Longwood Ambassadors held Longwood’s first ever Ghost Tours this past Monday night around the campus. Students were able to attend and learn about Longwood’s haunted history in an interactive way.
The Ghost Tours began at 7:30 p.m. on Brock Commons where students were able to purchase a ticket for $4.00, or a reduced $2.00 if they chose to donate canned food. Then students could pick a time that they would like to take their tour.
This was a fundraiser for the Longwood Ambassadors, but it also allowed for canned goods to be collected for FACES. Longwood Ambassadors Treasurer, Addison Chenault stated, “We felt that it was important that while we were raising money for our organization, that we still gave back to the Farmville community!”
This fall is the first time that an event like this has come to Longwood. Chenault explained how they came up with the idea, “After attending an Ambassadors conference, we learned that the University of Georgia did an event like this,” she went on to say, “We realized that with all the ghost stories and history that Longwood has, this would be an amazing event to bring back with us.”
The entire production required volunteers from Alpha Psi Omega, the theatre fraternity and Ambassadors to step up to act as the haunted people from the past, tour guides or information guides. Chenault explained, “They were each given a character to play that had to do with a particular ghost story, and then they were able act it out however they wanted.”
Freshman, Sara Clark, described what she liked about the ghost stories that were portrayed throughout the tour, “My favorite part would have had to be the girl gnawing on a hand for sure because it made me laugh the most.” Clark also felt that there could have been other stories portrayed more on the tour, “Since they did the Cunninghams, I would have done the walker instead of the bloody line in room 333.”
According to Chenault, Clark shouldn’t necessarily expect to see that again in the future. She stated, “Each fall there will be new stories brought in and different characters to tell the stories to keep it interesting.”
Students seemed happy that the Ghost Tours took place the night after Dr. Jordan’s Ghost Stories. Clark stated, “Dr. Jordan gave a lot of information last night and then you got a little skit with it tonight.”
Ambassadors confirmed that this would not be the only time Longwood students should be prepared to go on a ghost tour. Chenault stated, “Ambassadors will put on Oozeball in the spring and Ghost Tours in the fall,” she went on to say, “since this was our first year there were definitely some kinks that need to be worked out in the future.”
According to Chenault, some of their kinks included the need to advertise farther in the future, so that more students will be able to attend. Cops were also called to Brock Commons during the Ghost Stories event, Chenault explained, “A Longwood police officer arrived because there were a few Longwood students who were not a part of Ambassadors who were wearing masks and walking the route; however everything was quickly resolved.”
