Laden with cobwebs, dimly lit hallways and tales of ghosts echoing through the halls, the Roberson Museum and Science Center hosted its annual “Souls of Roberson Mansion” tours for October.
Veering from last year’s emphasis on the ghost stories of staff and visitors, this year’s tours of the historic building delve more into the history behind the mansion with haunted tidbits and rumors of ghosts sprinkled throughout the commentary, according to Kelly Cole, public programs coordinator for the Roberson Museum and Science Center.
“In the past, for the haunted tours, we have done a lot more ghost stories, more experiences that staff have had — so, we thought we would throw in more history also,” Cole said. “In the tour, they talk a lot more about the family that lived there and some of the history about the house and their childhood and how they grew up, things like that. We added more of that into the tour than we did last year. I think we are trying to make it like our normal mansion tours with a little bit of an extra creepy factor to it.”
Throughout the tours, the mansion’s vast rooms are explained, narrating the Robersons’ relationship with the building. Tour guides find all sorts of avenues to tell a ghost story, taking opportunities to give several descriptions of the rooms of the home.
The frequency of the ghost stories ramps up throughout the tour, with added spooky collectibles such as a portrait painting of a deceased baby.
“We had an exhibition going on with that stuff and it just happened that some of that stuff is creepy on its own,” Cole said. “There’s that the painting of that dead baby and that hair wreath that fit perfectly in with the tour. They just happen to be a part of an exhibition that we recently had up, so we decided to put those up too because they’re perfect for the haunted tour anyways.”
The ghost stories told by the tour guides, well timed to make visitors aware of the mansion’s haunted reputation, come from past staff and visitors who have experienced supposed run-ins with the spirits of Alonzo and Margaret Roberson, the original owners of the house.
“We wanted to make sure we kept that lane of thinking about how we do tours and educate people about the house and the family that lived there, but we also understand that a lot of people are super interested in [the tours] if there are ghost stories,” Cole said. “It’s one of the number-one questions we get asked, so we wanted to incorporate that for sure. The history is definitely a main part of it also, but the ghost part [is big] as well.”
“Souls of Roberson Mansion” tours will continue on two more Fridays this month, Oct. 18 and Oct. 25. The Roberson Museum and Science Center has tickets available online for $8.