Willis Felecien Sevin
October 2, 2013
Not your average QB: THS star shines, despite desire to be halfback
October 9, 2013
The Southdown Plantation Home doesn’t require twisting corridors, costumed witches or fluttering sound effects to transform into a spooky dwelling. Residents just need to turn off the lights.
“It’s creaking, and some of the passageways have those dark corners,” said Rachel Cherry, resident and museum executive director. “Very often you have the feeling that maybe the house is watching you.”
Cherry announced that the museum plans to offer after-dark tours by candlelight each Wednesday through the end of December. Admission is $10 per person, and reservations are required.
Four tour guides work each evening session. All are dressed in period-appropriate costumes and all remain immersed in first-person character of someone instrumental to Southdown’s history while escorting their guests. A question and answer session follows each tour segment.
The new offering should help Southdown appeal to a new audience, Cherry reasoned.
Tours begin at 6:30 p.m. in October, but the time may be moved up after daylight saving time ends Nov. 3. Organizers want to ensure no sunlight peaks through the curtains, leaving candlesticks and selected ambient illuminations – to highlight some hanging portraits – as the only light. Parents are encouraged to leave children at home because of the tours’ nature.
Although the plantation’s natural spookiness, rooted in its history and authentic creaking, is the primary focus, on Oct. 30, attendees may see more of a Halloween theme creeping into the tour, Cherry said.
For those focused more on discovering the supernatural, Nicholls State University is offering a non-credit course spanning the first half of October: Paranormal Investigation 101.
Class begins Oct. 4 with a lecture that details the paranormal investigation basics and past ghost-hunting expeditions. The next day, pupils explore “possible haunted locations at Nicholls” while using legitimate equipment and techniques employed by actual investigators. The class ends Oct. 11, when attendees reveal their own spooky findings.
Registration is $60 per person. For more information, visit www.nicholls.edu/continuing-ed and click the “Adult Programs” link.
Southdown Museum Executive Director Rachel Cherry is guided by candlelight as she walks through the manor.
