Haunted season is underway for local tour guides. That's when some of their offerings focus on the macabre and supernatural. Miranda McGee with American Legacy Tours in Over-the-Rhine says their programs are popular enough they were able to expand to other neighborhoods.
She says people love to be scared, even if they don't believe in ghosts.
“It’s like when we go camping, you know? Sitting around a campfire, nobody’s sitting there going ‘would anyone like to hear about the War of 1812?’ ” she says. “No. They’re like, ‘I know a story about haunted barracks. It’s because of the War of 1812, but let me tell you about these ghosts that wander the Newport barracks.’ It’s just a way in, I guess.”
McGee says most of their ghost tours continue for a week after Halloween, and then everyone seems to switch to holiday mode. She says they've been able to expand outside of the basin, to include Clifton, Mt. Healthy, Newport and Covington.
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Waynesville is one of several places in the area where you can find ghost tours. While they may be more noticeable at this time of year, Paula Dytko conducts tours year-round, for different levels of interest. She has degrees in American history, pop culture and film studies.
“I always wanted to teach history in a fun way, so people would be engaged, excited and remember things and just get really excited about history, local history.”
Dytko says there are options for people who just love a good story, and for those who do and don't believe in ghosts.
“Usually, I’ll get the wife who wants to be there for the spooky, and the husband, he’s just there to be there, because he’s got to be there,” she says. “But by the end of the night, it’s usually the guys who are up front, asking the questions.”
Dytko says interest really grew during the pandemic when people took longer looks at their immediate surroundings and started wondering about the history.
She says people love to hear about the spirit of a bricklayer named Paul. “I’m doing this for him so we don’t forget who he is. People love that,” she says. “They love the fact that they’ve never heard of Paul. They’ve never heard of Thomas Swift House, and now they have these two things that they can look forward to coming back to every time.”
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McGee says people enjoy a good story even if they don't believe in ghosts.
“If you’re a skeptic, you’ve still got these crazy stories about how grave robbing became so popular in Cincinnati, or just the history of a serial killer like the Cincinnati Strangler,” she says. “So you still get some interesting stories without having to believe in the paranormal aspect.”
McGee says interest in their ghost tours fades after Halloween. Dytko says her activities go all year long.
