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Are You Afraid of the Dark?“City Ghost Walks Perfect for Halloween”By Jamie RossGhosts are not real. At least, I don’t believe in them. Still, as our bus enters the massive Chinese cemetery in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I peer out of the window into the darkness with a sense of dread. I put on a smiling, brave face, as do all my ghost walk companions, but our laughter sounds a little forced. Our guide tells us of an earlier visit, when he arrived at this very spot during a violent thunder storm. As he was introducing the place, a bolt of lightening lit the scene, and the petrified onlookers swore collectively that they saw hundreds of spirits flitting back to their graves. I put it down to too much spirits consumed beforehand, but, as I depart the bus and am handed a burning stick of incense to ward off the undead during my stroll through the graveyard, there is a lingering feeling of unease.
Such is the attraction of ghost walks, especially in older cities with colourful histories. We go on ghost walks for the same reason that we watch horror movies, read terrifying books, or tell macabre stories around the campfire. We love to be scared, as long as it is not too far outside our comfort zone. Asian Spooks ... Ghost walks are great for giving a visitor a feel for a distant culture and the history of an ancient city. Such is the case with the Asian Spooks Night City Tour in Malaysia, a very tongue in cheek presentation where, before we depart, we are required to sign a declaration that we have never been predisposed to be possessed by spooks, nor will we allow any of our previous lives or reincarnations to surface. I scrawl my signature with confidence. We visit things as diverse as an old colonial railway station, a Hindu temple, Seputeh the Chinese cemetery, an abandoned Pudu prison, and a dark laneway reputed, according to our trustworthy guide, to be a nest for Asian vampires. The most poignant part of the tour was our visit to the massive Bodhi tree that refused to be transplanted. The Mid Valley Mega Mall, a sprawling shopping centre, was being built and workers tried to cut down the tree, but were forced to stop when the tree immediately bled an enormous amount of sap. Storing the chainsaws, contractors decided to dig up the tree and move it. First one bulldozer was put to the task and immediately broke down. A second was hailed, but it’s engine quit as soon as its shovel touched the ground. A frustrated foreman dashed in with a shovel, but as he planted the spade in the earth, the handle broke. In the end the tree and superstition had won, and the design of the mall was re-done to accommodate the tree. Our tour takes us to the Hindu and Buddhist temples and shrines erected to honour the stubborn hardwood - the flashing neon mall signs are an obtrusive backdrop. Mayhem in the Scottish Mist ... For ghostly atmosphere, nothing can compete with a ghost walk through the foggy, cobbled streets of Old Edinburgh in Scotland. Following behind a black-cloaked, lantern-carrying guide, our nervous group visited the sites of horrific tortures, murders, and supernatural happenings, while hearing morbid tales of plagues, witchcraft, and grave robbing. A bizarre cast of eerie apparitions appeared out of the Scottish mist to tell their gruesome tales. We met the infamous body-snatchers Burke and Hare, Angus Roy, and the blue gowned beggar. Our shrouded escort led us around the winding closes and ancient buildings of the Royal Mile, reciting stories of public executions, spectacles meant to satisfy the blood thirsty Edinburgh mob of the day. Outside the City Chambers, the devastating effects of the 1645 outbreak of the Plague were depicted to the group in graphic detail. We hear the heart-breaking story of the residents of Mary King’s Close who, after being infected by the Plague, died imprisoned in their homes denied of both food and water. Though we felt bad for its inhabitants, we moved quickly onward after learning we were standing directly above the infected alleyway.
Macabre Montreal ... Following Edinburgh’s lead, drama students in Montreal, Canada, are hired to research and write scripts, and act the part of historical figures, witches, murderers, and victims. My most recent Halloween was spent wandering through Old Montreal’s dark cobblestone alleys and lanes, amongst the stone buildings and wharves of her historic port. We visited a sinister array of costumed characters; blood-spattered, zombie-like, decaying, morbid creatures - purportedly real people culled from Montreal’s sinister past. The costuming was superb and the atmosphere of the old streets and buildings ideal. The tour had a high degree of historical accuracy and the young actors did a fine job ad-libbing in front of a very interactive audience. Bewitching BC ...
A number of tour companies in most major cities around the globe offer Ghost Walks, each keen to stress its authenticity. A broad spectrum of styles and approaches are available, ranging from light-hearted presentations for the whole family, to the genuinely fear-inducing encounters best left to those with nerves of steel. Ghost Walks are a great way to learn the history of a city, and to spend a dark Halloween evening? Contact ... Old Montreal Ghost Trail Asian Spooks Night City Tour Ghost and History Tours in Scotland Ghostly Walks - Victoria, BC Images: Top Photo Courtesy of
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Blades
of grass, moved by the wind, scratch quietly across crumbling headstones,
while shadows from the full moon dance across tombs, playing tricks with my
eyes. The screech of what must be a cat, sounds like an old woman shrieking
shrilly at me in Chinese. No, I don’t believe in ghosts, but I’m happy when
I am back on the bus, ridiculing the foolishness of it all.
Our
ghostly tour ended in Old Edinburgh’s underground vaults, candle-lit
chambers beneath the city’s South Bridge. The vaults were originally used as
workshops and houses by businesses on the bridge, but were abandoned as damp
and uninhabitable. They became the evil lair of body snatchers and
murderers. We were told that psychics have found a great deal of evidence of
the paranormal. That was enough for me, it was off with the terrified group
to the infamous White Hart Tavern for a dram of scotch ... or two.
Closer
to home, residents of Victoria on Vancouver Island claim that their’s is the
most haunted city in the Pacific Northwest. Visitor’s can discover
Victoria’s haunted past on a Ghostly Walk through the city’s Olde Town,
Chinatown, waterfront and Ross Bay Cemetery. Tour guide, John Adams, is one
of Victoria’s foremost historians and a renowned story teller. Adams also
heads the annual October ‘Ghosts of Victoria Festival.’