Dr. Smith’s Spooky Stories is guiding WKU students and community members on a “Hilltop History and Haunts Tour” until the Homecoming edition of the tour on Friday, Nov. 15.

Tamela Williams Smith, part-time worker at the Bowling Green Tourism Office and paranormal researcher, gave her first ghost tour at WKU as part of the haunted-themed homecoming in 2003, according to her company’s website. Since retiring from the IT Department at WKU in 2018, Smith has been working full-time on a book on the paranormal at WKU.

Smith said the “Hilltop History and Haunts Tour” is interesting as it discusses a lot of things going on at the university that some people don’t realize. She said she has interviewed over 100 people who have had first-hand experiences with the paranormal at WKU.

“I will say we’re beyond, I think, a little (haunted),” Smith said. “We’re a lot haunted.”

Smith said the Halloween edition of the tour should be fun because she will be doing paranormal investigations on campus.

“The Halloween edition, I’ve got some new stories that are a little bit more spooky than my normal stories,” Smith said. “But also, we’re going to take some time and I’m going to actually bring some equipment, the tools of paranormal investigations, and we’re actually going to do some investigating on the hill using dowsing rods, using an EMF meter, using a FLIR camera and seeing if we can find anything while we’re walking around.”

All tours will start at Cherry Hall and stay at the top of the Hill.  Participants should arrive 15 minutes in advance to check-in, Smith said. 

“There are some people that may not believe in spirits or may not believe in things, but what we talk about, sometimes these are unexplainable events that happen on campus, and so we’re just trying to take a look at why they happen,” Smith said.

The tours are all an hour and a half, and the regular one goes from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30, Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2. The Halloween edition of the tour goes from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m on Thursday, Oct. 31, and the Homecoming edition of the tour will also go from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 15.

 Smith said that the tour will provide people with a different perspective on the history of WKU.

“It’ll be at a different viewpoint, a different slant on the history of the hill and campus that no one had really focused on,” Smith said.

Tickets cost $20 each before tax for the regular tour and the Homecoming edition of the tour. For the Halloween edition of the tour, they cost $25 each.

Reservations must be made in advance online. If someone is unable to attend on the dates listed, contact Dr. Smith directly for details on doing a private or group tour, which are available year-round.

News Reporter Abigail Vickers can be reached at [email protected].