Underground tunnels not used for years.

The 1905 murder of an Erie police detective.

A Girard farmstead said to be haunted by descendants of its early industrialist owners.

Walk this way: Walk this way

They're some of the attractions of a different kind of tourism in Erie. Customers are lining up to see the sites of reputed hauntings, murders, legends and lore.

Haunted tourism, including ghost tours and visits to reputedly haunted attractions, has long been a thing in Salem, Massachusetts, Gettysburg and other historic towns. With Erie and other communities now also highlighting their haunts, the industry generates more than $300 million annually, according to America Haunts, a haunted attractions group.

In Pennsylvania, VisitPA, the state's official tourism website, in 2022 listed almost 2,000 ghost tours. Add to that local history and cemetery tours and tours highlighting local legends, murders and scandals, and the revenues rise — and not just for tour operators.

"(Participants are) going to stay overnight, eat in restaurants. They're spending money, and are going to tell their friends about their experiences," Jodie Snavley, of the Madison, Ohio, area economic development agency, told Bloomberg in 2021. Entrepreneurs in Madison, located between Erie and Cleveland in Lake County, Ohio, have launched a number of haunted tours and attractions in recent years to appeal to visitors drawn to the former Ohio State Reformatory, a spooky attraction since "The Shawshank Redemption" was filmed there in 1993.

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In Erie, The Brewerie at Union Station and local authors are among those offering tours to some of the region's scare-raising sites, now mostly to sold-out crowds.

"When I first started doing ghost tours, I'd get three or four people on each walk," said Stephanie Wincik, the matriarch of Erie ghost tours. Wincik is the author of three books on local haunts, "Ghosts of Erie County," "More Ghosts of Erie County" and "Reaching Through the Veil: Ghost Hunting in Erie County." She has been leading ghost tours in Erie and at Girard's Battles Farm for 20 years.

"Now I get 50 or 60 people. Every tour this past year was sold out."

And not just at Halloween. Wincik guides tours from Memorial Day weekend through October that attract locals and visitors.

"A lot of the people who come are up here camping or visiting Presque Isle and are looking for something different to do while they're here," Wincik said.

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Brewerie at Union Station owner Chris Sirianni is the patriarch of Erie ghost walks. He has been leading tours of the "dark and mysterious underbelly" of the 1927 train station, including its underground tunnels, for 17 years. The tours accommodate as many as 50 people and always sell out, Sirianni said.

"They're fun, non-traditional entertainment," he said. "People get to see the tunnels, some interesting storage areas and the incredibly creepy boiler room, areas that are seldom seen."

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The tours have evolved and expanded over the years. Begun as half-hour walks focusing on Clara, the station's reputed child ghost, and other long-told stories, the walks are now two hours long as Sirianni shares new stories.

"The more people who come through and investigate, the more information we have to share. We're also learning more about the station's history that we share," Sirianni said.

Public tours are offered in April and October. Sirianni also leads private tours throughout the year. Visitors mainly come from throughout the region.

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"We also get people visiting the area who try to get in while they're here," Sirianni said.

The Erie County Historical Society, Capt. Bob Gossman and the Erie Maritime Museum also were among the pioneers of Erie's haunted tourism. A decade ago, Gossman led popular "Eerie Erie" tours of the bayfront. The museum offered "Ghosts Afloat" programs aboard the Niagara.

The Erie County Historical Society has long offered tours focusing on local legends as well as more traditional topics. The Hagen History Center most recently teamed with "Murder and Mayhem in Erie, Pennsylvania" author Justin Dombrowski to offer "More Murder and Mayhem Erie" downtown walking tours. All six October tours detailing long-ago crime, including the murder of an Erie detective, sold out.

"With paranormal investigation and crime programs on every other channel on TV, people are hungry for spooky or scary things," said Sara Little, museum operations leader at the Hagen History Center. "Things like Murder and Mayhem and ghost walks go to the top of everyone's list."

Expect more Murder and Mayhem tours in 2023.

"Justin is writing more books, and we absolutely will do more tours this year, possibly bigger and better versions and maybe not just walking tours," Little said. "We may rent the (EMTA) trolley for a longer path."

Walking tours aren't the only potential lure for macabre-minded visitors. The Hagen History Center's iron kettle in which "Mad" Anthony Wayne's disinterred remains were boiled two centuries ago has long been a draw for locals.

"There are generations of people in the region who grew up hearing the story and coming to see the pot. Now they are bringing their kids and grandkids to see it," said Hagen History Center Executive Director Cal Pifer.

The Revolutionary War general died in 1796 and was buried at the fort that he commanded, where the Wayne Blockhouse now stands. When Wayne's son came to take his bones home to the Philadelphia area in 1809, the body had barely decomposed. So it was dismembered and boiled to separate the bones from other remains.

The kettle gained wider notoriety, and potentially a wider draw, after it was featured in an episode of the Travel Channel's "Mysteries at the Museum" in December 2018.

More: Wayne kettle featured on 'Mysteries at the Museum'

Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie ghost tours scaring up increasingly popular tourism alternative