Shiverpool launches two new Indiana Bones tours including a free family one

Liverpool’s award-winning ghost and history tour specialists Shiverpool are launching two new tours for the New Year, including a free daytime one for all the family.

The new tours have been created by guide, Indiana Bones, aka Will Goodwin.

He’s just returned to the city after graduating with a theatre degree from York Uni and has put his own theatrical slant on some spooky – and not-so-spooky – tales from different parts of the city centre.

The first new tour is a 90-minute Hidden Histories one which takes place every Saturday, starting at 3pm from the Victoria Monument outside the Crown Court.

It will give people the chance to delve into the medieval ‘seven original streets’ of Liverpool, highlighting landmarks along the way including the ancient boundary stone on Castle Street that marked the old Liverpool fairs, and the location where the bulk of England’s gold was secretly deposited during the Second World War.

It takes in the Town Hall, the old Bank of England, Exchange Flags and the Martin’s Bank building before finishing in the gardens of St Nicholas’ Church. There, guide Will plans to reveal the deathly detail about what was described by Moby Dick author Herman Melville as ‘The Dead House’ – the oldest morgue in Liverpool – entered through a trap door.

The tour itself is free, there’s just a £1 booking free when you advanced book via the Shiverpool website, and because it’s more about heritage and fables and less ghostly, it’s recommended for all ages, including children from around 8 upwards.

The second of Will’s tours is centred around Hope Street and starts at 7pm on Sundays.

Sunday Service on The Hope Street Shivers, which costs £10, takes around 120 minutes and makes its way along and around the Georgian Quarter, detouring to include one of Liverpool’s most famous folklores – the tale of keen gambler William MacKenzie who is buried (supposedly sitting up with a winning hand of cards) beneath the pyramid tomb on Rodney Street.

Following the graveyard theme, the tour ends in St James’ Cemetery at Liverpool Cathedral where Will, who is a singer as well as an actor, has added a poignant musical element to his tale-telling.

Both the new tours are already proving popular, with the first dates fully booked.

Lucy Carew, artistic director of Shiverpool, says Will is an exciting addition to the Shiverpool team.

“Will, or Indiana Bones as we call him, worked with us before he went off to uni, then before summer last year he got in touch and said he was coming back to Liverpool and would like to get involved again and develop some tours,” she says.

“He’s done a lot of extra research, so it’s different from our other Hope Street tour, and he’s put his own twist on it which is great.

“He’s created the two tours, plus some special family ones for half term, and they all have that balance of history, storytelling, performance and the ghost stories that people love, as well as Shiverpool’s trademark humour.

“With his skills and his performance, we think he’s going to go on to be a superb tour guide for the city.”