Flanders Haunted Hikes – Unspeakable Tales of Old Woodbury

Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust located on Flanders Road in Woodbury is excited to announce the Flanders Haunted Hikes are back! The Haunted Hikes are taking place on Fridays, October 22 & 29 and Saturdays, October 23 & 30 from 4PM to 8 PM on the Van Vleck Farm & Nature Sanctuary. Every 13 minutes 13 souls go out into the woods to encounter the unspeakable! Hermit Guides will take you across our fields and forests to experience the folklore and legends of Woodbury.

Between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM, join a family friendly hike for a not-so scary walk in the woods. But, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM, be a braver soul for a spine chilling walk in the dark woods. The later walks are not recommended for children under 12 or the faint of heart!

Hikes will last about 30 minutes. Please leave your flashlights at home and come prepared for a night of adventure and dressed for the weather!

Cost is $7 per person. There will be seasonal refreshments available for purchase at the end of the hike. For more information on this event and to purchase tickets, please visit Flanders website at www.flandersnaturecenter.org or call (203) 263-3711.

About Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust
Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that focuses on environmental education, and on the acquisition, conservation, and stewardship of open space. Through its land trust initiatives, Flanders actively works to protect important natural sites and the area’s landscape character and quality of life. Flanders manages over 2,400 acres of preserved land in Woodbury and neighboring towns. Educational programs for children and adults are offered at the Van Vleck Farm Sanctuary, Flanders’ main campus in Woodbury. Trails at its major nature preserves are open to the public at no charge from dawn to dusk. For more information, call 203-263-3711 or flandersnaturecenter.org

Ghosts of Ridgefield

Get ready for a spooktacular time at the Keeler Tavern’s guided walk on Friday, October 23 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, October 24 at 5 pm with Timothy Keeler!
On this guided walk of Timothy Keeler’s Haunt, visitors will meet some of the ghosts of Ridgefield’s past from across three centuries going back to its founding days in early 1700.

These ghosts came from all walks of life, some wealthy and influential, others from the fringes of society. But all left their mark on our town’s history and their stories live on forever. This is the time to hear their voices and meet them — in the flesh!

Dress warmly and wear appropriate shoes; we have uneven walkways. Your guide will carry a flashlight to lead the way. Parking is at the First Congregational Church, 103 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877, across the street from our campus. Please exercise caution when crossing the street.

Check-in 5 minutes before the start of your tour at the Keeler Tavern Visitor Center, 152 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877. The tour will last about 75 minutes. Restroom facilities are available only at the start of the tour.

Tours will start promptly. We will not be able to accommodate late arrivals.
Appropriate for families with children ages 7+.We will run this program unless torrential rainstorms ensue. The tickets are $10 and can be purchased by clicking here.

Spooktacular Witch’s Dungeon!

This will be the 55th season for the annual Witch’s Dungeon Halloween Classic Movies Museum in Bristol, the longest-running exhibition of its kind started in 1966. This wax style museum is a tribute to the actors and make-up artists that gave audiences classic movie monsters. A highlight of the event is the guest appearance of Argyle Goolsby (musician Steve Matthews) plus the screening of the Mel Brooks classic movie, Young Frankenstein on real film at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 25.

The Graveyard Of Classic Ghouls sets the atmosphere as you enter the dungeon where accurate life-size figures of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, and others are featured in 13 scenes or dioramas based on the vintage movie chillers. Many of the figures are made from the actual life casts of the actor’s faces, plus some original costumes or props, in a wax museum style setting with special voice tracks by Vincent Price, Mark Hamill, and John Agar. Many Hollywood props are on display and vintage films will be shown in the auditorium on “real” film until 10 p.m.

While waiting for each wax museum tour, you can view actual film props, actor’s life casts and movie posters, or step into our film room, to view classic silent horror movies, shown on film, not video. Featuring far more life-size figures & original movie props than we have ever had on display before! Figures based on the classic films of Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi and more.

The location for Witches Dungeon is 98 Summer Street in Bristol at the Bristol Historical Society. The hours are weekends in October, Friday through Sunday evenings, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Oct. 25-27 and Oct. 31- Nov. 3. The Museum is not recommended for children under age 7. A $6 donation is suggested. For additional information visit http://www.preservehollywood.org.

Haunted Lantern Stroll in Bridgeport Oct. 24

The Barnum Museum is offering a “Wicked Lantern Stroll” on Thursday, October 24 at 7 p.m.with historian and author, Michael Bielawa. Stroll through the streets of Bridgeport to unravel the mysteries that this vibrant city hides – especially during the Halloween season.  Bielawa is versed in the paranormal and specializes in the study of New England’s shadowy past.

This slightly macabre tour, whose tales are based in fact, is perfect for Halloween jitters and thrills!  Participants will visit scenes of suspected hauntings, Victorian-era murders and unexplained phenomena. These sites are so centrally located and close to one another that they will give you the shivers! 

The walk begins in the People’s United Bank Gallery located at the rear of the Barnum Museum on 820 Main Street in Bridgeport. Tickets should be purchased in advance and are $10 per person for Barnum Museum Members and $20 for non-members. Make sure to bring your camera along to document the area’s paranormal activity!  After the walk, participants are invited to the museum for cider and refreshments. It should be noted that this program is not recommended for children under 12. For your tickets click here.

7th Annual Washington Green Cemetery Tour

The 7th Annual Washington Green Cemetery Tour, with a special World War One theme, will take place on Friday, October 24from 6:30-8:30pm.

Costumed guides will lead groups of visitors every ten minutes from the Gunn Museum to the Washington Green Cemetery where the town’s departed citizens will be stationed at their gravestones to tell their tales of tragedy and triumph.

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Tour groups will follow a magical path of 1,000 luminaries spanning a quarter mile through the shadowy cemetery and hear the lively and dramatic stories of Washington’s residents from World War One. The costumed character actors stationed at each gravestone will share such stories as the perilous tales of combat in Europe; the life of a soldier stationed in muddy rat infested trenches; women will describe what the fascinating experiences they had as nurses and YMCA workers; summer residents from New York City will talk about how they joined forces with the locals to form war relief organizations such as the Sister Susie Society on the home front; and so much more.

The tours depart from the Museum in groups of fifteen people every 10 minutes between 6:30-8:30 pm, and last approximately 45 minutes. Numbers for the tours are handed out at the Museum starting at 6:15pm. A Halloween themed movie will be shown and treats will be served in the Wykeham Room of the Gunn Library as you wait for your tour group to depart. The Museum will also be open for viewing of the exhibit, Over There: Washington and the Great War. The cemetery is dark and cold, please bring a flashlight with you and dress warmly.

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While this event is free, donations are always appreciated. The rain date is Sunday October 26. The Gunn Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road, at the intersection of Wykeham Road and Route 47, on Washington Green, Connecticut. Parking at the Gunn is limited, please use nearby lots and side streets. Call 860-868-7756 or view www.gunnlibrary.org for information.

For information on Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com