by appy Halloween!
I was sorry to hear that this year would be the last for Antoinette’s Haunted History Tours in Alton.
“It has been a lot of fun, and I have enjoyed it tremendously,” Antoinette “Toni” Eason told me. “I have had a wonderful business partner, wonderful people working for me, and I have seen some awesome things in the last 20 years.”
Eason and partner Marlene Lewis formed Right Brain Activities, the company behind the tours, in 1992. In the early 1990s, Lewis was searching for idea possibilities while attempting to build a localized tour. One inquiry that intrigued her was a letter she received asking about haunted locations in the area. Researching the possibilities, Lewis quickly learned that locals were filled with stories of homes and businesses that were reputed to be haunted. Lewis wanted a psychic to assist her in investigating some of these occurrences, and that’s when she met renowned local psychic Antoinette Eason.
A city as rich in history, folklore and alleged ghostly activity as Alton seems tailor-made for haunted tours. Among the stops on the ever-changing tours is the McPike Mansion, one of the country’s most famous haunted houses.
“I have spent a lot of time in that building since 1992,” Eason said. “It is incredibly active, and there is no doubt that it is haunted. I have experienced really, really creepy occurrences there.”
Another popular spot for the tour company is the old Milton School. Regular readers of my blog may remember the school as the location where I received what has come to be known among Telegraph readers as my “phantom bite.” (The blog is still in the blog archives, from October of last year, or click the link below.)
In addition to Lewis and Eason, the business has grown to include several other tour guides, including Gary Hawkins, David McCracken and Eason’s daughter Alixandria Andrews. Longtime trolley driver Chad Ingold also has been adopted into the group, and has been nicknamed “Bait” due to the amount of paranormal activity that seems to happen when he is around.
I feel very fortunate to have become acquainted with the group, and it has allowed me to explore and experience the darker side of Alton. As someone who still feels the gothic, haunted New Orleans is his true home, I have loved every tense, creepy minute!
This weekend will be the last tours for Antoinette’s Haunted History Tours, and space was still available the last I heard. For more information, visit hauntedalton.com.
And stay tuned here for more info on a new Alton tour group that Alixandria Andrews is putting together, to be called “Adventure Gypsies”
