Ghost tours surging
Fort Monroe’s popular Halloween season ghost walk is nearly sold out this year, despite the social distancing restrictions in place
HAMPTON — Fort Monroe kicked off its annual weeklong Ghost Walk on Monday with a twist — digital technology combined with the usual mystery and lore.
The tour “Where Mystery Meets History’’ will have a selfguided format during the day in addition to the 12 nightly semiguided tours offered now through Sunday.
In its seventh year, organizers say the popular Halloween season attraction that has drawn hundreds in previous years is nearly sold out despite the new format to accommodate social distancing.
Night tours now are limited to three to six people per 45-minute set.
The tours also are led by using a QR code on a smartphone. Participants begin in “the puzzle room”
at the Commanding Generals Residence to pick up clues, maps and other effects that will direct them to the different stops along the chosen paths.
“The pandemic has forced us to get creative in order to keep safe,” says Aaron Whittington, special events director at Fort Monroe. “In the past, we have done traditional large group tours. (This year) we are not blending strangers together. So, it’s more intimate and only with people who you are comfortable with.”
The walks highlight little known stories and other unexplained tales about Fort Monroe from its history.
For instance, Edgar Allen Poe served four months as a Union solider from 1828 through 1829. A path for this tour entails helping the storyteller and poet solve a cold case.
A second path focuses on Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Overland Campaign, on which he worked during his time at Quarters No. 1 on Bernard Road.
The paths also make stops at the Fort Monroe Theatre, decorated for the festive event and the cells inside the stockade on Ruckman Road.
Participants can scan the QR codes along the way to hear the stories and learn the history.
There are still a few surprises and gotchas along the paths, organizers say.
“We’ve just eliminated the in-person guide and the large groups,” Whittington said. “We’ve made it more interactive. Instead of taking the tour, you become a part of the tour ... you solve the clues and put together the puzzle.”
The day tours mimic the two Ghost Walk tours but would only feature one path per day. The day tours do not have the same interactive elements, but offer the same stories.
“You are still hearing about the history and the mystery ... you’re just doing it with the phone,” he said, adding that volunteers are at posts along the paths to help if participants lose a puzzle piece.
Fort Monroe Ghost Walk: “When Mystery Meets History” takes place through Sunday. Tickets only are available online at the fortmonroe.org website.
Night tours, held daily from 5:15 p.m. through 9 p.m., every 45 minutes, are $25 per person. Day tours, held between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., are $10. No tickets will be sold
“You are still hearing about the history and the mystery ... you’re just doing it with the phone.”
— Aaron Whittington, special events director at Fort Monroe
on site.
All tours begin at the Commanding Generals Residence, 33 Fenwick Road. Organizers say masks are required at check-in.
Additional information is available at the Fort Monroe Authority, 757-251-2754.