THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410210335
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, Staff writer
LENGTH: Long : 135 lines
FRANCIS CROTTY MOVED to Indianapolis nearly three years ago, but that hasn't stopped him from making the 780-mile journey back to Portsmouth every October to play a cigar-smoking spirit in the Olde Towne Ghost Walk.
For four consecutive years, Toni Whitt traveled 88 miles to and from Elizabeth City to recite - until she was hoarse - the story of a bride with a broken neck.
Last year, Jenni Crowe, an Olde Towne Civic League member in charge of the Ghost Walk actors, accidentally put one actress in a spot that another actress had claimed for years. The slighted actress was livid.
``They're real possessive of their roles,'' Crowe said.
IT'S NOT JUST the actors who keep coming back to the Olde Towne Ghost Walk year after year.
``I would say that many, many of the people who come are repeaters, by far,'' said Susan Taylor Hansen, chairwoman of the walk, a one-mile trek through Olde Towne that includes 10 stops for ghost stories.
When the event started in 1981, tickets sold for $1.50, the walk started at 8:30 p.m. and drew about 700 people.
The following year, tickets cost $2, the time was pushed up to 8 p.m., and the crowds swelled to about 1,200.
This year, nearly 2,500 walkers will pay $4 a head - and wait in line for hours - in anticipation of the 6:30 p.m. start of the walk on Friday.
``Even though we have lines, it's not like the people are saying `Oh, this is just too much bother.' Everybody seems to love it,'' Hansen said.
``I think it's one of the nicest possible places to be on a fall night, and people just love these stories. . . love the whole idea of being out with everybody else,'' she said.
BECAUSE THE GHOST WALK is advertised to group-tour operators and has received publicity in Southern Living magazine, people come by the busloads from as far away as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, not to mention Richmond, Williamsburg and Hampton.
``I think if we called it off, everybody would still come!'' Hansen laughed. ``I really do! It's just the prototype . . . the typical Halloween experience. It's everything that's good about Halloween.''
As far as fund-raisers go, the Ghost Walk is the biggest money-maker sponsored by the Olde Towne Civic League. About half of the proceeds are used to put on the event, while the other half is put back into the community.
Proceeds are used to make donations to local churches and the Oasis soup kitchen; money is allocated to replace landscaping, repair benches and paint lamp posts; some is socked away for a rainy day.
THE GHOST WALK was the brainchild of a former Olde Towne resident, Amy Hayes Castleberry, who got the idea after going on a similar walking tour in London.
The walks in England are fashioned around the tales of Charles Dickens and Jack the Ripper.
``I think when we started we thought, `Well, this will be fun to do for a little while,' '' Hansen said.
``I think it's just the right event in the right place. It's not too fancy. It's just a bunch of neighbors. That's what I love about it. All of my neighbors just chip in and do this and we have such a great time together.''
NEIGHBORS SUCH AS Loretta Larcombe.
For 12 years, she and her husband were in charge of ordering, buying, unloading and serving the 225 gallons of apple cider that is served piping hot from a big, black cauldron in the park at Middle and Glasgow streets.
``It comes in one-gallon jugs and it's four gallons to a case, so visualize how many cases that is,'' Larcombe said. ``My husband and I picked it up, unloaded it, got the wood, and he'd go set the fire about 5 o'clock in the evening.''
While her husband was tending the fire, Larcombe would cut up bushels of apples and lemons for the cider.
``The children love getting apples in their cider cup,'' she said.
NEIGHBORS SUCH AS Alan Gollihue.
Gollihue is the behind-the-scenes guy who recruits and trains guides, coordinates police presence and works with the city in controlling traffic flow.
He also deals with dirty issues like trash. On a night when you've invited 2,500 guests to your neighborhood, there's no such thing as too many trash containers, he quipped.
``People will throw things away if you give them a good garbage can,'' Gollihue said. ``But what happens is they fill up so quickly. So this year we're just asking for a lot more. I think we'll try to run with about 20 of them just around Trinity Church.''
Another of Gollihue's duties - probably one of the most important - includes ``praying for dry weather.''
``We don't have a rain date because it's hard to do rain dates when you have a lot of volunteers.''
NEIGHBORS SUCH AS Jenni Crowe.
When she took over the task last year of finding actors for the Olde Towne Ghost Walk, Crowe inherited a file.
``All I had was a file full of names. I had no idea. So I just started calling people. And I made a couple mistakes last year,'' she conceded.
A year later, however, Crowe's a pro.
``I called the Portsmouth Little Theatre, and I got a new actress from there, and I got a new actor from the Norfolk Little Theatre, then I got referrals from some of the oldsters who've been coming back year after year,'' she said.
Crowe holds no auditions and no rehearsals. ``I just take them for their word,'' she said.
Because groups are shepherded through the walk at five-minute intervals, the actors tell their stories an average of 48 times in a four-hour period.
The actor who ``did the gardener story in Maupin Garden had no voice by 9 o'clock last year . . . none whatsoever!'' said Crowe. ``I felt so sorry for him. I called him up this year to see if he wanted to do it, and he said, `No way!' ''
WITHOUT ITS VOLUNTEERS, the Olde Towne Ghost Walk wouldn't be the well-oiled machine it has become after 14 years, said Hansen, the chairwoman.
``Everybody just kind of steps forward. We don't have any trouble getting help,'' she said.
``And I don't know anybody who afterwards doesn't just say it was a great time. Everybody's hoarse, everybody's tired, everybody's had a wonderful time.''
Added Gollihue: ``It's just lots of little teeny-weeny pieces that make it all jell. Then on Saturday morning, we just all collapse!'' ILLUSTRATION: File photos
A trio of women - witches perhaps? - light up a little corner of
Olde Towne during a past Ghost Walk.
Actors tell their horror stories an average of 48 times in four
hours.
The Grim Reaper sneaks along the wall at Trinity Episcopal Church.
by CNB