whilewaitingtobepublished.com

Last night I went to a charming presentation on local ghost stories.  It took place in a local theater, included a tour of the theater’s back stage, and had many wonderful photos of local landmarks and graveyards.  The graveyards were not simply set dressing, the photos showed the details of the oldest slate stones with the spookiest art.  (One does not have to go far in this part of New England to find graveyards: many old family plots border roads or the modern buildings which have taken over what was once wide-open farmland, there are also plenty of old churches with attached cemeteries.)

The photos also included angles and interiors of some landmarks which are usually not open to the public.  (Sometimes a ghost hunting show will come on tv which shows the insides of the same buildings — but always at night which never does them justice.)  So the presentation was a sightseeing tour (from a comfortable theater seat) and a fine evening of eerie tales.

I had already seen the backstage of the theater but it was nice to visit it again.  It began life as a brick waterfront warehouse so it was interesting to see its bare basement walls and the different phases of construction.  I came home and read an old volume of ghost stories from British estates and wrote a note to buy an extra bag of candy this year (we almost ran out, last time).

-Lisa Shapter

Read "No Woman, No Plaything" in Kaleidotrope