The Tour Guiding Experience

I think the hardest part about being a tour guide is people asking, "What have you experienced here? How many spooky things happen here? What's the most haunted part of the building? What's the most haunted time of year?"

So many things happen to so many people all around this building. It's difficult to think of the top stories to tell. I could tell them my stories or I could tell them other people's stories. I almost feel like, it's never scary enough just hearing about it. Some people really want to be just horrified by it. I've had my experiences, but I think sometimes it's just one of those things where it has to happen to you for you to really get the full feeling of it. Which is why I recommend doing the tour multiple times.

You have different experiences on each tour. You also get different guides. You could do the Original Ghost Tour and then the 2.0 Tour. Similar tours, but also very different because you get to speak with the divining rods and talk to spirits on the 2.0 tour.

I've had it happen on a couple 2.0 tours where girls will come on the tour and say, "Oh, we didn't expect for anything to happen on the tour. We're not believers." But then they use the divining rods, and try really hard to make sure they don't move - and they do anyway. They'll freak out, or even run out of the tour.

I don't want to say it's a job well done, because it's not my job to scare people. It's my job to inform and entertain. But... I kind of feel like it's a job well done.

- Leah M. (Tour Guide)

Hear more of Leah's stories on Ghost Tales - A Shakers Milwaukee YouTube series.

You can view Leah's episode here.