Galena

For any of you that make to the Illinois/Iowa, border, Galena is an amazing old historic town. The buildings, which include Ulysses Grant's home, date back to the early 1800's. And, where you have old, historic buildings, you have ghosts.

For the low, low price of $9 each, my family and I got to take a history/mystery tour of Galena that began at the DeSoto Hotel on Main Street. We heard some wonderful stories about the history of the town, including that parts of it were used for the filming of Field of Dreams.

We also got to her some great ghost stories. Including the couple who saw the face of a recently deceased friend in their window pain, and the folks who had experiences with a ghost in Turner Hall. One, a costume designer, working at night by herself felt she was being watched. After looking around several times, she finally looked up at the balcony and saw a man with piercing eyes staring down at her. Seconds later, he was gone. On another occasion, a minister heard grunting and moaning from the balcony. Up he went to help out whoever was in pain, only to discover no one was there. Eventually, the noises stopped.

I really enjoyed this tour. I know that, closer to Halloween, there are many more ghost tours in Galena, some of which take place in cemeteries. I fully intend to return in the fall to check them out.

If you know of any good ghost tours anywhere in the US, please let me know and I'll post them.