Halloween may be all about spooky decorations tions and elaborate costumes, but sometimes the most frightening things are those that we cannot perceive. As bedsheet ghosts flood Sixth Street clubs for Halloween festivities, they may be disturbing the old “haunts” of spirits from long ago.
Austin Ghost Tours is dedicated to researching and sharing the haunting of our historic downtown area. The Halloween Ghost Tour, a walking tour that runs through the month of October, takes participants to the sites of reported paranormal activity. The tour is not for those looking for a personal episode of “Ghost Hunters,” though; the guides stay out of most of the buildings and carry no fancy tracking equipment. Really, it is nothing more than glorified storytelling, but each of the guides gives extensive knowledge and inspired anecdotes that can hold your attention without the in-your-face cheap thrills of haunted houses.
Although the tours take place at night, the eerie ambiance is shaken with the heavy foot-traffic downtown. The guides attempt to find quiet spots, but live music and drunken yells inevitably penetrate dramatic pauses that would have been much more effective told around a campfire.
While most of the time is spent outside the buildings, the group enters what is purported to be the most haunted building in all of Texas — The Driskill Hotel. The Driskill has graced the lists of North America’s most haunted buildings for years and has a history of spectral activity reported by both guests and staff. The most chilling story is one of a “suicide bride” who, after being left by her fiancé days before the wedding, put a gun to her stomach and ended her life while staying at the hotel in Room 427. Reports of a disgruntled woman milling around the room where the suicide occurred have been documented, and two guests have supposedly held dialogue with the woman as she stood outside the section of a hotel that was then being renovated. The time at The Driskill was made much less shocking by the hotel patrons gawking at the group gathered at the bottom of the staircase.
Other locations included Moonshine’s Patio Bar and Grill, David Grimes Photography Studio and reconstructed houses along Waller Creek. The last stop was an empty parking lot that served as a weak closing that had nothing to do with ghosts.
The Halloween Tour may not reveal any actual ghost sightings or keep you up at night, but hearing the stories from the enthusiastic guides is an intriguing alternative to the overt thrills of the typical Halloween attractions.
WHAT: Austin Ghost Tour
WHEN: Nightly through Oct. 31
WHERE: Begins at Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill
MORE INFO: hauntedtexas.com
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