Are you brave enough for ghost walk on Delmarva?

• The ghost walks are year-round and are held weekly in Ocean City and Berlin.
• By the end of this year, Chesapeake Ghost Walks will have conducted 130 walks for 10,000 people.
• "We really believe in these ghosts. We're not pretending. We figure the truth is scary enough."

It was an accidental death, one police investigated as a homicide in the 1980s. A mean, nasty drunk was patronizing the basement bar at the Shoreham Hotel on Ocean City's Boardwalk. The drunk began to bother and taunt a young solider who'd just returned from Army training, and eventually the solider punched the drunk — hard. The impact killed him, breaking his neck.

Ever since, there's been an awful presence downstairs at the hotel, and some employees are terrified to go downstairs.

The ghastly tale is one of many shared by writer Mindie Burgoyne on her Ocean City ghost walk.

"People get touched," she says of the Shoreham cellar spirit. "There are cold rushes of air. They do believe it's haunted."

On one tour, it was raining once the group reached the Shoreham. Burgoyne took the tour inside, and the hotel owner was kind enough to let the group into the basement.

Then the lights went out. One guest was so scared she had to be hospitalized.

When one group of paranormal investigators came to investigate the hotel, the leader of the group went into the basement and soon found himself locked down there. He screamed bloody murder for someone to let him out.

Another Shoreham ghost is named Betsey. In the early 1980s, she was trying to get from one room to another by sneaking around the roof. She fell to her death, and her ghost has been known to clean up after seasonal guests. Paranormal investigators also found Betsy's room was a source of mysterious flickering, even after they'd turned off the television and room lights.

"When you have that much human emotion, it leaves an imprint," Burgoyne says. "The veil separating this world and the spirit world kind of wears away. It shifts the energy field."

A real-life haunted house

Burgoyne started leading ghost walks last year, and this year expanded the hobby into a business, with five hired guides and 10 different tour locations.

It all began for her 12 years ago, when she and her husband moved to their home in Marion Station, the Vance Miles House. She says it's haunted by the spirit of a former resident. The spirit activity, like broken mirrors and flying plates, got so terrible they put the house up for sale — at which point, the ghost stopped bothering them.

"I don't think I ever thought about ghosts until we moved in here," she says. "And I was curious, and I'm a writer, so I started collecting stories. People started asking about tours, and it just went from there."

Burgoyne has since opened her haunted home for guests to walk through. She shares tales of crashing sounds, swaying chandeliers, flying plates, breaking mirrors and apparitions of former owner Vance Miles.

Elemental spirits and disturbing content

In her tour of Berlin, she mentions the three ghosts at Adkins Hardware. One is an "elemental," a nonhuman spirit that hangs out between warehouses at night. A witness told Burgoyne he'd seen a shadow emerge from the road and "pulsate" toward the tour group.

She says some people on this leg of the tour feel an overwhelming sense of dread, and strange objects have been known to appear in photos.

Some tours are too scary for kids, including through Princess Anne, because of its disturbing content. One story is of a doctor who tormented children. "It isn't something we're making up. It's something people say really did happen, so it's quite frightening. I really do believe there is a presence in Princess Anne. I wouldn't want my children there. We're talking about gruesome murders."

During one Princess Anne ghost tour, one young woman actually reported feeling the effect of a spirit coming over her, hanging on, as a story was told about lynching. On another, one guest who happened to be taking a lot of photos on her cellphone ended up with a picture of a ghostly figure hanging from a tree.

The Princess Anne tour sells out every time, Burgoyne adds.

Burgoyne this month released a new book, "Haunted Ocean City and Berlin," the first of a three-book series that will include a book on the haunted mid-Shore and one on the haunted Lower Shore.

The ghost walks are year-round. There is one every weekend, though the locations will change, with the exception of Ocean City and Berlin, where tours are available weekly. By the end of this year, Chesapeake Ghost Walks will have conducted about 130 walks for 10,000 people.

"People do like to hear a story," Burgoyne says. "We are not a haunted hayride. There's a certain kind of clientele that wants that kind of theater and drama, and that's not what we do. They will be disappointed if they expect that.

"We really believe in these ghosts. We're not pretending. We figure the truth is scary enough."

bshane@dmg.gannett.com On Twitter: @bwshane

IF YOU GO

Chesapeake Ghost Walks

Where: Locations include Berlin, Ocean City, Pocomoke City, Snow Hill, Princess Anne and Crisfield.

When: Walks begin around 7 p.m.

Cost: Adults $15, kids $9. Advanced registration is recommended.

Online: www.chesapeakeghostwalks.com.