It is said that the souls that wander unseen are either the victims of a traumatic death or were somehow unable to live a fulfilled life and thus remain among us, trying to find the peace that eluded them in life. Enter Houston native Dash Beardsley, who said he felt a pull toward the island ever since he was a child visiting his grandfather?s home near the beach.
?I was drawn here,? said Beardsley. ?I?ve always been passionate about Galveston. I learned a lot of lore as a child and I came here often, not just for ghosts but for peace and solace. Then, in 1994, I moved here and now I know more than anyone on the island on this subject of ghosts. I have made it my life.?
Beardsley began doing guided tours of the haunted sites in Galveston at that time. ?No one paid any attention to me,? he said. ?Now my tour has been voted as the number three haunted city tour in the nation.?
He said that the first place that peaked his interest was Ashton Villa. ?It was Miss Bettie in Ashton Villa that got me started,? he said. ?When I came, I thought there were ghostly events taking place there, but people totally denied it. Now they have a ghost tour. Maybe I helped open their minds to it a little bit.?
Take the Ghosts Tour of Galveston and prepare to go back in time. Beardsley takes his guests to haunted sites connected to the Civil War and the Great Storm of 1900. ?It?s fun, but intriguing,? he continued. ?People learn things that are not common knowledge. It?s kind of like unsolving mysteries.? Beardsley says that the water is what makes the island so haunted. ?There?s something about the location near the water that causes things to take place, ghostly and otherwise. There are so many stories of ships going missing in the harbor and then later being sighted as ?ghost ships.? Water just attracts ghosts.?
He says that his most welcome guests are the skeptics. ?I love skeptics. I?m so glad they go on the tour,? he said. ?I want them to feel very welcome. I like it when they find out at the end of the tour that it was a good tour and they enjoyed it.?
Those who take the 90-minute walking tour will not be taken to any homes, but they will be taken to Bistro LeCroy, located on The Strand, which according to Beardsley is a hotbed of paranormal activity. ?There have been numerous sightings there,? said Beardsley, whose ghost stories are copyrighted and are being printed in The Islander with his permission.
?Tommy LeCroy did not believe in ghosts when I first met him. Now he?s got a wall of pictures of ghosts. One who haunts the place is a little girl, about 9 years old, and there?s also a nurse seen on the stairwell.?
Another stop on the tour is Luigi?s Ristorante Italiano, also located on The Strand. ?Luigi?s is very active. At the end of 1900, a lady died there. She stood out on the ledge and tried to pull people in as they were being washed away by the storm. You can hear her walking and crying.?
Not all stories are so heartbreaking - some stories are humorous, some are serious. Some are downright funny. ?It?s very entertaining,? said Beardsley. ?Plus, the tour guide is not your average 8-5 kind of guy,? he added with a laugh.
So, has the ?Ghostman of Galveston? seen any ghosts himself? Beardsley says he has seen many, both during the day and at night.
?I was with three people at 9:30 p.m. one Friday night on the corner of 21st and Postoffice. We saw a clear, solid ghost. The guy looked like he stepped out of a casino - like a gangster from the 1940s; really mean looking with a fedora. He carried four packs of Lucky Strikes and he looked like he could have been a hit man. I swear, people will think I?m crazy, but all three of us saw it. He walked in front of us, rounded the corner then disappeared in thin air.?
The three witnesses - a real estate agent, a politician, and Beardsley and his date - were speechless, but all agree they saw the same thing. ?I?d like to think none of us were flaky,? he said.
Dash Beardsley is in the midst of writing a book about the paranormal in Galveston and will include a list of the top 10 most haunted places on the Island. While he isn?t trying to make people believe ghosts exist, he would love to take interested visitors on a tour.
For more information, go to www.ghosttoursofgalvestonisland.com or call 409.949.2027 or 832.892.7419.
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