Marion “Peg-Leg” Brown and a Few Thoughts on Dark Tourism

Happy Halloween!! True to the spirit of the day, our Public History group completed our historical walking tour project of the infamous murder case of Marion “Peg-Leg” Brown. A well known case in London, Marion Brown, a one –legged vagrant from Texas, rode the rails to London in 1898, and after assaulting a worker at the Grand Trunk Rail Station, he then shot and killed Police Constable Michael Toohey at the corner of Ontario and Elias Street. Brown escaped, and the London newspapers reported in detail the long search for the one-legged “tramp”. After numerous others were falsely arrested for the crime, Marion Brown was finally captured, convicted, and hung in May 1899 at the Middlesex County Courthouse. Brown claimed innocence, and rumours of his ghost haunting the old courthouse still remain. The walking tour covers the case in key areas of London’s downtown core, including the old courthouse and the Via Rail station where the initial assault occurred.

Historical Walking Tour Brochure made by the Public History MA students at Western University, 2018. Photograph by Louisa Orford.

This project came together smoothly, and we all seemed to enjoy the research and topic, which has made me wonder about the allure of “dark tourism”. Halloween is a favourite time of year for many people, particularly those who enjoy the thrill of being scared. For many, there is also a morbid fascination with gruesome stories, and when the story is rooted in historical truth, it can be even more bone-chilling.  

Edmund Burke, an 18th Century philosopher, wrote about the concept of the “sublime”, arguing that a sublime experience is one that is terrifying, but can create awe and fascination for people if it is experienced from a safe distance from the actual terror. Watching a horror film, for example (or The Haunting of Hill House, which has become extremely popular on Netflix), is a safe distance. Our walking tour of Marion Brown, while a real murder case, even if experienced at night, it is still consumed at a far distance from the actual events.

Connor Prairie in Indiana, however, uses second-person interpretation to involve visitors in their re-enactments of what slavery was like in the 1800s. While the ethics of doing this particular interpretation of slavery for the public is a serious issue to consider, a large part of why people participating can become so uncomfortable is because it becomes too real.

Dark tourism it seems can be tricky to navigate, and I fear it can easily slip into ethical dilemmas or a commercialization of tragedy if not careful. However, public historians also have a role in not sugar coating the past just to make it palatable. As I blogged about last week, the Wellington County Museum and Archives now embraces the darker, sadder history of the building, when previously the “stigma” associated with it being the County’s Poorhouse prevented these stories from being told. While the building became a museum in 1975, “If These Walls Could Speak”, the first exhibit to truly document the stories about the people who lived and died at the Poorhouse, did not open until 2006. Where there was once shame and silence pervading the building, it has now become an educational centre for learning about the growth of social welfare systems in Ontario. It highlights the importance of recognizing the stories of people who were forgotten and considered the lowest members of society. The exhibit was the recipient of an Ontario Museum Association Award of Excellence in 2007.

As I wrote last week, the programming at WCMA embraces the “spookiness” of the Halloween season by telling stories from the Poorhouse through lantern-lit performances, and, whether you agree with the validity of “ghost hunting” or not, they have also been inviting paranormal investigators to explore the building and discuss their findings. While I don’t agree with turning museums into haunted houses, entertainment does have a role in education. Part of the success of dark tourism for museums is its ability to attract a potential new audience to the space. For some of the participants of Spirit Walks at WCMA, while their intention to come many have been the thrill of walking through a spooky “haunted” building at night, they accidentally find themselves learning.  More often than not, the people who came for the thrills wind up returning to the museum at a later date to learn more about the history of the Poorhouse, go through the exhibits, and actually view the building in the light of day.  

With dark tourism, I do think intention is important to success. Seeking only exploitation, commercialization, and entertainment, while disregarding ethical boundaries, is where dark tourism fails. When the goal is to educate and engage, to enlighten and think critically, to gain new perspectives and reach different audiences, I think it succeeds. There are many dark stories that need to be told, and not letting them become buried underneath stigma, shame, or silence is one of the roles of the public historian.

And for those taking our historical walking tour of “Peg-Leg” Brown, enjoy! J

                                                                                          

Spirit Walks at the Wellington County Museum and Archives: Taking Dramatic Liberties to Give Voice to the Past

It’s October, Halloween is quickly approaching, and for some historic sites and museums, that can mean one thing: an unbelievably busy month!

During my more than two years at the Wellington County Museum and Archives (WCMA) in Fergus, I worked as a Programming Assistant and had to adopt many different roles in that position. However, when I started there in August 2015, I had no idea acting would become part of my repertoire.

The WCMA fully embraces it’s rumoured “haunted past” every October to tell the stories of the people who lived, worked, and died when the building was originally the County’s House of Industry and Refuge. Better known as the “Poorhouse” in this time period, the House of Industry had approximately 1500 people pass through its doors between when it opened in 1877 until it became the County Home for the Aged in 1947. For the folks who died during their stay at the Poorhouse, if their bodies were not claimed by a relative, they were buried on site. There are 271 bodies still buried in the adjacent cemetery. For the people of Wellington County who were destitute, sick, blind, suffering from a mental illness or physical disability, abandoned or simply elderly with no one to help look after them, the Poorhouse was a place of refuge. It is because of these sad tales that many of the locals in Centre Wellington believe the house to be a haunted hot-spot in the community.

At Halloween, everyone loves a spooky ghost story. However, as a museum and educational site, how do you marry the popularity of haunted entertainment with true historical stories? The WCMA does this by offering an annual event titled “Spirit Walks”. Extensive archival research is conducted throughout the summer months by the museum programming team to learn as much as they can about a few true stories of individuals from the Poorhouse. These stories are then converted into monologues and delivered by costumed actors over four nights in October. To create the “spooky” effect, the guests are toured with a guide to visit each “character” at various locations in the museum, in the dark, with only lantern light. And the stories uncovered from the archival research are simply astounding. It is hard to believe these things actually happened; you truly can’t make this stuff up!

The Wellington County Museum and Archive's event "Spirit Walks" brings to life the stories of individuals who lived and died at the House of Industry and Refuge throughout the month of October.

Although living in London and thoroughly busy with my Public History projects and my Research Assistantship, I have returned for my fourth year as a costumed performer in Spirit Walks. And yes, that means driving two hours (that’s just one way) from London to Fergus four nights in October. This year, I play Christina Keleher, and help retell the true story of a married Irish couple from Arthur, Ontario, who found themselves in court in 1896.  The Kelehers were notorious in the community for their loud fights and filthy living conditions. One night, after a particularly loud argument, the neighbours informed the local Constable and Reeve Blair that something needed to be done. Daniel Keleher was out at the tavern when the Reeve and Constable showed up at the Keleher dwelling, and subsequently brought Mrs. Keleher to the Poorhouse for safe refuge. Daniel Keleher, believing his wife was kidnapped, attempted to sue the Reeve for trespassing and kidnapping, asking $2000.00 in damages. For Spirit Walks this year, we are retelling the story of the alleged kidnapping by recreating the court case. We have costumed actors playing Daniel Keleher, Reeve Blair, and the Court Justice Robertson. I am volunteering my amateur acting skills and testifying as Christina Keleher.

One problem however …Christina Keleher did not actually testify during the trial. Typically, women were represented by a male figure in court during this period, whether a husband, brother, or father. So how do we tell Christina’s side of the story to a modern audience, while recreating the court case in as historically accurate manner as possible? We take dramatic liberties. 

In my previous post, I talked about my interview podcast with War of 1812 re-enactor, Stephanie Vaillant, who discussed how re-enactors use historical inaccuracy as an educational tool. Stephanie is a modern woman in 2018 who, as a hobby, enjoys participating as a soldier in battlefield re-enactments. However, some viewers of the re-enactments critique this as being historically inaccurate. Of course, modern women should not be barred from enjoying and participating in this hobby, therefore Stephanie stated that “vignettes”, or short dramatic skits, are effective to explain inaccuracies and educate the public at these events. She argued that the vignette can be used to explain what would happen to women if caught pretending to be soldiers in the early 1800s, thereby offering education as well as allowing modern women to freely participate.

This still leaves the question, is it okay for historical re-enactments to take dramatic liberties in order to tell stories about the past? I argue the answer is yes, especially when the audience walks away aware of the liberties taken for educational purposes. The way Spirit Walks navigates around this issue is by having the tour leader explain that some artistic license was taken in order to retell the story in its entirety to a modern audience. After each character testifies in the recreated court case, the audience participants are given the opportunity to act as the jury and decide how the damages should be awarded. Upon hearing Mrs. Keleher's testimony, the audience members have so far primarily voted not to award Daniel Keleher any money, due to the evidence that it was clearly an abusive situation and Mrs. Keleher chose to leave the home for her own safety. The actual verdict from 1896 is then revealed to the audience. Although shocking to us today, Justice Robertson impressed on the jury, in a racially prejudiced manner, that because the couple was Irish, they may have actually enjoyed and preferred that wretched standard of living and fighting with each other. The real jury then awarded Daniel Keleher $110.00 in damages for the kidnapping of his wife and trespassing on his property.

The participants at Spirit Walks, upon learning that Mrs. Keleher didn’t actually testify, have the opportunity to ponder what the trial experience would have been like without her testimony, and if that would have changed their minds about the way they voted. In the reverse sense, would the inclusion or allowance of Mrs. Keleher’s testimony have changed the verdict in 1896?

The next Spirit Walks are coming up this Thursday and Friday, at 7:00pm and 8:30pm. For those who cannot make it to Fergus, there are similar experiences offered in London at historic sites such as Eldon House and Fanshawe Pioneer Village. 

Next week, in the spirit of Halloween, I’ll be blogging about our Public History group project, a historical walking tour in downtown London detailing the infamous 1898 murder case and criminal trial of Marion “Peg-Leg” Brown. Again, you can’t make this stuff up!


An update... our historical acting found it's way into the Erin Advocate newspaper:
https://www.southwesternontario.ca/whatson-story/8981042-wellington-county-museum-offers-historical-tales-in-spooky-setting/

Adventures in Audacity – An Interview with Stratford Festival Archivist and War of 1812 Re-enactor, Stephanie Vaillant

When first confronted with the challenge of creating a podcast using the software program Audacity for my Digital Public History course, I immediately knew who I wanted to interview – my old friend and colleague from the Waterloo Region Museum in Kitchener, Stephanie Vaillant. If there is one person I know who can do anything within the realm of Public History, it would be Steph. She has traveled across the globe working in various archival and museum roles, including at the Juno Beach Centre in France and at the Puke Ariki Museum Libraries in New Zealand.  Now Stephanie, who also has an extensive background in theatre, has landed her dream position as the Cataloging and Digitization Archivist with the Stratford Festival Archives.  I like to joke with Steph that she doesn’t quite fit the mould of a stereotypical “quiet” archivist or librarian due to her love of theatre and performing.  On her spare time, Stephanie is also a War of 1812 re-enactor and singer, part of a duo specializing in historic music titled Historical Harmonies.

You can get a sense of her life re-enacting and singing on the battlefield in the short documentary, “Weekend Warriors”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTL73zuVnMc

Stephanie’s introduction to public history, however, was the same as mine. We entered into this world working as costumed student interpreters in the living history village at Waterloo Region Museum. In fact, we recently made a hilarious discovery that an old photograph of us (which I have no memory of it ever being taken) working at the Peter Martin Mennonite farm house is currently being used for marketing on the Waterloo Region Museum’s website (Ah!): https://www.waterlooregionmuseum.ca/en/doon-heritage-village/building-stories-virtual-tour-app.aspx.

Some of my closest friends are people I met while working in museums, and I think part of that comes from having this unique, shared experience. The museum and public history world is one that inspires a lot of “shop talk”, even outside of that space. When we get together outside of work, inevitably we talk shop, as we all understand where we are coming from, including the joys, oddities, and challenges that come with this profession.

Having been friends with Steph for about 14 years, the first challenge I had in this podcasting process was trying to approach the interview as though I knew very little about her and deciding on a line of questioning. Considering we usually just have lengthy, casual conversations about these topics, the interview process felt very unnatural. While the final product appears conversational, this was achieved through many hours of editing. I made an editorial decision, however, NOT to cut out all the laughter and moments of subtle inside jokes, as this felt like it would take away from some of the joy and spontaneity of the podcast.  As most people can relate when talking with a friend, 15 minutes (the time criteria for our podcasts) was not nearly enough time.  In retrospect, I wish we had recorded our discussion AFTER the interview, the one that happened over tea and dessert. The recorded interview seemed like the tip of the iceberg in comparison.  When the microphone was off, so was the self-consciousness, allowing for a much more free-flowing talk!

The interview currently sits at 16 minutes and 14 seconds.  These 16 minutes and 14 seconds took a full evening, and at the very least 10 hours of trying to figure out Audacity and editing the numerous mistakes I made during the interview process.  

One of the biggest technical challenges during the interview was with the microphone. I borrowed this essential piece of equipment from a classmate in the MA Public History program (thanks Sean!), but evidently I did not fully understand how to use it. For some reason, I was not able to pause the recording and listen to what we had discussed with the microphone still plugged into my laptop. Therefore, I unplugged the microphone between questions. Of course, no surprise, I hit “Record” when returning to the discussion without plugging the mic back in… and my laptop microphone started recording instead. What a difference in quality, and I probably made this mistake a dozen times. Poor Stephanie, not only were we awkwardly trying to converse sitting beside each other on her basement couch with the mic stationed between us, but there were many times I had to ask her the same question repeatedly!

I also discovered that when the pressure is on, I am not always the most eloquent interviewer. Thankfully, Stephanie is a master, and her background in theatre certainly helped with her clear, concise answers to my questions (and unlike me, she never said “Stratfoul” instead of “Stratford”).  I was also clearly Audacity illiterate compared to Stephanie. My friend, aka the Martha Stewart of the public history world, had no problem with this program.  She uses it at her work in the archives, as well as in her spare time recording her music. To say the least, I am not sure I could have recorded the interview without her expertise!

While I do not think I will have a career in podcasting, at least Stephanie reassured me that even the professionals at the Stratford Festival mess up their dialogue now and then.  Here is a link she suggested to hilarious bloopers from the cast of the Stratford Festival’s current performance of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOPA9EcjRaU

For the full interview and podcast with Stephanie, visit the "Shared Authority" podcasts on SoundCloud created by Western’s MA in Public History class of 2018:

https://soundcloud.com/shared-authority

And, if you are interested in checking out Stephanie's singing duo, Historical Harmonies, here is the link to their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/HistoricalHarmonies/

Enjoy! :)