Love is in the air, but so are the spirits of the past. Who says Valentine’s Day has to be all about candlelit dinners and sappy love songs?
This Valentine’s Day, forget about roses and chocolates and embrace the darker side of romance. After all, love and loss have always been intertwined, and history is filled with tragic tales of ghostly lovers, haunted hotels, and eerie encounters from beyond the grave.
Here are three crazy, spooky ideas for couples and singles who are looking for a unique activity this Valentine’s Day.
1. Haunted Pub Crawls for a Heart-Stopping Night of Boos and Booze!
There’s no darker romance than a toast to the afterlife, and the best way to experience the perfect mix of ghostly history and good drinks is to go on a haunted pub crawl. Charleston, South Carolina, is a great place to go for a haunted pub crawl this February 14.
One of the stops you’ll visit on a Charleston haunted pub crawl is the Blind Tiger, its name a reference to the illegally operating speakeasies that popped up across the state after Governor Benjamin Tillman, nicknamed “Pitchfork,” monopolized the sale of alcohol by the state.
The Blind Tiger opened in the 1980s in a building that has stood since 1803. With such a long and complicated history, there’s no surprise that this pub is frequented by ghosts and ghouls from decades past.
The most well-known ghost of The Blind Tiger belongs to a woman whom some staff members have named Helen. Usually seen wearing a black dress, she floats around the bar, shrouded in mystery. It’s unclear where exactly she comes from or what her story is, but some people say that she is the ghost of a lady who jumped from the roof. As she lay injured on the street below, she was carried into the building by passersby, where she died.
Others believe she was a lady who frequently went drinking in the tunnel under the building when illegal speakeasies were still operating there. A latch door from the trash room leads to a hidden tunnel, where alcohol sellers sold booze when selling alcohol was illegal.
Other strange things happen at the Blind Tiger. Faucets turn on and off, drinks get tipped over, and people occasionally feel a strange hand on their shoulders.
It’s also worth making a stop at the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon. Built in the 1760s, this historic building served as a holding place for prisoners of war, kept by the British, during the
American War of Independence.
One of its most famous prisoners is Isaac Haynes, whose ghost still haunts the dungeon. He’s one of the most prominent American PoWs to be executed by the British during the war, and the infamous story of his hanging enraged countless Americans to take up arms against the Colonial British. Colonel Haynes was held at The Exchange before he was killed by hanging.
The Half Moon Battery prison, as it was called, also housed infamous pirates, including Stede Bonnet and even Blackbeard himself. Their boots can be heard in the halls, and some swear they’ve seen them themselves.
On a Charleston haunted pub crawl, you’ll also get a chance to visit some of the city’s most iconic pubs, such as The Griffon. Its walls covered in signed dollars, it’s one of the best British pubs in the city; enjoy a beer or a plate of good old-fashioned fish and chips.
2. Ghost Tours for Couples Who Enjoy a Good Old Scare!
If you’re not much of a drinker, you can always go on a non-alcoholic ghost tour, such as the Old City Ghosts Ultimate Dead of Night Ghost Tour. in St. Augustine It will take you to places such as the Huguenot Cemetery, born out of the tragedy of the yellow fever epidemic that gripped St. Augustine in the 19th century. This graveyard is also colloquially called Spirit Central by locals due to the numerous hauntings that take place here.
Those brave enough to venture into the cemetery after midnight claim to have seen the floating mirage of a young girl in her early teens. It is thought that she was a young victim of the yellow fever epidemic, her corpse carelessly tossed into the pile of bodies in what would become a mass grave in that cemetery.
In addition to “The Kid,” as that ghost is known, the cemetery is haunted by another phantom called “The Judge.” Judge John Stickney, who died and was buried here in 1882, was later exhumed to be buried in DC. Unfortunately, while gravediggers were taking a break, thieves stole his gold teeth, and legend has it that he returns to this cemetery nightly in search for them.
Of course, a visit to St. Augustine is not complete without a visit to the Castillo de San Marcos, where the skeletons of two lovers have been found, chained, in a hidden cavity in the fort’s walls. The skeletons, without a doubt, belong to young Captain Manuel Abela and Dolores, wife of Colonel Garcia Marti. Dolores was having an affair with the much younger Abela, and when the colonel found out, the two mysteriously disappeared.
Colonel Marti, at the time, said that Dolores had fallen ill and gone back to Spain for treatment, and that Abela had been reassigned to a mission in Cuba.
As the legend goes, the colonel found out about the affair after smelling Dolores’s perfume on the young captain. Some people say that they can smell the strong scent of a woman’s flowery perfume emanating from the walls to this day.
3. Spooky Stays for the Brave at Heart!
If you really want to treat your significant other to something unique this Valentine’s Day, why not go for an overnight stay at one of America’s most historic haunted homes?
For an authentically chilling experience, book a room at the Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca Iowa, where the brutal Villisca axe murders, which shocked the nation in 1912, took place. The victims were eight, including six children, who were found viciously bludgeoned to death.
The murder has yet to be solved, as the first trial led to a hung jury and the second to an acquittal. The house was restored in the 1990s and is now available for bookings – in its original state, without electricity or modern plumbing, in an attempt to preserve its original condition at the time of the murders. However, the house’s management provides a restroom next-door, a power bank for your convenience, and some air conditioning and heating to make your stay a bit more comfortable (although it’s still designed to be an experience).
The new management also allows guests to book rooms as opposed to requiring them to book the entire house, offering discounted rates for low-season bookings, opening up access to the house to a broader share of people.
Guests report feeling footsteps and strange sounds in the house when staying overnight. Julie Jordan, writing in People’s Magazine, reported that during her overnight stay, motion detectors started going off. When she turned on the lights, nobody was there. In addition, her travel partner reported feeling her hair pulled, in what was one of the eeriest moments of the night.
These ideas are also great if you’re single but don’t want to send Valentine’s Day alone at home. On a ghost tour or haunted pub crawl, you’ll be able to meet other people and make new friends.
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