As a self-proclaimed ghost tour aficionado, I make it a point to book one in every city I visit. My most recent was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. While researching the best options in the area, I came across Ghost & Haunt Tours of Gatlinburg and knew this was the tour for me! It not only looked legit, but had equipment that I thought was a fun touch. That equipment lead to a haunting experience.
Ghost tours are a great way to get history of the location you're visiting, see the area at a slower pace, and have a little fun while hearing ghost stories. I've taken several ghost tours all over the country. Whether you're a believer or skeptic, in my opinion, there is something for everyone. I took the tour with my dad who doesn't get into ghost stories, but throughout the night I saw him snapping pictures and he couldn't come up with logical answers to a few questions.
Our night started with an explanation of what to expect, along with an introduction to several "ghost hunting" instruments. As soon as our guide showed us a spirit/ghost box I was excited because I had never seen one before. Essentially they pick up what a ghost is saying and it displays on the box. As we were embarking on the tour ours popped up with "blog" which freaked me out! That's not a common word for a ghost to know - especially the ones who have been gone for centuries!
So here's where the skeptical part creeps in, because even if you believe, you have to be discerning. Did they program the spirit box for me, knowing that I'd see it? As our guide explained how each worked, we would request to use the item. When we got to the box, I asked to use it. There were four boxes and seven guests. So my thinking is that if it was programmed for me, so I'd read blog, how would they know which box to give me? They couldn't anticipate that I'd even request to use that item. Some of us were getting overlapping words. So maybe they all said blog? I did something I normally don't and announced that I was doing a blog review. I think if any other guest saw blog pop up they'd have said. Also, only three words appear at a time on the box. Sometimes the words don't change, sometimes they pop up so fast it's hard to catch them, and sometimes words repeat. My dad is the one who pointed out blog and I saw it but new words popped up so fast I didn't get a picture of the screen. The photo above is a log of words that came up during the tour, illustrating the word blog. If they were tricking me, they probably would have programmed the word to pop up several times to ensure I'd see it.
The box itself can be pretty creepy! We were all getting words like death, beware, etc. So maybe they are words that the company programmed? But then again, we experienced something that made us think it could be real. We kept getting Robert. That's my grandpa's name but it's also pretty common so no big deal. Then we got Robert, console, and funeral. We were going to my grandpa's sister's funeral in a few days. Weird. I had also seen Nana around the other three words and told my dad that the word didn't fit. That surprised him because, unknown to me, they all used to call his grandma Nana. Goosebumps!
In addition to the freaky box, the tour itself was great. Our guide was wonderful. She interacted with guests as they read messages from their boxes and asked questions, did a fantastic job of telling us stories all night, and at each stop along the way showed us photos with strange orbs, lights, and even faces(!) taken by previous tour guests.
Added scary bonus: we saw a wild bear while walking around! Our guide had warned us they often look for food late at night and we may see them in certain areas. But then it happened and we were all a bit unsure of how to react to a 300+ lb wild bear. It was about 50 yards from us and could care less that we were in the area, but the rest of the night we made sure to be aware of our surroundings.
So if you hadn't gathered yet, I highly recommend this ghost tour. Days after, we found ourselves still talking about the experience. We really enjoyed the tour - even my dad the skeptic!
To book a tour with Ghost & Haunt Tours of Gatlinburg, head on over to their site. If you book online and use code ghost2off, you'll save $2.
