oldest and most haunted thoroughfares, such as Leather Lane and Sweeting Street, before ending at the Pier Head.
The first one, Hope Street Shivers, set
up by former JMU student Alex Stone and her brother John last year, has been an unqualified success earning financial and promotional support from the
Culture Company.
The Halloween Hope Street tour on October 31, for instance, has been so popular that there will be three sell-out tours on one night
with 40 people on each tour.
The latest one will follow a similar format with lots of dark humour and frightening surprises courtesy of costumed extras
along the way.
"I researched the commercial end of the city for about two months before setting this one up - there was so much history it was hard to know
what to edit out," said Alex, who will be the main costumed speaker in Shivers Part Two.
"The stories are more gory than the Hope Street one, and the
atmosphere is amazing going down the sloping cobbled streets, especially when St Nick's church bell gongs - we always tell the audience it's their death
knell! The Pier Head at night also has an extra edge, especially with the landing stage creaking away in tandem with the tide.
"This area of Liverpool
has so much depraved history to offer it seemed rude to ignore it."
To accommodate both tours, the number of costumed acting staff needed to stage them
has doubled to ten, helped by a £5,000 grant from the Culture Company.
"A lot of the people we've taken on are students who have an interest in the
supernatural but they also tend to have a very dark sense of humour, too, which suits us fine," explained Alex, who added that Shiverpool now even has its
own emblem - a red Liver Bird dripping blood which is emblazoned on its T-shirts.
Like the Hope Street tour, the Maritime tour will run from Wednesday to
Sunday nights. They cost £7 per head for adults; £5 for under-16s, and £5 for groups of 10 or more. Contact 0151 726 8454 or
www.shiverpool.co.uk
mikechapple@dailypost.co.uk
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