On Friday night, I knocked off one of my adventures on my Tampa Bay Project list! I went with five girlfriends from my book club to take in the Ghost Tour of St. Petersburg. Our book club turned four years old this month (though I’ll celebrate two years in the club in October!), and we like to do a fun adventure during our anniversary month to celebrate. I was stoked that the ghost tour was the adventure since it meant I could cross one item off my fun to-do list.
The tour took place in downtown St. Pete, on Beach Drive, and we had a good little group. Along with the six of us, we had about ten other people join the tour. We ended up walking all over the area (and yes, I totally counted it as my workout for the day!). We stopped by a haunted house, the Vinoy, Straub Park, The Pier Hotel, Jannus Live, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Ponce de Leon Hotel, among some other random spots.
The tour guide was quite the character! I’m not sure how one begins leading ghost tours, but she obviously has a passion for storytelling and ghosts! I’ll admit I didn’t listen to all of the stories (I’ll explain why next!), but the ones I did listen to gave me a huge creep factor. Thinking about ghosts and them haunting people is just weird to me, and I’m not sure if I actually believe in ghosts. I like listening to ghost stories (even if they do scare me!), but it always seems so far-fetched that it’s hard for me to fully believe. I guess I would have to actually encounter weird ghost happenings for me to believe!
So the tour was interesting but honestly? I was completely miserable. The reasons why had nothing to do with the tour itself, but other factors. First of all, it was roughly 5 billion degrees outside. And I was wearing skinny jeans. And forgot a hair tie to tie my hair up, so by the end of the night, I swear my entire head was almost damp with sweat. (And isn’t that a wonderful visual? You’re welcome.) On top of that, I also wore the completely wrong shoes for walking around for two hours. I wore sandals because they are, um… cuter. And I know these sandals are not good for walking. (They bug me just walking around the mall for 30 minutes!) So by the end of the night, I had two blisters on my feet and calluses on my heels and balls of my feet. The calluses were the worst, stinging me throughout the entire tour. It wasn’t very fun, but I should have known better!
I’m happy I did the tour, though! It was fun listening to all the different stories, even if the creep factor was a bit too much for me at times. (I get creeped out easily, though, which is why I’m not much for scary things like haunted houses and horror movies!) Afterward, the six of us were more than happy to escape inside a restaurant for gelato, water, and conversation.
And now I have to plan what adventure I want to tackle next! I’m thinking of either a visit to the Florida Aquarium or the Dali Museum. Time will tell.
Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever been on a ghost tour?
It looks like so much fun! I did a ghost tour of Charleston; it was fun although a bit cheesy. Interesting history more than the ghosts.
I did a ghost tour in New Orleans; it was so interesting to hear the stories and yes, they were creepy! Some of them were sad since it dealt with the slave trade and etc., but also highly educational.
I do believe in ghosts and spirits though I do find a lot of the ghost hunter shows to be ridiculous. I realize I’m in the minority on believing!
When I was in high school I went to this haunted mansion in San Diego called the Whaley House. http://www.whaleyhouse.org. There was a curtain moving “on its own” as well as the smell of someone cooking apple pie, that were supposedly part of it being haunted. But who knows? I’m not sure… it could have been manufactured as a stunt.
That sounds like SO much fun! I went on a ghost tour in Gettysburg and it was really cool.
I love your glasses!
I don’t really believe in ghosts but I think taking a ghost tour would be fun as it’d be something unique to do. But I do get creeped out pretty easily so it might not be the best tour for me. Much of Savannah, GA is built on a graveyard so they allegedly have a lot of ghosts and I was told the ghost tours there are great but I stuck with a traditional walking tour.
That is a bummer about being hot/uncomfortable, though!
In high school, the night of prom, my friends and I used a Ouija board and it worked. My two friends were using it and asked if there were any spirits that wanted to talk to us. It spelled out the name of my friend from church who had passed away a year earlier. My friends from school did not know my friend from church at all, so it totally freaked me out. My dad used to restore old houses (like 17th and 18th century homes) and swears he’s seen ghosts several times. His stories are so unnerving. I don’t know if I believe in ghosts but I believe in spirits or souls. I cannot watch those scary ghost shows on TV though – I like to believe that spirits are nice, ha!
I’ve done ghost tours in New Orleans & Baltimore & loved both of them. I wonder if there’s a haunted D.C. tour that I should look into…