Ghost Stories

As a ghost tour guide in New Orleans, you tend to get repeat questions: Are we going inside any haunted locations ? Unfortunately, no, not unless you have a cool million or so to put down on a historic residence in the French Quarter. Do you believe in ghosts? The answer to that is yes. I’m fully aware that many guides out there are all-in-out skeptics, but I’m not one of them. Which leads us to . . . Will we experience any paranormal activity on our tour tonight? This one’s the kicker, mainly because all guides only wish that we could make ghostly phenomena perform on demand. How much easier would that be for tour companies or paranormal investigators? So much easier. So that question of whether or not guests will experience ghostly phenomena while on a tour? Highly unlikely—until, that is, it actually happens. ** The first time occurred last August. I remember only because it was deathly hot outside and I was, unfortunately, sweating pr

An Elm tree once stood along the Cimarron River in Ripley, Oklahoma believed to be cursed. In the 1800s, this tree served as the ideal spot for hangings. Legend goes in 1887 an innocent man was strung up on that Elm. The next day, all the bark mysteriously fell off of it. When the light of the moon shined on this bare tree, it glowed an eerie white color. Some say you could even see a body hanging from it. Another story states, three horse thieves were mysteriously hung from the tree, but was not the first death this tree has seen. Supposedly, an "Indian princess" on the site of the tree. Her crime? Falling in love with a white man. She was 17 and wanted to run away to marry him but her father intervened. He attempted to shoot her suitor but instead killed his daughter. Ever since then, the tree has been cursed, demanding a life every 17 years. Other deaths associated with the tree includes a gambler who was caught cheating, two bodies were found there in the early 1900s an