A bump in the night and voices may cause alarm for many, but for David Higdon and Laura Lineberry, these are the signs of a thrilling new adventure and a guided tour through haunted locations on campus.
Since 2004, Higdon, co-author of Haunted Tuscaloosa, has worked as the founder of the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, going to various locations around Tuscaloosa and beyond to find evidence of ghosts. He said the stories on the tour came from his own writings and findings.
“The book is mainly haunted locations in Tuscaloosa,” Higdon said. “It’s not urban legends; it’s not hear-say. Most of the places in the book are where I really went as a group and the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group spent the night, and the evidence is collected in the group.”
Beginning at the Drish House, known as “the most haunted house in Alabama,” the tour takes its guests on an hour and a half long ride to 16 locations, both on campus and off. Each location has a story based on observations made by Higdon and others within the group.
“It’s not particularly a jump-out-and-get at-you thing,“ said Lineberry, a professor of graphic design. “It’s more the history and sharing those stories for those who love ghost stories.”
Lineberry has worked alongside Higdon on several investigations. Throughout the years, the two have seen shadow figures, heard voices and slept inside haunted hospitals to seek the truth.
“Some places when we go, I’ll ask them ‘what’s my name,’ ” Higdon said. “Sometimes I’ll get responses that tell me what my name is, and I don’t know if this, whatever it is, is attached to me or how it knows. That’s one of the things that keeps us going, is ‘What is this, how does it know my name and why does it want me to die?’ ”
The two said students or other members of the group often would come to them with stories of seeing ghosts within the halls of campus buildings.
One such story came from a student of Lineberry’s, who claimed she saw a man on the Quad dressed in a confederate soldier uniform. The student followed the figure, but as soon as it got to the steps of Gorgas Library, it vanished, causing the girl to run off.
“Right now, the paranormal world thanks to television such as ‘Ghost Hunters,’ ‘Ghost Adventures’ all that stuff, has been really popular,” Lineberry said. “We’re in a world where unfortunately, we’re seeing a lot of places say ‘oh, we’re haunted’ and they’re not; it’s just a gimmick to kinda get them in. When we go out, when we’re doing investigations, we really want to find something to validate whatever the person is seeing or hearing or whatever.”
The Haunted Tuscaloosa tour began on Sept. 30 and will take place every Friday night until Oct. 28. Steve Shannon and Simone Eli, hosts of 95.3 The Bear, will be a part of the tour on the final night as guest hosts.
Tickets and more information can be found at http://www.hauntedtuscaloosatours.com/. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for students and military and $15 for children ages 8-12.
