JSH’S KY: Buffalo Trace has ghosts,
and now they have a ghost tour too

By Jeffrey Scott Holland
KyForward contributor

Traditionally, October is the season for launching “ghost tours”, in which self-styled paranormal investigators wave their gaussmeters in the air and comment significantly about having felt a cold spot in the room. But Frankfort distillery Buffalo Trace has launched their own ghost tour now, well after Halloween.

What’s the occasion? Well, they’ve just had the honor of being featured on the Syfy network’s Ghost Hunters show. Kentucky, despite being home to many highly-regarded haunt sites, according to the show’s two lead investigators, Jason and Grant, Buffalo Trace was one of the few locations in which all of their crew had a “paranormal experience.”

I missed the show myself (I am one of those annoying “I don’t have a television” people) but hey, who wants to watch it on a little box when you can go check out the real thing? The Buffalo Trace distillery has always offered exciting tours – the Trace Tour (learn the history of the distillery and the men who founded it), the Hard Hat Tour (takes you behind the scenes of the bourbon making), and the Post Prohibition Tour (examines the distillery’s architectural expansion from 1930-1950) – and now they’ve added the Ghost Tour to their lineup. It allows you to follow the same path that the Syfy channel crew took as they filmed their show and takes you on very rarely-seen parts of the property.

It is widely believed – among those who tend to believe such things – that the ghost of Colonel Albert Bacon Blanton (1881-1959) still walks the premises. Blanton, as you may know, is the namesake of the hugely popular Blanton’s luxury single-barrel bourbon. Blanton began began his career at the distillery offices in 1897 and was such an effective employee that within four years, he’d been appointed superintendent. Twenty years later, he was made president. If, in fact, the Colonel does haunt the place, I do hope he is pleased with how far the noble craft of distilling has come since his time.

The Ghost Tour runs Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. each evening. (The only exceptions I’m currently aware of: there will be no tour on Thanksgiving evening, November 24th, nor on December 1st, nor Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.) Admission to the tours is totally free, but reservations are required – call 1-800-654-8471 or email href="mailto:"giftshop@buffalotrace.com">giftshop@buffalotrace.com.

Children are welcome, as long as those under 18 are accompanied by an adult.

Elizabeth Hurst, who manages Buffalo Trace’s visitor center, said: “We’re really excited to be able to offer this new tour to complement our other three tour offerings. In addition to our Trace Tour, Hard Hat Tour, and Post Prohibition Tour, we now have a Ghost Tour that will undoubtedly appeal to a whole different audience. We’re hoping it will really increase visitation to this region in Kentucky.”

And, need I point out, the best thing about any distillery tour — bourbon tasting — concludes the event?

Jeffrey Scott Holland is a native Kentuckian, painter, writer, actor, musician, paralegal – and interested in all things. He joins a growing stable of talented, interesting regular columnists for KyForward.com, bringing his gift of a well-turned phrase, quirkiness and humor to entertain and enlighten — and sometimes provoke — our readers. He can always be reached at any time, by anyone on the planet, at jshpaint@gmail.com.

Photo from Buffalo Trace.