In the spirit of All Hallow’s Eve, Augustans ventured downtown to hear family-friendly tales of creepy and fun ghosts, while delighting in hearing first-hand from experts about the basics of ghost hunting on Saturday evening, Oct. 28.
Michael Wolff, local business owner of Augusta Adventure Tours, is defying Halloween expectations by not only hosting year-round ghost tours, but also by advertising various themed ones throughout the annual holidays, such as A Christmas “Scarol” and Desserts with a Ghost.
Trying to bolster tourism and fuel interest back into the community, Wolff invited several families and couples to hear tales of nearby hauntings, while sprinkling in fascinating historical tidbits of past and facts of the present Augusta.
“We’ve got to start a fire, and that fire is tourism here in Augusta,” Wolff said. “I really do this because I love Augusta.”
Delivered with hilarious jokes and personal stories, attendees learned from Wolff about the relevant history of several artifacts, including: the Old Cotton Exchange Building, Augusta bricks, downtown restaurants and artwork, the James Brown Statue, the Imperial Theatre and even rumors about the Lamar Building.
A former employee of the Walt Disney Company and lifelong admirer of Walt Disney’s charming viewpoint, Wolff amused audiences as members of Grovetown’s Old Thyme Paranormal taught participants the different types of hauntings.
Accompanying the tour, Vice President of Old Thyme Paranormal, Billy Daugherty, said his organization was formed in 2013 and specializes in investigating the abnormal and the unexplainable metaphysical.
“People have a hard time explaining different experiences that they have and – when we come in to do an investigation – we come in as complete skeptics and try to debunk anything we can,” he said. “We try to come up with an explanation and if we can’t then we look at and present the evidence.”
To Daugherty, ghost investigators give people peace of mind, especially those who have recently lost a loved one and have experienced “a presence.”
Whether someone is truly experiencing a haunting or is just suffering the side effects of crossed over electromagnetic frequencies, Daugherty said his team always tries to rationalize clients’ accounts of creepy occurrences.
“With our equipment, we can come in and pinpoint what exactly is going on,” he said.
With Wolff and Daugherty’s guidance, tour attendees held different investigative tools and were exposed to the do’s and don’ts of paranormal investigating.
Guests learned the difference between intelligent hauntings – where ghosts actively attempt to interact with people by moving objects and soft whisperings – and the appearance of “orbs,” a form of ghost energy which cannot be seen by the naked eye, but are often caught on film or photographs.
As participants trekked the pavement of downtown, Wolff retold the tale of Isabella – a ghost buried in the graveyard of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, known to haunt the Cotton Exchange Building with her “playful” attitude.
“They had an electric typewriter that used to sit up in the front window at the customer service desk, and that typewriter loved to type on its own,” said Wolff during the tour. “In fact, [employees] would even unplug it and those keys would still be clicking away.”
Venturing next to downtown Augusta’s Lucky 7 Tattoo shop, Wolff and shop owner Jill Fullam tell of the parlor’s resident ghost – whom they all call George.
“We’ve had a couple of experiences where people actually saw someone and they’ve all happened in the back near the bathroom,” said Fullam. “Our worst experience was our fire extinguisher coming off the wall and completely emptying itself onto the middle of the shop. I witnessed that one first-hand and it was very unsettling. We’ve had our skateboard on the wall come off too and do some spins or flips, but for the most part things are pretty calm.”
Wolff interjected with how Fullam later took the extinguisher to the fire marshall who examined the object and found the pin still in place, which should have made the incident virtually impossible to happen on its own.
With a mysterious presence known for locking and unlocking the bathroom door and making employees feel watched, Daugherty said his team investigated the haunting and received shocking results.
“I’ve done a couple of investigations here,” said Daugherty.
Daugherty recounted how a spirit box allowed his team to listen to George, who expressed several expletives at one female team member and told her to leave the premises.
Handing out small handheld K-II Meters, which measure electromagnetic fields, Daugherty explained how there are no true tools created for the sole purpose of ghost hunting – all are repurposed that were originally created for measuring something else.
Daugherty and his team members also said many people who are new to ghost hunting falsely believe they need to purchase expensive equipment to become a paranormal expert, but truly one can buy inexpensive tools online off of Amazon or even Harbor Freight Tools.
Fighting stereotypes and stigma, Daugherty said most ghosts that he and his team have encountered are not often mean-spirited, but rather simply want to be remembered and acknowledged.
“Once an entity starts to get to know people, they calm down a little,” Daugherty said. “The ones that are mean and evil usually were not alive to begin with.”
Ending the tour at the historical St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wolff and Old Thyme Paranormal allowed participants to explore the graveyard with equipment and delight in having private conversations with possible lingering ghosts.
Holding a gathering every weekend, the next being Desserts with a Ghost, which will feature award-winning tasty samplings from the Boll Weevil Cafe and cocktails from 2nd City Distillery, Wolff said he enjoys hosting tours because he wants locals to know there are always fun activities to experience in Augusta.
“What we are doing here tonight, this is not just about coming out and doing a tour, is contributing towards a tourism community here in Augusta,” said Wolff. “We need that in Augusta … and for those people who say there’s nothing to do – I promise you they are the most guilty of not walking out their front door or exploring their backyard.”
To view upcoming events with Wolff’s Augusta Adventure Tours, please visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AugustaAdventureTours
