Malta’s old cities have so many stories to tell. If you’re not easily spooked, join a tour to hear the stories from the ghost’s mouth. Ronald Cassar does some ghost hunting.

Television shows like Ghost Hunters and Most Haunted have compounded our fascination with paranormal activity. However, even though these series have stirred additional interest, our intrigue with ghosts is centuries old.

Tales of spooky houses, kind and vengeful ghosts haunt history books. Every culture has an army of ghosts and literature has always loved a good phantom.

Most cities have at least one ghost tour company to guide visitors through haunted streets. Ghost tourism seems to be especially popular in areas that have experienced historic upheavals; places where architecture connects the present to the past and to catastrophic human suffering. Believers say ghosts can be spotted anywhere from homes to prisons and to public squares.

Malta has a rich history, a fact which is often overlooked, with minimal effort given to vary the way in which we present our history.

One company tapping into this opportunity is Colour My Travel, which was founded in 2013 with the sole aim of organising local tours based on Maltese history but with an entertaining twist to keep those attending interested and asking for more.

“Colour my Travel was started by Innovogy Ltd, which is specialised in high-end ICT research and development,” Dylan Seychell, founder and CEO, says.

“Since 2010, Innovogy Ltd had specialised in mobile applications, winning two prestigious European awards from the European Space Agency and the Seal of E-Excellence CeBit conference in Germany.

There is even a story about a grandmaster who reportedly died of a heart attack, aged 92, while in bed. Obviously, he wasn’t alone

“These awards were won with an augmented reality application that guides tourists around cities through their mobile devices.

“This application was then deployed in Rome, Sicily and also in Malta. The knowledge acquired in the development of these applications served as a motivator for us to start Colour my Travel,” Seychell says.

The first Valletta Walking Tour was designed and tested internally with the team from Innovogy. The testing criterion was clear: if these tours are entertaining enough for a team of software developers and engineers, they must be really entertaining for the public.

“In the first months, we struggled to redefine the notion of a walking tour by significantly reducing the normal duration of a walking tour from four hours down to a mere 90 minutes,” Seychell says.

“Furthermore, the challenge was that in these 90 minutes, guests have to be shown the best sites of Valletta while telling them stories they find interesting.”

In the past two years, the major success of Colour my Travel was the systematic way it redefined the idea of organising ghost tours in Malta.

The first ghost tour was organised in Valletta and included a selection of little-known ghost and paranormal stories. This was also an experiment for Colour my Travel to start researching products on dark tourism.

This tour is also a social experience since the price includes a complimentary drink after the tour, where guests can get to know each other and share experiences.

Seychell says that they received very good feedback from the Valletta Ghost Tour and this encouraged them to launch the Mdina Ghost Tour. Starting in Mdina, this tour then gives visitors the chance to visit sites on the outskirts of the old city that are linked to dark stories and episodes in our history.

Another tour that is gaining popularity features stories about illegitimate children of knights and grandmasters who ended up in jail on their way to power, and other grandmasters who left the vow of chastity under the carpet.

There is even a story about a grandmaster who reportedly died of a heart attack, aged 92, while in bed. Obviously, he wasn’t alone.

“This tour was later branded as the Sins in the City Tour around Valletta. The feedback we are receiving about this tour is very positive and it is attracting an encouraging number of young people,” claims Seychell.

“This winter months, we are working on projects that will further enhance the retelling of Malta’s history and hopefully encourage more people to experience these specialised tours.”

Walking with ghosts

Valletta Free Walking Tour

• A 90-minute introductory tour, ideal for first-time visitors to Valletta, but full of interesting stories that previous visitors very often have not heard before. The tour is donation based. At the end of the tour it is up to the visitors if they want to tip the guide. This is actually advantageous to those attending as the guide has to put in an effort to receive good tips, thus the standard is always high.

Complete Valletta Tour

• As the name suggests, this tour visits various locations in Valletta. It is three hours long (with a short break in the middle), thus enabling visitors to learn about the city in more detail. Visitors also tour areas that are outside the main touristic sites but which still have an interesting story to tell.

Vittoriosa Tour and Mdina Tour

• These are mainly intended for sightseers but have the same usual mix of interesting and little-known facts to keep the tours as interesting as possible.

Surviving World War II

• This is a special-themed tour about Malta during the war. Walking around the streets of Valletta and visiting the newly-refurbished National War Museum, the tour aims to bring to light the sacrifice and hardships that the population of Malta went through. The tour gives a complete picture from both military and civilian aspect.

Sins in the City Tour

• While entertaining, this tour is also based on research and facts. The tour reveals the scandalous lifestyle that various knights and grandmasters of the Order of St John led.

Valletta Ghost Tour

• This tour gives visitors the opportunity to see Valletta at night while listening to a selection of spooky stories. There is also the chance to have a chat about personal paranormal experiences or stories over a complimentary drink offered after the tour in one of the local establishments.

Mdina Ghost Tour

• This is the latest addition and has been very well received. This tour also includes transport, taking those attending to a number of sites situated in the countryside around Mdina at night, adding to the atmosphere and experience of this tour.