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If you happen to be in downtown Davidson on a spooky October night and see a ghost tour group pass by you, what would you do?
On Tuesday, Oct 24 at around 9pm, I made that exact decision. It was cold outside, but many of the shivers that would run down my spine that night would not be because of the temperature. My dad and I took a tour.
Ours was a planned spooky encounter. My dad and I walked up to the Davidson Town Green and joined a group of several others huddled around a couple dressed in black and holding up eerie lanterns.
The tour was led by Mike and Megan Knorpp, a couple whose son, Andrew, started the tour in October of 2020. Since Andrew is now out of the country doing mission work, his parents took over as guides. The tour lasted 90 minutes and covered 1.8 miles of a walking route in Davidson.
The tour guides were very personable and were able to weave humor into the many creepy stories that were told. I could tell that the guides and their tour was very legit when they openly shared their experiences about the interviews and research they conducted for the tour.
“Davidson has this rich history, and we’ve gotten to immerse ourselves in it. It feels like I’m weaving our story into the story of Davidson which feels like a privilege,” said tour guide, Megan Knorpp.
Her husband and co-tour guide added, “I like seeing people react to the stories. It’s enjoyable to tell the story and enjoyable to have the interaction with the audience.”
Variety was also one of the many things that made this tour very interesting. There was a perfect blend of scary stories and history lessons about the town and college that gave context to those stories. Something that I appreciated was that many stories on the tour gave the listeners’ imagination room to choose one of the spooky ways that the stories could end.
One tale about a love affair and a murder had three different endings – the media’s version, public rumor and the story that the victim told just minutes before his death. What actually happened is not known and maybe never will be, so it left room for me to decide how I think the story ended.
This was also the case with a story about two teenage rivals in the town who got into a fight and ended up murdering each other. After the murders, when reports of ghost sightings in the area of the crime came rolling in from the public, questions about the crimes arose. I could not decide if the ghostly figure was the innocent victim or his killer.
Being influenced by the guides saying that other people who have taken the tour in the past have seen ghosts or heard laughter or voices during certain parts of the tour made me nervous and played tricks on my imagination as well.
Walking from one end of town to the other, and beingin the actual locations of cemeteries, train tracks and haunted houses in addition to being aware that the tour route followed the exact footsteps of people in the stories made everything more creepy.
The history stops were very good. In addition to giving context to the haunted stories, they also revealed the history of how the town and college came to be.
The tour also connected Davidson to some famous people such as George Washington and it showed how the town, college and its residents played a very big part in a much larger history.
Another thing that enhanced the storytelling during these more factual parts were the hints of “maybe you’ll see something.”
I really enjoyed the tour and the time with my dad. And whenever I’m in downtown Davidson or near the Davidson Town Green, I’m definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for odd, out of the ordinary, or spooky sightings and signs from here on out after taking this ghost tour.
