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Tour scares up some fun

FIRST YEAR: Haunted tour will explore Olympia’s dark corners and creepy history

MOLLY GILMORE; For The Olympian | • Published October 29, 2009

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Dixie Havlak has discovered that there’s something spooky in downtown Olympia.

So, for Halloween weekend, Havlak will lead tours into the darker side of Olympia history.

“Olympia has a lot of creepy and interesting things in its history,” said Havlak, owner of OlyWalks. “I think it’s fun to walk around at night at Halloween and think about creepy things.”

She’s been leading tours of downtown, the Capitol Campus and the waterfront for a year and a half now, but the haunted tour is new.

“This is a first,” said Veronica Gemmel, recreation supervisor at the Olympia Department of Parks, Arts and Recreation, which is offering the tours. “The Friday night tour from 8 to 9 is already totally booked.”

The tour won’t include anyone jumping out to scare participants, but those who walk the route of less than a half-mile will brave alleys (and, very likely, rain) and hear tales of ghosts and things that go bump in the night.

“There were a lot of deaths in Olympia that were significant to the history,” Havlak said. “There are a lot of old buildings that have some interesting and sometimes creepy history behind them. And we have a lot of bats.”

And many believe that downtown has its share of spirits – and not just the kinds served along Fourth Avenue.

“There are quite a few ghosts in our downtown, or buildings that have presences in them,” Havlak said. “I don’t know that I believe in ghosts, but as I talked to proprietors around town, the issue of ghosts kept coming up again and again.”

How closely tied is Olympia to the spooky season?

“Olympia owes its origins to the untimely death of a certain pioneer,” Havlak said.

Want to know more? You’ll have to go on a tour.