It’s that time of year when everyone is looking for a good scare. Halloween is approaching and ghost tours have popped up all over Metro Atlanta. But the Roswell Ghost Tour is unique. Available year-round, current owner/operator David Wood and his team of paranormal investigators are just interested in why Roswell is so haunted.
“We pride ourselves on not being theatrical,” said Wood. “No one is dressed up or going to jump out and try to scare you. We’re more from the educational/historical point of view; we share paranormal activity, how you capture it, why do you capture it and why is Roswell so haunted.”
As most long-term Roswell residents know, the city has an extensive history dating back well before the Civil War. Once a part of the Cherokee nation, the city was founded by Roswell King in 1829 where he supervised construction of the Roswell Cotton Mill.
Founders Cemetery, one of about eight stops along the approximately two and a half hour walking tour, has its own illustrious history. Known to hold the unmarked graves of slaves and many children who died from an outbreak of scarlet fever in 1841, the cemetery also reportedly extends nearby beneath houses and streets.
All quite enough to keep the spirits disturbed.
“We are super skeptical as investigators,” said Wood. “We’re trying to disprove something.”
The team, all of whom have experienced some form of paranormal activity, attempt to find alternative explanations first. Is a window open creating this draft? Did the person seeing a dark, ghostly figure actually see their own shadow cast from a nearby streetlight?
Wood has had his own paranormal experiences. One inside Public House. One not too long ago at Barrington Hall. Wood and a few of his investigators gathered for dinner one September to prepare for peak tour season in October. They went into Barrington Hall and Wood felt a very sudden, dramatic cold chill that stopped him in his tracks.
“I didn’t want to take a step closer,” said Wood. “There is something here I do not like. I backed away.”
He returned about 10 minutes later with another tour guide and both felt the chilling presence. They shined flashlights around but couldn’t see anything.
Now here’s where it gets interesting.
Apparently within the paranormal world, some investigators can feel the presence of ghosts, some can hear or smell them and others can visualize the spirits. A third investigator joined Wood and his tour guide and looked where they had felt something strange.
“I’m lucky enough to have one of my tour guides that does visualize things,” Wood added. “She was up on the porch and saw our reactions, looked down at what we were looking at and said, ‘Guys, we gotta go.” They left.
As Wood returned home he had a feeling something had come home with him. His otherwise calm, friendly cat began scratching the walls, her tail on alert as she began howling. He returned to Barrington Hall, and asked whatever had followed him to stay put, returned home and had no further issues.
Tours are reserved online and paid on tour day ($20 adults, $10 children 12 and under) with cash and Zelle. No credit cards. Book now, but remember the haunting continues well past Halloween.
Information: www.roswellghosttour.com.
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