Strolling spectrally
‘Antient Ghosts of Norwich’ cemetery tours take place Friday
We’re down to it, now. The last weekend before Halloween. You’ve had all of October to visit haunted houses, get lost in corn mazes and spend mellow afternoons in scarecrow villages, plan your costume and carve Jack-o’-Lanterns. Now you’ve got precious few days till All Hallow’s Eve, so it’s time for one more thrill before actual trickor-treating puts an exclamation point on the season.
On Friday, then, consider the “Antient Ghosts of Norwich” walking tour, which takes place in the Norwichtown Colonial Burial Ground. Sponsored and hosted by the Norwich Historical Society as part of the Last Green Valley’s Walktober series, the family-friendly event is a crepuscular stroll through one of the area’s oldest cemeteries — a property rich in spectral lore. A guide will usher three different tour groups through the vast checkerboard of graves lit by luminaries, sharing disquieting historical and legendary anecdotes — and, oh, yeah, encountering a variety of “ghosts” who help accentuate the experience.
Advance registration is required, as each of the three tour groups is limited to 30 participants, and note that the event’s attendance has increased each year.
“It’s funny — in the past, we’ve basically been the only event happening on the Friday before Halloween. This year, there’s three or four other events, but there seems to be plenty of interest,” says Regan Miner, one of the “Antient Ghosts of Norwich” tour guides and a consultant for the Norwich Historical Society. “We have regulars who do this tour every year, and they know the date, and they’re coming regardless. And maybe they’re bringing friends, or people see our advertising. And I think we appeal to a demographic that appreciates the history as much as the ghostly aspect.”
That the event happens at all is a credit to Miner and her own vivid memories of Halloweens Past. She was facinated by the “Antient Ghosts of Norwich” tours as a child.
“The tour started, I think, in the late 1990s,” she says, “and was originally sponsored by the Norwich Rotary. Eventually, it went on hiatus. When I got involved with the Historical Society, and I remembered the ghost tours and thought, ‘Hey, why did this stop?!’”
Three years ago, with a “very excited” Historical Society onboard, Miner resurrected the tour. She says, “The first year was a test while we tried to figure it out — and unexpectedly about 100 people showed up. Then it was 180 people and one of those ‘Oh my God, this is going to work!’ moments.”
The premise is simple. Using the original Rotary script and speaking to folks who volunteered on those early tours, Miner and the Historical Society squad set to work. They kept the original premise and, consulting books on local and Connecticut ghost stories, came up with a solid narrative arc. All of the stories visitors will encounter on the tour are based on historical data or ancestral anecdotes that have been handed down. To keep it fresh, and reflecting the fact that there’s no shortage of ghostly material, Miner says they alter the script a bit each year.
The tour starts on Norwich Town Green with some historical background, then the groups enter into the burial ground, which is completely dark other than the eerie flickering luminaries that serve as guideposts. Oh, and, yes, four different appropriately dead reenactors are interspersed throughout the cemetery to give “life” to the spirits who appear at appropriate stops on the route.
“It’s definitely family-friendly,” says Miner, who works with two other guides on the big night. “There’s no gore or jump-scares, but at the same time, there are some creepy moments. I will say that.”
Miner credits her father, Ron Miner, for a lot of the fright-happy atmosphere.
“It’s gotta be scary, and my dad really loves Halloween, so he really gets into the job of setting up the burial ground for the tours,” she says.
And though Miner hasn’t had any actual ghostly encounters herself, someone took a photograph of another tour guide, Dave Oat, outside the First Congregational Church hard to the Town Green — and the developed photograph shows a floating ectoplasmic orb over his head.
“There’s no explanation for it being in the picture,” Miner says, “so that’s fun.”
She adds it’s never too late for a personal visit from the beyond.
“I actually think (the cemetery’s occupants) like me promoting their history,” she says. “They have stories that shouldn’t be forgotten.”
Antient Ghosts of Norwich, 6:40, 7 and 7:20 p.m. Friday, Norwichtown Green, Elm Avenue at East Town Street, Norwichtown; “a Ghost Tour through the Norwichtown Colonial Burial Ground”; $5, preregistration required; minerregan@ gmail.com.