Backstage Pass: Ghosts & Gravestones gives the team a shiver

By VICTORIA ELIZABETH: Departing nightly (Christmas and select major holidays may be an exception) from the Old Town Trolley Welcome Center, located in the heart of historic downtown St Augustine, Fla., the approximately 80 minute journey kicks off with a tour through the Cromwell Parlor of Paranormal Curiosities, complete with a plethora of vintage books, antiquated paraphernalia, spooky death masks, and much more. Hazel, the “Ghost Host” during the Backstage Pass team’s visit for the evening, burst onto the scene seemingly from nowhere, brimming with energy and enthusiasm as she gave our nearly sold out group a run down of the tour which lay ahead. 

The Ghosts & Gravestones Team was exceedingly thorough and considerate when loading my 92-year-old Mimi (whose excursion on the latest available tour just went to prove that you’re never too old to have some “spook-tacular” fun) onto the brand new lifts, which have been installed to make the buses more handicap accessible. The fully renovated buses also include cushioned seating for maximum guest comfort.

Our driver, Dangerous Deb, clad in traditional black and white striped prison uniform intrepidly led the evening’s excursion, while Hazel pointed out an array of legendary local landmarks, including the Huguenot Cemetery (in which many people are buried stacked on top of one another having fallen prey to the fateful and infamous Yellow Fever), the Castillo De San Marcos, and The Casablanca, which is reportedly haunted by a lantern-yielding woman who searches the night for her long lost love. 

Potter’s Wax Museum Marked our first stop, and prior to our entry into the museum, we were ushered onto a platform overlooking the Tolomato Cemetery, which serves as a sacred Native burial ground and a final resting place for many of St. Augustine’s citizens, including James, a 5-year-old boy who many visitors report seeing frolic through the cemetery chasing a red ball. 

Upon entry into the “pharmacy” portion of Potter’s, the nation’s oldest wax museum, we learned about the unconventional drugs utilized and prescribed by medical professionals in the days of old (such as opium, etc). We walked past endless wax figures depicting historical leaders , celebrities, famous horror film characters and more, then into the portion of the museum dedicated to the most fearsome “villains” of St. Augustine, including pirates, pillagers and more. One of the aforementioned pirates, Andrew Ranson, was sentenced to be executed but who miraculously and inexplicably survived, leaving the government no choice but to set him free (as was standard policy at the time as failed attempts were viewed to be “divine intervention”).

The ominous storied “Old Jail” marked our evening’s final stop, where the Ghosts N Gravestones guests meandered inside the confines of one of the most notorious prisons in history, responsible for thousands upon thousands of (many wrongful) incarcerations and deaths.

As Hazel began a speech about the institution , a rogue prisoner named Charlie Powell stormed onto the scene, startling many of the unsuspecting guests as he gave insight on some of The Old Jail’s most notorious prisoners, including Sim Jackson, who was publicly hanged after murdering his wife with a straight razor. 

Powell took guests upstairs to peruse the various cell blocks, overlooked by a towering statue of the fearsome, corrupt Sheriff Joe Perry, whose reign of terror over The Old Jail spanned several decades. The inmate shared some grisly and gruesome tales about what actions led to the incarcerations of some of the jail’s most notorious inmates, even taking us out to view the gallows on which he was hanged for shooting a man who spoke poorly of his wife. 

Once Hazel returned, he onboarded the bus and headed back to the Old Town Trolley Center, reeling from the many memories made on one of the best bus tours you’ll find in our nation’s oldest city. 

Special thanks to Dave Chatterton and the entire Ghosts & Gravestones Team for facilitating our visit for this spotlight feature.

 WEBSITE: https://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine?phta=satour&–&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=14741780609&gbraid=0AAAAAD4sL3bY3KdAvJNjxFaA-WDwEYgnn

PHONE NUMBER: (904) 826-3663

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