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Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum Hosts a Day of the Macabre
Halloween Festivities Include a Cemetery Tour, Lantern Museum Tour and Lecture by a Vampire Expert
WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (September 25, 2007) – Do you think vampires are simply a work of Bram Stoker’s imagination? Think again! While they didn’t resemble the famous Count Dracula, vampires were in fact a very real part of New England’s history. On October 28, folklorist and esteemed author Michael E. Bell, Ph.D., will reveal the true story during the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum’s Halloween event.
The festivities include a tour of the Old Wethersfield Burial Grounds, a lantern tour of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum and Dr. Bell’s lecture, “Vampires and Death in New England.”
Dr. Bell will tell the story of rural New England families who dug up the bodies of their loved ones and burned their hearts to save the living. When confronted with an illness that medicine could neither explain nor cure, these farmers blamed the dead. Dr. Bell will also share his experiences conducting the interviews, visiting the cemeteries and investigating the archaeological digs that led to his award-winning book, Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase in the museum store, and Dr. Bell will be available for a book signing after the lecture. Refreshments will be served.
Dr. Bell has a Ph.D. in folklore from Indiana University, Bloomington and has been an independent public-sector scholar and a consulting folklorist at the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission since 1980. Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires was a BookSense 76 Pick and winner of the Lord Ruthven Assembly Award for Best Nonfiction Book on Vampires.
What: A day of the macabre, including an ancient burial ground tour, lantern museum tour and lecture by the author of an award-winning book on New England’s vampire history.
Where: Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, 211 Main St., Wethersfield, CT 06109
When: Sunday, October 28. Burial ground tour – 3 p.m., lecture – 3:30 p.m. The lantern tour of the museum follows the lecture.
Cost: $15 for tour of burial grounds, lecture by Dr. Bell and lantern tour of the museum; $10 for the lecture only. Registration for the full program is required. Walk-ins for Dr. Bell’s presentation are welcome.
For more information: Contact Lisa Sillitto, education coordinator at the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, at (860) 529-0612 or lsillitto@webb-deane-stevens.org for more information or to purchase tickets. Tickets may also be purchased in the museum store.