Sara F.
Yelp
We took the ghost tour at 8:00 p.m. on a freezing cold Feb. night. Our guide, Tim, was very well-spoken, funny, and theatrical, but the experience ends there. Full disclosure: I think they tend to be kind of hokey, but 2 of the 4 of us are really into them, so we have been on several: Hannibal, MO; Eureka Springs; Atchison, KS. However, I usually enjoy them because most of them include a lot of history of the location, the city, and a tour of the beautiful property. Not this tour: we got about a 6 minute history and for anything else "you have to take the history tour," and that was the response we got to about 5 questions asked about the property during the tour.
We didn't get to really see the property properly, as it was extremely dark (probably to enhance to mystique) and very crowded. None of the ground floor rooms are included in the tour and no actual discussion of the house, decor, building, or renovations, are mentioned. I assumed the place was a bed and breakfast or hotel, but it is actually a private residence and special event venue.
Where you buy tickets online clearly states "Buy your tickets early. Groups are kept small." We don't consider 70 people a small group. There was a group of 40 college students all in one, included in with the regular tour. It would have been much more effective if they had been given a separate tour of their own.
The room we spent the most time is was the ballroom. Seated at assigned tables, we listened to the intro, then were divided into three groups and led to the freezing cold basement. Since I was told we weren't leaving the house, I wasn't dressed adequately for how cold it was, even in my winter coat. The other places we got to see were the gymnasium, the dungeon, and the tunnel. Spoiler: You aren't going to go anywhere in the tunnel. You get in there, stop, turn around in place and get back out. Since we were in a large group, it took a long time for people at the end to figure out to get the hell out. Being at the front, (and claustrophobic as heck) I was not a fan. I also was not expecting to be trudging through a wet, uneven floor. Should've worn boots.
They take you next to the theater where they play EVP (recordings) from previous tours, in which ghostly voices supposedly "say" certain things. I don't hear it myself, but I am a skeptic. The last location is the boys' dormitory. We are supposedly there so we can "see" how the place looked prior to renovation, but of course there aren't any lights on so how you are supposed to see anything, I don't know.
In the places we went, there are lots of stairs, dim lighting, uneven surfaces, etc. If you have balance issues, vision problems, or cannot maneuver stairs easily, this is not for you. Also, it was FREEZING, so bundle up if it's winter. The two (unnamed) ladies helping run the tour were...brusque. They frequently were telling us to "hurry up" and "stay with the group" even though there were no gaps in the group and no more room on the stairs to move up further. It made you feel like you were cattle being run through the gate. I am very short and have no desire to have my face pressed into someone else's back.
In the end, because of our large group, the tour ran 10 minutes longer than it was suppose to, by then we were dying to get out of there (even the ones who are usually really into it.)