Move over, pumpkin spice lattes, it’s time for whiskey with a side of something spooky! Many historic distilleries have their share of ghost stories, and in a quiet rickhouse in the cool fall weather, those creaks and groans sure bring the stories to life. Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, Kentucky has gathered some homegrown ghost stories and hired a bona fide ghost hunter to help a lucky sweepstakes winner and their guest make contact with the ghost of Colonel Blanton.
“We are quoted as one of the most haunted distilleries,” says Tyler Adams, general manager of the Buffalo Trace visitor experience. “We like to have fun with it. We're really proud of the history here at Buffalo Trace, and there are some legends and lores of some figures that pop out at night that you don't always see during the day, those that might still be looking after their spirits, even though they are a spirit themselves. Everything we've heard and seen is pretty friendly, nothing aggressive, but we think they're here to look after the spirits to make sure they're in good hands.”
The oldest building on the distillery grounds dates back to 1792, the year the Commonwealth of Kentucky joined the United States. Whiskey business began on the site as early as 1811, and modern distilling operations have taken place on the site since 1858. EH Taylor Jr bought the distillery in 1870, George T Stagg bought it in 1878, and Albert Blanton, known as Colonel Blanton, began working there in 1897. These were all real people who lived their lives on this site — so it makes sense that at least one of them may have stuck around to keep things running smoothly.
“In warehouse C, our warehouse right by the visitor center that has continuously held whiskey since the late 1800s, multiple tour guides have seen a figure at the end of that hallway and also heard some sounds,” Adams says. “The tour guides are responsible for locking up the warehouses in the evenings, and we do have some that won't even go into that warehouse in the evening anymore, just from the sounds they've heard. That's a multi-story warehouse, but the floors are open to above, so you can definitely hear a lot going up. These are the tour guides that are there to lock up the warehouse. And these warehouses, once they're locked, you can't get out. So they know that there's no one in there because they'd be locked in there all night. When they hear these sounds or see anything as they're trying to lock that up, I know they move on that pretty fast.
“Another one we definitely have heard of other people seeing and encountering is at Stony Point, which was Albert Blanton's home and office. He actually passed away in this building. It's a 1930s house on the distillery grounds where folks here at night have seen figures in the window in the room where he passed away. Albert Blanton is quite a looming figure of Buffalo Trace, of course, the one who navigated it through Prohibition and created a lot of the success we see today. We can't imagine that he was ever going to let go of Buffalo Trace, and they still see him around Stony Point.”
Adams explains that there have been many other sightings throughout the distillery over the years, including figures looking out the windows at night in places where no one should be at that hour. While Colonel Blanton’s spirit is pretty identifiable, the other specters don’t seem to be anyone familiar to the staff. For the most part, the employees assume the other guests are former employees who aren’t ready to let go just yet.
For years, Buffalo Trace offered ghost tours as a regular part of its tour lineup, but those were never revived after Covid-19. But now, there will be historical walking tours of Buffalo Trace offered in the evenings of the final days of October, and a sweepstakes winner will have the opportunity to spend the night with a professional ghost hunter on the distillery grounds and sleep at Colonel Blanton’s former residence.
“We really wanted to do it in a more authentic Buffalo Trace way and build on some of these stories that we've heard. We've collected a lot of stories from Nick Laracuente, our archivist, and from other distillery workers. We're bringing a couple of those to light with some storytellers throughout the distillery in the evenings as part of our night at the distillery event. We're excited to be able to share those from storytellers in person. It won't be a ghost tour, per se. You're going to be able to go into Warehouse C at night and see if you can spot anything on your own.”
