Greensboro Pumpkin Patches

P: Good evening, Greensboring. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any pumpkin. But in the spirit of commemoration - whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday - I thought we could mark this Halloween, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice...intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told...if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

Greensboro Ghost Tour

As many of you know, Greensboring is on hiatus right now. Actually it's not, it's just that I'm doing a master's degree abroad and won't be back for awhile. That said, I will continue to find ways to post and stay connected.

So I thought I'd post a former review I pulled from the Archives from SouthernFriedInfidel (he likes to remain anonymous to avoid fans showing up at his door). Considering it's almost Halloween, it comes at a perfect time. It's all about a local tour company which offers ghost walks. 

Love, 
Liv

Earlier this year, my wife bought a Groupon for a ghost tour here in Greensboro called Nightmares Around Elm Street. After many delays, we decided that today's warm temperatures and our normal weekend schedule kind of forced us to get in on the tour tonight. Frankly, having lived around this place for all our lives and not really seeing anything much interesting about it, we did not anticipate much in the way of cool stories.

I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised. My wife and I go to ghost tours in a lot of places, and the better tours that we take have guides that are good story tellers, and they give interesting points about local history. This tour had both a good story teller and a lot of interesting history to teach about the city.

We started in front of the police station out on Washington Street, then walked to Blandwood Mansion. I had never been to this place but had driven past it countless times but never actually laid eyes on it. What a shock to get onto the grounds and see a freaking Tuscan villa that was originally started over two centuries ago! Here, we learned a general outline of the birth of the city and its role in the growth of the Piedmont from the time of the Revolution through to the coming of the Civil War and the age of reconstruction and the birth of the many local industries. Cool stuff for a history buff, like me.

Of course, there were ghost stories. Stories of the Mansion, the police station nearby, the Carolina Theater, all of them very charming in their own right, and intertwined with varying points of actual history.

If you are ever planning to be in town for a Friday or Saturday night, and if you like a bit of walking around some creepy places in the night, this tour is definitely a good investment of your time and money.