Ghost Walk offers supernatural entertainment, historical folly

Damien (Adam Land) and Isolde (Courtney Tait), costumed characters in

the Carson City Ghost

Walk, had a story to tell Saturday.

"Our story lines correlate," Isolde said in an Irish brogue. "I came here in 1850 and became a prostitute at the Boar's Head, and he was one of my clients."

"She shot me!" Damien interjected.

"He was quite drunk," Isolde confirmed, "and he tried to harm me, so I shot him dead, and I was hung for my crimes."

Damien, originally from Ireland, said he hopped a ferry in Wales in 1849 to try to get to California.

"My trickster ways depleted my funds, and I became a con man, and I was quite drunk, so I don't know what I did to Isolde," he said.

The young actor and actress were all part of the fun Saturday and told their story right before one of the tour guides, Liza McElwee, explained that the area behind the old St. Charles Hotel was once the city's red light district.

Ninety people traipsed behind McElwee as she led the 11 a.m. tour toward the first of seven stops along the annual Ghost Walk.

"The first two tours were full, and this one is also filled up," said Mary Bennett, prior to the start of the third 90-minute tour.

Bennett, producer of the 19th annual Ghost Walk, said taking the reins from the Carson City Convention & Visitors Bureau was an easy transition because the creative parts were already in place.

"On the business side, the city supported us with a grant this year, allowing us to bring the community back together. This helped us to advertise. That funding created a base to work off of for many years to come," Bennett said.

"On a personal basis, everyone has stepped up and been very gracious. We've experienced a lot of kindness, and that includes from the people who open their historic houses to us for this day.

"The people of Carson City are very creative and very eclectic, and this event really shows what we have to offer," she added.

Courtney Hack of Carson City said this was her first year to attend the Ghost Walk.

"I just really like ghost stories and the excitement," she said.

Paula Garcia, from Dayton, said she has lived in the area for 20 years, and decided to attend because she wanted to know what it was all about.

"I've watched the groups go by, and it always looked like it was a lot of fun. And," she said, "I want to see a ghost."

For Phil Heskett and his wife Mandy, also from Dayton, it just seemed like something they would enjoy.

"We'd never been on the tour, and we thought we could have some fun," said Phil Heskett. "And we wanted to see inside the historical houses."

Among the attractions along the 2011 Ghost Walk were the Ferris Mansion's Bride Ghost, a haunting experience in the Prang House, a marionette puppeteer in the Brewery Arts Center and a ghost whisperer in the Rinckle Mansion.