Which counties are part of the Alabama Black Belt Heritage Area?
Event: Ghost Hunting and Haunted Tour
Time: Friday, Oct. 19, 2012. Tours start at 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30 and 9 pm.
Event Type: Haunted House and Ghost Tour
Location: Old Cahawba
Cost: $15 per ticket
Event Website: http://www.selmaalabama.com/tours-trails/haunted-history.html
Sponsor: Alabama Historical Commission-Selma-Dallas County Tourism Department
Contact: Linda Derry at 334.875.2529 or cahawba@bellsouth.net
Info: On one special night each year, the Alabama Historical Commission allows late night visitors at the ghost town that was once Alabama’s state capital, Old Cahawba. This year, that night is Friday October 19 but you cannot come unless you obtain one of a limited number of $15 tickets from the Selma-Dallas County Tourism Department. Tours start at 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30 and 9 pm.
A ticket buys you a 90-minute tour that shuttles you to the most haunted locations within this famous ghost town. At each stop, guests disembark for an up close and personal experience.
Park staff share genuine historical accounts of sightings and describe personal encounters, setting the stage for a team from Central Alabama Paranormal Investigations. Ticket holders join the team as they demonstrate “ghost hunting” equipment and conduct an actual “investigation.”
This is a deluxe wagon tour but some walking is necessary. After each tour, participants can informally gather around a campfire to sip hot cider and swap ghost tales with a local storyteller.
“This rare moonlit tour is authentically amazing “says site director Linda Derry, “because Cahawba is so special. In fact, you don’t have to believe in ghosts to hear the past speak to you at Old Cahawba.” She illustrates this point on the following morning, Saturday, October 20 by conducting a special daytime walking tour called “Hear the Dead Speak.” On this 45-minute daylight walking tour, Derry helps participants discover messages left behind in the landscape by Cahawba’s long dead residents. This costs $4, starts at 10 am, and requires no advance reservations.
Saturday night, another Haunted History event is scheduled nearby at Selma’s historic Kenan’s Mill. Contact the Selma-Dallas County Tourism Department for tickets, directions and more information, 800-45-SELMA or info@SelmaAlabama.com. Media contact: Linda Derry at 334.875.2529 or cahawba@bellsouth.net.
The Alabama Historical Commission protects, preserves, and interprets Alabama’s historic places and is the State Historic Preservation Office.
www.preserveala.org