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10/17/2018 07:00 AMHere’s a list of area events, some scary, some just for fun, and all perfect for this Halloween season.
‘The Things Nightmares are Made Of’
It’s been said that somewhere in the woods at the end of the The Shore Line Trolley Museum trolley tracks at 17 River Street, East Haven, “lurk the things that nightmares are made of.” For those who dare, a lonely trolley will carry the brave ones down the tracks to see if this is true.
Be forewarned: it’s scary.
How scary?
It comes with this disclaimer: “We do not recommend this attraction for any children under 10 years of age, anyone that is pregnant, has a heart condition, asthma or if you are prone to seizures. Please use your best judgment when deciding if this event is for you.”
The Haunted Isle runs on Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 19, 20, 26, 27 from 7 to 10 p.m.
New this year is a VIP pass, being offered in addition to general admission (offered at the door and can be used any night) and express admission (which are timed for a specific date). The VIP pass allows the brave at heart to get directly on the first waiting trolley, and then they are escorted directly to the Isle. And they get a 2018 T-shirt and food coupon. There will be a variety of food trucks on site. VIP and Express tickets are available online only; they cannot be purchased at the door. Find out more at shorelinetrolley.org. Cancellations due to inclement weather will be posted on the website.
Ghostly Tales, Valley Lore
The folklore and mystery of the Connecticut River will be featured at the Connecticut River Museum’s Haunted River events in Essex on Friday through Sunday, Oct. 26, 27, and 28. The performances will feature both characters including phantoms and murders, along with legends and unexplained phenomena lurking in the shadows. Even better, these stories will be based upon folklore research related the Myths and Legends of the Connecticut River by the museum staff and resident folklorist Stephen Olbrys Gencarella of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The “Valley has been a location for storytelling and the source of myths and legends since the first people arrived,” Gencarella says, adding that these stories were told to entertain, educate, and create a common identity for people. “Sometimes they have involved the macabre, such as grisly murders or accidents like the 1883 fire of the steamer Granite State. Other times, they help to explain the unexplainable such as diseases like tuberculosis that were blamed on vampires.”
Jane Raunikar, who does marketing for the museum, says the progressive, four-scene, 50-minute tours will depart from the museum’s Lay House property, 67 Main Street, Essex, every 20 minutes between 6 and 8:40 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26 and 27, and from 6 to 7:40 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28. A River Spirit will be called upon to guide visitors safely from scene to scene while they share their own dark and mysterious tale.
Tickets to Haunted River are limited and should be booked in advance at www.ctrivermuseum.org or by calling 860-767-8269, ext. 122. Prices for the show are $13 for adults and $9 for youth (ages 7 to 12). The program is not recommended for children under 7. Parking will be restricted that evening to street parking only.
The Art of the Tombstone
Sure, there are ghosts and goblins and spirits and ancestors hanging out in our local cemeteries, particularly on Halloween.
But there is also some awesome artwork and craftsmanship, and that will be the focus of tour of Old Saybrook’s Cypress Cemetery on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. Located on scenic Saybrook Point, 100 College Street, Old Saybrook, Cypress Cemetery is one of the oldest continuously operating cemeteries in North America. People buried there include Lady Alice Appsley Boteler Fenwick, Nathaniel Lynde, and the Rev. Thomas Buckingham, all of them early inhabitants who helped settle the area with their families.
The tour will focus on the work of the stone carvers who created the monuments, who hail from two distinct regional artistic traditions of gravestone carving and design, according to the Old Saybrook Historical Society (OSHS), which is sponsoring the tour. Those two schools are the Boston School of slate carving and the Connecticut Valley sandstone carving tradition.
“Perhaps the most notable example of the Connecticut River Valley School of carvers is the celebrated Lady Fenwick monument composed of a large arched block of sandstone with a roof-like shape on three piers,” the OSHS says in a release. “The more sophisticated Boston School markers are typically slate and include elaborate ornamentation often portraying a winged skull and other symbols including crossed bones, vines, gourds, and floral arrangements.”
Admission for the guided tour is $5 with children accompanied by an adult admitted without charge.
For more information about the tour or the history of Cypress Cemetery, call 860-395-1635 or visit the Old Saybrook Historical Society Archives, 350 Main Street or the Cypress Cemetery website at www.cypresscemeteryosct.org.
The Only Scream(s) in Town
For those who loved The Only Scream in Town hosted by The Only Game in Town, 275 Valley Service Road, North Haven, we have some bad news.
It’s just not happening this year.
The event became so much work when it came to setting it up and taking it down, they say, that they are taking a pass.
But for those who just don’t want to do without, Decimated Designs of New Britain, which helped with The Only Scream in Town, has some suggestions for you, if you’re willing to drive a bit further.
• Evidence of Evil at Crystal Bees, 240 Spring Street, Southington. “No escape. No time limit. No puzzles. Just pure terror.” Find out more at evidenceofevil.net.
• Trail of Terror, Trail of Terror, 60 North Plains Highway, Wallingford. “Hilariously frightful.” Find out more at trailofterror.com.
• Legends of Fear, 2 Saw Mill City Road, Shelton. “Real farm. Real woods. Real scare.” Find out more at www.legendsoffear.com.
• Nightmare Acres, 240 Governors Highway, South Windsor (Nomads Outdoor Adventure). “Where nightmares become reality.” Find out more at www.nightmareacresct.com.
• The Haunted Graveyard, at Lake Compounce, billed as “New England’s largest Halloween attraction,” 186 Enterprise Drive, Bristol. “A terrifying one-mile journey through darkly glittering catacombs to an eerie graveyard, to a vampire’s haunt, to a witch’s lair, then onto a misty lake and an ancient temple,” it also is a fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, as a tribute for the owner’s daughter was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of six. Find out more at hauntedgraveyard.com/about.