BRADENTON - Tourist Development Council Chairman Joe McClash suggested an idea Monday that will likely attract some boos.
Why not start having ghost tours at the Powel Crosley Estate, McClash proposed, noting the popularity of such tours in cities like Savannah, Ga. and other places with an abundance of history and lore.
"It's just one of those things that people are starting to do," McClash said during Monday's meeting of the Tourist Development Council. "I think it's something to think about."
Built in 1929 by industrialist and inventor Powel Crosley Jr. as a summer home for his wife Gwendolyn, the county-managed Powel Crosley Estate is situated on 60 acres fronting Sarasota Bay, adjacent to the John Ringling Estate.
Currently, parts of the home can be rented for special events. The estate also hosts various literary events such as "Shakespeare On The Bay" and the upcoming "Edgar Allan Poe At The Crosley."
But McClash suggested ghost tours would be a good way to supplement income for the estate during weekdays when fewer events are typically scheduled.
"Especially if it's a full moon," McClash said. "I think you'd get people to go. I really do."
Larry White, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Crosley Estate already has some ghost fodder to work with.
A former employee swore he saw Gwendolyn Crosley at the top of the stairs when he was closing the estate for the evening, White said.
"At the time we didn't even have a picture in place of Gwendolyn Crosley, but he was willing to swear that was her," White said. "And she did die in the bedroom upstairs."
Also, an actress who has performed in some of the Crosley Estate's past productions always sets aside an empty chair, which she tells the audience is reserved for Gwendolyn Crosley.
Apparently, a photographer with an area newspaper took a photo during one of those performances. When she developed her film, there was ghost-like image in the chair, White said.
"We tried and tried to get that photograph," White said. "But we were never able to."
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