(Durban Light Infantry
Headquarters in Durban which features the ghost of Colonel Molyneux)
Durban’s rich history, folklore and legends are about to be
permanently preserved in an entertaining manner. Ilusionist Mark Rose-Christie,
the owner-creator of the Mystery Ghost Bus Tours of South Africa, lauded for
its pioneering tourism and historical initiative, has announced that the Durban
version of the tours will now run permanently, due to the unprecedented success
of the Durban tours now consistently selling out.
The Mystery Ghost Bus has run in South Africa’s major cities
for 15 years already, ever since its launch at the National Arts Festival in
Grahamstown in 2001.
A popular event will be the Mystery Ghost Bus’s journey on
Halloween which will be guided by Rose-Christie himself.
Halloween usually runs for at least three days before and after
October 31. It’s that phantasmagorical let-your-hair-down time of the year for
horror parties, dressing up in ghoulish attire, ghost tours and outrageous fun!
Based on the London Ghost Bus and London’s ‘Jack The Ripper’
tours, the Mystery Ghost Bus goes a number of steps further by offering entry
into a dark candle-lit haunted room; dowsing rods audience participation to
detect force fields; live stories plus dramatically recorded stories with
haunted music and eerie sound effects; EVP’s (electronic voice phenomena); an
explanation of parapsychology (the science of the paranormal and ‘Quantum
Physics’); explanation of the many different types of ghosts (from Replay
Ghosts to Poltergeists), and finally winding up inside a cemetery - around
midnight, of course.
Some of the highlights on the Durban tour are special entry
into the Old Durban Club/Durban Manor Hotel; the austere old Berea Nursing Home
where poison murderess, Daisy de Melcker, studied as a nurse and learned how to
use poisons to murder her two husbands (and finally her own 21 year old son),
and The Phantom of The Playhouse theatre as told by well-known actor Joseph Clark.
There’s also Durban’s most famous ‘Spookhouse’ on Musgrave
Road, with a phantasm that appears at the window in the tower; the tragic tale
of the science teacher of Durban Boys High who died after an explosion in the
lab; the legendary phantom hitchhiker, ‘Highway Sheila’; the White Lady and
Grey Nun of Addington Hospital; the spectres at Durban Light Infantry, and
more.
The five-hour Halloween tour moves all around town and
beyond, deep into the darkness and still of the night, where some have even
been known to come back alive! The tour is more suited to adults but ages 13
and up are welcome.
The Halloween tour will run on October 29 from 19h00 to just
after midnight.
Seating is limited to 60 persons, at a cost of R349 pp, with
optional meals, plus haunted pub stops en-route to get you into the ‘spirit’
and calm your n-e-rr-ves. (Meals/drinks not included in ticket price). It’s
advisable to join the Mystery Ghost Bus of South Africa Facebook page for
updates, where further details and a video can be found at www.MysteryGhostBus.co.za
Bookings now open at www.QUICKET.co.za
(NB Troubadour
Productions, the largest commercial costume hiring business in KZN, has a large
variety of costumes suitable for Halloween. Visit 292 Jan Smuts Highway,
Mayville, Durban. Phone 031 209 2817/8; email troubad@iafrica.com
or visit www.troubadour.co.za)
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