South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Stranahan House wants you to drink wine, learn about ghosts
Alligator wrestling, Caribbean pirates, ghosts of hometown leaders and other eye-raising moments in Fort Lauderdale history are on tap for the Historic Stranahan House Museum’s new adults-only happy hour.
Called History Happy Hours and accompanied by wine and cheese, the monthly series will kick off at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, by plunging deep into Fort Lauderdale’s urban legends and paranormal stories.
Local historian Merry Wajda, billed by the Stranahan as its “resident ghost expert,” will share her mother lode of ghostly material about the historical building, opened in 1901 as an Indian trading post. Its owner Frank Stranahan, considered a founding father of Fort Lauderdale, notoriously committed suicide in 1927 by jumping into the New River. Wajda will also discuss other city pioneers and South Florida’s history of Prohibition mobsters.
Speaking of ghosts, the Stranahan will highlight the home’s resident spooky figures during its Spirits of Stranahan House Halloween Tours, beginning at 7 p.m. Oct. 25-26, and Oct. 29-30. Guides dressed as Victorian mourners will lead the evening tours, recounting the souls who lived and perished at the house. Tickets cost $25, and visitors should call 954-524-4736 to register.
For November’s History Happy Hour, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 13, the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Everett Osceola will dive into the tribe’s history of alligator wrestling and allow visitors to pet a baby alligator.
More History Happy Hours are being planned, but Stranahan House has yet to announce topics for December and January.
The History Happy Hours will take place
5:30 p.m. Oct. 16 and Nov. 13 at Historic Stranahan House Museum, 335 SE Sixth Ave., in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost
$15-$20. Call 954-524-4736 or go to StranahanHouse.org.