(10.27,28) The Museum of Natural History has some special events scheduled for this weekend. In addition to spooky stories, creature features, mystery guests and a trick-or-treat bag full of Halloween fun, visitors can take haunted museum vault tours (additional admission applies, children under 4 not admitted). According to the ProJo,
Only 2 percent of the museum’s collection of some 250,000 items is on exhibit at one time, so curators want to give visitors a chance to see part of the other 98 percent — and what better time than Halloween to bring out the creepy, crawly things. The items are normally locked away in temperature-controlled vaults in the basement of the French chateau-style museum, under the watchful eye of the curators. For the spooky celebration, they have pulled out tarantulas, brown bats, a screech owl, and the skeleton of a black vulture. They even located a plant, datura, that witches in Europe believed would help them fly if they rubbed it on their broomsticks.
I would like to make a small suggestion to the museum director; at some point in the future, organize some of these tours for grownups, and no kids. I think lots of people would love to poke around and learn about the history and science behind the collections.
Weekend events include planetarium shows and a tour of the Williams Family cemetery.
(Note to witches: Datura can help you fly, but you’re doing it all wrong.)
Saturday and Sunday, October 27 and 28, Creepy Crawly Weekend, Museum of Natural History, Roger Williams Park, 1000 Elmwood Avenue (map)