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Ghosts on the prowl

Around the region, spirits of past turn out to haunt tourists of today.

It's funny how, wherever there are tourists, there are ghosts.

In Chicago, two ghost tours put titillated tourists on the track of Al Capone and John Dillinger, thrill-killers Leopold and Loeb and serial murderer H.H. Holmes, the Devil in the White City.

There's enough lingering ectoplasm in St. Paul, Wausau and Winnipeg to keep guides busy there, too, especially around Halloween.

Even cute little Galena, Ill., has so many ghosts that guides stay busy year-round, telling tourists about beckoning figures and haunted theaters and mysterious taps on shoulders.

Historian Steve Repp leads All About a Ghost tours in Galena, and the most entertaining part of his tour comes at the end, when he asks if anyone has had experience with ghosts. Sometimes only a couple of people raise hands, and sometimes nearly everyone does.

"The other day, 15 people told stories of things that had happened, if not to them, to their mothers or sisters or brothers; it was unbelievable,'' he said. "It makes you wonder.''

Here are some of the tours around the region:

Galena: Historian Steven Repp holds All About a Ghost walking tours from the DeSoto House Hotel on Main Street at 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays before Monday holidays year-round, $10. In inclement weather, indoor programs replace the 80-minute tours. Just show up, or call 815-777-9252 for more information. For more, see Ghosts of Galena.

The Annie Wiggins Guest House also offers a Ghost Tour from the 1846 mansion overlooking the Galena River, across from downtown. The 1¼-hour walking tours go out Fridays and Saturdays from May through October, $10.

There are other frightful things to do in Galena in October. For Halloween, there's  a Balloon Glow along the Galena River and a nighttime parade. For more, see Galena getaway.

Chicago: Unlike Galena, Chicago always has been filled with gangsters and murderers, including H.H. Holmes, who terrorized young women before and during Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition. Reserve early for October tours.

Their ghosts still lurk in Chicago, says author Ursula Bielski, who offers Chicago Hauntings Tours year-round on Fridays and Saturdays and daily in October. Motorcoach tours leave at 7 p.m. and also 10 p.m. from Clark and Ontario in the near North, adjacent to the Rock & Roll McDonalds. Cost is $28, $20 for children 8-12.

Richard Crowe offers Chicago Supernatural Tours on weekends year-round and claims that the motorcoach ghost-tour business he founded in 1973 was the world's first. In October, he offers a four-hour Halloween Special Edition Tour, $54, at 7 p.m. from Goose Island Brewpub in the near North. Matinees, $44,  leave at 1 p.m.

There are two other tours, Weird Chicago Ghost Tour, $30 for a three-hour tour, and Chicago Ghost Investigations Tour, where participants get ghost-hunting equipment, $45 for an hour and a half. Read a review of the four tours at TimeOut Chicago.

St. Paul: Wabasha Street Caves, which made its name with its St. Paul Gangster Tours, offers a 1½-hour Ghosts & Graves motorcoach tour, $18, and Ghosts, Graves & Caves tour, $22. Costumed guides tell stories about haunted sites, historic murders and a local cemetery.

At the State Capitol, Shadows and Spirits tours encounter historical "spirits" that include a night watchman, a Civil War veteran, a suffragist, a dome foreman and an artist who decorated the Supreme Court chamber. Tours are Oct. 15-17 and 22-24 and cost $10, $7 for children 6-17. Reserve at 651-296-2881

Wausau, Wis.: Find out why Larry, Martha, Cyrus, Bob, the Plumers and Eddie refuse to rest in peace on Historic Downtown Wausau Fall Ghost Tours offered by the Wausau Paranormal Research Society on Oct. 10, 24 and 31. The walking tours cost $5 and last 1½ to two hours.

Winnipeg: In Winnipeg, Heartland Travel offers 2½-hour Historical Haunted Winnipeg motorcoach tours on Tuesday nights all summer and adds Mondays in fall; 2½-hour Haunted Winnipeg Investigates tours are given Thursday nights and also Fridays in  fall.

Sites include the Legislative Building, Hotel Fort Garry, Vaughn Street Jail and Elmwood Cemetery. It also offers three-hour Flashlight Vigils, complete with spirit medium, at St. Boniface Museum. Reserve early.

Dubuque: The Big Muddy Ghost Hunters, a group dedicated to the investigation of paranormal phenomena on the Upper Mississippi, sometimes hold two-hour Ghosts of the River Walking Tours  in October along Dubuque's RiverWalk.

Last updated on October 15, 2009