SPECIAL EVENT FROM AMERICAN HAUNTINGS
“ aN EVENING WITH THE DEAD”
october 9, 2020
an evening with the dead
BEST WESTERN PREMIER hotel | alton, illinois
$44 per person
next available date: october 9, 2020 | 7:00 PM
SOLD OUT!
Join Troy and Lisa from American Hauntings for another night of our “An Evening with…” series of events! This eerie night will include a catered dinner at the Best Western Premier in Alton and it will be served in a private ballroom. After dinner, author Troy Taylor will be presenting “An Evening with the Dead,” a fascinating and sometimes chilling look at America’s relationship with death, dying, funeral customs, and more!
Have you ever wondered how some of America’s most unusual funeral customs began? Been interested in the tradition of postmortem photographs? Tried to understand the purpose of wearing black, stopping clocks at the moment of death, and what cemetery monuments actually mean?
We’ll be looking out for your health at all our dinner events so we can make sure that everyone is safe, we can maintain social distance, and have a really great time!
- All events held at the Best Western Premier Hotel Located at 3559 College Avenue in Alton, Illinois
- Limited number of guests for each event
- Private ballroom for use for our event only
- Upgraded sanitary conditions for serving and dining
- We do suggest that you wear a mask to the event, but obviously, you won't be wearing one when eating and drinking. We're not going to be kicking people out if they take it off, but we do require that you maintain your social distance. But please know, this is a very large space that we are working with and our group size will be under mandated state health official guidelines.
- Books will be available for purchase and can be autographed by Troy
- Fully staffed bar located on site
- Nearby restrooms
- And if you’re coming from out of town, the Best Western Premier offers our guests an exclusive discount price! Details are sent out with your confirmation!
AN EVENING WITH THE DEAD
PRESENTED BY TROY TAYLOR
Americans have a complicated history with death – that final darkness at the end of life. Our ancestors dealt with death on a daily basis, dreaming up countless traditions and rituals to try and understand it. Society today, however, has disconnected from death. In years past, Americans died at home. Bodies were prepared for burial in our kitchens and funerals were held for our dead in the parlor. Now, we die under the sterile conditions of a hospital, far removed from the people who love us, and our death has become a business.
For this evening event -- based on the book Disconnected from Death, which Troy Taylor co-wrote with author April Slaughter – we take a trip back in time to understand America’s obsession with death. From the chilling death rites of the Puritans to the aftermath of the Civil War and the Victorian Celebration of Death, we discover how our funeral customs came into existence.
We’ll take at often eerie like at American funeral traditions and history like:
* Creation of the American Cemetery
* Grave markers and tombstones
* How the Civil War created the funeral industry
* The rise of America’s Spiritualist Movement
* Abraham Lincoln and the American traditions of death and mourning
* Victorian Rituals of Death
* Children and Death in the Nineteenth Century
* Postmortem Photography
* And more!
Winged skulls, death masks, postmortem photographs, macabre children’s toys – far too often, the traditions and rituals of the past have been presented as “spooky” or “strange” and, while some of them were unusual, all of them served a purpose. No matter how bizarre they might seem, they managed to present a vivid portrait of how we are all connected to death.
We may not be as close to death as our ancestors were, but we can assure you that it’s still with us, waiting to take us by the hand and lead us into the unknown.
Don’t miss this special night as we commune with the dead!