SPENCER – Award-winning author Karen Lilly-Bowyer will illuminate Spencer’s dark side with stories of spirits, ghosts and goblins during a new haunted trolley ride through the train museum and historic Spencer.
Spencer, a town of legends and one of North Carolina’s oldest railroad towns, is steeped both in history and the paranormal.
To showcase these two elements, Beth Nance, director of the Spencer Doll and Toy Museum, and Karen Lilly-Bowyer, author of “The Wettest and Wickedest Town, An Illustrated guide to the Legends and Ghosts of Salisbury N.C.,” have teamed up to create a new haunted event for Spencer.
The one-hour trolley ride will weave through Spencer’s Historic District. Riders will see and hear about many of the town’s Victorian homes.
The trolley also will take riders through historic Spencer Shops, now home of the N.C. Transportation Museum.
By the light of the moon, the historic railroad buildings will provide a ghostly backdrop for stories about apparitions which have been seen and heard at the Shops.
Lilly-Bowyer said she was thrilled when Nance approached her a year ago with the idea of creating a haunted trolley ride for Spencer.
“The haunted trolley is my vehicle for teaching the adventurous and young at heart about the history, mysteries and legends of North Carolina,” said Lilly-Bowyer, a retired teacher.
The Spencer Haunted Trolley begins this Friday and will run on Fridays and Saturdays through October.
The trolley arrives at 8 p.m. at the Doll and Toy Museum, 108 Fourth St. Reservations are recommended by calling 704-762-9359 or emailing spencertrolley@yahoo.com.
The Haunted Trolley costs $12 for adults and $8 for students.
Lilly-Bowyer developed the Downtown Salisbury Ghost Walk in 2010, which earned a Main Street Award from the N.C. Department of Commerce.
On Oct. 31, the Spencer Trolley will offer Hallowine and the Haunted Trolley.
The Salisbury Wine Shop will present a wine and craft beer tasting at the Doll and Toy Museum after the trolley ride for $25 per person, with proceeds benefitting the museum. Reservations are required for this event.