Ghost tour comes to downtown Winter Garden

By Amy Quesinberry
| 1:23 p.m. October 15, 2015

Thompson challenges Demings, Webster for U.S. House seat

West Orange Times & Observer
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WINTER GARDEN Have you ever thought there was someone sitting next to you in the Garden Theatre, but you looked and realized the seat was empty?

American Ghost Adventures will attempt to communicate with the friendly apparitions that have been sighted in the downtown Winter Garden theater during four scheduled tours this month.

The two-hour interactive walking tour will start and end at the Winter Garden Heritage Museum on Plant Street. The guide — called a professional ghost ambassador — will share history, ghost stories and urban legends and lead a ghost investigation where guests can work with equipment.

Ting Rappa, one of the American Ghost Adventures founders and one of the tour leaders, said employees are not ghost hunters.

“We’re just introducing people to the ghosts that are there,” she said.

Participants will visit two museums and the theater and make stops at several storefronts.

“We will have access to at least one building where we’ll go inside and get a view of the paranormal perspective,” Rappa said. “You’ll understand that ghosts want to come out and talk to us.”

She stressed that it is not a haunted house experience, so no one will be jumping out to scare anyone. And although guests might not see any ghosts, they will be guaranteed a good time.

“Nine out of 10 tours, you do get paranormal activity,” she said. “We have a very good relationship with the people, the building owners, our staff members — and the ghosts. We try to make it a very interactive experience with these ghosts.”

In the Garden Theatre, apparitions have been spotted sitting in the main theater and shadows have been seen in the messanine, Rappa said.

“Men, women, children; they’re very friendly,” she said. “It’s a very active theater. It’s always very positive, never anything negative. … They know they’re part of the team, they are part of the family.”