New London – A local author, history buff and self-described spirit medium has plans to use the city’s oldest graveyard as the setting for the newest in her series of haunted history tours.

Courtney McInvale Reardon, founder and owner of Seaside Shadows Haunted History Tours, recently secured a license agreement with the city to start the tours at Ye Antientist Burial Ground, a graveyard on Hempstead Street that dates back to 1652 and is the final resting place of the city’s earliest settlers and many colonial-era war veterans.

She plans to donate half of the proceeds from the tours to New London Landmarks for maintenance of the cemetery.

Reardon, the author of “Haunted Mystic,” has been running tours in Mystic since 2013 where she leads people on lantern-lit walks to historic sites in downtown known for paranormal activity and also moonlit tours at the Whitehall Burial Ground. The tours are sometimes joined by Revolutionary War re-enactors.

She was researching her forthcoming book, “Revolutionary War Ghosts of Connecticut,” when she visited New London and toured the burial ground, along with historic places such as the Shaw Mansion and Hempsted Houses. She said she fell in love with the graveyard’s rich history and with New London as a whole.

She said the tour will be a blend of “history with a little mystery.” She is prepared to talk to participants about everything from the style of grave markings, life in the colonial days prior to the advent of the whaling industry and the lives of some of people known to be buried there.

The famous traitor Benedict Arnold visited the site in 1781 to watch his men torch the city of New London and attack Fort Griswold across the Thames River in Groton, McInvale Reardon said. It is also, she said, where he expressed regret about what he had done as he watched a blaze spread through the city.

“He realized this is where I grew up and sent a messenger with a letter to the troops to stop the burning. It was far too gone,” she said. “This is the stuff that really fascinates me.”

Local history will be mixed with some good old-fashioned ghost stories and investigation into spirits that may be lingering there. McInvale Reardon’s experience with the paranormal dates back to her teenage days at her family home in East Hampton, a house that was visited by famous ghost hunter Lorraine Warren, who she said performed an exorcism.

McInvale Reardon said that during tours she will have on hand an electromagnetic field detector to locate spirits and a P-SB7 Spirit Box, which supposedly helps to communicate with paranormal entities and departed spirits.

“Kind of creepy and kind of cool,” she said.

In previous visits, she said she was able to capture some audible responses when reaching out to Lucretia Shaw, who is buried there. She will also encourage visitors to take photos and give a lesson on how to capture supernatural images.

One of the driving forces in choosing the cemetery for the tours, she said, is her hope to revive and maintain the 1.5-acre historic site.

As part of her agreement with the city, McInvale Reardon has teamed up with New London Landmarks. Executive Director Constance Kristofik said she plans to buy lawn maintenance equipment with the money and enlist volunteers for regular visits. City Public Works Director Brian Sear said that while the city mows the burial ground four or five times a year, anything more was welcomed.

McInvale Reardon said she expects tours, which will costs $25, to start in time for Memorial Day weekend and her hope is to conduct tours of downtown New London in the very near future. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.seasideshadows.com.

g.smith@theday.com