Given its history and its haunts, Boerne is the perfect place for a ghost-hunting tour.
And that’s exactly what Boerne Ghost Tours by DeVino Cellars wants to do — provide an up-close look at the paranormal with a little help from some very much alive actors.
Luke Kersh, owner of Devino Cellars, thought a place as steeped in lore as Boerne might have “some stories to tell,” he said, based on his experience with tours in Fredericksburg and New Orleans.
“My wife and I travel around a bit. We go on historic tours, one of our frequent spots (is) in New Orleans,” Kersh said. “New Orleans has so many tours, they are just something we’ve always enjoyed.”
Then, he thought, “We don’t have anything in Boerne like that.”
Kersh said he contacted Donna Provencher, whom he’d met through the Boerne Community Theatre.
The theater staged several “murder mystery” events at DeVino in which the audience interacted with a troupe of actors to solve a homicide.
“We first started talking about this in March,” said Provencher, an actor in, and director of, several BCT plays over the years.
“Luke had this idea; he really wanted to host stories being told locally,” she said. “He said, ‘I’ve got a proposition for you.’” The two exchanged ideas and gathered ghost stories shared by residents.
Kersh turned the collected tales of terror over to Provencher, who knows a thing or two about scripts and writing, as well as being a part of an acting group that could lead a tour.
“I wanted it to be authentic,” Kersh said. “You want them to be theatrical, stage oriented; get some people together that can be theatrical and put on a show.”
The tour includes stops at the old Kendall County Jail, The Dienger, Tusculum Brewing and others in the older, more established section of town.
“There’ a lot of stuff like that in Boerne and no one’s doing it,” Kersh said. “Our only hurdle was, how do you take this and turn this into a reality?”
Boerne Ghost Tours by DeVino Cellars kicks off at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 at DeVino’s new location, 112 E. San Antonio Ave.
Tickets — available at eventbrite.com — range from $28 for students to $45 for adults for the 90-minute tour.
Saturdays through October currently are available, as are the first two Saturdays in November.
“What’s not fun about ghost stories? We’ve been telling them to each other since we were kids,” Kersh said.
“What’s not fun about ghost stories? We’ve been telling them to each other since we were kids.”
— Luke Kersh, ‘Boerne Ghost Tours’ sponsor
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