* Warning: don't expect to find the ghost tales here. That's what the tour is for, and I'm no substitute for Donnamarie.

Each year thousands of visitors descend upon the small southwest Virginia town of Abingdon during the Virginia Highlands Festival for the best performing arts, fine arts, crafts, music and other festival events in the region. By mid-August most of these visitors are gone. Of course, some folks like Abingdon so much that they never leave --- and those are the people that "Haint Mistress" Donnamarie Emmert can tell you all about on the Abingdon Spirit Tour.

Lasting right at two hours and covering about a mile, the tour around historic downtown Abingdon is part entertainment, part history as Emmert spins an enthralling web with her tales of ghosts and the supernatural. The stories range from gruesome to sad, from broadly humorous to the kind of tale that makes your jaw drop in wonder, all told by an expert storyteller. Emmert has a Master's degree in Education and also performs as a storyteller at libraries and festivals, specializing in humorous Appalachian folk tales and, naturally, ghost stories.

After meeting at 153 West Main Street Booksellers & Gallery, Emmert leads her group down Main Street, stopping across the street to tell a few tantalizing tales of the Martha Washington Inn before recommending the Martha's tour by guide Pete Sheffey. The tales get fully underway with a stop at the Washington County News building. Emmert offered several eerie stories of ghostly encounters in the building between reporters and...well, something beyond our normal perceptions, let's say. I particularly enjoyed the story of the poor, harrassed reporter, inevitably working late, all alone in the building who heard his name whispered by a disembodied something. Yes, perhaps it is a case of identifying with the victim. I can certainly imagine that happening to me.

The tour heads down Plumb Alley next and Emmert knows each house, each nook and cranny like the back of her hand. She's able to amiably discuss 19th century gossip like it happened yesterday. The neighborly feel of the tour is amplified by the fact that several neighbors and owners of the houses actually come out to chat with the group and discuss some of the paranormal goings-on they have witnessed or heard about from others --- a definite treat. Their "testimony," if you will, seems to confirm the stories Emmert tells, and adds authenticity to the tour.

One of the most interesting parts of the tour was stepping up to the old wooden building and fencing surrounding the deep black cave which formed the lair from whence a pack of wolves emerged to attack Daniel Boone's dogs in 1760, giving Abingdon its original name of "Wolf Hills." (Yes, I'm a history nerd.) According to Emmert, when she gave her tour to a group of parapsychologists they found this spot particularly interesting and told her that limestone caverns, such as this --- such as all of Abingdon is built upon --- are particularly apt to trap and hold psychic energy. Could this explain the high incidence of paranormal activity in Abingdon? I have to admit that the temperature seemed cooler around the cave and I felt a chill, but it could have been the shade of the trees --- couldn't it?

Not one but two houses were built above that cave, including the Cave House, and people in both houses have told tales of strange happenings, from spinning chandeliers to loud footsteps, tapping, and other strange sounds, as well as the feeling of being followed and watched. And years ago, when the Cave House was a boarding house for actors at the Barter, there's even a tale that something frightened a famous young actor right out of the house one night.

Down the street from the Cave House is the oldest, and according to Emmert, the most haunted building in Abingdon. The Tavern dates from 1779 and Emmert says that it's packed from the rafters to the cellar with ghosts. In Emmert's words, The Tavern is "corrupt" with ghosts. Foremost among the resident ghosts is "The Tavern Tart," a young prostitute murdered at The Tavern by a client. Emmert says the Tart still has an eye for men and loves to, ahem, pinch or grab a man's backside. She'll also watch out the window and stare at men as they cross the street. But she's a vindictive, jealous spirit and there are certain women she doesn't like. (Sorry ladies: you'll have to take the tour to find out if you qualify.) And there are many other ghosts at The Tavern. Emmert recommends a visit to The Tavern for a good meal and a nice chat with the wait staff about their own encounters.

As we walk up Main Street again Emmert keeps telling us to notice the layout of the street. Finally near Barter Green, Emmert begins a harrowing tale of the Civil War and vengeance, a soldier named James Wyatt, and a cold December midnight when a young man was shot in the back and fell from his horse. I won't spoil the story for you, but I wonder if there is any more spine-tingling image than that of a ghostly riderless horse materializing from the mist, his rider never coming back?

If you haven't taken Emmert's Spirit Tour, by all means, make a reservation at once. The tour is definitely a must-see in Abingdon. The stories are well-told and well-researched, and if you are at all inclined toward the supernatural, this tour will delight you. If you are a skeptic, you should still enjoy the history told during the tour. Emmert doesn't preach, but tells her stories with a pleasant "what if it's true" attitude, and she didn't seem to mind questions.

It is an unseasonably cool, moonless night in this historic Blue Ridge Mountain town, a good evening for a ghost tour in this old place that seems to have more than a healthy share.

I am being urged by my guide to step behind the Cave House to inspect the spot where a pack of wolves emerged to attack Daniel Boone's dogs in 1760. The 1858 building that houses the Holston Mountain Arts and Crafts Cooperative [The Cave House] was built over the limestone cave that was the wolves' lair. There are no wolves there now, of course, but still the hairs on my neck stand up when I peer into what seems to be a bottomless black hole.

"Maybe it would be better to come here in the day time," suggests storyteller Donnamarie Emmert , and I readily agree. Back on the better-lighted sidewalk, Emmert continues our trek in search of the supernatural. It is a perfect way to learn about the story of the downtown district and maybe encounter a ghost along the way.

On one cobblestoned corner, we stop to hear the tale of a slain Civil War soldier whose rideless horse can be seen, we're told, on certain moonlit nights.

Up the hill we go into the dimly lit Tavern, a 1779 building that has served as a frontier waterig hole, a Civil War hospital, a brothel and now operates as a pub and restaurant.

Lowering her voice to a whisper, Emmert recounts the story of a young prostitute who was stabbed to death on the second floor and who was apparently jealous of any woman with long dark hair. A female bartender quit her job abruptly one night, Emmert informs us, when the glasses above the bar began hurtling toward her.