Annual Tales of Terror Features Poe, Stoker, and Original Works

Portland, Maine - Victoria Mansion is excited to announce its seventh annual Tales of Terror, a celebration of the Halloween season featuring spine-tingling stories from nineteenth-century writers performed by local storytellers. The Mansion's original 1860 interiors will be dimmed to gaslight levels for the evening, making the event a haunting night of history and horror.

This year, Tales of Terror will consist of four shows over two evenings. On Friday, October 18 at 6:00 and 8:00 pm, storyteller/playwright Lynne Cullen performs two stories by great writers of Victorian horror fiction: The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe and The Judge's House by Bram Stoker.

On Saturday, October 19, actress and storyteller Brittany Cook performs an original work called Ghost Tales of New Orleans, drawing on the fact that the Mansion's original owner, Ruggles Morse, made his career as a hotelier in New Orleans. The 8:00 Saturday performance is for teens and adults, and the 6:00 performance is specially adapted for children.

"Literature is a powerful tool for exploring history," says Victoria Mansion Executive Director Thomas B. Johnson. "As people sit among the Mansion's original interiors listening to these great literary works, they gain a new appreciation for the nineteenth century and its impact on us today."

Director of Education and Visitor Services Lucinda Hannington credits the event for helping the Mansion attract new audiences. "Our programs have grown so much in the years since we first held this event," Hannington says. "Events like this help us reach out to adults and children alike, and help people see that our interpretation of history is always changing, and can be understood in a lot of different ways."

Constructed between 1858 and 1860, Victoria Mansion is one of America's finest surviving examples of architecture and interior design from the mid-nineteenth century. Its opulent original interiors and furnishings by renowned designer Gustave Herter remain more than ninety percent intact. The house has been open to the public as a non-profit museum since 1940 and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

Tickets for all shows are available online at the "events" section of www.victoriamansion.org or by calling 207-772-4841, extension 104. The cost is $22 for adults, $15 for Victoria Mansion members, and $10 for youth 17 and under. Tickets should be purchased early, as the event is expected to sell out.