Pumpkin Blaze and Ghost Walk
On the Green in Madison
Saturday, October 23, 2010
(rain date October 30)

For the first time ever, the Madison Historical Society presents a magical fall event for the entire family! The festivities will begin as pumpkin carvers and painters deliver their creations to the Green and register their entries in our Jack-o'-Lantern Contest. While contestants continue to add their entries to the display, old-fashioned games and crafts will engage the whole family, and ghostly visitors from Madison's mysterious past will enthrall those who dare to take our Ghost Walk. As darkness falls, we'll all gather for the awarding of contest prizes and the Grand Illumination of our jack-o'-lanterns and luminaries!!

Jack-O’-Lantern Contest
3:00-5:00 p.m. 
Bring your carved or painted pumpkins for display!
Entry fees: $5 for carved pumpkin/$3 for children’s painted pumpkin
(Note: Lighting for the jack-o'-lanterns will be provided by the MHS.)

Prize Categories:  

• Children (ages 5-10) painted pumpkins
• Family carved pumpkins
• Young Adult (ages 11-17) carved pumpkins
• Adult (18+) carved pumpkins

6:15 p.m.  Winners announced and Prizes awarded in each category
7:30 p.m.  Entrants retrieve pumpkins to bring home for Hallowe'en
(Note: Unretrieved entries will be composted at Bauer Farm.)

Family Crafts, Old-Fashioned Games, and Jack-O'-Lantern Display
4:00 to 6:15 p.m.
Free to the public.
Join in the fun of making Hallowe'en luminaries that will be added to our pumpkin display for the Grand Illumination!
Build your own scarecrows! (Materials provided)
Play Tug-of-War and other old-fashioned games!
Try your luck at a three-legged race!
Buy a bag of popcorn or a cup of apple cider!
View the display of carved and painted pumpkins before the Grand Illumination!

Ghost Walk: Witches, Murders, and Mysteries!
4:00-6:30 p.m.            
Continuous one-hour tours (last tour at 5:30)
Tickets: $5 adults/$3 children under 12/$15 family

Meet Five Madison Ghosts on the Ghost Walk!
(Note: Recommended for children ages 6 and older; use parental discretion.)

As our display of pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns grows, friends and families are invited to meet ghostly characters from Madison's past who just might be haunting the Green this night, looking for someone to listen to their tales.

Joseph Hand (1639-1724)
Joseph Hand (yes, the g-g-g-g-g grandfather of Daniel Hand!) was born in Southampton, Long Island, which was then part of the Connecticut Colony. He was the first of the Hand family to settle in this area. One of the most haunting memories of his life was the witch trial of Goodie Garlick.  His father, a magistrate of Southampton, was ordered to bring Goodie Garlick to Hartford for her trial. All of his life (and even in death!) he felt that Goodie Garlick was following him and looking over his shoulder. Hand married a Guilford girl and moved to the Hammonasset area of East Guilford, but for some reason he felt he couldn’t escape the eyes of Goodie Garlick.

Nellie Wilcox Dowd (1844-1877)
In 1867 Nellie was married to Judson H. Dowd, a veteran of the Civil War who had received a serious head wound. The Dowds lived on Race Hill Road in North Madison and ran a family mill operated by the Dowd family. In April 1777 Judson died of his war wounds.  A few months later, Nellie was killed in a tragic accident while crossing the bridge over the Hammonasset River near Ninevah Falls. Nellie left two young, orphaned daughters whom she forever looked for after her unexpected death.  
  
Captain Phineas Meigs (1708-1782)
Phineas Meigs  was the only patriot killed on Madison soil during the Revolutionary War.  On May 19, 1782, the local militia was alarmed that the British were invading East Wharf. Captain Meigs, age 74 and one of the first responders, was unfortunately killed during the invasion with a shot to his head. (The CT Historical Society now owns the hat, complete with the bullet hole, worn by Captain Meigs on the day of the invasion!)
    
Eldridge Johnson (1844-1883)
The unsolved murdered of Eldridge Johnson at his charcoal pit in North Madison set the town spinning. Was the murderer someone who wanted the cash from a recent sale of cattle known to be in the possession of Johnson? Or was it a man who had a grudge because Johnson refused to let him marry his sister?   

Catharine Hand (1802-1865) 
Catharine grew up in and inherited the house known as “The General’s Residence” on the southeast corner of the Boston Post Road at East Wharf Road. There, on a closet wall, are written the words, “As of this day I have no men in my life.” Were these words possibly inscribed by Widow Catharine Hand after her only two surviving sons (graduates of Yale and Williams College) were mortally wounded during the Civil War?    

Grand Illumination
6:30 p.m. 
All jack-o'-lanterns and luminaries will be illuminated for a brilliant show!
Free to the public. 

We greatly hope this will be a magical night that we can make a Madison tradition!