Aiken ghosts come to light in three tours

Aiken Ghost Tours is back and offering a guide to the eeriest spots in the city for Halloween weekend.

The 70-minute downtown walking tours will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the south end of Pendleton Street between Saint Thaddeus Episcopal Church and NAPA Auto Parts as the point of departure. Participants should arrive and gather a few minutes before 7 p.m., according to tour director Kent Cubbage.

"We've been doing this about five years. I started it out of a love of Aiken's history and seeing how popular ghost tours are in other towns," Cubbage said. "I can take up to 40 on the tour - there's a limit by ordinance - and I've had up to 40 people and even with that many there's still a ghost-stories-around-the-campfire kind of camaraderie."

The tour goes into the graveyard at Saint Thaddeus Episcopal Church for telling of legends from the Battle of Aiken; some Confederate soldiers are buried in the church's cemetery. The tour stops near the site of the old Highland Park Hotel, where a historical marker was recently placed, and Cubbage tells tales of the legendary 1953 gas explosion on Laurens Street.

Cubbage said he did nine months of research in the Aiken libraries and conducted dozens of interviews to create the tours.

"I think even though a lot of people enjoy the history, finding out things they didn't know about the town they may have lived in for 50 years. Whether or not you believe in the paranormal, everybody enjoys a good ghost story," Cubbage said.

The Ghost Tours are $10 a person, payable by cash or check. The tours will be canceled in the event of rain. In case of inclement weather, call 270-0773 to check the tour status.

Reservations are recommended. Call 270-0773 or e-mail cubbage@bellsouth.net to secure a spot.

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.