Post by Graveyardbride on Sept 29, 2013 22:22:08 GMT -5
Nightly walks with ghosts in downtown Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Downtown Birmingham is home to favorite haunts, but many work in, live in or pass by buildings they may not realize have a haunted past. The Birmingham Ghost Walk shares the Magic City’s haunted history with those who want to know more about it. s the ghost of a newspaper publisher in the Viva Health Building, the site of the original Tutwiler Hotel? Does the current Tutwiler have the ghost of a little girl haunting two of the rooms? Does the spirit of Col. Tutwiler himself still entertain himself in the hotel that bears his name?
Edward Wolfgang Poe believes so – or at least he has heard or read enough about them to share the stories with attendees of this walking ghost tour. Poe has been conducting two nightly tours on weekends on and off for about a year now. In October, he plans to do two tours every night leading up and through Halloween. The 90-minute walk is filled with tales of axe murderers, suicides, prostitutes, serial killers, public executions and how some of Birmingham’s best-known names were not content to simply live on through their names on buildings. The start of the daily tours coincide with the opening of Poe’s new store, ArcanA, scheduled to open Oct. 1, at 2006 Second Ave. North. The shop will sell unusual antiques and Victorian-era items, often with a macabre bent. ArcanA will also hold séances and other events.
Does the organ in the First Presbyterian Church play by itself? Does a worker who died in the Lyric Theatre have a ghost that likes to clean up after current workers? Is the Alabama Theatre haunted? The Birmingham Public Library? A parking lot or two? Poe not only provides a haunted history of Birmingham, but his tour is full of the history of Birmingham that includes its founding and delves into areas such as it’s boomtown beginnings; the stories behind saloons, hotels, brothels and churches; the retail battle between Pizitz and Loveman’s; and the effects of prohibition and disease on Birmingham.
It’s all the result of months Poe devoted to studying the history and trying to track down ghost stories. This research revealed at least 223 people died at Brown-Marx Tower – some of whom jumped to their deaths when the stock market dropped. There are important sites, buildings and even alleys that make up the tour. From Birmingham’s great humanitarian madam to the Catholic priest who died because he did what he thought was right, the people from Birmingham’s past come alive on the tour through Poe’s introduction.
Cost is $15 for adults and $7 for children under 12.
For additional information, go to: www.ghosttourdirectory.com/ghost-tours-and-ghost-walks/united-states/alabama-al/birmingham-al/birmingham-ghost-walk-2/
Source: Michael Tomberlin, AllAlabama, September 29, 2013.