Grave Expectations: An Evening Among the Living and Dead at Ruthven Park

Victorian superstitions meet historic grandeur during a lantern-lit cemetery tour at one of Ontario's most intriguing estates

By: The Lace Ledger Staff

The road to Ruthven Park is almost worth the journey alone. Winding lanes carry us through the Ontario countryside, where autumn leaves burn copper and gold against the crisp sky. A grand 19th-century mansion awaits beyond the gatehouse, surrounded by the sprawling grounds of a historic family estate.

Just before Halloween, we visited Ruthven Park National Historic Site in Cayuga, Ontario, for The Mansion in Mourning: Séances, Superstitions & Haunted Cemetery Tour. The evening promised an introduction to Victorian funeral traditions, followed by a lantern-lit excursion among the headstones of the Thompson family cemetery.

Excellent plans for an October evening, if you ask us.