ROCKINGHAM — This year’s Rockingham Ghost Walk will lead paranormal explorers down a new path through the city’s dark past: Fayetteville Road.
Scott Tomestic, a co-lead investigator with the Pee Dee Paranormal Group, said that, with the help of a Richmond County history expert in Mayor Pro Tem John Hutchinso and through interviews with residents and business owners, they have added enough spooky stories to give two tours.
The “Uptown Ghouls” tour will lead a group around the East Washington Street and East Franklin Street area like last year, but with new additions. Tomestic said the tour will detail a murder involving “love and betrayal” that took place in front of the stores that used to line West Washington Street.
Also, for those returning, Tomestic has expanded on a rumor that the Rockingham Fire Department is haunted based on interviews with staff.
“People are definitely fascinated by crime stories. You see the success of Netflix shows about serial killers — people eat that right up,” Tomestic said. ‘“This time of year people want to be scared, they want to go somewhere to get a good fright.
“We’re not in biz of scaring people per se,” he continued. “Our main goal is to inform people of all the fascinating things have happened in Rockingham, including scary stories, ghosts, legends wherever we possibly can.”
The tours will begin a 7 p.m. each night from Oct. 17 through Oct. 20 at 400 E. Washington St. Instead of one tour every hour, there will now be two tours every hour with the help of Tomestic’s co-lead investigator, Andy McInville. The event sold out quickly after the Facebook announcement reached 40,000 people, according to analytics reviewed by Tomestic.
“The event this year exploded,” he said. “People are coming from all over the place.”
Even though it’s sold out, there will be refreshments and information on the history of Rockingham available in the Bynum Building, according to Tomestic.
Last year, tour stops included such Rockingham landmarks as the Richmond Community Theatre, Arts Richmond and the Leak-Wall House. The stories included the story of the last man hanged in Richmond County and the famous lover’s quarrel in the Cole family that turned into a murder.