Kids celebrate historical Halloween

| The State News Alana Garlitz, 4, runs to her older sister Sydney, 6, for a hug after being eliminated in a game of musical chairs. The Michigan Historical Museum, 702 W. Kalamazoo St., Lansing, put on a Halloween party for children on Sunday. Most children toured the Halloween-themed galleries in costumes, played games and listened to ghost stories.

Lansing — Dressed as Detroit Tigers pitcher Nate Robertson, complete with fake facial hair and a baseball glove, 8-year-old Noah Kitson of Lansing smiled as he described his favorite part of the 1931 movie "Frankenstein."

"I like the part where Igor drops the normal brain and picks up the other one," he said.

Kitson was among the many children who dressed in Halloween costumes ranging from Superman to Batman to Snow White on Sunday afternoon at the Michigan Library and Historical Center, 702 W. Kalamazoo St., in Lansing.

These children were part of about 200 people who attended "Haunted History: A Spooky Walk Through Time."

The inaugural "Haunted History" turned the museum into a Halloween-themed fun house with activities such as Halloween stories, decorating pumpkins and a fortune-teller.

Tami Averill, education curator for the museum, said the event focused on Halloween history and tried to highlight the holiday's traditions in Michigan.

Like many of the kids, she had a hard time choosing her one favorite part of the event, but finally decided on the movie exhibit.

"I'm happy that we were able to show 'Frankenstein,'" she said.

Averill said the event took about six to eight months of planning and research.

The "Spider Web" game proved to be one of the more popular games among the children. Each child who played had to pick up a piece of colored string and follow it around a schoolhouse room, picking up the string, which wrapped around almost everything in the room.

At the end, everyone who participated got a prize.

Jackie Clinton, who supervised the activity, said that in the Victorian era, people would play it in their houses. "Sometimes you'd have 50 people playing at one time," she said.

Many of the workers dressed in costumes and handed out candy to the children. LaVerne Fluker of Lansing, a volunteer at the museum, read Halloween-themed stories to children and asked them questions during the readings.

"It's interesting because everyone enjoys a story like Charlie Brown. But then you also have some stories that are scary, but not that scary," said Fluker, a retired Lansing school district employee.

With so many activities, many children had a difficult time picking a favorite.

Angela Laier of Lansing, who came dressed as a butterfly, thought for a moment as she tried to pick her favorite part of the event.

"I liked designing the Halloween bags and making the spiders," she said.

Her brother Jonathan, who came in a Spiderman costume, also enjoyed making a spider out of pipe cleaners and beads, which was part of an activity on the museum's third floor.

With a higher turnout than she expected, Averill hopes this will lead to increased participation at future events. "This is the first of what I hope will be many more," she said.