Mourning tours, ghost hunt to highlight museum’s fall season
The parlor in the Wyandot County Museum is set up to resemble a home during the Victorian era, when funerals were held in the deceased person’s home. The Victorian mourning tours will
The Wyandot County Museum will kick off its fall season this weekend with activities for the entire family. The Victorian mourning tours will begin from 6-8 p.m. Friday, followed by a ghost hunt at the museum with Ohio Researchers of Banded Spirits from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. The ghost tour will be held in conjunction with a walking tour of historic downtown Upper Sandusky. There also will be a free Family Fun Night sponsored by Fairhaven Community from 6-9 p.m. Saturday on the grounds of the Wyandot County Museum.
“There will be a public ghost hunt through the museum and walking tours through town,” museum Director Ashlie Payton said. “The tour will be stopping at different places downtown and telling folklore and history. “Friday is more for adults, but Saturday is more kid-oriented,” she added. “We will be showing old-school monster movies, like ‘Casper.’ … Someone will be reading stories in the old schoolhouse.” The Victorian mourning tours pay tribute to the Victorian-era mourning period, when funerals were held in the deceased person’s home. The entire museum is draped with black fabric and two 19th century
An embalming tent set up in the Wyandot County Museum shows the table and supplies that were used to embalm bodies in the 1800s. The exhibit is a part of the museum’s Victorian mourning tours, which will open to the public on Friday.
“When somebody passed away in the late 1800s, (the museum’s current set-up) typically is what a home looked like,” Payton said. “… I’ll be dressed in mourning and my daughter will be dressed as a child in mourning, which is kind of neat because adults, they would wear all black, but a child under the age of 17 would wear white.” There is a Victorian-era embalming tent set up just off the kitchen and on the second floor, the bedroom is flanked with black fabric on the walls and black linens on the bed, typical of the time period. “Women, when their husbands died, even the bed sheets were all black,” Payton said. Throughout the museum all the mirrors are covered and the clocks are stopped at 3 p.m., the time of death of this year’s fictional deceased character. “All the clocks were stopped at the time of death out of respect for the deceased and the mirrors were covered because back then, people were very superstitious and they believed that if they saw their reflection, they would be the next to die,” Payton said. “A lot of things we do now are out of habit, like wearing black and someone standing next to the casket,” she added. “A lot of it has meaning and if someone wants to know why we do things today, they can come and get answers.”
The Victorian mourning tours will continue throughout the month of October at the museum. Museum hours are from 1-4:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and from 6-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children ages 4-13 and free for children age 3 and younger.
The Victorian mourning tours will continue throughout the month of October at the museum. Museum hours are from 1-4:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and from 6-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children ages 4-13 and free for children age 3 and younger.
Chris Page (left), founder of Ohio Reseahers of Banded Spirits, gets a tour of the upper rotunda underneath the Lady Justice statue inside the Wyandot County courthouse courtesy of County Commissioner Mike Wheeler (center). Looking on is Karlo Zuzec another ORBS researcher. The group will reveal the findings of its investigations at the courthouse and the Wyandot County Museum at a public ghost hunt Friday at the museum.
From 9 a.m. Friday until 2 a.m. Saturday, O.R.B.S., Ohio’s leading paranormal research group will be holding a ghost hunt at the museum. O.R.B.S., which is featured on the Animal Planet show “The Haunted,” recently completed paranormal investigations at both the Wyandot County Museum and courthouse. The group will be returning to show the public how it performs a paranormal investigation and to share the findings from its investigations at the museum and courthouse.
“They will explain what they found and explain how they use the equipment and the scientific approach,” Payton said. “People think it’s all about witchcraft and things like that, but it really is all scientific.”
A $20 admission charge includes a 45-minute walk-through at the museum with O.R.B.S., followed by a 45-minute walking tour with stops at several downtown locations to talk about the history behind each building. Some of stops on the walking tour include, the Wyandot County Courthouse and jail, the Star Theatre, Corner Store and the Indian burial grounds on the hill overlooking Harrison Smith Park. “The Christian Indians were buried out at Old Mission Cemetery and the heretic Indians that didn’t accept Christianity were buried on the hill (near the park),” Payton said. “All the stops will be outside,” she added. “We won’t be going inside the buildings.”
To make reservations for the ghost hunt and walking tour, call the Wyandot County Museum at 419-294-3857 or 419-310-4532.
“We will be limiting (the ghost hunt and walking tour) to 10 people per hour,” Payton said. “A new group will start at the top of each hour with the ghost hunt and then go out on the walking tour.”
The weekend at the museum will wrap up with Family Fun Night from 6-9 p.m. Saturday. The event is being sponsored by Fairhaven Community and is free.
“There will be pumpkin painting and carving,” said Cathy Browne, admission/marketing director at Fairhaven Community. “We will be serving chili, cider and hot dogs and there will be kids’ games.”
“They will explain what they found and explain how they use the equipment and the scientific approach,” Payton said. “People think it’s all about witchcraft and things like that, but it really is all scientific.”
A $20 admission charge includes a 45-minute walk-through at the museum with O.R.B.S., followed by a 45-minute walking tour with stops at several downtown locations to talk about the history behind each building. Some of stops on the walking tour include, the Wyandot County Courthouse and jail, the Star Theatre, Corner Store and the Indian burial grounds on the hill overlooking Harrison Smith Park. “The Christian Indians were buried out at Old Mission Cemetery and the heretic Indians that didn’t accept Christianity were buried on the hill (near the park),” Payton said. “All the stops will be outside,” she added. “We won’t be going inside the buildings.”
To make reservations for the ghost hunt and walking tour, call the Wyandot County Museum at 419-294-3857 or 419-310-4532.
“We will be limiting (the ghost hunt and walking tour) to 10 people per hour,” Payton said. “A new group will start at the top of each hour with the ghost hunt and then go out on the walking tour.”
The weekend at the museum will wrap up with Family Fun Night from 6-9 p.m. Saturday. The event is being sponsored by Fairhaven Community and is free.
“There will be pumpkin painting and carving,” said Cathy Browne, admission/marketing director at Fairhaven Community. “We will be serving chili, cider and hot dogs and there will be kids’ games.”
By CHANDA NEELY, Staff writer