CANDLELIGHT CEMETERY TOUR

The ghosts of Slate Belt will tell their tales during a candlelight tour of St. John's Cemetery on Friday, October 14, starting at 7 p.m. Forgotten stories and dark secrets will come alive as guides and ghosts from the Slate Belt Heritage Center walk visitors between the graves at Sixth and Broadway in Bangor. Discover abandoned babies, weeping ladies, tragically lost quarry workers buried between visionary leaders and industrial giants. Visitors will experience first hand the enduring friendships and long legacies of departed soldiers.

"The tour gives us a chance to tell the fascinating stories of Slate Belt people from a different point of view," said John Reinhart, Heritage Center member and one of the guides. "As we do research for our book series, we 'dig up' information about the people who settled here, and this is an opportunity for them to tell their own stories from beyond the grave."

Some stories are legends from living memory, like the long standing loyalty of Colonel Frye, who returned in a helicopter every Memorial Day to lay a wreath on his buddy's grave. Others are mysteries from the distant past. What happened to Dead Edna, Weeping Blanche, and Baby Moses? What quirk of fate spared Dr. Keller's ancestor from tragedy at the Delabole massacre? Is there a message in the tolling church bell? What do tombstones reveal about the people who "reside" under them?

As a special treat, the tour will enter the rarely seen interior of the Mausoleum.

The ghosts start to appear at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 14. Tours leave every fifteen minutes from 7 to 8:15. The cost is $15.00.

Tickets are on sale at the Heritage Center, Miller's Paint Store, and Heard's Meat Market, or on the night of the Tour, at the Broadway entrance of Saint John's cemetery. Parking is available on the street or the Lutheran Church parking lot. Wear walking shoes and be prepared for uneven terrain. Rain date is October 15.