Ghost Tours, Faerie Villages & Lantern Fests Light Up CT This Weekend

CONNECTICUT — There's still a little spook left in the events around the state this weekend, even as Connecticut residents prepare to swap out candy corn and pumpkins for sweet potatoes and pilgrims.

The ancient Celts knew the night of Oct. 31 as "the hallow between" the time the current year ended at sunset, and the start of the new year at sunrise on Nov. 1. It was the night when the veil between the natural and supernatural worlds was at its thinnest.

To commemorate that night the ancients believed the worlds of living and dead were nearest, Mansfield-based choral ensemble Voices of Concinnity has put together "Thinning of the Veil: reconnecting with the lost." The production incorporates dance and the music of William Byrd, Caroline Shaw, Florence Price, Eric Whitacre, Ethel Smyth, and the Beatles, and features the Voices along with Middletown's Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet.

The concert is Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7:00 p.m. at United Congregational Church in Tolland. Tickets are available online here.

Is an old clock factory spooky enough for you? With the Thomaston Opera House shut down for renovations, this year's edition of Landmark Community Theatre's "Graveside Stories: Resurrected" will take place on level 2 of the historic Seth Thomas Clock Factory. Guests are encouraged to grab a drink at nearby Clocktown Brewing Company before heading into the Clock Factory at 135 South Main Street, where they will be met by a guide who will take them on their ghostly tour. Each tour will begin at the front of the building by the clock tower, and step off between 6-9:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30, Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2. Tickets are available online here.

This weekend is your last chance to check out the 2024 edition of Wee Faerie Village at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme. Guests will explore the museum's 12-acre campus and the artistry of local creators.

Over two dozen faerie installations inspired by the living history museums in Mystic Seaport, Greenfield Village, Sturbridge Village, and Colonial Williamsburg are on display now through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

You'll have a little more time to check out The 2024 Glow Wild Lantern Festival, which continues at the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport Thursdays through Sundays until Dec. 15, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. In its third year, the fest spans the 30-acre width and breadth of the zoo, and the displays are pretty spectacular. Tickets are available online here.

Much more rustic is the "New England Bridges & Barns" exhibit, which closes on Nov. 2 at Arts Center East in Vernon. Artists from across the state are represented in the juried exhibition of "hearty wooden architecture and historic structures," celebrating the unique character of the New England landscape. Gallery hours are 1-5 p.m., and admission is free.

If loving puppets is wrong, then we don't want to be right. It's in that spirit that we direct your attention to the work of Emily Schubert, whose "cabaret-style puppet show for all ages" plays the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry in Storrs this weekend. Two shows on Saturday, 11 a.m. - noon, and 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are available online here.