Ghost Walk in the Carolinas: Ocean Isle Beach Date

For this year's beach date, J and K hopped an island or so over on the Brunswick coast, leaving Holden Beach for a short time at Ocean Isle Beach.  The main attraction?  Ocean Isle Beach Ghost Walk, a summer activity available two evenings a week at present.

OIB Ghost Walk is a small operation with owner-storytellers who recount ghostly experiences had by individuals they've met personally.  The owners are also educators by day, so they carefully analyze the stories as they craft them from sources for recounting on the tour.  This gives the tour a special first-hand feel and an openness to questions, discussions, and deeper connections to local history that's not characteristic of all ghost walks.  Quite honestly, we really admired them for their zeal for their community and their scholarship.  Our favorite tales included connections to WWII submarines off the North Carolina coast and an absolutely fascinating story from Hickory Hall Mansion in Calabash.  The tour is also a great deal--just $10 per person, and a small book of stories is also available for purchase.  What's this?  Clearly, it's part of a non-existent military training mission. Take the tour to learn more.

Ocean Isle itself was a pleasant visit.  The character of the beach put us in the mind of Wrightsville--a little more bustling than Holden but not approaching Myrtle in its busy-ness.  On the tour, you'll be outside--and you'll get to step a bit on both sand and streets.  Dress comfortably.  There are no gimmicky sound effects and no visually scary moments; this is a fine tour for interested older kids. You'll meet the walk very near the place that emergency vehicles can enter the beach near the pier just over the bridge on the island.  We arrived early, and we asked some local business folks if we were at the right place--they didn't know, but we were.  Then, the tour operators reassuringly arrived in OIB Ghost Walk T-shirts.

If you go, consider also visiting the Museum of Coastal Carolina, a history/science museum started by local volunteers that has evolved into a facility broader in scope than most similar local museums. We haven't been yet, but there's at least one story from the museum on the ghost walk, so visiting would tie nicely to the ghost walk experience.  The museum is very near the pier where you can meet your ghost walk crew, as are several beachwear/surf wear shops, restaurants, and a well-tended modest putt-putt course. We ate at Provision Company, famous for bad parking, good food and great views, before leaving Holden.  "Pro Co" is a fine place with kids, but the atmosphere is currently lost on our young ones, so we find it better for a date.