Contrary to popular belief, haunted ghost tours are not just for Halloween. Susan and Scott Miles, co-owners of Red Stick Adventure Tours, offer year-round ghost tours through some of the most historically haunted sights Baton Rouge has to offer.
The tours run weekly Monday through Saturday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tour guests will hear the urban legends and ghost stories of the area as they ride and walk through the city’s most macabre destinations.
The two-hour bus ride ferries guests up and down the streets of Baton Rouge, stopping in three distinctly haunted areas for passengers to walk around, including grounds that date back to 4500 B.C. Toward the end of the tour, guests will join in a ghost hunt using professional paranormal investigation equipment.
“We have a tremendous amount of interest outside the month of October rather than in the month of October because people are involved in other Halloween events like trunk or treats with churches or costume parties with their friends,” Susan said.
Red Stick Adventure Tours also offers other tours such as swamp tours, city tours and plantation tours.
“Right now the ghost tour is the most popular — second is the swamp tour,” Susan said.
The tours operate rain or shine unless there is severe weather. Susan said the tours are more popular during months when the weather is not too hot.
“I would say in the spring it’s been busier because we haven’t had too hot of a spring yet, but we had people out when it was 20 degrees and practically snowing, too,” Susan said.
Guests can reserve their tour online or over the phone. Guests are recommended to be 18 and over, but all ages are welcome. Passengers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
“I would say our biggest group of people are in their early to mid-twenties to early thirties; that’s our ticket population,” Susan said. “I’ve had as young as 10 and as old as 60.”
Susan said their tours are popular because of the safer, engaging aspect of the attractions.
“One thing that sets us apart from other tours is that guests are safe to walk around in Baton Rouge with me and I can’t say that for other tours like the ones in New Orleans,” Susan said. “We also involve equipment to actually engage and talk to the spirits, and I don’t know of any other tours that do that either.”
Red Stick Adventure Tours allows tourists to travel down the same roads that civil war soldiers, notorious politicians and serial killers once walked. It shows Baton Rouge in a different light, and it gives tourists a historical outlook on the city.
“It’s going to be different than anything else you do in Baton Rouge,” Susan said. “if you are looking for a unique experience that can combine both history and spooky stories and the actual ability to engage spirits, then that’s not something you’re going to find in any other tour here in Baton Rouge.”