|
While children were enjoying Trick
or Treat with Abe at the Lincoln Heritage Museum Saturday, October
24th, adults were arriving with tickets in hand for the optional
first portion of the Haunted Historic Walking Tour in Lincoln. This
is the second year Janell Woolard has planned and hosted the walking
tour in Lincoln. The downtown portion started at Flossie & Delzena’s
at about 3 p.m.
Museum Director and Curator Ron
Keller took tour guests into “The Vault.” The Vault was the back
room where the museum keeps all its historical artifacts that are
not on display. Keller took out a number of items, including the
life and death masks of Abraham Lincoln, a poem he transcribed
called Mortality (which is only one of three known copies left), a
mourning veil worn by Mary Todd Lincoln after her husband’s death, a
piece of the dress of Laura Keene (who was the main actress in the
play Our American Cousin), among other artifacts.
After the artifacts were viewed,
everyone was taken upstairs to visit Mary Todd, who was distraught
after the death of her husband. Mary gave an emotional performance
and captivated the attention of all in the room. At the end of her
speech, Mary asked all to leave the room, and everyone did silently.
Keller then thanked everyone for coming and reminded them that the
next part of the tour would start at Flossie and Delzena’s at 3 p.m.
Everyone then departed to meet again at the restaurant.
At Flossie’s, the crowd was much larger. There were nearly 30 people
in attendance. Cookies, water, coffee, and tea were provided, all
complimentary to those who were going on the walking tour.
At 3 p.m. Woolard got up in front
of the crowd and thanked everyone for coming before speaking a bit
on the experience. She stated that, at each of the stops, guests
would see ghosts who would speak to them. Additionally, Woolard
would provide a bit on the history of each stop.
[to top of second column] |
The first stop on the tour was
Indigo Quilt Studio. The ghost of “Coonhound Johnny” was the first
to appear. He was a bootlegger in the prohibition era who had
connections to Al Capone in Chicago. Johnny would raise coonhounds
as a front for the bootlegging he did in Lincoln. The actor who
portrayed him was very lively and got a few good chuckles out of the
audience. Once Johnny finished speaking, Woolard then chimed in,
speaking on the history of the location and the figure.
At each stop along the way, a ghost of some figure, sometimes a true
historical figure and other times not, would appear to speak to the
crowd. After each of the ghosts spoke, Woolard would then share some
interesting facts about the location. The crowd went to the Lincoln
Public Library, the new Lincoln sign, and then to the town
christening site.
At the Christening site, President Lincoln came around to speak to
the crowd on what happened at the site and reenact the christening
with a watermelon. Seeing as how watermelons are not in season,
Lincoln instructed the crowd to “use their imagination.”
Not long after Mr. Lincoln began to
speak, a freight train came by. At first, Lincoln seemed to be
waiting it out. After waiting a bit and seeing no end to the train
in sight, he continued, but louder. Just about the time Lincoln was
finishing his speech, the train finished and everyone could be heard
once again.
Woolard continued leading the crowd to different locations. They
went to the Museum of Route 66, went inside The Bee, to an alley a
few locations down from Epicenter Gaming, the old Lincoln Theater,
and finally Prairie Threads. After leaving Prairie Threads, Woolard
led the group to Spirited Republic, where everyone got to enjoy a
beverage, Guzzardo’s pizza, and live music.
Lincoln Haunted Walking Tour Part One
Lincoln Haunted Walking Tour Part Two
[Matt Boutcher]
|
