SANFORD, Fla. — The Halloween season is creeping closer every day. One business owner is pulling double duty to make sure his customers get both the tricks and treats they desire.


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By day, Gary Holmes co-owns the Sanford Homebrew Shop. His job involves explaining the process behind homebrewing, a hobby that's become a hot trend during the pandemic. 

“The beer bottles themselves are just standard 12-ounce beer bottles," Holms told us as he showed us around his downtown Sanford shop. “We fill beer orders for people but also do fermentation a lot here on site."

The Sanford Homebrew Shop supplies residents with an inventive way to create their own beers at home.

But come nightfall, his focus turns from beers to spirits.

“Then as the day turns into night, the veil shifts. Things get lifted. Spirits get raised and we talk about it," Holmes said. 

Taking to the streets, Gary Holmes embarks on a 90-minute walking tour through downtown Sanford, visiting all the local haunts and spots where people claim to have encountered ghostly happenings. 

One of the spookiest spots takes you above the shops at Hollerbach's German Restaurant. Ascending the stairs to the attic, Holmes told us of his own paranormal encounters. 

“'I died here' and 'I'm here for her,'" he recounted. "We heard that over and over again on our equipment."

Along with his own tales, Holmes will spook you with the history of some of the people who died in these buildings. Some say those spirits still roam.

“He rolled his sleeves up and the marks and cuts were completely gone from the night before," Holmes explained how some people have felt physical interactions with the spirits. 

Sanford Tours and Experiences hosts their 90-minute Ghost tours three times a week through the end of October and the rest of the year on select dates.