We love someone who is dedicated to their job.
Most walking guides might consider a broken leg to be something of a disadvantage. But not Mad Alice.
When she came of her bicycle, snapped her fibula and fractured her ankle, she didn’t think – “that’s me out of the ghost tour game for a while”.
Instead the award-winning performer decided: “If anyone does want to see anything truly gruesome on the tour I can show them my X-rays…”
Gruesome and funny
The walking tour delves into some of the darkest, most gruesome and often very funny stories of the city.
But it looked in jeopardy after she fell off her bike in September. “Due to the nature of the injury I am unable to walk on my right leg for the next three months, which is not ideal when you work as a ‘walking tour’ guide,” Alicia admitted.
Despite needing metal plates and screws to hold her bones together, the injury hasn’t deterred Alicia from continuing the tours.
Now she has help from the Plague Doctor, only known as Doctor Beak, who spins Mad Alice around the city in a wheelchair.
Show goes on
Alicia’s dedication has caught the attention of Sally Greenaway, head of Visit York.
“Alicia’s tour is one of the most popular in York and she was a worthy winner in the York Culture Awards last year too,” Sally said.
“She’s simply a brilliant storyteller and our visitors tell us they hang on her every word. She’s a shining example of the show must go on!”
Alicia is making the most of a bad situation and is extending the tour over the half term and Halloween season.
The Bloody Tour of York will be running at 6pm and 8pm every night between October 19 and November 5, with Halloween Special tours running October 27-31 and Guy Fawkes Tours November 3-5. The tours are suitable for all ages.