On Nov. 23rd, Ghostly Activities Ghost Club went to Fort Nisqually (near Tacoma) for the lantern-guided tour. Pretty Gritty Tours put on a fun adventure, and the guide kept the tales to the facts. Get the scoop after the jump.

Fort Nisqually Lantern Tour

Chris, our guide, met us at the main entrance to the fort. If you didn’t know, Fort Nisqually is a living museum, which means staff, actors, and docents actually use the museum as if it existed in the past. That means they raise chickens, cook, sew, and all those other daily tasks continue to this day. Really … it’s like you stepped back to the 1850s.

As for the lanterns, it just means our guide would hold the lantern. You didn’t get your very own on this adventure.

As we waited for the tour to begin, a family of raccoons came over the say ‘Hi!.’ Cute little fellahs, eh?

Lantern-Guided Tour Details

You should probably know that the road to the tour goes through Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. A couple of times, I thought I drove the wrong way. It was extra creepy because you could hear all the animals hollering when you drove by. I think I saw a coyote, too. Fort Nisqually sits in a natural-environment state park, so a lot of animals walk along the road. Be careful you don’t hit one!

Anyway, our tour started 15 minutes late because security had locked people out. Once the remaining tourists showed up, we got to walking. In the dark. With a little lantern lighting the way. It was creepy AF. I lived for it.

Overall, we made about 8 stops. Each location (and I won’t spoil the stories) had a tragic tale of death and suffering, and then a ghost story … or monster story … revealed. The guide would show us pictures and newspaper clippings as proof the stories did, in fact, happen.

The tour ran for 50-some minutes, and it is mainly outdoors. Bring a raincoat. It didn’t rain while we took the tour, but we were lucky.

<spoiler>Now, I need to look up ‘The Great Tear’ for an episode of Monster Bureau, eh?</spoiler>

Chris, our guide, owns Pretty Gritty Tours. He did a great job of the event, even with the late start. I’d recommend it.

Fort Nisqually Ghost Hunt

After the tour, Amy and Jake went to the spot her Tesla picked up a human figure. But there was no one there.

We had a few gadgets to see if we could communicate with the suspected ghost(s). For our experiments, we used a Spirit Candle, SBox, Ghost Tube app, and a spirit box app. Out of those gadgets, the candle seemed to work best. We believe that’s because candles would be familiar to a ghosts from the 1850s.

Over the investigation, we learned the following about the (suspected) ghost:

1. He’s Welsh
2. He was a soldier
3. He was the figure from the Tesla drive through
4. He may be struggling with his unlife
5. Raccoons like to surprise ghost hunters

Anyway, we’re looking forward to ghost hunting within Fort Nisqually‘s walls soon. Now, let’s get back to the tour with some images and extra videos.

Fort Nisqually Tour Image & Video Gallery

If you’ve had a spooky encounter at Fort Nisqually, let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading Ghostly Activities. Much appreciated. Take care!