ROCKY MOUNT -- Residents here started seeing the ghost long before they knew her identity.

A woman dressed in white walked around on East Court Street, near the current location of Planter's Bank, never saying a word.

Years later, while combing through old newspaper archives, Linda Stanley, now with the Franklin County Historical Society, found an old newspaper story reporting the tale of two lovers who committed suicide in 1892. Stanley thinks the account provides the downtown ghost's identity.

As reported by the Franklin Chronicle, Delia Nichols had been involved with a Rocky Mount man referred to as "the dashing Mr. Pinckard." Although he was wealthy, Nichols' family, who lived in Waynesboro, didn't approve of the match.

One night, Nichols compelled her younger sister to go with her into the woods of Ferrum, where she used a rope to hang herself, Stanley said. Nine days later, Pinckard used poison to kill himself.

"I got to reading this story and thinking about the ghost, and I put two and two together and came up with Delia," Stanley said.

Nichols isn't the only ghost lurking around town.

In fact, there are enough ghosts in Rocky Mount to provide 17 different stops on the Franklin County Historical Society's "Ghosts and More" bus tour, which takes place this weekend and next.

"The best time to hunt for ghosts is October to February," Stanley said.

The tour will be staffed by 43 actors and interpreters, who will dress up and re-enact the stories of legendary ghosts, as well as a few scenes of general mayhem.

"The stories are all true, or at least the way we heard them," Stanley said.

Tour riders will learn the tales of such storied ghosts as the Blue Lady, who reputedly haunts the former law practice of Civil War general Jubal Early and current home of historian T. Keister Greer.

The Blue Lady was first seen 80 years ago, roaming the halls of the house on Floyd Avenue. She's only seen by children and women, and sometimes detected by the scent of old perfume.

Most likely, the ghost is of Margaret Saunders Hale, the second wife of Pat Hale, who owned the house during the 1800s, Stanley said. Margaret died in 1884 and was buried in a graveyard on Taliaferro Street, which in recent years has gone untended.

"We say she's unhappy because of the state of the graveyard, so she gets up to walk around," Stanley said.

Another ghost on the tour is "Uncle" Peter Saunders, whom Stanley said was recently seen by the owner of his former house on Lawndale Street. "Uncle Peter was stubborn, he was rascally, he was a gambler," Stanley said. "He was just a bad ol' boy."

He lived most of his life in Rocky Mount but spent his last year in Pittsylvania County, where he died in 1847.