Tours showcase Vancouver’s dark side
Visitors are invited to hop aboard a spooky trolley to hear tales of troubled ghosts, uncover the secrets of Vancouver’s Prohibition era as an old-school reporter or join a walking tour exploring the city’s unsolved murders and wicked crimes. This Halloween, there’s no shortage of ominous outings featuring fun, interactive and spine-tingling forays into Vancouver’s “dark”side. Uncover the illicit history of Vancouver on a walking tour with Forbidden Vancouver. Led by an “undercover reporter,”guests travel through the 1890s to 1950s, uncovering stories so dirty that even the local newspapers wouldn’t publish them. Along the way, participants learn about the evils of the saloon, prominence of “blind pigs”(also known as speakeasies), opium dens of Chinatown, rum runners of Gastown and more. The 1.5-hour tour takes place on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, departing from Cathedral Square (Dunsmuir and Richards Streets). Tickets are $27 (plus tax). For more information and departure times, visit http://www.forbiddenvancouver.ca . Or, tour Vancouver’s eeriest haunts with the Vancouver Police Museum and Vancouver Trolley Company’s Haunted Halloween Vancouver Trolley Tour. The annual offering dares brave visitors to board a frightful trolley bus and travel through the city listening to storytellers spin tales of murder, treachery and intrigue. With a walk through Mountain View Cemetery and a chilling visit to the old Vancouver city morgue, this tour is not for the faint of heart (must be 13 or older). The 2.5-hour tour runs daily, Oct. 19-31, and departs from Canada Place at 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Reservations are required, individual bookings and private charters are also available. Tickets are $35.71 (plus tax). (http://www.vancouvertrolley.com) Visitors can also delve into Vancouver’s sinister past on the Tour Guys’ Murder, Mystery and Mayhem tour. Led by a local history buff, guests hear terrifying tales of the city’s unsolved murders, notorious gangsters and wicked events. The 1.5-hour walking tour takes place on Wednesday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and begins at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where guests hear the horrid tale of how the gallery’s architect met his doom. Tickets are $26 p.p. (plus tax). (http://www.tourguys.ca)
