Phoenixville Ghost Tour Celebrates Seventh Season

Speaking with Peggy Schmidt, one of the founders and owners of Ghost Tour America, one could understand why folks both living and dead would flock to her.

Her natural ebullience shines through as she brings to life the tales of Phoenixville’s dead and departed.  

“This is our seventh season in Phoenixville," said Schmidt, who runs Ghost Tours of Phoenixville with partner Andrea Berger. "We also have tours in Chestnut Hill, the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and Berlin, MD. Phoenixville was the first town and it was really a matter of the right place at the right time."

She and Berger had always been interested in paranormal goings on. They attended a ghost tour elsewhere and thought Phoenixville would be the perfect place for one like it. Around that time, Dinah Roseberry wrote "Ghosts of Valley Forge and Phoenixville," and so it seemed like the perfect time to begin the tour. The pair began by speaking with Roseberry about her own findings, as well as pounding the pavement in the downtown area, talking with shopkeepers and restaurant workers to gather the town’s oral ghost history.

The team has enjoyed a surge of paranormal activity on recent tours. Last year, Schmidt said one tour group spotted two ghost children in the basement of the . Two years ago, a group decided to tour despite the rain that was falling and were treated to a night rife with orb sightings, apparitions and ghost cats.

Speaking of animals, one of the research methods Peggy and Andrea employ to find hotbeds of paranormal activity is the sleuthing abilities of one talented ghost hunter, Pixie. Featured on Animal Planet in their “Small Dogs, Big Jobs” segment, this Jack Russell Terrier has been used in both Chestnut Hill and Phoenixville to find or confirm suspected haunts.

There are approximately 13 stops on the 90-minute tour, including The Pickering Creek Inn, , , and .

Appropriate for ghost hunters of age 7 and up, Schmidt feels what sets their tour apart from the "slasher" ghost tours is an emphasis on historical context, an education process about different types of paranormal activity, and above all a deep reverence for the spirits being pursued. 

After a photo shoot at the allegedly haunted Charlestown Cemetery revealed halos above the pair’s head in almost all the photos (while other folks have reported much less favorable results after photographing visits to the site), they share a conviction that this respect for the spirits has come to pay off in hair-raising ways.

If You Go:

When: Tours run Friday and Saturday nights weekly beginning Oct. 1 starting at 8 p.m.; all tours are 90 minutes long

Where: Meet at The Pickering Creek Inn, 37 Bridge St., Phoenixville.

Cost: $10 for adults, $7 for children 10 and under

Additional Info: Bring a digital camera and wear comfortable shoes.

For Reservations: Call 215-237-1166 or visit www.ghosttoursofphoenixville.com for more info.