don’t come up missing as they walk along the boardwalk through the forest.
“I told the story about the Goat Man which is a half man, half beast. I said you know, the one thing is that the goat man only eats children. When we bring children into the forest, he can smell them,” Burgoyne said.
After that story screams were heard from a 5-year-old on the tour.
'People come from all over,' and of course on Halloween
During the walking tours guests are encouraged to take photos of the locations. On the Facebook page for the tour, guests can share photos of lights, faces and orbs that could be a haunting from their time on the tour.
Chesapeake Ghost Tours is in its 10th year.
Throughout the year its mostly tourists visiting the Eastern Shore who join the search for ghosts. Locals tend to join in on the fun in October.
“It’s amazing how many people we’ve seen come from all over,” Burgoyne said.
On Halloween night seven tours will be looking for ghosts and sharing the history of the towns they are in.
Every weekend through Dec. 16 there will be tours for those looking to join.
January and February are the months guides aren’t taking people out for tours.
“Sometimes I’ll do paranormal investigations or bus tours in those off months,” Burgoyne said.
Visit chesapeakeghosts.com to book a tour and to find out more information stories about ghosts.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: What's the spookiest spot on Eastern Shore? Find out with ghost tours
