Since the fall of 1980, the Olde Towne Civic League has been putting on an annual GhostWalk in the city of Portsmouth, Va. Their website describes it as “based off the Jack-the-Ripper Walks in London,” where patrons will walk the historic streets of Portsmouth’s Olde Towne District after nightfall to hear stories of haunted houses told by either the ghosts or members of the homes.
Well, they’re actually actors, but the point still stands.
Considering Portsmouth is one of the most crime-ridden cities in America, according to neighborhoodscout.com, you can see how the GhostWalk might have been a big flop (You can click the hyperlink to read all of the stats they present about how Portsmouth’s crime index is a 4 with an index of 100 being the safest). However, this past year, the Ghost Walk’s Facebook claims that, as of October 27th, they had made $2,000 for a one night event consisting of three 45 minute time slots – and they had just reached $1,000 two days before. Tickets are $10 each, so in two days they sold about 100 tickets. By the end of Friday night, after all the tours went through, the Civic League had made over $5,000 for total ticket sales.
Obviously, there are a lot of people who are more than willing to look away from the statistics and spend a night walking Downtown Portsmouth’s streets listening to Ghost Stories.
Did I mention I’m one of those people?
I have gone on the GhostWalk a total of four years in my life, and I’ve enjoyed each trip. The Walk is split up into two directions: the East (which is recommended for first timers) & the West (which is recommended for returning patrons), both featuring different stories each year. The houses range from large to small, and some of the stories are on land plots because the houses no longer exist. You spend your evening traversing through the windy, brick-laid sidewalks and cobblestone roads of Olde Towne Portsmouth, the cool breeze from the Elizabeth River (which you can see from many spots on the tour) filtering through the air. The actors portraying the ghosts are always believable and are knowledgeable on their stories. The pictures below are from previous years that were posted on the GhostWalk website:
Colonel Crawford at last year’s Ghost Walk.
One of the actor’s in the traditional stance of many of the ghosts: standing on the front porch.
So, what did the GhostWalk have in store for this year?
First, before even splitting on either side of the tour, you have to wait in front of the hundreds of years old Trinity Church on Court Street, with the line usually wrapping around the corner onto King Street.
Then, after flashing your tickets, you huddle together with your group and listen to one of the actors talk about the history of the Ghost Walk. You continue on, where another actor explains a little more about what you will be experiencing, and then you’re led to your first story of the night: all about John Braidfoot, one of Trinity Church’s original parishes. He was called out to by an Indian apparition, who told him that on February 7 of the next year he would die. Of course, like most ghost stories, John didn’t believe him, and so he, indeed, died the next year during the dessert portion of his birthday party (ironic, right?) His wife, Blondine (whom I was compared to during my tour), found him upstairs in their bedroom, “stone cold dead” as the actor said. The moral of the story? Don’t go up to Indian apparitions.
One of the graveyards at Trinity Church in Portsmouth, Va.
Then, you’re taken across the street to the original Portsmouth Courthouse, where a Civil War reenactor attempts to sway you to join the militia, and then you’re taken further down the street to the building Still Tapas is based out of, where Confederate Civil War reenactors explain the hardship of the Civil War and ask you to take a moment to remember the fallen men of one of the original infantries of the Civil War (only 15 of the 85 returned after the war was over). There’s a memorial that stands in the center of Court Street diagonally across from Still.
The Confederate Memorial at the intersection of High and Court Streets. It reads: “In Honor of Our Confederate Dead.” It’s filled with Confederate money, rosters of the infantries, and a Confederate flag.
Finally, you’re taken where you want: to the split. And, now, here’s the part you’ve been waiting for.
The East Tour:
On the East Tour, there were multiple ghost stories. And (while my phone died and I wasn’t able to take many pictures of the actual houses because I did the East Tour after the West Tour) here’s what I could get:
An actor in front of the Ball House.
The Ball House: The Ball House was one of the most infamous houses in Olde Towne, with a list of guests including the late President Andrew Jackson. The house has been in the Ball family for years, and so has the ghost. There was one incident, the actor explains, where one night one of the owners of the home could feel the ghost so close to her face she could reach out to touch it.
Union soldier reenactors holding a comical show for the patrons on the East Tour.
The Union Soldiers: On the East Tour, Union soldier reenactors stopped the tour group by explaining how we were all after curfew, and had us try to spot the Confederate spy (who gave us chocolate coins so we wouldn’t rat him out). Since my mother and I were on the last tour of the night, the reenactors were very tired, so they constantly broke character, which made things even better.
The Gaffos House, which is the family home of an acquaintance of mine.
The Gaffos House: A family acquaintance of mine, who is also an elementary school teacher at Portsmouth, grew up in the house featured in the picture above. Their ghost, who was Captain Samuel Baron, had a daughter who died of yellow fever in 1855 in their home. After many encounters of the Captain running down the stairs and out of the front door, slamming it behind him, my friend and her family became used to the antics he would stir up and eventually came to enjoy it.
The site of the originial Portsmouth Gallows.
The Gallows: Before this work building stood, it was the original Portsmouth Gallows, where all convicts found guilty of heinous crimes were immediately hanged to death. Unfortunately, an innocent man was hanged at one point, and one of the men who now works there experienced the ghost’s antics one evening. He has said that he was followed closely by the ghost down halls, down the stairs, and right to the front door.
The West Tour:
The West Tour, which is infinitely more serious than the East tour, consists of more haunting stories rather than funny ones. Here’s what came out well with my phone camera:
The ghost of the original Portsmouth Naval Hospital.
The Naval Hospital: In the top far right corner of the photo, you might be able to make out soft lights. Those soft lights are where the newer naval hospital is, but a few feet in front of it is where the original used to stand, and it has many ghosts that wander in it, but there’s specifically one whom they attempted to catch. After spreading talcum powder on the floor, the doctors and nurses waited until after the ghost committed his usual acts, and then went to see what happened. They found footprints in the talcum powder that disappeared halfway across the room – but of only one foot!
The ghost of one of the homes on the waterfront.
The Waterfront Ghost: Right along the waterfront, there is a large and luxurious home (that has been recently renovated) that was known for its parties waaay back in the day. The ghost explains that one time one of the guests woke up during the middle of a storm to find a young woman telling him to right her tombstone (which had fallen over because of the wind). In the morning, he went to the local graveyard to find that there was a tombstone, indeed, flipped over.
The Garden Ghost, who jumps out at you while walking across an alleyway.
The Garden Ghost: Perhaps one of the scariest moments on the Ghost Walk doesn’t come from the stories themselves. While walking down one of the streets, all of a sudden, a man comes from between the bushes, yelling very loudly. Come to find out, he was one of the gardeners to the homeowner, and he used a cane in order to fend himself from the snapping, angry pitbull dogs the homeowner would breed. Before he goes to hide in the bushes again, he warns everyone that if we were to cross one of the pitbulls, we would not be able to save ourselves by trying to outrun them.
An actor relaying a story about the Guardian Angel Ghost.
The Guardian Angel Ghost: One of the stories is about a young family who finds out they have a guardian angel. The mother and son are in a car accident, but are both miraculously saved. The mother, who has seen and heard an older female ghost living in her apartment, comes to feel as though someone – most likely the ghost – was both warning them and trying to save them. It’s one of the most popular stories on the tour.
The Ghost Walk has been mentioned in multiple blogs and websites, and they sell merchandise like t-shirts, coffee mugs, and books. So, if you think you want to take a break from the party scene next Halloween, feel free to check out the Ghost Walk! It’s about a 30 minute drive from CNU’s campus, and there are plenty of restaurants you can grab some dinner at before or after the tour! My personal recommendations include: Baron’s Pub off Dinwiddie, Roger Brown’s off High, Humboldt Steel Pizza off Dinwiddie, Still Tapas off the corner of Queen and Court, and, of course, Jimmy John’s off the corner of High and Court. Each tour concludes with apple cider in Portsmouth’s Middle Street Park, right in the center of the Old Towne District.
Stay classy, Captains!