Halloween’s a-comin…are you up for ghostly travels?

If you’re trying to scare up a fun Halloween-themed trip next month, you don’t need to look too far. Our state and region has more than its share of haunts and haints — from Civil War soldiers wandering the battlefields to scorned lovers looking for revenge and lonely old-timers not quite ready to move on. 

In fact, it seems that just about any Southern town or city with any trace of history has its own ghost or haunted home. I grew up in a town with two such “haunted” houses, both of which dated back to antebellum years. Over the years, terrifying yarns were spun about events that happened within those walls. Whether any real tragedy occurred there didn’t matter. The houses were set back from the street, darkened and overgrown by inattention and decrepit enough to make any spooky tale seem plausible. As kids, we were simultaneously drawn to and scared to death of these decaying homesteads. We occasionally tested our mettle by attempting to pass by the creepiest house on Halloween.

These days, tourists wanting a bit of a fright on Halloween night (or most evenings from summer through autumn) have their pick of ghost tours, haunted hotel rooms or other scary sites in the South. The AJC lists several tours and hotels to get you started.

In addition to those, some other places to check out are:

The Ghost Walk of St. Simons’ two-hour Ghost Encounter takes visitors on a lamp-lit walking tour of the Georgia island’s most haunted sites. Included in the tour is a special, after-hours entrance into the St. Simons Island lighthouse, reportedly one of the most haunted lighthouses in the country. My kids have spent many weeks of their young lives on St. Simons, and they finally ginned up the courage to take the tour this summer. After 90 minutes (and at 10:30 p.m.), my 8-year-old was so spooked she was ready to head back to Atlanta right then. 

Because of their history, battlefields and the towns that surround them are perfect spots to find ghost tours, haunted buildings and other spooky sites. When I was a student in Gettysburg, Pa., people often shared stories of “sightings”, haunted buildings that once housed the Civil War dead and dying, or places on the battlefield where the war for some ghostly soldiers still continues. Today, the Ghosts of Gettysburg Walking Tours are among the most popular ghost tours in the country. A few hours south in Fredericksburg, Va., the Ghosts of Fredericksburg tours tells guests this Virginia town has the most ghosts of any city in the nation.

Years after those goose-bump inducing sprints past scary houses of my childhood, I have gone on ghost tours, walked many an eerie battlefield, and even lived in a haunted dormitory. I have laughed at some of the spooky tales, and gotten chills at others. Not only are these visits fun, but I find the tours, the places and the stories give a special insight into the communities that adds another dimension to my travels.

What are the most haunted cities you have visited? Do you have a favorite ghost walk you would recommend? Would you stay in a haunted hotel?