Do you believe in ghosts? Or like a side of the metaphysical with your history?

From 1920s booze runners and mysteriously drowned women, to ghosts who love country music and hate it when people change their wallpaper, American Ghost Walks takes visitors on a walking tour of downtown Boothbay Harbor to peer at the spirits hidden within the region’s history. 

Julee Ketelhut has been a guide for three years. An avid tour-taker with a love of performance, she jumped at the opportunity to work with American Ghost Walks. “Until I started adding ghosts to it, (history) didn’t come alive for me.” 

Ketelhut found this is true for many of the visitors who may come for the ghosts, but walk away with a deeper knowledge of their vacation spot. However, that doesn't mean guests won’t have any ghostly encounters. “One of the most haunted places in Maine,” the Boothbay Opera House, is one of the tour stops. Plus, Ketelhut has also seen the ghost of a captain in the wheelhouse of Tugboat Inn.  

“I’ve seen people up there touring it, and you cannot miss that it's an actual form. This was just an outline of a tugboat captain walking past the window and that was that.” 

Ketelhut’s favorite experience was at the Inns at Greenleaf Lane; the owners came running out to tell her group that George Murphy, previous owner and resident ghost, had taken to communicating in Morse code. Ketelhut and her group were then led inside to take a closer look. “(The group) was blown away. This kind of stuff just doesn't happen on ghost tours. You’re not invited into the room.”

Events like this show that the tour isn’t only old stories, but also occurrences that are just unfolding. This is why she encourages people to go into the businesses and talk to owners and employees to hear the latest metaphysical updates.

For Ketelhut, the tour’s purpose isn’t to portray the spirit world as a malevolent place, but rather one where humanity continues on. “When we are gone, we can choose to maybe take one of our beloved pets for a walk in a place that we love or we can inhabit one of the homes that meant so much to us. And I think that’s a really lovely thought.”

Book tickets at americanghostwalks.com. General admission is $25.