This Fall Explore The Festive Events, plus History and Haunted Tours In Alabama, By A. Brandon

October is a great time to visit historic Alabama, where you'll find plenty of festive fall events as well as local haunts for ghost haunters. Board the Tuscumbia Trolley and catch the history of the town and its colorful tales of the supernatural. Travel through the downtown and its adjoining residential area and you'll view the state’s best collections of 19th century architecture showcased in this National Register Historic District.

 History and Haunts, A Trolley Tour of Historic Tuscumbia takes you to a haunted site as well as visit a historic cemetery. Tours will begin at 5:00 and 6:30 p.m. from Cold Water Book Store, corner 6th and Main Streets, Tuscumbia. Tickets are $5.00, at the Cold Water Book Store. The event is sponsored by the local Landmarks Foundation as a benefit for historic preservation. For more information contact the Colbert County Tourism and Convention Bureau at 800.344.0783 or 256.383.0783. www.colbertcountytourism.org.

Looking for more haunting tales, then join the Annual Haunts Walk ; in Athens in Mid October, which is hosted by the Greater Limestone County Chamber of Commerce Tourism Council. This tour includes tales of paranormal activity at 12 local structures in the area. Many more structures are known to have spirits although only 12 are featured on the walks. Each walk on this tour is approximately 1-½ hours and consists of 25 walkers. There are two walks each night with the first at 5:30 p.m. and the second at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $7. For more information contact Jeanette Dunnavant, Limestone County Tourism Director, 256.232.5411 or jeanette@pclnet.net

For an interesting and perhaps creepy tour to some is the Rosemere Cemetery Luminary Tour ; in Opelika held in early October. Tour guides will introduce each of the 15 honorees located at 12 graveside stops in the Opelika cemetery both nights from 7 to 9 p.m. Each tour will last 45 minutes. Tickets are $10 for adults,$8 for children 12 and under, and include a printed program with information about the tour's honorees. The Rosemere Cemetery tour is held on alternating years with tours at Pine Hill Cemetery in Auburn. For more information contact the Museum of East Alabama at 334.749.2751, museum@eastalabama.org.

In Thomasville you can take a Ghost Walk and partake in festivities at the annual Fall Festival  through the first of November. The Thomasville Arts Council acts out some of the famous ghost stories from the books of Kathryn Tucker Windham. Hear the haunted history of Thomasville at stops along the way. Other events during the festival include a street dance, motorcycle poker ride, car show and the Haunted Hille Hotel haunted house. For more information call the Thomasville Chamber of Commerce 334.636.1542, www.swalcc.com.

For a haunting good time visit the Graystone Manor Killen when the 30,000 square-foot recreation of a 19th-century mansion features several hundred animatronic props and live actors carrying out the legend of Doctor Vanburen Graystone. Be warned to expect the terrifying unexpected. Those who scare easily, frequently faint or have heart conditions will be turned away at the door. Admission for the 45-minute tour is $15.00, 7:00 p.m. & midnight. For more information call 256.757.7000 or visit www.Graystonemanor.net.

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