“An Evening of Ghost Stories:
Where the River Turns a Thousand Chilling Tales”
On October 15, 2010, the Storytelling Festival Committee of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau sponsored the third annual “An Evening of Ghost Stories: Where the River Turns a Thousand ‘Chilling’ Tales” in partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This great event provides our community with not only an evening of fantastic storytelling, but also excellent programs specifically designed for students in our schools, ultimately exposing adults and children alike to the wonderful art of storytelling and oral tradition.
Master storytellers Jennifer Armstrong and Michael Reno Harrell provided sessions to more than 1,200 students at six of our local elementary schools on October 14th and 15th, 2010, at no cost to the students or their schools. The programs were interactive and weaved together songs, tunes and tales, through the use of a variety of instruments including the bagpipe, fiddle, guitar and banjo. The school sessions were a tremendous success, with each of the schools that participated asking for this event to be repeated in future years.
On Friday evening, October 15th, on the grounds of the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State University, families gathered for a great evening of Ghost Storytelling. As reported by the Editorial staff of the Southeast Missourian newspaper in their October 17th edition: “Families bundled under blankets beneath the old beech tree on the River Campus lawn Friday night listening to spooky stories. Michael Reno Harrell of North Carolina and Jennifer Armstrong of Maine told tales of haunted houses, moaning trees, creaky gates and Appalachian witch doctors to more than 650 people at the third annual Ghost Storytelling event”.
The evening setting of cool temperatures, the mighty Mississippi River with its traffic and the glowing backdrop of the lighted Emerson Memorial Bridge made for a perfect evening. Luminaries lined the walkway from the parking areas throughout the riverside park and the fog machine combined with the spine tingling tales, allowed the audience to enjoy a fun and memorable event.
“An Evening of Ghost Stories: Where the River Turns a Thousand ‘Chilling’ Tales” is a part of our overall storytelling efforts, which includes a wonderful three day festival held in our historic downtown each April. Simply stated, without the help and support of the Missouri Humanities Council the idea of bringing storytelling to our community would still be on the drawing board.
Chuck Martin is the Co-producer for the Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival & Executive Director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau. http://www.visitcape.com/index.php
Also in this issue:
- A New Year; Renewed Efforts
- Be an Advocate for Family Reading
- Urban Museum Collaborative
- Renewing Regional Identity: A National Heritage Area In the Missouri Ozarks
- An Evening of Ghost Stories: Where the River Turns a Thousand Chilling Tales
- Reinventing the J.C. Penney Museum
- National History Day
- Welcomes New Board Members
- MHC Annual Appeal Donors
mail@mohumanities.org