In celebration of Halloween, I went with my two aunts to some Haunted Houses tonight. First we went to the Molly Brown museum house. Yes, it's the unsinkable Molly from the Titanic. The house was built in 1889 and was bought for what is equivalent to today's $1.5MM. It was a special event running for 4 nights. They do horror readings from Victorian authors. It was cool to be in the house at night; it was mostly lit by candle and they had replaced the few light bulbs with darkened colors. They had 5 performances in various rooms of the house. The performances included readings from Edgar Allen Poe, HG Wells and others. It was fun to be sitting on the carpet in Molly's bedroom and listening to the tale of Dora Shorter's "The Strange Voice" (Eileen - the main character has your name). Dora is an Irish poet and the person doing the reading had an excellent accent to match the story. I haven't been on the regular house tour, but this is also an opportunity to actually sit in the rooms versus what is most likely behind ropes on the tour.
After the classy Victorian readings, we went to a traditional haunted house called the Haunted Mansion in Littleton. I would recommend it; it was well done, complete with Freddy Crueger. What was the most entertaining was Ellen's reaction. She didn't want to be in front and be the first to walk into the next room. I think the creepy people following you around figure out who's the most scared and make a point to follow that person. The Haunted Mansion also has a store that has a great selection of Halloween costumes. Note to self: if I dress up next year, I would shop here.
