Haunted History Thursdays

The Telluride Historical Museum has been discovering “our colorful past” in some spooky ways for Halloween this year.  The museum presented several programs for the town this season in honor of the year’s scariest holiday. Though the museum building is closed for the off-season, the organization continued the community programs on Thursdays leading up to Halloween with “Haunted History Thursdays.”

October kicked off with the lamp-lighted cemetery tour on the Thursday, the third. The tour featured local history with a flair. Participants brought their own flashlights, warm layers, and a donation of $5 for ghostly tales in Lone Cone Cemetery tour. The event combined entertainment and information and reminded tourists about the multicultural and rich past that Telluride honors. With the late changing of the colors, the aspens still retained some color as they whispered in the moon glow.

Thursday, Oct. 10, was Macabre Movie Night and featured the showing of classic Halloween films. Moviegoers watched Disney’s “The Adventures of Ichabod Crane” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Tim Burton. Both films, cherished in the Halloween season, were shown indoors for a suggested donation of $5.

The pumpkin-carving extravaganza took place Thursday, Oct. 24. The museum provided carving tools, while guests brought their own pumpkins. Snacks and apple cider were provided.  The pumpkins were seen all over town. Some of them were entered in local contests for locals to vote on. Others lit the front porches for the Telluride trick-or-treaters.

One of the most celebrated highlights was the ghost stories and lamplight museum tour that took place Halloween night. Local storyteller Ashley Boling led the telling of tales in the museum’s amphitheater. Listeners were encouraged to dress warmly for the haunted stories of Telluride. The standard $5 donation was suggested. Telluride has no shortage of dramatic talent, and the storytelling event added another facet in the jewel of local theater.

The weather was cold this Halloween evening in Telluride. Temperatures reached freezing, and snow blanketed the town. That didn’t stop locals and visitors from getting out and enjoying events like the storytelling hosted by the museum.

After the ghost stories Halloween night, children and adults took flashlights through the darkened museum for a scary experience. Admission for adults was $20, while children were $15 to enter.

Visitor Becky McKain said, “This is one of the things I love about Telluride. I’ve done several different events with the museum, and I loved them all. The people are so nice, and they go so far to plan fun things for folks to do to celebrate Telluride history. My daughter is local, and I when I come visit, I make a point to see what the museum is offering. If I lived here full-time, I’d do everything.”

Haunted History Thursdays was a truly success in October 2013.

To see what events the Telluride Historical Museum has coming up, see http://www.telluridemuseum.org/events.html or drop by for a visit at 201 W. Gregory. The museum will reopen December 1^st. Private tours can still made in the meantime by calling 970-728-3344.