SPOOKY STORIES

Former Lake Bluff Village engineer George Russell probably braces himself every even numbered year around this time when he’s anywhere near Lake Bluff Ghost Walk Co-chair Kraig Moreland.

Moreland likes to think big while putting the popular Lake Bluff History Museum event together with fearless co-chair Cathy McKechney, and he counts on the reliable Russell to turn Moreland’s vision for a certain Ghost Walk scene into a stunning prop.

“This year I plan to tell George, ‘We’re going to need a levitating bed,’” Moreland says cryptically and delightfully on a mid-August afternoon outside Bluffington’s Café in Lake Bluff.

Look for the incomparable McKechney/Moreland tandem—along with indispensable co-set designers Penny Marsh and Sue Douglass—to once again rise to the occasion and enthrall all under a near full moon on October 18 and 19. A unique and highly anticipated community event that’s held biennially, Ghost Walk resurrects true stories from the darker side of Lake Bluff ’s past and retells them with a twist from 6 to 9 p.m. on each of the two nights.

Its 2024 theme is “Classic Hollywood Horror.” Ghost Walk features a cast of local residents, civic leaders, merchants, and school and village personnel. Walkers—ushered by ghoulish guides—will witness eight entertaining and educational scenes at various locations in Lake Bluff, with a 90-minute tour leaving every 15 minutes beginning at 6 p.m. each night, from Lake Bluff History Museum at 27 East Scranton Avenue.

“I love ghost stories, and I love this project because it builds community,” McKechney, a former Lake Bluff History Museum president, says of one of the museum’s signature events and fundraisers. “The current village president always has a part in it, along with trustees, teachers, and community leaders. That says a lot about Lake Bluff. Part of the charm of the Ghost Walk is that we who run it don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we certainly hope the walkers get curious after the tours and then visit the museum to find out more about the history of Lake Bluff.”

McKechney spearheaded the first Lake Bluff Ghost Walk in 1997—it became a biennial event a year later—after experiencing a similar happening in Maine that left her disappointed.

“It was lame,” she says. “I was hoping to learn stories about the history of the town; none of the stories I heard were real. It seemed the same concept with real stories, with a Halloween theme of spirits from the past coming to life, would be a great way to teach history.”

One of the ghouls/guides McKechney recruited for the inaugural Lake Bluff Ghost Walk was Moreland, a clever and convivial Lake Bluffian who, more than 20 years later, co-wrote (with Toby Jones) the book The Furnace Girl: The Mysterious Case of Elfrieda Knaak.

In 1928, Knaak, 30, was found alive with burns over half her body in the basement of Lake Bluff ’s village hall. The case remains unsolved. A young woman now living and teaching in Iowa plans to return to her hometown and reprise her favorite role as Elfrieda.

“I’m a visual learner who loves technology,” says Moreland, who minored in Design at Southern Illinois University- Carbondale, and whose mother, Jan, is an artist. “It’s always exciting and fun, working with my good friend Cathy—often by the seat of our pants—to create memorable scenes for our ghost walkers.

“The team aspect of the event,” he adds, “is crucial. You need strong leadership at the top. You also need everyone to buy into what we’re doing in order for it to work.”

Past Lake Bluff Ghost Walk themes include “Ghost Hunter,” “Alien Invasion,” and, in 2022, “Stranger Things.”

The late Dutch Wood appeared in a 2022 scene about people transporting by train for Lake Bluff summers in the 1890s. A retired teacher two years ago, Wood, then 80, had never performed in any kind of ensemble.

“It was a difficult song number,” McKechney recalls. “The group practiced several times. I spoke with her during rehearsals, and she expressed she was having the time of her life. Our director, Bob Sanders, loved her and put her front and center in the scene.

“We were so glad to have given her the opportunity for such joy.”

For more information about Lake Bluff History Museum, visit lakebluffhistory.org. To purchase Ghost Walk tickets, visit lakebluffhistory.org/events. Co-chair Kraig Moreland has launched a YouTube film series, The Bluff Witch Project: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Lake Bluff Ghost Walk.