When you have a relatively old building (1906) where there used to be a basement mortuary for a number of years (20), its reuse could be rather limited.
Perhaps you could hold some ghost tours there or even duplicate a Victorian wake as a theatrical event. Maybe, if you were a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe…
…you could even put on a festival there.
The first annual Edgar Allan Poe Fall Festival took place at the Warehouse on the Canal (Canal Fulton) where the ghost tours and Victorian wake do take place (along with Edgar Allan Poe Theater performances) when there’s not a festival going on.
And while I admit that I hesitated with the $8 admission, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist the festival in the end…
…because Poe so close to Halloween just rocks.
Being entirely an indoor event (except for one of the ghost walks taking place outside), the festival occupied three rooms.
In the main room, or lobby, you could find vendors…
…who sold monster mugs…
…Poe dolls…
…Poe shirts…
…and some great Poe art work (James Bennett).
There were even some creative monster food choices to keep with the theme.
In the second room, festival goers could pull up a seat and enjoy the varied activities that took place there.
Included in activities were lectures on cryptology, Poe-related theater (monologues and poetry recitals), movie makeup artistry….
…and even a Poe-related fashion show.
When you wanted to get an adult refreshment…
…you could escape to the bar in the third room for two signature drinks…
…the Ghost Girl (rum/peach schnapps, apple/orange/pineapple juices, grenadine) and the Hop Frog Apple Grog (cider, cranberry, whiskey, rum, apple pie liquor, cherries, cinnamon).
And, if you wanted to lounge in the cinema also in the room…
…they were playing The Thing.
No matter which room you were in….
…the festival was heavily decorated…
…on counters…
…walls…
…and even in coffins.
And some of the decor you could interact with…
In fact, I found myself so moved by the spirit of Halloween…
…that I decided to go on the basement (mortuary) ghost tour ($5 more) to meet the resident spirit “Lester.”
After coincidentally finding some dowsing rods at my table…
…I made my way down into the basement…
…where its history was revisited…
…Lester was pointed out by the psychic (corner of the room)…
…and we got to step inside a vortex.
And although I wouldn’t say I experienced any spirit myself….
…the festival was a spooky good time.