HOUSTON — A city as old as Houston has plenty of history and with history comes mystery.
"A ghost story is what you believe," said Curtis Barber, the lead Texas guide for Nightly Spirits, a haunted bar crawl experience.
It kicks off at 305 Travis, where Duke Shapiro opened his tailor shop almost 100 years ago.
"It’s still open today and run by his son Mike Shapiro," Barber said.
Along with the tailor shop, the building houses Char Bar, but no ghosts. At least, not yet.
"Mike has said that he plans on fully haunting it afterward because he has such a great time here," laughed Barber.
Around the corner at Dean’s Downtown, the oldest elevator in Texas helped customers access different levels of what was at one time a clothing store and, during Prohibition, a speakeasy. The story goes the elevator operator is still there and sometimes gets frustrated by guests who don’t know the password.
"I would say this is one of the places on the tour that gets the most actual experience, both photographic evidence and physical evidence of people inside," Barber said.
Just a block away, Hotel Icon embraces its building’s history. It used to be the Union National Bank of Houston. It's where money was stored, bills were printed and some bankers lost their lives.
"When Black Friday happened and the stock market crashed, a lot of bankers couldn’t deal with that," said Barber, explaining why their spirits linger.
He added that other spirits like to frequent McIntyre’s Downtown, what used to be a produce warehouse, Southern Railroad offices, a pharmacy and the Spaghetti Warehouse.
"In addition to being a staple and a historical site for Houston, it’s also been the site of some interesting ghost activity," Barber said.
His tour also covers the haunted history of The Rice Lofts, Magnolia Brewery and more for the believers and the skeptics.
"The thing you are definitely going to see on our tour is spirits … of the liquid kind," said Barber.
For more information about Nightly Spirits tours, click here.