Grace Cavanaugh, Staff Writer~
Paranormal Night at Avenel is occurs this Saturday, November 3 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. The public is invited to tour the Historic Avenel in Bedford with five different paranormal groups, as well as a enjoy a magic show and some tasty treats.
The Facility Director for Avenel, Taffney Mays, said, “It is been about 10 years. It all started with a group named Ghostec from Lynchburg who did a lecture format. We sold tickets as we could only fit 55 people per night in the parlor. We ran this every Thursday in October. It was such a huge success that we ended up running it for 9 weeks, sometimes 2 a week.”
The event is one night only and tickets will be sold for $10 at the door, according to an events page on visitbedford.com. The five groups hosting the tours include Bedford Paranormal, Beyond the Dark Paranormal, H.A.P. Paranormal, Sisters of Salem, and Virginia Infinity Paranormal.
Mays noted, “Last year we had a nice group. We guessed that we had around 200 people come through. We have some loyal fans who come every year, but of course we believe that lots of new people will come if they know about it.”
“We’re hoping for a hopefully bigger crowd this year,” said Mays. “We serve food and beverages and are planning on a large group. Until last year, we always had it in October, but both last year and this year we have been booked with weddings, so we had to go to the first weekend in November.”
The Avenel has a lot of paranormal stories. Mays shared one, saying, “I have heard footsteps many times. These footsteps are distinctive enough that I truly thought that someone was either on the porch or in the house walking around. Many times when the alarm has gone off, particularly at night, security central will tell me that there was “motion on the back stairwell”. I have met the police over there several times at like 2am for that. We’ve walked through the house and found nothing.”
“I was cleaning after a reception and was mopping in one of the downstairs rooms when I hear a woman very clearly say “Hello?” I immediately thought that the people I was to be meeting had come a little early, so I headed for the door. No one was around, anywhere. I went back into that room and told her that I heard her say hello and asked for her to do it again. Sadly, she did not,” said Mays.
For more information about Paranormal Night at Avenel and other events that Avenel might be hosting, visit https://visitbedford.com/event/paranormal-night-avenel-2/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/268330037344418/.