Things that go bump in the night.

On Saturday night we ventured out to Newport, for a ghost tour in the heart of the old port town.

Back in the early days of photography, there were enterprising frauds that attempted to take advantage of people mourning the loss of sons and fathers from the Civil War, claiming the ability to take spirit photographs. These pictures would claim to capture pictures of the undead—oozing ectoplasm, wraithlike spirits, and the like.

If our tour guide was to be believed, (http://www.ghostsofnewport.com/gwtour.htm), these types of pictures still exist—only nowadays, we can take them ourselves. Stern in spirit, with a loud, booming voice (clearly an actress), our guide passed out several photos that were taken during past tours that she claimed captured images of the restless dead. Mostly, they looked like bits of chunky white fog.

For my part, I am firmly convinced that the unearthly rainbow effect shown in the window of my first photo is the result of my flash. But who knows…maybe there’s more to the story? All I know this, after the tour guide’s initial speech, which occurred in “Blood Alley,” Ashes grabbed me by the hand and sternly instructed me to put my camera away, because she didn’t want to see pictures of any ghosts. And then, when I started taking pictures, anyway, she told me that she wouldn’t look at the photos that I took, ever.

And of course, she was the first one to ask to take a look, when we arrived home.

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