SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Families looking for Halloween-season fun and frights are invited to visit “Abe’s Haunted Hollow” at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, where they’ll find games, music, spooky scenes and even a séance with First Lady Mary Lincoln – all free!
The fun takes place at the museum (212 N. Sixth Street, Springfield) on Oct. 24 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. It wraps up in time for visitors to go outside and enjoy the city’s official Halloween parade as it passes by.
The presidential museum will be dressed for the season, with eerie lighting and decorations, spooky characters prowling the halls and Halloween music filling the air. Children 10 and younger can win prizes by playing games like hat toss, putt-putt and plinko. Ghosts and ghouls of all ages can get down and enjoy the dance floor inside a giant pumpkin. There’s also a selfie station with spooky backgrounds.
The event also includes a visit to one of the seances that Mary Lincoln held at the White House. The special-effects extravaganza features ghostly fog, sounds from beyond and mysteriously moving objects.
Most activities are lively and colorful, not scary, but there will be a section where we turn up the spook-o-meter a notch for slightly older children.
Children must be accompanied by adults. Everyone is welcome to wear a costume, but adults are asked not to wear masks or hoods. All bags will be checked by security before admission.
No reservations are needed.
The mission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is to inspire civic engagement through the diverse lens of Illinois history and share with the world the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. We pursue this mission through a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship built on the bedrock of the ALPLM’s unparalleled collection of historical materials – roughly 13 million items from all eras of Illinois history.
For more information, visit www.PresidentLincoln.illinois.gov. You can follow the ALPLM on Facebook, X/Twitter and Instagram.
