FITCHBURG— Curiosity about an old Fitchburg house led Bettina L. Conklin and her 16-year-old daughter, Arabella, on an unexpected wild ghost chase last year, hunting for facts and investigating ghost stories from Fitchburg’s past.



Then they took what they learned and created Fitchburg’s first downtown ghost tour.



The idea for the business, which is just starting its second year, came from Ms. Conklin’s curiosity about the prominent Mason family, who lived in a large house on Rollstone Street in the mid-1800s. The family seemed shrouded in mystery, Ms. Conklin said, and she was interested in finding out more about their accomplishments as abolitionists, philanthropists and writers.



Combining her job as a real estate agent and her knowledge from her degree in history from Fitchburg State College, Ms. Conklin dug up unexpected facts about the Mason family.



After a few visits to the Mason house, she said, she and Arabella began experiencing paranormal happenings. “We heard footsteps in the house and there was no one there,” she said. They talked to neighbors, who claimed to notice lights turning on and off on their own. It was even rumored that previous owners had gone insane, she said.



Ms. Conklin’s interest grew as she gathered more information and she wanted to learn about other families with similar stories. “It’s like a snowball effect,” she said. “I just started putting pieces together.”



Most of her research was done in the Collections Room at the Fitchburg Public Library, she said. “I really couldn’t have done it without all the help from the Fitchburg librarians.”



As she did her research, she said, she began to notice connections between old houses, the Fitchburg families who lived in them and documented occurrences of paranormal activity, and she began collecting the ghost stories and mysteries. Among them are the unsolved mystery of the old Fitchburg High School fire, the city’s relation to the “Cardiff Giant,” and the hidden curse on Fitchburg.



Gathering the facts was difficult at times, Ms. Conklin said. The details and dates were sometimes unclear because of many years of retelling. “The most important part of my research was finding the primary sources,” she said.



The Conklins started their tour business last October and had what they described as an impressive turnout for the Halloween season. “We had a tour every weekend,” Ms. Conklin said.



The tour begins at the gazebo on the Upper Common and moves through downtown, making several stops before it concludes at City Hall. Among the stops are a “haunted house” on Central Street, the Stratton playhouse — which Ms. Conklin says has ghostly appeal — and a Main Street site where Ms. Conklin tells the legend of the “man who wore the beard.”



At City Hall, the Conklins discuss their personal ghostly encounters with the Mason family, which they say is their most interesting story.



Ms. Conklin said the tour appeals not only to those fascinated with paranormal activity, but also to those who are interested in the history of Fitchburg. The tour is about real-life people, she said, and reveals facts about many city buildings and their mysteries and tales of hauntings.