Courtesy Glebe House.

Glebe House Offers ‘All Hollow’s Eve’ Tours & Haunted Mansion

WOODBURY, CONN. — The Glebe House Museum announces “All Hollow’s Eve: Cemetery Tours & Haunted Museum” planned for Saturday, October 19 (rain date: October 26). This one-night-only event is sure to bring out the ghost, goblins and other scary creatures that go bump in the night and is guaranteed to cause nightmares in even the bravest souls.

Led by lantern light through a trail of luminaries, attendees will tour the ancient cemetery with their spirit guide visiting the final resting places of some of Woodbury’s notable and not-so notable residents. You will walk among the dead in burying grounds more than 350 years old and hear stories of those mortal remains that lie beneath your feet as their spirits rise for the occasion and are dying to share their true-yet often-dark tales.

Meet the town historian William Cothren who wrote three volumes of Woodbury’s history and the Leatherman who roamed through much of western Connecticut in the late 1800s and made numerous stops in Woodbury. Doctor Orton, who practiced medicine more than 250 years ago, will be happy to diagnose your condition and apply some leeches to your body. The majority of the other spirits lived in Woodbury during the time of the Revolutionary War. Each tour is unique and different, since one never knows where an earthbound spirit might be found in this ancient burying ground, listed as one of the most haunted sites of Connecticut. Comfortable shoes are recommended so that you don’t become dead on your feet during the 40-minute walking portion of your evening experience.

The 275-year-old Glebe House has a history of hauntings. Recently, paranormal investigators from Ghost Hunters, Inc, spent an evening in the museum. With the help of a psychic, an empath, special equipment and cameras they determined the presence of spirits throughout the three-story house. For this event, the museum is professionally staged to create a unique experience and the themes are designed to be different each year to delight visitors again and again. Dare to walk through the frightful rooms filled with special effects and creepy things that are guaranteed to be hair-raising.

Linda Barr-Gale will bring the “Witch of Woodbury,” Moll Cramer, to life in a special presentation in the museum cottage. Free refreshments will be available.

Cemetery tours will leave the grounds of the museum every ten minutes beginning at 5:30 pm. The final tour will be at 8:30. Space is limited. To ensure your participation, reservations are strongly suggested for specific time slots. Book your reservations early by calling 203-263-2855 or email at office@glebehousemuseum.org. Tickets are $10 per person, children 5-12 years old $5 and children younger than 5 years of age are free.

Built circa 1740, the Glebe House is a nonprofit historic house museum and garden listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is at 49 Hollow Road. For information, www.glebehousemuseum.org.

Skeletons on the Porch, Tom Edmonds photo, 2018.

Spooky Spirits In Rogers Mansion

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — From 11 am to 4 pm on Wednesdays through Saturdays until November 2, the Southampton History Museum at the Rogers Mansion will be taken over by the spooky spirits of Halloween. Explore our exhibits and learn about Southampton’s past, but be on the lookout for ghouls and ghosts of previous occupants. Was that a creaky old floorboard or the footsteps of Captain Albert Rogers getting ready to leave on a whaling trip? You will have to stop in to find out!

The history of the Rogers Mansion starts in 1648 when it was a one-room farmhouse built by the pioneering William Rogers family. Hundreds of Rodger family descendants were born, raised and died on this property. Their spirits are encouraged to participate in this month-long transformation from a historic house museum into a haunted house for people of all ages.

Executive director Tom Edmonds says, “be prepared to see the unseen, to feel the ephemeral and hear the unknown.”

The event is $5 for adults but free for museum members and children 17 years of age or younger.

The Rogers Mansion is at 17 Meeting House Lane. For more information, 631-283-2494 or www.southamptonhistory.org.

Courtesy of Gus Apazidis.

Halloween Tours At Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

NORWALK, CONN. — The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum kicks off its Halloween tours at 5:30 pm on October 18 with “Haunted: Victorian Ghost Stories at the Mansion.” The Halloween tours, co-chaired by Midge Lopat and Joanne Duff, will start at 5:30 pm and continue Friday to Sunday, October 18-20 and October 25-27.

Victorians were known for their riveting ghost stories and Gothic horror. From Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatcher to Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost, readers in the Nineteenth Century were deeply engrossed in dark tales from the other side. In keeping with this Victorian fascination with unexplained phenomena, the museum’s Halloween tours will focus on ghost sightings as they relate to the house during the Nineteenth Century as well as its more recent history, and the compelling ghost stories that are part of Connecticut’s legends.

“For years, people have discussed encountering unexplained paranormal activity at the mansion. Come experience chills and thrills while supporting the museum’s educational and cultural programs,” said Lopat.

Visitors may run into the mansion’s ghosts, who are haunted by the darker memories that are part of the rarely told history of the Lockwood and Mathews families. These ghosts will wander throughout the mansion, but only during our very special and spooky Halloween tours. Children younger than 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Halloween tours are $10.

The museum is a National Historic Landmark and is at 295 West Avenue. For information, www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com or 203-838-9799.

Lyndhurst with eerie clouds and skeleton farmer during Jay Ghoul’s ‘House of Curiosities.’ —Clifford Pickett photo

Lyndhurst Unveils Expanded Halloween Experiences

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Halloween returns to Lyndhurst with activities for people of all ages. New this season are three weekends when visitors can see the elaborate autumnal decorations at their own pace and do not have to take a guided tour. An all-new version of Jay Ghoul’s House of Curiosities spoofs your favorite ghoulish TV families. Also new, celebrity mentalist and magician, Ken Salaz, will read your mind and evoke the supernatural in a powerful and mysterious Halloween performance at Lyndhurst.

On the mansion tour with a Halloween twist, you will see the majestic vestibule and entrance hall, reception room, parlor, library and the sumptuous Victorian dining room – all decorated with seasonal trimmings for Halloween. For this special time of year, Lyndhurst’s curators have brought out historical objects specifically for Halloween relating to the supernatural and occult — this is a once-a-year opportunity to see these spooky possessions that are usually tucked away in the archives. The second floor, which centers around the grand Picture Gallery, is not decorated and visitors can see those spaces in all their traditional splendor. These tours are appropriate for children of all ages. Tours are offered Thursdays through Mondays from 10 am to 4 pm. Advance ticket purchase online is strongly recommended.

For those wanting to see the mansion and the beautiful seasonal decorations, we welcome you to our new Autumn Open House. New by popular demand during our busiest time of the year, Lyndhurst will be open this Autumn season with an “Explore at Your Own Pace” event October 12-14, 19-20, and 26-27. Visitors can walk through the mansion without a guided tour, view the seasonal decorations at their own pace, and take in the wonders of the historic mansion. This is a perfect opportunity for those with children and those who want an alternative to taking one of our classic tours. Come in costume and take some spectacular selfies with your favorite decorated room as the background. The Autumn Open House event is a general-timed admission.

Lyndhurst is at 635 South Broadway. For information or to book tickets for an event, 914-631-4481 or www.lyndhurst.org.

Homestead Tour. Rebecca Wilhite photo, courtesy of Connecticut Landmarks.

Nathan Hale Homestead Hosts ‘Things That Go Bump In The Night’

COVENTRY, CONN. — Get into the “spirit” of the season with “Things that Go Bump in the Night at the Nathan Hale Homestead!” Shiver and shudder through a special candlelight tour hosted by Connecticut Landmarks (CTL) that will take you room-by-room, all the way up to the dark and dreary attic. Hear the traditional, long-standing homestead ghost stories and the Hale Staff’s spooky encounters, as featured on the Syfy channel’s Ghost Hunters.

The program will be presented on Thursdays and Fridays, October 10-11, October 17-18, and October 24-25. Prepare to be scared while surrounded by the very history that spawned the stories. This tour will include creaks and cold spots and is not recommended for young souls. Tour begins at 7 pm; light refreshments will be served following the tour. Admission is $20 for CTL members, $25 for nonmembers. Reservations required; to register, 860-742-6917 or by email hale@cltandmarks.org.

The Nathan Hale Homestead is the birthplace of Connecticut’s state hero, Nathan Hale, who was hanged as a spy during the Revolutionary War. The house, built in 1776, belonged to Nathan’s parents and family, and is located on the only site he ever called home. Its furnishings include several Hale family possessions and other collections amassed by Connecticut lawyer and philanthropist George Dudley Seymour, who purchased the homestead in 1914 and began a program of restoration that is largely preserved today. The Hale Homestead is situated on 17 acres, adjoining the 1500-acre Nathan Hale State Forest, lending to the site’s substantial rural character. It is overseen by Connecticut Landmarks. The property is open for regular tours May through October.

The Nathan Hale Homestead is at 2299 South Street. For more information, www.ctlandmarks.org, www.facebook.com/nathanhalehomestead or 860-742-6917.

Haunted horsemen on their skeleton steeds in the Historic Area. Courtesy Colonial Williamsburg.

Colonial Williamsburg’s Haunting

WILLIAMSBURG, VA. — Colonial Williamsburg’s “Haunting on DoG Street” returns this October with Halloween-themed evening programs, ghost tours and spooky museum tours sure to get guests of all ages in the Halloween spirit October 14-31, plus family trick-or-treating October 25-26.

The foundation hosts its fifth annual trick-or-treating event thanks to the generosity of Mars Wrigley. From 6 to 8 pm both nights, families can collect treats at Historic Area sites, follow a candlelit Jack-o-lantern Pathway with more than 200 hand carved pumpkins, watch haunted horsemen peruse the town on their skeleton horses and see the Chownings perform on their merry scary wagon. Guests can visit the Palmer House yard to hear chilling ghost stories, meet the Weird Cooke Sisters in their shrieking pet cemetery and come face to face with the fearsome pirate Blackbeard and his band of buccaneers.

The festivities also include a haunted auction at the Raleigh Tavern and a Pumpkin Patch dance party featuring “live” music by the spirited Lady Lucy and her Scarecrow Band on the Capitol south lawn. Food and beverages will be available throughout Colonial Williamsburg. With an extra ticket guests can enjoy special spooky carriage rides through the Historic Area. The night closes with a frighteningly fun finale featuring a Spirits of ‘76 Fifes & Drums mayhem march.

“The nighttime atmosphere in the Historic Area during the fall and Halloween season is exciting,” said Robert Currie, Colonial Williamsburg director of entertainment, special events and evening programs. “The cresset-lined streets and historic buildings lend themselves to the mysterious and immersive experience we want guests to enjoy during our ghost tours and evening programs throughout October.”

For fans of ghost tours, “Haunted Williamsburg,” combines Eighteenth Century ghost tales with stories of chilling modern encounters and is the only ghost tour that takes guests inside Colonial Williamsburg’s historic buildings. It is offered at 7 and 8:30 pm nightly in October. The “Official Ghost Walk Junior,” perfect for families with young children, is also offered nightly October 14-31.

Additional spooky evening programs offered October 14-31 include:

“Cry Witch” (Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays – 7:30 and 9 pm); “To Hang a Pirate” (Sundays and Thursdays – 7:30 and 9 pm); “Colonial Williamsburg Escape Room: Spies & Lies,” (Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays – 6:30, 6:45, 8 and 8:15 pm); “Trial of a Patriot” (Wednesdays and Saturdays – 7:30 and 9 pm); “Monsters, Mayhem and Musick” (October 15, 22 and 29 – 7:30 pm).
bodycopy: Special tickets are required for Colonial Williamsburg evening programs. With the exception of the “Official Ghost Walk Junior,” these programs are not recommended for young children.

Carson Hudson discusses how colonial Virginians shared a common belief in the supernatural and the existence of witches in “Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia,” at Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg’s Hennage Auditorium, October 24 and 31 at 4:30 pm.

October art museum tours include “Face Your Fears,” in which guests discover creepy and not-so scary objects Wednesdays at 10:15 am and Fridays at 2:45 pm starting October 9. Museum guests can also make a Halloween craft between 2:45 and 4 pm Mondays all month. These Art Museums programs are included with Colonial Williamsburg or Art Museums admission.

Trick-or-Treating tickets are $6 per child and $3 per adult or guardian. Participating children must be accompanied by a ticketed adult. Ticket purchases support Colonial Williamsburg’s educational mission. Through a continued collaboration with the Teal Pumpkin Project, young guests with food allergies may claim a special trick-or-treat bag and collect allergen-free treats at designated sites.

Programming is subject to change. Haunting on DoG Street event rain dates are reserved for Sunday, October 27 and Monday, October 28 if needed. Tickets, current information and instructions for ticketed guests are available by visiting Colonial Williamsburg ticketing locations, call 855-296-6627 or online at www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/haunting.

More Halloween Events!

Wicked Wednesdays at Phillips House
Phillips House, 34 Chestnut Street, Salem, Mass.
Wednesdays, October 16, 23 and 30, 2-6 pm
Get wicked at Phillips House as part of Haunted Happenings family-friendly events. Ticket includes historic games, fall crafts, a Story Walk and a family-themed tour of the house.

$10 for the family. This is a drop-in event. Tours are offered every half-hour. Last tour departs at 5 pm. For information, 978-744-0440. Salem residents must call to receive discount.

Edgar Allan Poe: Graveside Tales
Jackson House, 76 Northwest Street, Portsmouth, N.H.
Wednesday, October 23, 7-8:30 pm
Spend a spine-chilling evening with Edgar Allan Poe’s classic Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven as told by Campbell Harmon. All in the very cold, dark depths of Jackson House, which is being transformed into a stage for one special evening. There is no heat in Jackson House, so dress appropriately. Not recommended for young children or the easily spooked.

$25. Advance tickets highly recommended. For information, 603-436-3205.

Trick or Treat at Roseland Cottage
Roseland Cottage, 556 Route 169, Woodstock, Conn.
Friday, October 25, 5-7:30 pm
Ghosts of Halloweens past hand out candy at Roseland Cottage to anyone with the courage to knock on our doors. Stop by and put the “gothic” in gothic revival this Halloween. Co-sponsored by Bank Hometown, Woodstock Business Association and the Town of Woodstock Recreation.

Free. For information, 860-928-4074.

Classic Poems for All Hallows’ Eve
Gedney House, 21 High Street, Salem, Mass.
Saturday, October 26, 7-8:30 pm, and Tuesday, October 29, 7-8:30 pm
Enjoy a curated selection of classic poems about ghosts, goblins, spirits and All Hallows’ Eve, dramatically presented in a Seventeenth Century shipbuilder’s house by lantern light.

$20. Advance tickets required. For information, 978-744-0440.

Halloween Harvest Market
Casey Farm, 2325 Boston Neck Road, Saunderstown, R.I.
Saturday October 26, 8:30 am-12:30 pm.
It’s no tricks and all treats when the harvest season bounty of Casey Farm is on display. Join the vendors in costume and bring the kids to trick or treat at the Coastal Growers Market stalls. Halloween decorations, pumpkin bowling and more surprises await you at the last outdoor market of the season.

Cradle to Grave: A Lamplight Tour of Coffin House, Swett-Ilsley House and the First Parish Burying Ground
Coffin House, 14 High Road, Newbury, Mass.
Sunday, October 27, 6:30-8:30 pm
Spend an evening getting to know the Coffin family and their neighbors, in their home and in their final resting places. Enjoy special evening tours of Coffin House (1678), a beer tasting in Swett-Ilsley House (1670), and a visit to the townsfolk across the street in the First Parish Burying Ground. Hear true tales of murder, heroism and heartbreak from Newbury’s storied past. Refreshments provided by Ipswich Ale Brewery.

$30. Advance tickets required. For information, 978-462-2634. Historic New England is at www.historicnewengland.org.

Halloween Events At Trustees Of Reservations Properties

For information on Trustees of Reservations properties, www.thetrustees.org.

FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN

Pumpkin Blaze
Naumkeag, 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Mass.
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, October 3-27, 4-8 pm
Member $9; nonmember $15; child younger than 12 free

Pumpkin Trail
Naumkeag, 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Mass.
Fridays and Saturdays, October 4-12, 4-7 pm
Member $9; nonmember $15; child younger than 12 free

Trick or Treat at Naumkeag
Naumkeag, 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Mass.
Thursday, October 31, 5-8 pm
Member $9; nonmember $15; child younger than 12 free

Nocturnal Animal Pumpkin Trail
The Stevens-Coolidge Place, 137 Andover Street, North Andover, Mass.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday October 26-28, 4:30-8 pm
Member adult free; child $5; nonmember adult $5, child $10

Hillside Halloween
Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, Mass.
Saturday and Sunday, October 26 & 27, 10 am-5 pm
Free with museum admission

FOR BIGGER CHILDREN

Homestead Haunted House
William Cullen Bryant Homestead, 207 Bryant Road, Cummington, Mass.
Fridays and Saturdays, October 18-26, 6:30-9:30 pm
Member adult $7, child $3; nonmember adult $12, child $6

Boos & Brews: Adult Pumpkin Trail
The Stevens-Coolidge Place, 137 Andover Street, North Andover, Mass.
Thursday and Friday, October 24-25, 6-9 pm
Member $5; nonmember $10

Spirits of the Manse
The Old Manse, 269 Monument Street, Concord, Mass.
Friday and Saturday, October 25-26, 5-8:30 pm
Member $15; nonmember $25

Naumkeag Haunted House
Naumkeag, 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Mass.
Friday and Saturday, October 25-26, 6-9 pm
Member $20; nonmember $25

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari:
A Castle Hill Halloween Party
Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich, Mass.
Saturday, October 26, 7-9 pm
Member $44; nonmember $55

Adult Night! Halloween Owl Prowl
Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, Mass.
Thursday, Oct 31, 7-10 pm
Member $12; nonmember $20