Where: 219 Central St NW, Suite 102, Albuquerque NM
Cost: $22 ($18 for 18 and under)
Kid-friendly: Due to PG-13 material this walk is probably too scary for small children. Older kids (10 and up) will probably be okay.
Pet friendly: Yes! They actually encourage you to bring your dogs. Animals are more sensitive to paranormal activity than humans.
More info and tickets: http://www.albucreepy.com
Mum and I were looking for something to do on Black Friday, and I stumbled across this on Trip Advisor. Promising “100 spine-tingling minutes”, it’s 1 .3 mile walk downtown at some purportedly haunted locations. The walk has a very brisk pace and is led by lantern, adding to the spooky feel. At selected stops along the way, you get to watch slideshows and learn about the history of each location. Your guides are Blake and Jordan, paranormal investigators who are also professional magicians by day.
Blake and Jordan. I’d kill to know how Jordan does his hair like that.
I will admit that I was very skeptical about the ghost walk. While I was very fascinated with the paranormal as a child (thanks to the X-Files), nowadays I find most of that kind of stuff bogus. Mum, on the other hand, scares easily. I figured that even if we didn’t see any ghoulies, ghosties or four-legged beasties, we’d at least get some exercise and a history lesson. We were the only ones on the tour that night. So off we went, Jordan with the lantern, and Blake trotting briskly behind.
100 minutes flew by, and we were taken to various parts of downtown, including the KiMo theatre, the Wool Warehouse, the Albuquerque Civic Center, and the old Bernalillo courthouse. The slideshows were very entertaining. We even got to listen to EVP (short for “electronic voice phenomenon”), which are ghost voices caught on tape. Those were definitely hair-raising. Our guides did their best to keep the mood light as we worked our way through the sad and sometimes bloody parts of Albuquerque history.
At the beginning, our guides said that paranormal experiences on the tour do happen but they aren’t guaranteed. A few happenings of note occurred for us:
1) One part of the tour was at an old industrial laundry, where, in the 1930s, a woman was killed when she was caught in some machinery. Sightings of her ghost happen regularly in a certain part of the alley where the laundry is located. The second I walked into that alley, I felt the air become oppressive, my heart was pounding in my chest and I couldn’t breathe. My mother said something similar happened to her when she stood in the alley. Nowhere else on the tour did this happen.
2) Off the alleyway behind the KiMo theatre, there is a room labeled “fire exit” that has a light which goes off and on constantly. Here’s the thing: there is no electricity going to that room. Our guides told us they had an electrician check it out and he said to his knowledge, all the electricity to that room has been cut. While our guides were talking, the lights flickered on and off behind them. It was eerie.
3) Below is a photo I snapped outside the Wool Warehouse, where the ghost of the original owner, Frank Bond, is said to haunt. If you look close in the top left window you can see the shadow of a man. Trick of the light, or ghost? You decide.
We had a great time, and I’d heartily recommend it for anyone whether they believe in ghosts or not. If anything, you’ll learn a little more about the Duke City and have some fun stories to tell. And you might even capture a ghost or two on camera.
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