March 20, 2022 – New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Thea Monroe worked as a tour guide. Thea told stories to tourists as they walked through the French Quarter of New Orleans. Thea liked talking about history. She made sure her stories were true.
Other tour guides told scary stories. They talked about ghosts, vampires, and Voodoo. Many tourists liked being scared by these stories.
Thea’s tours were not as popular as the scary tours. She only had three or four tourists in her tours. The scary tour guides led groups with twenty tourists. Thea did not think it was fair.
Thea’s small tour groups went to the same places as the big tour groups. The famous New Orleans streets were crowded with people. Thea could not talk to her group because it was so loud.
Thea complained about her small groups and the crowds to her friend Roxi. Roxi told Thea to make her tours more exciting.
“I like talking about history,” said Thea.
“You need to add ghost stories,” said Roxi.
Thea thought about what Roxi said. Thea decided to be more exciting. The next day she took her tour group to a house that was not famous. She made up a scary story about the house. The tourists loved hearing the story. Thea liked being away from the other tour groups and tour guides.
Thea found more new places and made up more new stories. She talked about zombies and ghosts in New Orleans. The tourists in her groups were scared, but they loved the stories. Thea’s tour groups grew. Everyone wanted to hear her new stories. After several weeks, her groups had over thirty people in them.
Thea felt successful. Then one night she led a group to a place she called the most haunted house in New Orleans. Another tour guide was standing in front of the house. The tour guide told his group the story Thea invented about the house.
Thea was flattered to see another tour guide copy her. Then she met more and more tour guides using her stories and visiting the places Thea said were haunted. Thea became frustrated.
“Where did you first hear that story?” Thea asked one of the tour guides named Figgy.
“I don’t remember,” replied Figgy.
Thea wanted to tell Figgy to stop stealing stories. Thea worried what would happen if she told Figgy she had invented the stories. If she admitted the stories were fiction, no one would join her tours. She also felt bad because tourists thought the fiction stories were true.
Thea did not know what to do. Then she had a new idea. She started a tour called Fact versus Fiction. She told tourists true stories and stories she invented. Then she let them decide which ones were fact and which ones were fiction. People liked hearing both kinds of stories. Thea’s Fact versus Fiction tours became the most popular tours in the city.
For a more advanced version of the story click here: Big Easy Ghost Stories
Questions about the Story
What was Thea’s job?
Where did Thea work?
At the beginning of the story, why were Thea’s tours less popular than other tours?
What did Thea do to make her tours more popular?
Why did Thea not want to tell Figgy the truth about her tours?
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