Hi!  My name is Ty.  I’m the “new kid” in the GhoSt Augustine haunted pub tour crew.

I’m a self-proclaimed beer aficionado and have home-brewed for ten years.  On evenings I am not conducting haunted pub tours, I’m singing and playing guitar at local restaurants.

My state of origin is Pennsylvania.  I have earned degrees from Penn State and have taught elementary school for 36 years.

My wife and I fell in love with St. Augustine on our first visit, intending to stay for one day.  We stretched this to six days and returned to Pennsylvania with a Florida mortgage.  Now it’s four years later.  I’ve retired from teaching and we live in the city of our dreams.

As a pub tour guide, my goal is to pass along our love for this beautiful, historic, exciting, haunted city.

Great photo submitted from a guest on our Haunted Pub Tour with our newest guide, Ty Cowell!
The reason the couple look so excited in the photo is because we believe one of the spirits at McLean’s is trying to communicate through the K2 meter.

Ever wonder what headstones mean? Here are a few of the most used designs on headstones:

Anchor – Steadfast hope
Arch – Rejoined with partner in Heaven
Birds – The soul
Cherub – Divine wisdom or justice
Column – Noble life
Broken column – Early death
Conch shell – Wisdom
Cross, anchor and Bible – Trials, victory and reward
Crown – Reward and glory
Dolphin – Salvation, bearer of souls to Heaven
Dove – Purity, love and Holy Spirit
Evergreen – Eternal life
Garland – Victory over death
Gourds – Deliverance from grief
Hands – A relation or partnership
Heart – Devotion
Horseshoe – Protection against evil
Hourglass – Time and its swift flight
Ivy – Faithfulness, memory, and undying friendship
Lamb – Innocence
Laurel – Victory
Lily – Purity and resurrection
Mermaid – Dualism of Christ – fully God, fully man
Oak – Strength
Olive branch – Forgiveness, and peace
Palms – Martyrdom, or victory over death
Peacock – Eternal life
Poppy – Eternal sleep
Rooster – Awakening, courage and vigilance
Shell – Birth and resurrection
Star of David – The God
Skeleton – Life’s brevity
Snake in a circle – Everlasting life in Heaven
Swallow – Motherhood
Broken sword – Life cut short
Crossed swords – Life lost in battle
Torch – Eternal life if upturned, death if extinguished
Tree trunk – The beauty of life
Triangle – Truth, equality and the trinity
Shattered urn – Old age, mourning if draped
Weeping willow – Mourning, grief

There are 4 basic ways in which a spirit or ghost may manifest itself. The one that most people think of but is probably the least common is a visual apparition. For the investigator, catching something like this on film is the holy grail of evidence. In this form of manifestation the ghost or spirit appears in physical form. They may look like a normal, living person, a semitransparent wispy figure, or anywhere in between. Visual apparitions may also be of animals or objects.

The second form of manifestation is through sounds. These may be disembodied footsteps, the sounds of doors opening and closing, music, or speech. Often, in the cases where speech is heard, it is muffled conversations from an empty room and there are many reports of people hearing their name being called. These are of course just a few examples

In the third form, scents or smells are detected. Often times there are reports of smelling flowers or cologne. Pipe, cigarette and cigar smoke scents are very common as well. These scents usually do not last long. Typically, someone will catch a brief smell and about the time they recognize it, it is gone.

The last form is tactile. Like the others this can take several forms as well. A common example is feeling a cold spot in a room. These spots are believed to be caused by a spirit absorbing the energy in a room to assist in further manifestation. Heat is just another form of energy and when used by a spirit can drop the temperature 10 degrees or more. Sometimes it is a small area that is affected and sometimes a whole room. Tactile manifestations can also take the form of being touched, like a hand on the shoulder or a poke in the side. Sometimes hair is pulled or a piece of clothing is tugged on. These are generally very slight but can be forceful in nature.

These different ways a ghost or spirit may manifest may happen individually or together. The combinations are as varied as the hauntings they are associated with.

HSA Tour – 18 March 2010
My name is Celynda. I’m a recent graduate from Flagler College sporting a major in English and a minor in Theatre. I started working here in January and I’ve already got some interesting stories under my belt, including simultaneous meter readings between three meters at the fort, and an abundance of activity from a young boy named James down at the Tolomato Cemetary (he’s my favorite, by the way).
On Thursday, I went out with a group including two girls about my age who were both incredibly sensitive to the paranormal happenings around town. While we were at a haunted hot spot in the Minorcan District quite infamous already for its activity), one of them saw a woman’s face on the second floor. Now this location normally has activity on the west side of the building. I’ve always been a bit wary about the house, and sometimes I feel I’m being watched when I stand on the south side of the house. The face seen on this particular evening was seen on the east side. I’m starting to wonder if our dear ghost,just follows us around to every side of the house until we leave the area. Quite an interesting concept. I’ll have to keep my eye out for more proof.

I am sure you have already read Jeannine’s experience with Frank in our 1990 Hearse?! Well, I have had my own experience!!
One day I took Frankie (the hearse) to run some errands for the store when my cell phone rang. As I was talking on the phone the person on the other end kept asking who was in the car with me. I replied no one and they insisted that there was a man in the car with me. They said they could hear him talking but couldn’t make anything out that he was saying. When I arrived at the store, I got out of the car and heading into the store. The person on the phone asked, “Where did he go?” I was like, “Who!?” They still swore that someone had been with me and when I got out of the hearse the voice stopped.
This happened yet again when I left the store. I had to make a phone call and the person I was on the phone with wanted to know who was with me. I never heard anything but whoever I was on the phone with clearly heard a man’s voice. If it had been interception on the cell phone it wouldn’t have only occurred in the hearse!
Another experience while driving Frankie is seeing an elderly gentleman, in his mid 70’s, in the back of the hearse. I have only seen him in the rearview mirror and when I turn around to see if there is really someone in the car with me, there is clearly no one there. One night when following Jeannine, in the hearse, back to base I clearly saw a man setting in the back while she was driving. I called her to let her know she had company and she never saw a thing.
There are so many more stories to share about our 1990 hearse Frankie but I want you to come and experience them for yourself on our tour.
~Jamie

It was a quiet and fairly late night when I was preparing to close down our ghost shop, GhoSt Augustine, at 123 St. George St.
Our store was located on the right hand side at the end of a fairly short and narrow hallway, so it is very easy to hear people traveling down.
A small family of three found themselves poking around at our spooky collectibles. The mother started flipping through our books and their daughter, who was only a toddler, was clinging to her mother’s pants. The father noticed our bulletin board of tour departure times and started talking with me about our different tours, prices, times, etc. until we heard a loud and high pitched, “gaaaaah!” The little girl ran out of the store and back down the hallway nearly in tears with her mother and father running after her. I poked my head out of our store into the hallway after they caught her about halfway and asked if she was ok. The mother called back to me, “She should be ok! She said that her Daddy scared her, but she’s probably just scared of the store. Thanks for your concern though.” I waited to watch them leave the hallway as I was thinking how strange it was of the little girl to say that her father scared her being that he was talking to me the entire time. As soon as they disappeared I went back into the store to grab my keys so I could start closing the hallway in order to close the store. I walked back into the hallway and immediately stopped in my tracks. The six foot tall Medieval Knight standing on a rolling platform owned by the Sword shop that is normally secured with its back against the wall in the hallway was now in the middle of the hallway facing down towards our shop. My heart started pounding. “OK. The family had to have moved it, right?” I said to reassure myself, even though I knew that moving a heavy Knight on a rolling platform would have been heard in the 10 seconds or less it took me to grab my keys in the store. After deciding not to let this incident get to me, I moved the Knight back into his place, closed the front of the hallway and went back into our store to count the drawer for closing. When I reached the computer, I realized the monitor screen was black. Figuring the computer had probably gone into sleep mode, I shook the mouse to get the normal desktop screen back up. Nothing. I shook the mouse again. Still nothing. I checked to see if there was a power surge and that the computer was possibly shut off, but it was still on. I had to physically turn the monitor back on until the screen popped back up. “Ok, this is really weird,” I thought as I counted the drawer faster than I ever had before. I paused for a moment afterwards just to listen. Even though there was complete silence, I had the feeling someone or something was there with me. From then on, I knew I was no longer alone.

-Megan M.

Welcome back to those of you who have been waiting on the next blog, and welcome to those of you who are joining us for the first time. Well as promised I will tell you about Emily. You know about how we have psychics in the hearse allot. Well we keep getting the same thing over and over almost as often as “Frank”!!! This time it’s not a man or even an adult. It’s a six year old girl named Emily. Emily has been caught on many EVP sessions in our 1974 hearse.Things have been moving around allot including my hair. My ponytail to be more accurate. I went to get out of the hearse one night to close it up for the night when something pulled my hair. I chocked it up to it got caught on the seat or I leaned on it as I was getting out and didn’t give it another thought. As i was going around to lock the doors , and make sure no one had left anything behind I heard what sounded like someone humming the song Silent Night. Thought that was unusual for September.
Looked around and no one was anywhere around. Went to the back of the hearse straightened up the back , and again heard the humming again. Finished, what I was doing but was very curious as to what was going on. When I was on my way home I couldn’t get the event out of my head. I decided that the next night I was going to sing Silent Night in the hearse before I got out for the night. I did exactly that and heard nothing. I must admit I was disappointed. A few weeks later I had a Total Paranormal tour with 4 wonderful ladies. One who was psychic she up and tells me in the middle of the tour that there is a six year old little girl named Emily in the Hearse, and she is glad I am the driver. Even more she is happy that I sing her Silent Night every night before I leave. I haven’t mentioned that to anyone before. That night on an EVP they caught what sounds like a little girl humming and giggling. It was amazing. I still to this day sing Silent Night
every time I park the Hearse no matter which one I am in. Just in case she decides to follow. People have caught pictures that look like a child size figure on several occasions. This tour is an experience like no other. You never know what is going to happen on these tours.
Once again I hope to see you in the Hearse. Jeannine

I have taken this tour twice in the last year and came away with amazing results.  The first time was back in September 2009.  We went to several stops along the way in which I would say were very “active”.  One such stop was the Old Sanchez Mortuary.  At this location, we experienced an interactive session with a spirit.  Using the K2 meter (EMF detector), we spotted activity on the premises.  Jamie (one of the tour guides) and I started a Q&A session with yes and no questions when her K2 meter responded.  At this time, Harry (tour guide) took pictures and spotted an orb situated between Jamie and I.  After our “session”, we determined that the spirit was that of a six year old girl named Sarah.  She died in the 1800’s of yellow fever.  History dictates that there was a yellow fever outbreak in St. Augustine in the 1800’s.  Afterwards, Jamie convinced Sarah that it was time to cross over.  After a short discussion, the meter no longer responded.  This I suppose means that Sarah did cross over.
The next stop on the tour was at one of the local cemeteries.  As we stood at the entrance, I felt a light touch on my hand.  Jamie and Harry (tour guides) also were touched. Some interesting photos were also taken from there. (Possible orbs).
Our last stop along the way was the famous Castillo De San Marcos fort.  On the east side of the fort, there is what I call the “execution wall”.  Once there, Jamie’s meter was registering off the chart.  This happened continually for several minutes.  She felt her wrist being grabbed tightly and asked the spirit to loosen his grip.  The spirit responded.  After some questions, the spirit apparently was in shackles (waiting to be executed)?  We also felt cool spots along the wall of the fort.
My second visit to the tour did not disappoint me either.  On the first stop of the tour, we were at the old Spanish Courtyard.  While the tour guide was talking, I caught a shadow figure along the fence out of the corner of my eye but could not prove it.  Upon investigation of the place, I started taking pictures.  One of the pictures turned out to be that of a large orb floating atop the fence.  There is a lot of history here so anything is possible.
Next stop was the same old cemetery as my last visit. While standing at the entrance looking in, I felt like someone took a finger and poked me in the middle of my chest.  I was standing under an oak tree that was dropping acorns.  I was wearing a heavy sweatshirt at the time and the poke was prominent.  An acorn would be too light for me to feel.  Maybe the spirits there recognized me?
All in all, I had a great time.  If you are glued to your TV sets watching TAPS, Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters International, Haunted Homes, etc and would like to have similar type experiences, then this tour is for you.

Happy Hunting,

Martin