http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_3082930 IF youre intrigued by things that go bump in the night, then the Pleasanton Ghost Walk is right up your alley. As long as your alley is haunted.
In downtown Pleasanton, its not which buildings are haunted, but which buildings are not haunted, local historian Charles Huff said in a slightly creepy voice. Its very intriguing because you dont think of buildings having ghosts in them. The historic downtown is rife with ghosts. You can hardly walk into a building without bumping into one - or walking through a spooky apparition. Gay90s Pizza, the old Kottinger barn, La Boheme gift shop and the Rose Hotel are just a few spots where ghosts gather. These ghosts have done no harm to anybody, Huff said in his most reassuring voice. Theyre just hanging around. Huff, whose day job is as an architect, held the first ghost walk last haunting season at the urging of friends at the Museum on Main, the valleys own repository of all things historical. There had beenstories from some of the merchants downtown about ghosts in their establishments, Huff said, again taking on somewhat of a spooky tone. Or maybe it just seemed that way. A couple of people in the museum said, You ought to do a ghost walk,'" he recalled. I thought, Hmm, yeah, but I do have my day job. I dont want people to think Im crazy.'" Huff decided he could host a ghost walk, yet distance himself from the spiritual hereafter by merely acting as facilitator. He left it to merchants to tell about their personal encounters with ghosts. The ghost walk was a smash hit. People were dying to learn more about the spirits of local dead folks. It was so popular last year that we had to turn away a number of people, said Terry Lee Berry, the museums executive director. We thought that there has to be a way to make this more accessible to the public. The solution is to offer several tours led by volunteers who will guide thrill seekers to 10 haunted spots downtown. At each location, people who have had brushes with the supernatural will tell their spine-tingling tales. When somebody tells a ghost story of some tale or urban legend, you think, Yeah, whatever,'" Huff said, now sounding a bit like a bored teen. But on the ghost tour, you hear from people whove had actual experiences with ghosts. Whether or not the tour is scary will depend on what each person takes away from the chilling encounters. Its not going to be scary in the respect that you would take a kid to a horror movie, Huff said. Its scary in a friendly kind of way, if thats possible. Ghosts arent necessarily bad. Theyre just energy. Thats all. Museum officials are expecting sell-out crowds for the tours, which already are nearly fully booked. The plan is for a group of 30 ghost hunters to leave the museum every half hour, in search of ghastly ghost stories. If demand is high, then two groups will leave each 30 minutes, heading in opposite directions to get their fill of fright. This years ghost walk might host up to 14 separate tours. Miriam Ivey will be among the ghost-seeking throngs, eager to learn about the spooky history of the town shes called home for more than a dozen years. Ive heard rumors that some of the sites in Pleasanton are haunted, Ivey said. I figured that the ghost walk would give me more concrete information. It should be fun. Huff plans to help with this years tours, but he wont take the lead role like he did last year. I wore a Salem witch-hunters gown for the lecture, he said. Basically, I just made fun of the ghosts. Apparently, the ghosts didnt think it was very funny. Huff reported that he had an uneasy feeling and was somewhat depressed after the tour. Turns out some ghosts who didnt take kindly to Huffs good-natured ribbing were giving him a tough time. A local ghost buster gave me some tools to get rid of them, and I got rid of them, Huff said. The tools, he noted, amounted to yelling out some words and chants to send the ghosts back to their rightful places. (There he goes sounding all creepy again.) Personally, Ive never seen a ghost, he said, but Ive experienced what happens when you (tick) them off. Ivey plans to attend the tour with her husband and his parents, who will be visiting from the East Coast. She figures its a good way to introduce them to Pleasantons small-town charms. I know that theres supposed to be a ghost in the Pleasanton Hotel, she said. I heard there was a murder there, but I dont know any of the details. Now that Im thinking about it, it could be kind of creepy. I dont second-guess things that I dont understand really well, she added. If there are enough people saying theyve seen these ghosts, then who am I to question what they have to say? A short documentary by local filmmaker Sean Laskey, Ghost Walk, explores Huffs tour and Pleasantons haunted history. Copies of the DVD are for sale for $20 at the museum. Ghost-themed T-shirts also are sold at the museum. Got a good column idea? Or maybe youre just curious about something around town. Send your ideas or questions to Zoe Francis at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call (925) 461-1170. Letters may be sent to 4770 Willow Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588. http://www.paranormalpalace.com/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paranormalpromotions/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/98XolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Visit our Psychic/Paranormal message boards at http://www.skatemd.com/forums/index.php Arcade, Journals, Chats, Boards, Fun! Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paranormal_stuff/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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