Episode 8, Talking South Carolina Patricia Goron of Ghostwalk Charleston, SC Interview

Episode transcript:

Angela Barrett “Hey guys. Thanks for joining me today on top in South Carolina, I have Miss Patricia Goron. She is the owner and operator of Ghost Woke Charleston. Hi, Patricia, thanks for being here.”

Patricia Goron How are you doing? Thank you for having me.

Angela Barrett Absolutely. You’re from South Carolina area?

Patricia Goron “Oh, I’m from Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah. Same here. So, I recognized the, the dialect there. So tell me, ghost walk. Charleston. Tell me one what it is.”

Patricia Goron “Well, the official name is the original go to walk of Charleston. And we know that the 1979 and I believe we were the very first ghost tour company, maybe in the United States. And we did ghost tours in the evening. And we also do history tours during the day, but mostly ghost tours at night. And we’re all about all things spiritual.”

Patricia Goron “Paranormal activity, because Charleston is a very haunted city and we delve into that.”

Angela Barrett Right. So have you actually seen Ghost?

Patricia Goron “Well, not on who or I haven’t. People say they’ve seen time, but we definitely do have many unexplainable things happen.”

Angela Barrett Sure. So tell me where these tours take place. Like where in Charleston do you go to?

Patricia Goron “We mainly stay inside of the French Quarter area with. With the. Oh, that should look Charleston. You can walk into. We were at Wild City at one time. That we stay in that area. And it’s about three blocks from the city market where everybody that comes to Charleston, they have to see the city market. That’s a really fun place to go to.”

Patricia Goron Right now we’re only three blocks from there and we venture out in that area.

Angela Barrett “So, so give me some. Just give me some I guess you need events I guess that have taken place on some of your tours where people have had encounters of some sort. On these tours.”

Patricia Goron “Well, how can one me think there are so many. Well, recently, there is the parking garage where a fella, he lived and fell off at the top of the garage. And it’s a recent thing, you know, in the last 20 years. And he Ed King called the garage and he messes with the lights and he only messes with the area in the area that he passed away.”

Patricia Goron “It’s just an order of the garage. Well we’re standing there at the end of the tour and the people on my tour, they go, let’s see if you’ll do something again. Some of them, I said, okay, now. I said, okay, parking garage. Go give it to thorn. You’re here. Well, I started hear a noise and I’m like, y’all hear that?”

Patricia Goron “And they’re like, no. I’m like, what then? And then I had a bulging feeling on my backside and it was my own. My own stage of the whole tour. It’s not on. I turn it off. Not the power, but it’s off. You know, I tell them, well, you have to have faith that day, right? The doorbell, was on YouTube playing a song.”

Patricia Goron “I’m like, that’s gotta be a sign. It’s like the song put in and it’s called Hello by Tune, and I’d never heard of that band. And it’s a really good song. And I’m right here saying hello.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, my God.”

Patricia Goron “We couldn’t believe that. And I said, well, hello to you and the out side light on the garage.”

Angela Barrett “You, you bright.”

Patricia Goron “And the little bow fell out. And I’m like, that had never been very active that we end up going up on top of the garage after all of this and and we were on the garage. The picture that I have of them, they were taking pictures by word started flying all around and, they caught it, but they haven’t given me the picture yet.”

Patricia Goron What I wish they would.

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Patricia Goron So we do have quite unique thing that can happen. And I just can’t explain that.

Angela Barrett “Right? Right, right. You, have to get with the, the South Carolina paranormal investigators and have them come join y’all one time on one of your tours.”

Patricia Goron Apathy. I would I would enjoy them that they would do that.

Angela Barrett Yeah. So as a tour you’ve been a tour guide now for how long?

Patricia Goron Legally for 34 years.

Angela Barrett “Right. And when you say legally, there is a licensing for tour guides, although I don’t think the, the laws now require you to, but probably better to go with a license tour guide, right? Yes.”

Patricia Goron “Okay. Yes, ma’am. You always had to have a license, though. When people come to the city and they take a tour, they know that the person, given their tour has credentials and it’s been licensed and studied real hard and taken the test of the hit free at Charleston. However, not long ago, just a few years ago, there was a person that could not pass the test and they said, this is the freedom of speech.”

Patricia Goron “And it ended up going to the Supreme Court. And now you do not have to have a license, meaning anybody coming into the city can give a tour. They can stand on the corner and start a tour from a corner or from anyplace that is in, you know, brick and mortar and come on a tour with me. And they do not have a license.”

Patricia Goron And they the etiquette is not a thing anymore with tours because it’s just something else. I don’t I’m can’t get any more into it all right.

Angela Barrett “Sure you don’t want to get in trouble? That’s for sure. And not only that. Thank you. Yeah. That’s, But now, before you, I guess, open this business. I mean, you are working already downtown, in Charleston light with that, the Old Town Carriage Company, right?”

Patricia Goron “Yeah. Actually, I didn’t open the business route. Miller. He opened the business.”

Angela Barrett “Oh, okay.”

Patricia Goron “And they. I wasn’t old enough to you. I was on my bicycle downtown playing, and they opened the go to. Wow. Well, yeah. When I got old, I did the. So I was the first girl. Rachel, driver and Charles. Then I went, oh, we hung out with.”

Angela Barrett “Tell everybody what a rickshaw is, because unless you’re from the Irish. Yeah.”

Patricia Goron “Yeah, a rickshaw is a bicycle taxi. And it’s a three will bike with a carriage in the back and, you tote people around and I’ll hung out with the carriages to get rides. And I enjoyed so much talking with the tour guides because I learned so much. Right. And Hurricane Hugo hit in 1989, and it stopped everything.”

Patricia Goron “Well, when everything started reopening the carriage company, they said, you have to come and draw the carriages for us. And I did, and I studied real hard and I passed the test. Then it was the most. And that carriage that is so much fun. And the horses are very well taken care of. And then I got older and realized I think I better, you know, walk.”

Patricia Goron “So, I was it I inherited ghost walk.”

Angela Barrett Oh. Nice.

Patricia Goron “Because. Yeah. Because the lady that owned it bought it with Anna Bligh, and she bought it from anyway, and black owned it at that point. And she said, you are the very best tour that Charleston has ever had. You have got to do the ghost tour. You’re the best at it. I can’t continue this. I’m getting older and I’m giving this to you.”

Patricia Goron And it was a big black tree.

Angela Barrett “Yeah, well, well, there is a lot of interesting, history down in Charleston. And there is, from what I’m told, a lot of, paranormal activity in Charleston. So, that has to be when you can combine the two. That has to be, a great, I would say, job, career, great business. Because it is it’s it’s one of those fun things if you’re from South Carolina, if you’re from Charleston, you got to at least do that.”

Angela Barrett “The ghost, and the carriage ride, the ghost walks and. Right, right. Absolutely. So tell me.”

Patricia Goron It is a lot of fun.

Angela Barrett Yeah.

Patricia Goron So tell me the ones that don’t work.

Angela Barrett “Yeah, absolutely. And Gilda tours seven days a week.”

Patricia Goron “You know, we were at their fun day for the Holy Ghost.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, that’s for that ghost. That’s right. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.”

Patricia Goron Fred.

Angela Barrett “So you, six days a week, you do ghost tours, you can go on your website. I think it’s ghost walk now, that is.”

Patricia Goron Do you know.

Angela Barrett “And sign up for tours now? These tours, how many do you take at one time?”

Patricia Goron “Well, we can legally you you can only take 20 people per tour. And usually we have anywhere from 12 and under that want to go and on the weekends and you know tourist season like June, July and August when it is busy. Everyone has 20 people on the tour but we do offer private tours. If you wanted to take a smaller group out, you can do that and not go with the public, right?”

Angela Barrett “So,”

Angela Barrett The history tours during the day. Tell me a little bit about that. And where are you going?

Patricia Goron “Well, we do two of them a day in the morning, like 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and I take you wherever you want to go on the tour. And I’ve been I grew up here and I don’t really know the history and what I think is very interesting is what I tell the people, and they really have a good time.”

Patricia Goron “Usually they’re quite a few people that I know that still live in the area, and they’ll see me come in. And my friend that feature, they trust that you want to come out. Y’all come on in and have some, wine and cheese and I’ll like. Well, sure. And we’ll go and visit somebody and then we’ll continue the tour.”

Patricia Goron “But we take you, we start at Tommy Condon’s where the. That’s where the tour begins. And it’s one block from the city market. And it’s about a mile and a half to two miles just to put it in. And it takes a good two hours. And we end up going to the battery where everybody, White Point Gardens, it’s a beautiful place and we weave in and out of the street going south to get to the battery.”

Patricia Goron “And when we get to the battery, when we come back, we weave in and out. So we go down multiple three and it’s just a fun time. And I try to keep within the shade and away from noise in the big street. And we did go through, one secret passageway that no one knows about except for me.”

Patricia Goron It’s really a cool little thing. People don’t want to leave that section.

Angela Barrett “And so you see the tours during the day there, about two hours long. What about the ghost tours? How long were those? I’ve got this.”

Patricia Goron “Well, it is designed to last to one hour and you get about 6 to 8 stories. However, 99% of the time everybody wants it to go a little bit longer because strange things happen. Sure, they know it. Usually I’ll go over anywhere from ten minutes, sometimes 30, but that, you know, that we went up on the parking garage on that one.”

Angela Barrett Yeah. So it.

Patricia Goron Made it prominent.

Angela Barrett Right. So would you say that was probably the strangest thing that you’ve ever had happen on one of these tours? Or can you think of the owner owner? Give me some examples. Yeah.

Patricia Goron “Well, I’ve given many tours and, Demi Lovato, she think heart attack. They were here with Sam and Cal and Randy, and then what’s the name of the house? God. America’s got talent. It they were here. And, farming. Cal called in a private tour beforehand. It ended up being me, Demi Lovato, her bodyguard, her hairdresser, and her best friend.”

Patricia Goron “And when they would go private, you know, and we had the same birthday. I don’t know why kind of the weather wasn’t that great, right? Either way. And it was a totally different tour than the public because we went inside of homes. But we did go to where everyone goes. What is the circular Congregational Church? Yeah. And we get there and I’m telling them everything about, you know, the goal, then everything.”

Patricia Goron “And she just up and said, if anyone is here, give us a sign. Everywhere. The light went out over the whole entire graveyard.”

Angela Barrett Are you kidding?

Patricia Goron “No. And within 30s this huge black SUV, we could hear it coming. And it did a 360 in the parking lot. They threw us in this big SUV, and we took off.”

Angela Barrett

Patricia Goron “And her bodyguard, he said I did not see anyone. How anyone could have done that. I mean, they had people in the parking garage watching us. Sure. He had bodyguards and it was quiet. I was like, that has never happened. So.”

Angela Barrett “Well, that pretty cool. You had the whole experience. I mean.”

Patricia Goron “Yeah, and yeah, I had Andy Warhol, great nephew on the tour. And two years ago and I showed a picture and I said it was taken right here in the white where it was taken, started blinking on and off. And I started talking to it, asking it yes, no question, saying blink once or twice or no. And it did.”

Patricia Goron “And I’m just I don’t understand that. I don’t think it’s an electrical issue. Right. Glass not mature. I had the people at the same spot and I said whenever I blew that picture up, the lights started blinking on that particular tour. And when I blew the picture up and said that the light was off and it turned on.”

Patricia Goron And yeah.

Angela Barrett It’s a pretty.

Patricia Goron Picture.

Angela Barrett “So how did that I mean, other than getting, just kind of growing up working, you know, down there near the tour guides and things. How did you get interested in the ghost part?”

Patricia Goron “I was forced to do it. I never wanted to do it. And I’d say, you’re the best tour guide. I know they would love your ghost tour. I’m like, I don’t want to tell, but don’t worry, that’s too hard. And I started telling them and it was. It’s the getting a ghost tour. Telling the story is extremely hard.”

Patricia Goron “You have to keep people’s attention span, you know, and you’re you’re it’s very hard. Right. And I did a great job at it. And after doing it, but so many years at people were saying, you’ve been out here your whole life. I think they go kind of like you and they want to perform for you. Maybe that. Yeah, I don’t know.”

Patricia Goron “But many things that happen that I don’t have to tell book stories anymore. And I’m very happy because people can go get a book and read them tours or. Yeah, people offer tours, book tours, you know, and you can read the book.”

Angela Barrett That’s right.

Patricia Goron Something different and new. Now that’s what I did.

Angela Barrett “So tell me and I’m going to mutilate this name. Miss Virginia, is it Garrity? Garrity? Okay. Yeah, I would have me like that. And she wrote a book. And tell me about that book.”

Patricia Goron “Well, he’s written. Well, I know he he wrote gala for unknown.”

Angela Barrett Right.

Patricia Goron “And he has a go at dictionary, and he was my librarian and school. I would study hall. I’d stay with Miss Garrity the whole time. Everybody loved their seats from, Well, Manuel, young and well, while she lived here, and she spoke the Gallo language.”

Angela Barrett That is very hard.

Patricia Goron “If you grow up here, it’s not a problem. But. Yeah, well, I don’t know that I’m fluent in Goa, and, Yeah. So there you go with that.”

Angela Barrett Yeah. So a lot of people don’t know what Gullah is. So tell I got that.

Patricia Goron “Well, it’s a it’s a actually an accent. It’s a language. Right. African Americans, when they came here, it’s it’s like it’s just an accent. It is English. Yes, but, oh. Ma in means woman or man and it phrases like up the. When the means open the window. Great. Good means. Oh, Lord. Right there. Did. Yeah.”

Patricia Goron “It’s it’s it’s an accent, really. And there’s pizza as well. And it’s pretty much the same thing. Right. Guy was just flying. More flying, I would say.”

Angela Barrett “So if anybody has ever had anyone read Baraka that Berber in the way it was originally written, which would be get Gullah down, right. Yeah. And if you it it’s very and it’s a it’s but it’s fast talking. So like you and I are very southern so we’re slow talkers, but when I have heard people who still speak, Gullah or Geechee, it’s it’s a fast, very fast form and you have to listen really hard.”

Angela Barrett Or at least I did.

Patricia Goron “Yeah. It is a. Well, I want to say it. You too fast so that you can be better.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah. Right. Right, right.”

Patricia Goron “If you don’t understand it, you’ll think it’s there.”

Angela Barrett “Yeah, maybe. Maybe that’s it. I just wasn’t understanding. But I had a teacher once who, could speak it as well, and she was fluent, and she would always read us, you know, the stories, in that language. And you. I mean, you couldn’t help. Oh, yes. Be enthralled in it, but. Yes. Yeah. All right, so tell me, buddy, how to get in touch with you.”

Angela Barrett “And, Oh. And you need to sign up for tour.”

Patricia Goron “Okay, you can go on the internet and type in, go to Dot net or Ghost Walk. Dot a I we are, in that mode, too. Okay. And you can click to call or you can call us directly at eight, four, three, 7208687. And that spells tour. Yeah. And there are a lot of the older tour companies.”

Patricia Goron “Bob. He oh you are or they’re on last four digits okay. And. Yeah. And the area code for Charleston is 843. So make sure you know that when you’re book and tour you don’t want to book a tour that’s from some other state. You make sure you get it up, get a local when you do your tour in Charleston.”

Patricia Goron Right. You he lived here.

Angela Barrett And you got a Facebook page.

Patricia Goron Right? Yeah.

Angela Barrett “And people can go online and kind of get an idea is, guy smoke Charleston is the Facebook page. Yeah. And again, like you said, people should probably pay attention to their getting for their tours, make sure they’re licensed and, at least, you know, like yourself grew up there, and you’re gonna know a lot more than anybody else.”

Angela Barrett So.

Patricia Goron “Yeah, they should avoid what you need to avoid and, give me a when you do Google anything, the first thing is it pop up are sponsored ads, and those are the people who are trying to get ahead of the good guys.”

Angela Barrett Yeah. And the one I’ve been doing a.

Patricia Goron Little good garage. Right. So cause we don’t I don’t partake in Google AdWords because it is a lot of money and I don’t want to up my price to compensate for that. And that’s exactly what’s going on.

Angela Barrett “Sure, sure.”

Patricia Goron “And also, you see like TripAdvisor, if you did TripAdvisor, just go to the company itself and directly book from the company and not TripAdvisor.”

Angela Barrett “So yes, I gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Well, thanks for all that advice and thanks for the stories. I’m going to have to come up there and, take one of your tours and see if I take tops.”

Patricia Goron “Guys, we got one that night at 830. If you want to go that well.”

Angela Barrett “It’s a little far drive for me right now, but I’ll call you when, I’m. I am that way. It won’t be long, I’m sure.”

Patricia Goron “Yeah, definitely. Do you have a good time? I promise you that. Absolutely something. Great.”

Angela Barrett “That’s right. Well, thank you so much. And I appreciate you being with us today.”

Patricia Goron All right. Thank you.

Angela Barrett All right.