BY CAMERON WERTZ
For mostly ghostly ghouls and gales and local tales take a tour this month with the Schuylkill County Historical Society.
The society is putting on trolley and walking tours to celebrate the season of spook.
Prices for the walking tours are $10 per adult and $7 per child. Tour start times run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturdays, depending on the weekend.
The two walking tours are a change from last year, said Diana Prosymchak, executive director of the Schuylkill County Historical Society.
“One is the Guinea Hill and the other is the Gallows tour. They run every Saturday through the month of October,” she said.
Prosymchak said they broke up the tours they had last year, and added new things, so it wasn’t as long of a walk.
“We could add different things, because we found more interesting stories,” she said.
The ghost tours will cover various stories and ghost spottings in Pottsville, Prosymchak said.
“We’re going to tell you stories about the caves of the Yuengling brewery. We’re going to tell you stories about the Reading Coal & Iron building and how it was used for a morgue and the things that they see in that building. We’re going to tell you about the lovely lady that you can still see sitting on the porch in the evenings sometimes on one of the streets. So, there’s many stories that you’re going to hear and see,” she said.
The tours are “something to bring life to Pottsville,” she said. “Maybe we’ll keep people on the edge of their seats and not wanting to close their eyes.”
The trolley tours have proven popular and are already sold out, although more may come.
“Unfortunately, both of those are booked. … I’m not sure if we can sneak another one in. We started with one this year, and it booked so fast that we put another one on, and within days that one was booked. So, now we’re looking to see if we can get another one up and running. I don’t know if we can before the season is out, but we’re going to see if we can get a tour guide to run it,” Prosymchak said.
For more information on the tours, call the society at 570-622-7540 or visit schuylkillhistory.org.
Contact the writer: cwertz@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6004
