Atlanta's ghoulishly good fun

Here’s a look at this month’s frightfully full calendar of ghostly gamboling.

Stone Mountain

The 24th annual “Tour of Southern Ghosts,” presented by ART Station at Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park, runs through Halloween. Professional storytellers Angela Corbin, Craig Crumpton, Anne Gilstrap, David Hirt, Mary Katryn Kaye, Nancy Knight, Candace Lambert, Theresa O’Shea, Ron Powers, Scottie Rowell, Melodie Sartain, Brandon Sartain, Lester Thomas and Tracy Walker will tell tales of Southern ghosts along the lantern-lit paths of the park’s Antebellum Plantation. The stories are scary but funny, and fine for kids.

Tours begin at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays and may be purchased online at www.artstation.org or at the box office starting at 6:45 p.m. on tour nights. Tickets are $14 for adults and $6 for children 12 and under. Children's group nights are Oct. 18 and 25, when tickets are $3 per child ages 12 and younger touring with a group of 10 or more. Adult tickets on those nights are $12. Info: 770-469 1105, 770-498-5600 or www.artstation.org .

Roswell

This year-round tour prides itself on authenticity.

“If you prefer the type of ghost tour that is more ‘storytelling’ with costumes and dramatics, you may want to check out other ghost tours around Georgia,” the Web site informs. “We are paranormal investigators who aim to inform and entertain, while telling of Roswell’s current paranormal activity.”

Tours cover a mile and last at least two hours. They depart from the bandstand in the Roswell square, at Highways 9 and 120. Times vary. Private tours are available in October only for groups of 40 or more. The cost is $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. Info: 770-649-9922, www.roswellghost tour.com .

Lawrenceville

Ghost tours are offered year-round, but a new Ghost Tour Trolley has been introduced for the witching season. Visitors will creep by the old Lawrenceville Female Seminary where the ghosts of schoolgirls still run up and down the stairs, a haunted train depot and the historic cemetery, where the dead have a hard time keeping still.

“Certain sightings have been of a woman wearing a white gown, an old-fashioned white dress,” said Cynthia Rintye, a tour guide. “She’s just kind of hanging out. She talks a lot, just chattering. She sounds happy, not distressed or anything.”

Nearby McCray’s Tavern also receives ghostly visitations. Wait staffers have reported seeing a little girl in vintage apparel who appears, then vanishes, Rintye said. “If you drink enough, you just might” see her as well, she said.

The rolling tour leaves at 8 p.m. each Friday through October, and the charge is $25. The strolling tour steps off at 7:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through October. It's $12 for adults and $9 for children on weeknights and $15/$12 on Friday and Saturday nights. The walking tour is about 90 minutes and spans a mile and a half. Both tours leave from the Aurora Theatre at 153 Crogan St., and free covered parking is available in the adjacent municipal lot. For reservations, call 678-226-6222, e-mail al@auroratheatre.com or see scarystroll.aurora theatre.com or www.visit lawrenceville.com .

Marietta

Goodin, the storyteller-operator, says the seat of Cobb County is crawling with spooks. The art museum, once the town’s post office, is beset with a mischievous apparition.

“She’s slamming doors, setting off motion detectors in one of the galleries,” Goodin said. “She’s messing with the elevators. Then they call the elevator repairman and he says he has conversations with her. That’s a whole other story.”

She says a woman in a black dress haunts the old city cemetery, and that ghost hunters have picked up whispers in the historic Strand Theatre.

The "Scary-etta" Trolley Ghost Tour features a 90-minute trolley tour and about two blocks of walking every Friday and Saturday through October. The cost is $25 for adults and $12 for children. Tours leave at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. from 131 Church St., and check-in begins 30 minutes prior to tour time. Advance reservations are required. Call 678-290-9193 or see www.mariettatrolley.com. The "Spirits and Spirits Tour" begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 and Oct. 28 at the Marietta Wine Market. After a glass of vino, the tour leaves for an hour-long walking tour. The charge is $15 for adults only, obviously. Walking tours are nightly at 8 p.m., and the charge is $15 for adults, $10 for children 12 and under. Info: ghostsofmarietta@gmail .com; ghostsofmarietta.com .

Decatur

Bring your camera and flashlight on this two-hour, one-mile walking tour. It steps off from the Decatur Square bandstand and includes eight stops, including the home reported to be haunted by spirits in the fireplaces and the old train depot, where the cries of fallen Confederate soldiers have been heard. Then it’s on to the Old Decatur Cemetery, where who knows what might be lurking.

“There’s activity at every spot,” said spirit photographer/paranormal investigator Teri Rice, who is also co-founder of Atlanta-based Southern Crescent Paranormal Research. “People are getting touched, feeling cold spots. We’re getting phantom smells — sulphur, like gunpowder, canteens clanking.”

The tour’s co-owner is Boo Newell, a psychic medium and animal communicator.

The tours are 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with additional tour dates being added as needed. Fees are $15 for adults and $12 for children under 10. Private tours are available for parties of eight or more.

At 9:30 p.m. Oct. 24 and on Halloween night, Oct. 31, Newell and Rice plan a paranormal investigation. The three-hour event will school tour goers in the art of talking to the spirit world and features a psychic medium. That charge is $50 per person, open to adults and children over 12 only. Minors must be accompanied by legal guardians. Info: 404-296-7771, decaturghosttour@yahoo.com or www. decaturghosttour.com .