(Mark
Rose-Christie)
Mark Rose-Christie, creator/owner of the
Mystery Ghost Bus, which will be running Halloween tours from October 30 to November
2, in Durban as well as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.
Ghost tours worldwide have become a
popular way for friends to band together to celebrate this ghoulish time of
year. South Africa is no different, where the Mystery Ghost Bus, now in its
rather eerie-sounding ‘thirteenth year’, promises a Halloween night out - that
you’ll never forget.
Whether you enjoy pure entertainment or
seek sheer mystery, aspire to the science of para-psychology or are amazed at
how dowsing rods really work – or just want to soak up eerie historical
buildings in the haze, or dare to enter scantly-lit cemeteries late at night,
the Mystery Ghost Bus does it all – and more.
Mark Rose-Christie is thinking of retiring
and so the up-coming Halloween tours, starting next Wednesday, may be the
last-ever. However, the Halloween tours promise previous patrons some new
stories and venues, with the addition of EVP’s (electronic voice phenomena) -
the most curdling of which is played just before you arrive at the cemetery.
New patrons will be glad to know that the
tours still present the old-time favourite - the popular ‘dowsing rods’
audience participation. Other new additions include an audio-recorded personal
testimony, which plays out on the coach’s speakers, to thrilling effect, amidst
other dramatically recorded stories, and live stories told by the tour guide -
both on and off the bus.
Before venturing into the darkness of the
night, you meet at the starting pub (listed on the tour’s website), where you
can enjoy a meal, and drinks to calm your nerves (meals and drinks not included
in the ticket price). Two further pubs stops en-route ensure that you keep in
the ‘spirit’ of things. With a mix of old schools, stone churches, eerie
outdoor venues, ghostly hospitals, creepy castles, a dark haunted room lit only
by candle-light, and other historic buildings - the tour winds up inside an
historic cemetery. Apparently, some patrons have even come back alive.
For Halloween, many dress up in costume,
some going to great lengths by appearing as popular horror-movie characters
like Betelgeuse, or donning “V for Vendetta” masks (as seen in the movie), or
inventing totally new outfits - which makes the evening all the more colourful,
and adds to the chill in the air.
The special spine-tingling Halloween tours,
with some added Halloween stories (like Bloody Mary), depart at 19h00 sharp,
from the starting pub (which has safe & secure parking), and return there
after the tour. The October 30 tour winds up in a cemetery to celebrate
Halloween at midnight. Naturally the October 31 tour celebrates Halloween all
night. Further tours follow on the Halloween Weekend to celebrate All Souls
Nights on November 1 and 2.
Tickets remain at last year’s price of R299
per person, and run from 19h00 until just past midnight. A still or video
camera is a must if you want to capture orbs, mists, vortexes or the occasional
ghost. Over the past 13 years, some of the previous patrons’ photographs have
made it to the tour’s website.
Also bring a torch, pub/grub money and flat
walking shoes for the off-the-bus venues. Since these may be the last-ever
Halloween tours presented by the Mystery Ghost Bus, patrons are encouraged to
ask work colleagues, family & close friends on Facebook, to join them, on
what promises to be a spine-tingling night out.
For further details, visit www.mysteryghostbus.co.za -
otherwise booking is at Computicket, Checkers, Shoprite or www.computicket.com
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