For an ideal means of stirring up that spooky Halloween spirit, check out ‘Night of Terror at the Booseum’ Oct. 24th-26th.
Hours are from 7 to 9 on the Thursday evening, and then from 7 to 11 p.m. on the Friday and Saturday evenings. Cost is $10 per person, said Karen Wahlund, the Museum’s manager.
Get ready for a true-blue Halloween experience.
“It’s really geared to the adults.”
Rooms throughout the creaking, sprawling Old Court House have been decorated by various businesses and organizations. It’s recommended that participants be over the age of 13, she said, adding with a laugh that she prefers to check it out in the daytime. The site will be decked out in full-out, ghostly Halloween ‘charm’.
“We go by a whole mutual theme, and they each set up their own display,” she said, adding that during the last Booseum, volunteers poured some 1,500 hundred hours altogether on their rooms.
Guests go from room to room sometimes with a guide, and the feedback is always terrific, said Wahlund. This year’s theme touches on the topic of horror movies, so visitors can be sure they will get plenty of chills thanks to the various set-ups.
“Two years ago, on the Friday and Saturday nights, we had 100 people line up,” she said. ”This year, we are also hoping to have a tent onsite to help keep people out of the wind, or any inclement weather,” she said.
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through to September, the Museum features several buildings from Stettler’s past from the 1903 Content School, the 1907 Courthouse and the 1908 Lakeview Church to a 1910 farmhouse and the 1911 Train Station and Caboose.
Through the year, the Museum does also open for special occasions such as Night of Terror at the Booseum and Light the Night over the Christmas season.
Of the buildings on site, 12 are historic while others are replicas.
In the aforementioned old courthouse building, there are displays about both World Wars, the Korean War, and the local hospital history. Visitors can also check out the courtroom where convicted murderer Robert Raymond Cook’s initial hearings were held.
Cook, convicted of killing his entire family, was the last man hung in Alberta back in 1960. There is a display in the room featuring some photos relating to the case.
Meanwhile, right around the corner is December’s Light the Night where folks can check out the glittering light displays onsite.
“It starts on the first Friday of December which is our opening night,” said Wahlund.
”It will run Fridays and Saturdays except for the week before Christmas when we are open every night. You can take a wagon ride on the first two nights on a horse-drawn wagon. The rest of the nights are with the antique tractor club.
“You can also walk, or you can also drive (around the site) in the warmth of your own vehicle,” she said. “Buildings are decorated by local businesses and groups, and also by some community members,” she said. “Last year we had 70 participants and we are always looking for more,” she said.
”It’s our biggest fundraiser.”
Wahlund said that hosting these major off-season events really also helps to draw folks back during the busy summer months, too.
“We’ve even had people who were visiting family (in the winter) come back and visit the museum in the summer as well.”
For more information, check out www.stettlermuseum.com.