Lewisburg, W.Va., has hosted ghost tours of the town annually October through November for the last 14 years.
John Luckton and his son Bradley guide these tours through the historic district of Lewisburg.
There are two separate tours - the Mansions Tour at 7:30 p.m. and the Cemetery Tour at 9 p.m. every Friday and Saturday evenings, John said. Tours begin at the General Lewis Inn, which John said has a history of haunting as well.
Lee Bias, machinist and Huntington resident, said John told a couple of ghost stories about the General Lewis Inn during the Mansions Tour last Saturday night.
From there, the group walked down the street to a few supposedly haunted mansions where they were told stories of the almost century-old homes, Bias said.
After a short break, John said those who dare to go on the Cemetery Tour are taken through the town to the Old Stone Presbyterian Church Cemetery.
"The first tour whets your appetite for the second tour," he said.
The Old Stone Presbyterian Church was erected in 1796 and is one of the first establishments in Lewisburg.
One ghost tale in particular stood out to tour-goers last Saturday night, Bias said.
While tour guide John was telling a ghost story that originated in Carnegie Hall across the street from the cemetery, members of the tour shrieked at what they saw.
"A girl started screaming out the most awful thing you've ever heard," Bias said.
He said that drew the other members' attention to a window on the top floor of Carnegie Hall.
Bias said they all saw what they thought was an apparition, a dark figure standing in the window.
"I tried to walk around the corner to see what it was, but I got called back because my girlfriend was scared out of her wits and wouldn't let me go," Bias said.
As the group stared on, John said he had one more story to tell, but knew no one would listen.
"I knew I couldn't top that," John said, referring to the shadowy figure in the window.
Members of the group began to question John about the figure's authenticity, Bias said.
John said this was a first-time event for him on any of his tours.
"I had nothing to do with it - absolutely not," he said.
Barboursville, W.Va., native, Angela McComas, went on the ghost tours two weeks before the ghostly event occurred.
"Nothing like that happened to us," McComas said. "That's crazy!"
Mary Baldwin, marketing and public relations director for Carnegie Hall, said in 2000, the former marketing and public relations director, Mary Paige heard footsteps coming from the room above her office where no one was supposed to be.
She said others at Carnegie Hall have heard similar sounds, including door handles jiggling when no one was around.
Tori Smith, AmeriCorps Vista Volunteer for Carnegie Hall, said there is a perfectly good explanation for what the tour group saw.
"We were doing our own investigation," Smith said.
Smith said Adventure Myths, a paranormal investigation group based out of Washington, D.C., was at Carnegie Hall Saturday night.
Founder of Adventure Myths, Frank Polievka, said his team has been to Ireland all the way down to the Caribbean and was the first to do an official investigation of Carnegie Hall.
Polievka said they were investigating the stories of the unknown footsteps and door handles jiggling on the top floor of the building. The investigators were on the third floor when they heard voices coming from outside.
One investigator, Mike Gray, saw the tour group out the window and decided to light up his face to give the group a show, Polievka said.
"He felt kind of bad for fooling everyone, but he said he wanted everyone to get their money's worth," Polievka said.
Bias said his amazement was short-lived when he found the cause of the "apparition."
"We saw the peoples' feet as they were walking up the stairwell," he said.
Bias said he believes in an afterlife, but knows he did not have a paranormal experience last Saturday night.
"That (experience) really made me think twice, though," Bias said.
However, Smith said the investigators did have "interesting interactions" and recorded some unusual Electronic Voice Phenomenons.
Polievka said his team heard unexplainable noises and caught those noises on tape.
"The video and the findings should be on our Web site at the end of November," he said.
This weekend is the last for the Ghost Tours of Lewisburg.
To find out more about the tours or to reserve a private party, contact John Luckton at 304-256-8687 or call the General Lewis Inn at 304-645-2600.
To check out what Polievka and his team found at Carnegie Hall, check out their Web site at www.adventuremyths.com.
Jennifer D. Seay can be contacted at seay8@marshall.edu.
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