Ghost Tours of Kansas is a business owned and operated by Cathy Ramirez, a native of North Topeka.  This year marks her eighth year running the ghost tours business.

A ghost tour event consists of loading people onto a bus or trolley which then proceeds around a designated area.  The tour will make 10 to 12 stops per tour where the guide tells stories of the haunting at each location.

Each tour will also have one to two  areas where the vehicle is unloaded for the passengers to take photos and possibly have their own hands on experience.

Ghost Tours of Kansas also offers a Psychic Fun and Feast which includes a dinner in a haunted restaurant, history and ghost story presentation.  The night is then topped off with personalized psychic readings for each guest by Topeka psychics Lena Townsend or Jo Flowers.

Tickets for bus tours typically run $17 per person during the off season, November to September, and $20 per person during the peak season in October.

Everyday-Legacy Paranormal from Wichita and Kansas Paranormal Research Society of Topeka are responsible for the majority of the investigations that contribute to Ghost Tours.

“When Cathy hears about a business having activity and wants to be included on the tours, she usually sends a team within that region to go and investigate,” said  Renee Solis, an assistant case manager and investigator at Everyday-Legacy Paranormal. “When everything comes together on the tour, it has the history, the ghost stories from witness or employees of the company but also personal experiences investigators had at that location.”

Ghost Tours currently does tours of Holton, Leavenworth, Manhattan, Atchison, Wichita, Abilene, Lawrence, St. Joseph Missouri and three separate Topeka tours: West, North and Downtown.  By 2013, Ramirez is hoping to add Dodge City, Kansas City, Shawnee and Emporia to the list.

“Each tour is different and tailored to the exciting history and haunts that are featured,” said Lena Townsend, owner of Peaceful Whispers business and registered metaphysical practitioner.  “A perfect example is the Abilene tour, it offers an old west feel and guests get to carry lanterns while on the tour to really take them back to that old west feel.”

Ramirez has six different speaking engagements scheduled at various libraries in Topeka and the surrounding area in October.

“I attended Rochester Grade School and was always on the lookout for the Albino Lady,” said Ramirez. “I suppose that is what peaked my interest in ghosts.”

Ramirez’s interest in the Albino Lady and other ghost stories continued as she started going door to door to businesses and public places to collect, compare and research stories. Her goal was to find the history as to why a ghost would dwell on such places.

“Fire, suicide, murder, love triangle, drowning, any number of events. Eventually I joined up with ghost hunters to help confirm stories. Putting Ghost Stories, history and evidence together makes for one great tour.”

Ramirez has recently written a book titled “Where’s the Ghost?” which chronicles the challenges and successes she has faced being a ghost hunter and starting the Ghost Tours of Kansas.

More information and a full list of tour dates and events can be found at www.ghosttoursofkansas.com as well as links to all of her allies in paranormal investigations.