Matt Peters
map006@marietta.edu
This Halloween weekend, ghost enthusiasts of all ages gathered at the fountain across from the Lafeyette Hotel, in anticipation of Hidden Marietta’s original “Ghost Trek” tour.
The two-hour tour led attendees down Front Street, pausing at several of Marietta’s most ‘haunted’ destinations. At each stop, attendees learned a snippet of Marietta’s eerie past. They also heard the retold accounts of residents who have encountered the paranormal.
“We do a lot of research with this,” tour guide Jann Adams explained. “It’s not just telling some ‘pop-out-of-the-closet’ ghost story. It’s really based on research.”
Marietta College senior, Kat Watkins, said that while many towns try to suppress the “spiritual” characteristics underpinning their history, Hidden Marietta aims to bring these qualities to the forefront.
“A lot of towns may have this kind of history, but they don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “We use it as an invitation, which is a rare cool thing that not a lot of people want to do anymore.”
Watkins, also a guide for Hidden Marietta, said she hopes the tour will spark an interest in preserving the town’s rich history.
“There’s so much history here that if we lose that history, this town loses its personality,” Watkins said.
Watkins added that the company is in the process of offering other ghost-related services, focusing on the investigative aspect of the paranormal findings. The tours generally run May through October. More information can be found at http://www.hiddenmarietta.com/ghost-trek.
