Cemetery Walks, Haunted Tours Highlight Local History

As Halloween approaches, communities nationwide are staging cemetery walks, living‑history performances and haunted tours that blend spooky entertainment with local history. In Tennessee, larger haunted attractions such as Brushy Mountain prison, Dread Hollow, Ruby Falls’ Lantern Tour and a Victorian séance at Mabry‑Hazen join neighborhood cemetery vignettes. Small institutions are leading many efforts: Clinton County History Center’s fifth annual Talking Tombstones drew 112 visitors to Sugar Grove Cemetery and organizers say they may pause to reassess the program. In Ocean Springs, the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Arts Center is running multiple evening departures at Bellande Cemetery with local actors who rehearsed for weeks. Long Beach Historical Society’s 29th annual Historical Cemetery Tour on Oct. 25 will feature graveside ten‑minute performances by Long Beach Playhouse actors, pictorials, panels on immigrant and free‑speech themes and an emcee recounting quirky local tales; across these events organizers aim to educate, preserve genealogy and raise funds while using theatrical storytelling to keep community histories alive.