The street lights illuminate the recently fallen night as a comedian pitches crass jokes to an audience on the open stage of the Palace Theater — his routine only occasionally interrupted by the revving of car engines. Next door, in front of the Carnegie History Center, a small crowd of people gather in front of a table decorated in macabre items and strange devices, boasting the banner of “Bryan Ghost Tours.” As the clock slowly approaches 8:30 p.m., a woman in gothic attire steps out from behind the table — the tour is about to begin.

Despite the seemingly normal atmosphere of Downtown Bryan, many curious locals and tourists alike look to their haunted tour guides, Dhalia ‘13 and Amber Dorsey, who check them off the guest list and provide them with interactive ghost detection devices — electromagnetic field meters and dowsing rods. They announce to all attendees the nature of the tour — a simple, historical tour with ghost-hunting elements sprinkled in at each spot — something meant to inform, not frighten.

Since 2021, Bryan Ghost Tours has offered educational and historical walking tours every fall. Students and locals fill up their availability year after year, eager to learn more about Bryan’s history and perhaps witness a ghostly phenomenon. Dorsey said she started the tours because of her previous job experience conducting ghost tours in Houston, and also because of the presence of ghosts she sensed residing in Downtown Bryan.

“Before Bryan Ghost Walk, I was working with Houston Ghost Tours … and I absolutely fell in love with it,” Dorsey said. “When me and my husband decided we needed to move to Bryan, I kept going downtown and thinking, ‘There’s something about downtown, I can just feel it.’ So I sat down and started doing the research and thought, ‘Yep, I’m gonna bring ghost tours to Bryan.’”

As Dhalia prepares to lead guests on the tour, she packs up a variety of ghost-hunting devices and gives a run down on their uses and the science behind them. The majority of tour guests receive an electromagnetic field, or EMF, meter — a device meant to detect spectral presences through electrical activity. Two guests at a time are allowed to wield dowsing rods, two L-shaped metal poles that have historically been used to find water sources, but are also used to allow spirits to communicate by swinging open or crossing for ‘yes or no’ questions. Lastly, there are two devices reserved for the tour guides to use: a light-up motion detector to pick up on any unseen movement and a spirit box — a device that allows snippets of sentences and words to be heard from ghosts.

At first, Dorsey was the only one conducting the tours, until she brought on Dhalia, a ghost enthusiast who joined the team after going on one of the tours herself. While Dhalia has admitted to not being very attuned to spirits herself, her curiosity about the nature of ghosts brings her back as a guide year after year.

“I’m glad I took this opportunity because this is something I find interesting, even though I’m not sensitive,” Dhalia said. “I’ve done this too many times where now I know, there is definitely [ghostly] stuff here.”

As the tour begins, Dhalia displays historical images of Bryan’s founding days as a small railroad town, showcasing important historical figures in its founding and detailing how an outbreak of yellow fever in Milligan contributed to the growth of Bryan in the 1800s. All of the background research for the information in the tour was done by Dorsey, but Dhalia has attempted to learn the art of making the information digestible and fun.

“I just try to make it as entertaining as possible since it is history and you can only do so much,” Dhalia said. “This stuff is interesting so I do what I can to make it entertaining.”

As the section of historical content for Downtown Bryan and Carnegie History Center finishes up, guests are encouraged to bring out their EMF meters, providing a level of interactivity. 

As the group moves from the Carnegie History Center and crosses the street, Dhalia directs people to the front of a local music store, explaining the story of a ghost of a young girl named Wendy who is known to haunt this location. Dorsey does not treat this as a gruesome or creepy occurrence; instead, she uses this to set the tone for how ghosts are to be perceived during the tour — just like people, who have likes, dislikes, personalities and questions. 

“They are just dead people, and they want to talk,” Dorsey said. “Wendy is one of my favorites. … She was often the most interactive with me, and she was my best friend on tour. She got to the point of doing everything I asked her to with the equipment, when I asked her questions, she would come through the spirit box and answer them, and she really likes it when you play tag, even if we can’t see it.”

After firing up their EMF meters and taking pictures at the music store, the group moves to stop in front of a chocolate shop, with Dhalia explaining that many years ago, Officer Hearn — a well-liked lawman of the 1800s — met his unfortunate death in front of its doors. Just like before, the group is encouraged to watch their EMF meters before two guests are brought forward to communicate with the spirit using their dowsing rods. 

The rest of the tour proceeds in a similar fashion, with the group gathering in front of different buildings, learning both some historical data and the ghost’s background before attempting to communicate with the spirits. Dorsey spent a lot of time locating, investigating and identifying the different spirits, which she said is a lot more complicated than simply asking for its name through a spirit box.

“When I first started doing research, I went around to a lot of the local shops and was just reaching out to owners and asked, ‘Hey do you have any activity?’” Dorsey said. “ … Then I would go back to my own research and start looking in different eras of time to see if anything matched with their stories.”

Naturally, there can be skepticism toward the existence of ghosts and the methods of contacting them, and, according to Dorsey, there can be large differences of opinion among believers. She encourages attendees and skeptics alike to try and change their frame of mind when approaching the subject.

“If you’re open to it, you’re open to it,” Dorsey said. “If you look hard enough, you’re going to find things. … We have equipment, we have stuff that will give us the answers, but unfortunately, scientifically, there’s no way to physically prove spirits … you can photograph it, you can record it, but there’s always going to be skeptics.”

As the tour came to a close, looping back to where it began, attendees turn in their equipment and talk amongst themselves about their thoughts on the experience. One guest, Lauren Hurless, voiced her closing opinions on the entire tour.

“I thought it was amazing,” Hurless said. “I liked the interactive parts, I liked the history and I liked finding out more about the town we live in … I would recommend it even if you’re not interested in the paranormal, it’s just a fun tour.”