Troy Historic Village offers up its spookiest displays

TROY — The Troy Historic Village is offering up some spooky fun this October with its Curious and Macabre Lantern Tour.

From a plant known as “dead man’s finger,” to creepy dolls, lethal Victorian baby bottles and deadly wallpaper, the tour will take visitors on a lantern-lit journey through the Troy Historic Village to show off some of its most creepy, unusual and morbid items in its collection.

“We wanted to do something in the evening, lantern lit, for the spooky season. We didn’t want to just do a haunted house,” said Adult Programs Director Stephanie Suszek. “It’s a guided, behind-the-scenes tour, and we will be going into spaces normally off limits from the public. We will make stops to see some of our most curious and macabre artifacts.”

The tour will take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday Oct. 28 at the Troy Historic Village, located at 60 W. Wattles Road in Troy. Ages 15 and up are welcome. The cost is $12 for Troy Historical Society members and $15 for nonmembers. Those interested can register at troyhistoricvillage.org/programs/curious-and-macabre-lantern-tour.

There are steps with no ramp access on the tour. Those who need special accommodations or who have questions can contact village staff by calling (248) 524-3570.

“If it’s sold out, we will split into multiple groups. They will visit the same spaces, but not at the same time,” said Suszek. “Tickets must be purchased in advance.”

Matthew Hackett, a historic interpreter with the Troy Historic Village, said there are numerous interesting curios to take in and explore on the tour.

“Among the curious items are quack medicine paraphernalia. We have a lot of stories around them,” he said. “On the macabre side, we have taxidermy and poisonous plants. There are lockets with a dead child’s hair inside which were a way to keep their memory with you always.”

Suszek said her favorite part of the tour is sharing one of Oakland County’s own local ghost stories, known as “The Phantom Woman.”

“In 1877, in Oakland County history, there’s a story called The Phantom Woman that we will be including in the tour,” she said. “It’s a story from Troy’s past that I think people will find very fascinating.”

Hackett said he was so excited to be able to explore the darker, less explored side of Troy’s local history with others.

“Quackery in medicine and a lot of artifacts devoted to mourning are all very rich,” he said. “A lot of nature-related items really fit in with our theme and had a reputation for being able to cure something according to folklore at the time. I visited a site in Lapeer called the Odditorium where they put things on their shelves that are weird or unusual, and this is our chance at doing something similar.”

He added that it’s a great chance to view the village at night.

“It’s interesting to see the buildings after dark,” said Hackett. We’ve been having fun finding things in our collection or in our archives to share with people. We were on a creepy artifact scavenger hunt this past week.”

Suszek hopes the community will stop by for some unusual Halloween-season fun.

“This is a really unique way to experience the spooky season,” she said. “It’s not a haunted house, but it’s got a really fun and unusual way to get in the spirit of the season that visitors will find interesting.”