OCTOBER 2013
SUNRAYS | 61
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ages in the archives that are turned
by unseen hands; a maintenance
worker tapped on the shoulder by
an invisible finger; a ghost who likes to
be greeted each day by name; restaurant
chairs that are rearranged when no one
is in the building; a ghostly projectionist
that can’t quite give up his old haunts:
these are a few of the unseen characters
that apparently still make themselves at
home in the buildings around George-
town’s historic Square.
GEORGETOWN GHOST TOURS
Mickie Ross, Executive Director of the
Williamson Museum, brought these sto-
ries and more to light and “to life” as
part of her “We’re not the boring history
place” campaign. Four years ago, she had
the idea to promote both the Square and
the Museum by setting up ghost tours,
with trained volunteers wearing period
dress. This October, the 30-minute tours
will take place on the last weekend be-
fore Halloween: October 25 and 26 at
7, 7:30, 8 and 8:30 p.m. The cost is $8
for Museum members, and $10 for non-
members (Museummembership is only
$25, by the way, and one of the best deals
in town―but that’s another story).
Mickie herself wrote the first script for
the tour, based on an extensive collec-
tion of stories by the museum’s staff and
volunteers. Once the word was out about
what she was doing, the stories poured
in from all directions. Several of the
buildings, most of which date back to
the mid- and late 1800s and have gone
through a variety of retail/restaurant/
office/public building incarnations, have
been investigated at various times by
paranormal activity researchers. They
claim that there is some evidence of high
levels of “energy” and electromagnetic
fields that can cause hallucinations and
odd feelings. Mickie emphasizes that
the Georgetown Square ghost stories
are fun, and the ghosts are friendly.
They have never hurt anyone in their
hauntings.
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD
GHOSTS
That said, let’s take a brief tour of the
Square and its ghostly inhabitants.
There’s Leanne, who used to be a fixture
at Cobblestones, at 712 S. Austin Ave.
She was kind enough to give investiga-
tors her name, after they were called in
about visions and things flying off the
walls. The shop owner at the time found
that things were much quieter in the
shop when she took the time to greet
Leanne each morning and wish her well.
There is Luther, a well-dressed man
in his 50s or 60s, who has puffy white
hair and used to stand at the top of the
stairs at 704 S. Austin Ave., a currently
vacant address between Camille’s and
Quenan’s. He may have owned an ad-
jacent property in the 1800s and been
unhappy with its acquisition for the then
dry-goods store. When the property was
renovated to eliminate the second floor,
he would leave a screw on the floor for the
property owner to find the next morning.
For a little more mystery, you have only
to go as far as the Lockett Building, cur-
rently housing Burger University. When
Wildfire restaurant was located there,
chairs on the second floor banquet room
would be repositioned during the night
in front of the windows overlooking the
square. The owner knew that he was
the first one in and the last one out at
night, and he keenly remembered how
he had left the chairs the night before.
His alarm company verified that no one
else had been in the building…yet the
chairs moved.
In the current Wildfire restaurant, a
couple in Victorian clothes have been
seen sitting at a table in the back room.
The woman is occasionally crying. When
they get up, they leave through a back
door―but there is no back door.
Naturally, the historic courthouse has
its own stories, most of them predat-
ing the 2007 renovation. There was a
woman in a long dark dress who would
appear from time to time, only to van-
ish when addressed. Employees in the
County Clerk’s office saw record books
whose pages would turn by themselves.
A maintenance man, called out in the
middle of a stormy night because of wa-
ter leaking from the courthouse dome,
climbed a ladder to the dome landing,
and felt someone tap his shoulder a
couple of times. When he looked back,
all he saw was empty space. Fortunately,
the maintenance worker’s mother had
prepared him for a time like this. With
great foresight, she had always told him
that if he encountered spirits, he should
just introduce himself and let them know
he was there to do a job. After he did
that, he was left in peace.
City Hall is another public building that
has had its share of uninvited guests.
An employee working there alone on a
Saturday morning looked up to see a
chair moving around in circles all on
its own. Justifiably concerned, she ran
out of the building, only to hear a man’s
voice call to her on the way out: “Where
are you going?”
A tall gaunt cowboy in a hat and long
duster has been seen and heard stomp-
ing around in the second floor bedroom
of the old firehouse. And, in the Palace
Theater, once a movie house, a shadow
of the former projectionist can still be
seen now and then in the balcony, loathe
to leave the job that he loved so much.
This is just a sample of what some of our
unseen neighbors are up to. For plenty
more stories, take one of the William-
son Museum’s Ghost Tours as the sun
goes down on an October evening. Who
knows, by the end of the walk, you might
be able to add a story of your own...
