It was a cold and dreary Friday Fall night. They say she shows up every year, right on time, without a word. With her cane in hand, she drags it across the road as oncoming traffic comes to a screeching halt. Then, suddenly and without warning, she lets out a blood-curdling scream, making everyone stop in their tracks. She points at the fire and staring back at the group are two men left with a look of horror and shock, as if they had just seen a ghost.

The stage was set for a spooky evening of local haunted history. Stories of murder, death and suicide, rooted in fact, were told throughout the streets of downtown Ithaca. From the “Heathens on the Hill” in 1879 to the arrest of George Curly Barnes in 1931, Sherri La Torre, Ithaca Heritage Ambassador, weaved her way through centuries of local haunted history during the first night of the Haunted History Tours. As for the creepy lady that trailed the group the whole night, she was a volunteer who says her sole purpose is to scare event attendees and keep them safe.

The tour drew 12 adult attendees, the max capacity this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The annual event, sponsored by The History Center in Tompkins County, was created 12 years ago. La Torre has been volunteering her time to the tours since they began.

Zoё Van Nostrand, History Center marketing and visitor experience coordinator, said the Haunted History Tours have looked different in years past, with volunteers dressing up as historical characters and acting out a monologue from the characters life during the tour.

“This year is, of course, going to be very different just because it is two volunteers,” she said. “That is a much smaller group size that has to stay together, but also stay distanced downtown to maintain safety.”

The History Center staff was not originally planning to hold the Haunted History Tours this year because they didn’t want to ask volunteers to put themselves in a situation they were not comfortable with. However, La Torre approached Van Nostrand and Ben Sandberg, History Center executive director with the idea.

“She was like ‘Hey, I actually think we can do this in a safe way and I’m really excited to try,’” Van Nostrand said.

As museums around the world struggle to open back up due to the coronavirus pandemic, The History Center received municipal funding from the city and county as well as through grant money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Humanities New York.

“Our financial outlook here at The History Center is strong given the state of the world right now, but museums broadly, the next 24 months to 36 months are going to be real tough and we are lucky to be in the community that we are because there is such a broad swath of support,” Sandberg said.

According to Forbes, a July report by the American Alliance of Museums shows that up to a third of all American museums are at some risk of closing permanently if they do not receive additional financial relief.

La Torre said she has always been interested in haunted history and was drawn to these tours because she likes to wander graveyards.

“When I was new to town, just knowing the history of what was now my home was interesting…” she said. “I’ve found all of the graves of most of the people and just trying to be connected to them and the more I find out about them sometimes the harder it is to do the tours because sometimes I have too much information.”