Highlights of Our So, So Scary Historical Ghost Tour
At Madame Buxom’s “house of assignation” sits an ornate wrought iron gate that creaks only at night!
Atop Cap’s Hill there’s ol’ Captain Scrotek’s home that’s now a bed & breakfast. It’s said the captain used to slurp his coffee in the early mornings and guests have reported heavy slurping in the wee hours followed by the oft refrained, “Oh, that’s hot.”
By the pier, Wonky Willy’s Chips & Fish that used to be a 19th century cannery occasionally becomes filled with a haunting fog creeping in from the coast. Call it a mix of smoke from the fish fry and daily drift of marine layer, or the ghostly haze from the 1898 vessel fire of BBQ Boat Tours, it’s definitely a goosebumps-inducing time at Wonky Wilily’s.
At Barnaby B’s General Store, now approaching a century of being open, customers say they’ve encountered a spectral cat that sleeps on the top shelves and knocks down boxes of nails. It’s a skittish, quasi-feral, shy cat and folks aren’t sure if it’s real or not. It tends to quietly approach customers, only to run away when they notice. Who said cat ghosts would be friendly?
Over at Maude’s Motel, their front lobby was once an old ice cream parlor from the 30s. The alcove around the corner houses an original ice machine, said to be haunted due to its otherworldly screeches and randomly making ice at 3 am with no one around. The owner, Maude, says she doesn’t mind the machine’s eerie nature and that you can’t find such a rare item nowadays. The market for similar historical ice machines is practically nil, she says.
The local dry cleaners is a former opium den, and customers swear it’s haunted. Some have complained their garments come back more stained than when dropped off. The owners deny wearing their patrons’ clothes while at the local seafood buffet. They blame the building ghosts and offer refunds for clothes with what they call “ghost stains.”
Local residents complain the self-driving cars of a nearby shuttle service are actually driven by the spirits of mischievous children. So far, there’s been several fender-benders. While there’s no injuries, passengers swear that’s the last time they use driverless transportation.
Over at Ray’s Lamp Emporium, Ray doesn’t mind that his building used to be a funeral home during the year of sickness. It also doesn’t bother him that the store’s lights flicker more than normal. “That’s what you get in the lamp business,” he says. A common electrical hiccup or a haunted locale—you decide!
Residents have complained about raccoons ransacking their curbside trash barrels more than normal. And there’s a catch—no one ever sees them! It has long been assumed that ghost raccoons are just a staple of the neighborhoods in town.
On karaoke nights at Butts & Thunder Bar, it’s said an apparition messes with the audio system. Many customers complain that singing so out of tune can only be caused by the supernatural.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Nolan writes blindfolded to become one with ninja ways. His work appears in Weekly Humorist, Robot Butt, Points In Case, Little Old Lady, and many others. He’s finishing up an MA in writing, writes when he eats, and sleeps when he writes.
