FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2008
CONTACT: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations,
409-765-7834
molly.dannenmaier@galvestonhistory.org

Galveston Historical Foundation Offers "Galveston's Haunted Harbor Experience" for Halloween Season

One-Hour Narrated Excursion Aboard Texas Seaport Museum's Seagull II Stresses Ghostly Legends and Lore Based on Harbor's Often Tragic History.

Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) will kick off its special October "Haunted Harbor Experience" excursions with a 5:30 departure on Thursday, October 2. The narrated exploration of spooky corners and tragic sites in and around Galveston's storied harbor will continue through October 31, with departures from the Texas Seaport Museum, Pier 22, at 22nd Street and Harborside Drive. Haunted Harbor Excursions will leave at 5:30 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month of October. The cost of the haunted excursion is $15 for adults, $13 for children ages 4 to 18 and free for children 3 and under.

The schooner Julia stranded at 26th Street and Strand after the 1867 hurricane: Another bad moment in Galveston Harbor provides material for ghost stories. Photo courtesy Galveston County Historical Museum. (click on the picture to download it in a press ready format)

"Galveston is one of the most haunted cities in America," said Mary Jo Urbani, a Galveston native who has been leading "Ghost Tours" around the island since 2000. For the Haunted Harbor Excursion offering, Urbani turned her rich knowledge of the subject to create a script relating specifically to the water and waterfront, and to train GHF docents in presenting it aboard the 50-foot passenger boat, Seagull II.

Galveston has been home to the allegedly cannibalistic Karankawa Indians and merciless pirates, including the famous Jean Laffite whose lavish and lawless den of thieves was the island's first European settlement. Galvestonians in the 19th century knew fires, epidemics of yellow fever and malaria, military occupation and bitter war, and of course, storms.

"The Great Storm of 1900, which washed clean of houses great swaths of the island and killed well over 6,000 people, remains the worst natural disaster in American History. The organized crime that developed around the seaborne smuggling of liquor during the Prohibition era was supplemented by individualized mayhem and tragedy. Many, many people have lived and died by these waters, and perhaps some of the dead still reside here," said Urbani. "Listen to the stories, and decide for yourself. But you don't have to ‘believe in ghosts' to know that the dead are a presence on this island."

Texas Seaport Museum's Seagull II is an integral part of Galveston Historical Foundation. Seagull II will continue to offer regular one-hour Historic Harbor Tours and Dolphin Watch every weekday (except when engaged in special educational trips) during the October run of the "Haunted Harbor Experience." A wide array of educational field trips onboard Seagull II is also available, as are private charters. For more information, call GHF at 409-765-7834 or the Texas Seaport Museum at 409-763-1877.

Haunted Harbor Excursions are part of Galveston Historical Foundation's "Historic Hauntings" offerings in October. GHF's other haunted attractions include "Spirits of the Past," a guided dusk tour of Galveston's Broadway Cemetery in which a dozen re-enactors give graveside portrayals of notable famous and infamous Galvestonians interred there; "Halloween aboard Elissa," a tour of nautical superstitions, haunted happenings, and tall tales from the ship's ancient mariners; and "Are We Haunted," a special tour of Ashton Villa that highlights legends and ghost stories of the mansion. Full descriptions of all GHF's "Historic Hauntings" are available at www.galvestonhistory.org.