MARION STATION, MD (October 2, 2014) – Chesapeake Ghost Walks, a company that operates a series of year-round ghost walks on the Eastern Shore has scheduled 24 walks for the month of October in 10 historic Eastern Shore towns. Additionally, the company is offering three “inside” tours of the Vance Miles House, the haunted house that is owned by author and company founder, Mindie Burgoyne. Living in a haunted house is what spurred Burgoyne on to writing about ghosts and haunting which led to starting the ghost walk company.
Towns featured in the October series include Berlin, Pocomoke, Snow Hill and Ocean City – all in Worcester County and Princess Anne and Crisfield in Somerset County. Ghost walks within an hour’s drive of the Bay Bridge are Cambridge, Denton, St. Michaels and Easton. There are three towns that even have walks on Halloween night – Snow Hill, Berlin and Easton, which includes a “midnight walk.”
All the ghost walks can be easily seen on the Chesapeake Ghost Walks Calendar of events at www.chesapeakeghostwalks.com/events and links on the calendar go right to a page where people can register on line. Tickets are $15 for Adults and $9 for kids 8-12. Advanced registration online or by phone is required because the walks sell out. All the walks begin at 7pm, go for about 1.5 miles and weave through the historic downtown districts so it’s easy for guests to fill an evening with dinner and a leisurely – though scary walk through town. Each walk features a graveyard except Ocean City, which has no graveyards. The Pocomoke City walk goes a half mile into the thick, dark Pocomoke forest which is partly swamp. A guide tells stories of the ghosts that have lingering in the forests for years including the six-fingered smuggler who murdered his wife at the Cellar House.
Mindie Burgoyne, author of Haunted Eastern Shore and Haunted Ocean City and Berlin crafted each of the walks in 2013. In 2014 she and her husband launched the Chesapeake Ghost Walk business, which offers weekly ghost tours, virtual ghost tours, private ghost tours and story-telling sessions. Their company has grown exponentially this year and next year they hope to beef up the bus tour business. Burgoyne states, “After I wrote my first book on haunted places, people started asking if I would do tours. I started doing these little walks last year. I did about 20 tours. This year we’ve hired and trained five guides and we’ll do ten times that.”
Burgoyne says all the walks are related. Each town builds on the next and some of the ghosts are related. “Colonel Oswald Tilghman haunts the Talbot Court House, but his aunt likely haunts his old house, Foxley Hall in Easton, and his sister is haunting the Plim Plaza in Ocean City and his Great Great Grandfather, Tench Tilghman is haunting the bridge near St. Paul’s Church in Chestertown. And don’t get me started about all the Tilghman’s probably haunting the Plinhimmon plantation in Oxford.” When asked what her favorite ghost walk is, Burgoyne responds “Ocean City. So many of the ghost stories there are happy and romantic. It’s such pleasure to lead that walk.”
In October Burgoyne also opens up her own haunted home for guests to walks through. She and her husband invite guests in and tell them the stories of crashing sounds, swaying chandeliers, flying plates, breaking mirrors and apparitions of Vance Miles who once owned the house. Living in that haunted house gave her the inspiration to start learning more about Eastern Shore ghosts. There are three tour opportunities to visit the Vance Miles House.
Tickets for the walks and the Vance Miles House can be purchased on the Chesapeake Ghost Walk website www.chespaekaeghostwalks.com or by phone at 443.735.0771
