Secret Ireland Tours are delighted to have Courtney McInvale as our ambassador on this tour. If you are a history buff or into the paranormal or both, then this is the tour for you.
We take great pleasure in introducing Courtney to you here:
Courtney McInvale is the founder of Seaside Shadows based out of Mystic, Connecticut and offering walking tours and boat tours throughout the southern New England region. She is a licensed tour guide, published author and actual descendant of accused witches. Courtney is a Connecticut native and spent 5 years in DC after completing her studies at Catholic University of America and the University College Dublin where she studied abroad, majoring in International Relations. After earning her degree, she worked for the FBI as an analyst -- having been influenced by her time interning at NCIS for the Cold Case Homicide Unit. Following her internship Courtney spent 2 years in Vermont working for Dept of Homeland Security and honing her investigative skills.
Courtney also spent many months in Ireland in study and visiting, a place rich with histories and hauntings alike! She avidly studies histories of early American in wartime -- specially the American Civil War and American Revolution as well, Celtic cultures in Ireland and Scotland, specializing in rebellions. She also has a special interest in Celtic cultures during times of rebellion.
Courtney has frequently had fascination with the unexplained and supernatural legends. In Courtney's childhood home in central Connecticut, in a town called East Hampton numerous paranormal occurrences happened. The events were so notable that the Warren family came to investigate the house during her teenage years there. Intrigued by her childhood home and raised by a teacher and a history major, she has always taken an interest in the unknown and has now put her sensitivities, investigative skills, love of history, and writing aspirations to work.
Courtney is also a realist amongst all things. That means you will get an excited, thought-provoking and spooky tour while at the same time being inundated with historical facts to corroborate all the haunting occurrences surrounding all tour regions and within all books
Courtney has written two books for Arcadia Publishing and the History Press including Haunted Mystic (2014) and Revolutionary War Ghosts of Connecticut (2016) and three books for Haunted Road Media including Civil War Ghosts of Connecticut (2021). Civil War Ghosts of Georgia Volume 1 (2023) and Civil War Ghosts of Georgia Volume 2 (Jan 2024) in the Bury my Bones series.
Courtney has been featured as a historian on Travel Channel’s Portals to Hell and on Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures. She hosts paranormal investigations and historical site fundraisers annually.
In her free time Courtney loves spending time with her husband, Marty, her loving pets, her sisters and wee niece & nephews. She is a sucker for a good period drama or true crime documentary and in free time can be found attending Whiskey Myers and other concerts or nerding out over Outlander and Vikings.