Backstage Pass: Model Victoria hangs with the Ghosts & Gravestones of St. Augustine

by VICTORIA ELIZABETH

Ghosts & Gravestones, a renowned “haunted” trolley tour, affords guests the exclusive opportunity to take in the most iconic sights of the nation’s oldest city while listening to fascinating tales of the dark, bloody, and undeniably spooky history of St. Augustine, Fla.

I –and the rest of the Backstage Pass Team–  was elated to return for an exclusive spotlight feature on what to expect and look forward to when you book your very own “Fright-Seeing” tour with Ghosts & Gravestones.

Upon our arrival at the Welcome Center, we were warmly greeted by the friendly and personable staff, before meandering into Cromwell’s Parlor of Paranormal Curiosities, which is filled with a plethora of eccentric and unusual items including death masks to cobweb-covered antique books, and vintage photos of women from the witch trial era.

Once the 8:20 pm tour group fully congregated in the parlor, our lively and boisterous “Ghost Host” Searcy arrived to inform the guests of all the twists, turns, frights and delights that awaited in the impending tour.

We were ushered out of the parlor and toward the iconic Ghost Bus, where we were introduced to our driver, Slasher Steve , clad in a classic black and white striped prisoners uniform.

Searcy seamlessly transitioned between historically accurate stories and spooky lore as well as factoids regarding some of St. Augustine’s most legendary , widely recognizable, and of course, haunted locales, including the Tolomato and Huguenot Cemeteries, the Castillo de San Marcos and the Casablanca Inn.

The Ghosts & Gravestones Tour offers a one of a kind experience for enthusiasts of all things paranormal, featuring not only a trolley ride exploring all the top vistas of the beautiful, historic St. Augustine, but also provides the inside scoop regarding all the haunted sightings that have been reported throughout the decades.

Our ghost host dove into the morbid backstory of how yellow fever claimed the lives of countless St. Augustine residents, many who allegedly roam the city as spirits to this very day.

Additional notable and downright diabolical ghost stories include those of Bishop Augustin Verot (also, known as the “Exploding Bishop”, whose metal coffin with a glass top on a hot day caused quite an explosive incident at the funeral) as well as the Innkeeper at the Casablanca Inn, who is still seen pacing atop the iconic establishment with a lantern, pining for her long lost rum- running lover.

The trolley continued to roll down the majestic, tree-lined roads of America’s most ancient city, toward our first official stop: Potter’s Wax Museum, the first and oldest wax museum in the United States. Before our group made our way into the museum, we were escorted to a platform overlooking the Tolomato Cemetery, the location of countless reported sightings, including those of young James, a 5-year-old boy who often tries to befriend the younger tour visitors, and a woman in a tattered white dress with long flowing hair, a figure believed to be the daughter of the gatekeeper, Elizabeth (who died before her wedding and is now spotted perpetually practicing her wedding march for all of eternity).

Once we entered Potters Wax Museum, we were ushered into the “Chamber of Horrors”, featuring figures that bear the likenesses of St. Augustine’s most fearsome villains: murderers, thieves and pirates. One of the aforementioned pirates was Andrew Ransom, sentenced to die by the garrote; however, in a bizarre “twist” of fate, the rope broke, releasing Ransom to the ground. The courts ruled this was an act of God, and he decided to turn his life around, becoming immersed within the St. Augustine community and even marrying the young woman who gifted rosary beads before his attempted execution.

Upon the conclusion of our experience at Potters, we hopped back on the bus and headed out toward our tour’s final destination, one of the most haunted, historically grim, and fascinating buildings in St Augustine: The Old Jail.

An audio recording from a major paranormal investigation show was played for the tour group, a recording during which a spirit was captured saying “There were only 8,” referring to the eight documented executions at the Old Jail. We journeyed up the winding staircase to “Gen Pop” (the general population area of the jail), where a rogue inmate named “Charlie,” burst onto the scene. Charlie, lively and wily, talked about the jail’s morbid history, outrageously high mortality rates of inmates, and the unlivable conditions they were forced to suffer by the cruel, bullish, Sheriff Potter.

Charlie was an actual inmate, who was forced to build his own gallows and was lynched in front of a paying crowd outside the Old Jail — a fate he suffered for shooting a man who spoke ill about his wife.

Once we finished our Old Jail tour, filled with hair raising, surprising and darkly fascinating historical information, we made our way back to “Base Camp,” where we posed for photo ops and bid farewell to our wonderful Ghost Host and Driver for the evening, filled with many spook-tacular memories from the evening’s tour.

Special thanks to the awesome Dave Chatterton and Heather Quinn for facilitating our visit for this spotlight feature.

WEBSITE: St. Augustine Ghost Tours | St. Augustine Haunted Tours

PHONE NUMBER: (904) 826-3663

INSTAGRAM @ghostsandgravestones