Couple start business giving ghost tours in New Bern

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Liz Bowles/Sun Journal

 Joe and Joyce O'Callahan say they want their customers to be the judges of the New Bern ghost and historical stories they tell during downtown tours.

A love of the paranormal and of 18th- and 19th-century history led the O'Callahans to open "Ghosts of New Bern" on June 1. Wednesday through Sunday, they give lantern-lighted tours that begin at the corner of Craven and South Front streets.

The O'Callahans take customers to eight to 10 buildings downtown. They stop outside each to give a brief history and tell at least one story about possible ghost activity inside.

"We try to make sure the tour appeals to all ages," Joe said. "It provides great entertainment when there's not much going on. It's a totally different experience to walk up and down the streets in the dark and hear the stories than to read about them in a book or a newspaper."

Joe said a child wanders through the bottom floors and an older woman lives in the top floors of the Harvey Mansion on Front Street. The mansion was built in the late 1700s by John Harvey to be a family house and warehouse. It was a former location of Craven Community College and was an apartment complex. It's now a place to stay and eat.

Joyce said a woman known as Miss Fannie moves furniture around, slams doors and looks out the windows of the Isaac Taylor House on Craven Street. She said the man Miss Fannie planned to marry died before their wedding, and she vowed to never leave the house. Joyce said Miss Fannie died in the house.

"I understand she was very particular about everything," Joyce said. "The saying was, ‘You better be careful or old Miss Fannie will get you.' When she died, the saying lived on."

On the tour, the O'Callahans also tell customers about a teenage girl slamming doors in the basement storage room of the John R. Justice house on Pollock St. They say the cemetery at Christ Episcopal Church, which was founded in 1715, is one of the most haunted cemeteries in the country.

The O'Callahans tell people a young girl named Dorothy moves things around and the outline of a person has been seen sitting in the balcony at the New Bern Civic Theater on Pollock Street. Some people told the O'Callahans they hear music on the second floor of the James Bryan House on Pollock Street. Another told of seeing a group of people dancing the Minuet in the house.

The O'Callahans said they researched New Bern-area libraries and talked to people who believe they encountered ghosts to prepare information for the tours.

"We've got centuries of history to draw on," Joe said. "They feed on each other, the ghost stories and the history. It's a perfect marriage."

Joe grew up in New Orleans. Joyce was born in New Bern and grew up in Florence, an area in Pamlico County. She said a lot of people on the tour ask about her heritage and her father, Earl Williams.

The O'Callahans moved to New Bern in February from Williamsburg, Va. Joe worked there at Colonial Williamsburg, and Joyce worked at Jamestown and volunteered at Williamsburg. Joe said he has always studied 18th-century literature, where he said ghost stories had their roots.

"And we're going to tell you the stories of ghosts and history in New Bern," Joyce said. "After I tell them, you be the judge of what you believe."

Want to take a tour?

Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children younger than 12. People may buy tickets at ghostsofnewbern.com or by calling 571-4766. Tours begin at 7 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Tours last about an hour.