Seminary Ridge 7/21/06

On a humid Friday night, about 20 people came along on a tour where my storytelling was a little off. It seemed like I was having trouble focusing on the story I was telling at the time. More than once I crossed over stories and had to backpedal to get on track. I hope no one noticed. Thanks to the folks from Ohio, Tenn., Texas, New Jersey, Michigan. Minn. and the New Englanders from Maine and Vermont. My jokes were as awful as ever, but it was a lot fun!

I had a nice conversation with the couple from Minnesota after the walk. They told me that the night before they went on a tour with another company and said that the other guide was not very polished in her storytelling, that her choice of words could have been better and they attributed this to her lack of experience. I took this as a compliment. They mentioned that the Ghosts of Gettysburg website really sold them on taking our tour. And they told me about some Yahoo reviews they read so I went checked it out.

Some reviews were positive and others not so positive. One guy complained that all it was was storytelling! What did he think he was getting into. That is all these ghost walks are about, storytelling. And some of us guides are better than others. Some guides would rather talk about ghost photography and paranormal investigations while others work historical anecdotes into the tour. When taking one these walks it's hit or miss. If you get stuck with an inexperienced guide or an untrained guide you're not going to have as much fun!

This gets back into what I was ranting about the other day. With all of these fly by night companies, you don't know what you're going to get. You might get a high school kid that was in the drama club and wanted a summer job. Like that young girl on the Seminary who doesn't know the buildings but is out guiding a tour. Or maybe you'll get the guide who knows absolutely nothing about Gettysburg, but is an avid ghost hunter and fanatic, so they're a qualified guide.

I think my friends from Minnesota did it right. They looked into things before they came to Gettysburg and made an educated choice. Credibility goes a long way.

Sleep well...

"Rick Saunders"