Want to conduct your own paranormal investigation?
By: Nancy Dunham
Special to The Examiner
October 23, 2009
Perhaps you can't schedule actual paranormal encounters, but you can make plans for some spooky adventures throughout the area.
In Gambrills, Md., this weekend, you can experience "The Haunt at Sunrise," organized by Mike and Elizabeth Godwin. Led by a tour guide, the live performance includes a two-mile hayride and visits to a cursed 3-D barn and a haunted manor.
"My husband has been [creating] haunted houses for many, many years, and this has some good scares," Elizabeth Godwin said. "In the barn it's all black lights, and we give out 3-D glasses."
Find out the details of this and other spooky activities around town this weekend:
The Haunt at Sunrise. A tour-guide-led live performance features a haunted house and hayride plus a book signing by horror and fantasy writer Jessica Lynne Gardner. Details: $22 cash only, various discounts may apply; 7:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday, 100 Dairy Lane, Gambrills, Md.; hauntedsunrise.com
Paranormal seminar and investigation. Here's the chance to learn about paranormal investigations and go inside the Brentsville Jail, which is rarely open to the public, to investigate activity there. The jail was featured on the Syfy Network show "Ghost Hunters." Members of the East Coast Research and Investigation of the Paranormal lead the seminar and investigation. Proceeds go to restoration of the jail. Details: $40 (7 to 8:30 p.m. seminar), $60 (9 p.m. to midnight investigation inside the Brentwood Jail); both events are Oct. 30 and Oct. 31; call 703-365-7895 or e-mail rorrison@pwcgov.org to register
Death Comes to Carlyle House. Re-enact the funeral procession of one of the area's beloved social and political leaders John Carlyle, who died in 1780. Take a tour of the home, pay respects to the family and then join in the funeral procession accompanied by 1st Virginia Regiment soldiers to the Old Presbyterian Meeting House Cemetery for the graveside ceremony. Details: $15 in advance, $22 day of event; reservations are suggested; tours begin every 15 minutes from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.; Carlyle House, 121 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria; 703-683-3451; footstepstothepast.com
The Most Haunted Houses. Join guides for a walking tour of Lafayette Park, frequently called the most haunted area in D.C. The tour includes a walk-by and discussion of The Octagon, considered the most haunted home in the city. Details: $10 (free for children age 3 and younger); 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Oct. 30 and Oct. 31; 202-484-1565; washingtonwalks.com
Lincoln Assassination Walking Tour. Go back to April 4, 1865, and walk with the characters who were involved when President Lincoln was fatally shot. Details: $9.50 adult, $7.60 child; 7 p.m. Saturday through Nov. 14; tour begins at the Andrew Jackson Statue in Lafayette Square (north front of the White House), 16th and H streets NW; 800-213-2474; trustedtours.com
