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/