For the past two weeks my friend Skye Regan, a writer/photographer/actor/producer from Toronto graced Halifax with her presence and her ukulele (yes, she is a musician too!). I was given the great gift whilst attempting to entertain her of becoming a tourist in my own city. While we saw a plethora of sights which I have enjoyed before, Skye and I both embarked on the Ghost Walk of Historic Halifax for the first time.
The Ghost Walk is not, in essence, a performance, although tour guide Andy Smith is a local actor of stage and screen, and he prefaces this tour saying that he is not a psychic, an exorcist or even a ghost connoisseur, he is a storyteller. And indeed, the tour benefits greatly from Smith’s affable humour, and the drama he is able to infuse into an old and creepy city fraught with natural haunts and hundreds of years of history. The tour is between an hour and a half to two hours and nicely concentrated into an entirely manageable walking distance. It is enticingly interesting, with stories of the Halifax Explosion, the sinking of the Titanic, the prostitutes on Hollis Street, and tidbits about which restaurants downtown attract ghostly customers.
If you happen to be visiting Halifax, or know someone who is, I would strongly recommend the Ghost Walks, and even if you have lived in the city all your life, it is more than worth your while to take a moment to really focus on your surroundings so often overlooked. Did you know a building on Barrington Street used to be a Zellers Store? It still has its “Z” imprinted for all to see, although I bet you have never noticed it. Regardless of how many times you have rolled down Citadel Hill and climbed the Wave, Smith proves that Halifax is sodden with secrets and to unlock one is to reveal ten more. The past creeps behind every corner, I suggest you reach out and uncover it.
Ghost Walks begin at the Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill at 7:30pm Wednesday to Sunday from May to October. They cost $10.00 per person, $5.00 for children under thirteen years old. For more information you can call 902 494-0525 or visit this website.
The Ghost Walk is not, in essence, a performance, although tour guide Andy Smith is a local actor of stage and screen, and he prefaces this tour saying that he is not a psychic, an exorcist or even a ghost connoisseur, he is a storyteller. And indeed, the tour benefits greatly from Smith’s affable humour, and the drama he is able to infuse into an old and creepy city fraught with natural haunts and hundreds of years of history. The tour is between an hour and a half to two hours and nicely concentrated into an entirely manageable walking distance. It is enticingly interesting, with stories of the Halifax Explosion, the sinking of the Titanic, the prostitutes on Hollis Street, and tidbits about which restaurants downtown attract ghostly customers.
If you happen to be visiting Halifax, or know someone who is, I would strongly recommend the Ghost Walks, and even if you have lived in the city all your life, it is more than worth your while to take a moment to really focus on your surroundings so often overlooked. Did you know a building on Barrington Street used to be a Zellers Store? It still has its “Z” imprinted for all to see, although I bet you have never noticed it. Regardless of how many times you have rolled down Citadel Hill and climbed the Wave, Smith proves that Halifax is sodden with secrets and to unlock one is to reveal ten more. The past creeps behind every corner, I suggest you reach out and uncover it.
Ghost Walks begin at the Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill at 7:30pm Wednesday to Sunday from May to October. They cost $10.00 per person, $5.00 for children under thirteen years old. For more information you can call 902 494-0525 or visit this website.
