The Mount Dora Ghost Walk
Encyclopedia
The Mount Dora Ghost Walk is a ninety minutes long bizarre bilingual theatrical and lantern guided walking tour of the city of Mount Dora, Florida
. It is an adventure into the darker side of the city often referred by visitors as the New England of the South, and gets its inspiration from the local history, legends and myths that are compiled by a group of historians and actors.
As an entertainment venue The Mount Dora Ghost Walk consists of live Victorian
costumed actors giving a macabre
theatrical interpretation that involves comedy, Storytelling
, improvisation and parlor magic
, all of which is immediately followed by the full stage marionette
theater performance that serves as the introductory platform launching the audience into the final walking tour. The outdoors tour itself, led by the same actors that performed during the indoors show, is the longest part of the venue and takes the participants through historical streets and inside landmark locations. The storyteller always stay in character while performing the interactive narration using props and other theatrical resources. To this date the show is considered the leading attraction of its kind in Lake County, Florida
, has been ranked among the top 10 spooky attractions in the Orlando, Florida
area, and a location that regularly attracts the attention of paranormal investigators.
For its first 3 years of existence the enterprise operated exclusively from the Mount Dora Historical Society Old Jail Museum, but as its aim has grown considerably to also include full length theatrical productions, the show is now associated with the historical Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora.
The Mount Dora Ghost Walk originality and unique approaches have been a staple for the entire Central Florida area, and its reputation as an entertainment venue has stimulated several other groups to try to copy the concept, but unfortunately with less success. The creators would like to see more venues like theirs spawning all around the area. According to one of its founders Andrew Mullen, their failure may be because "the others just wanted to do a spooky show, but we have created the entire Cracker Gothic
concept, restored cemeteries, produced full theater, and no one will be able to surpass or even match that! We are the original ghost storytellers in Lake County!"
, The Mount Dora Ghost Walk can be more precisely defined as a theater experience very similar to the old and long gone ghost shows running from the 1920s through the 1960s on movie theater stages across the United States.
Inspired by the increasing public interest on the paranormal research of ghost hunters
, and the proliferating number of guided tours geared towards the macabre side of history as a tourist attraction, its creators and founders Andrew Mullen and Hector De Leon adopted the idea for a similar ghost walk as their contribution to benefit the Mount Dora History Museum
and the Mount Dora Historical Society.The City of Mount Dora and Lake County, Florida
have a rich patrimony of ghostly legends of historical value, so having a venue such as a ghost tour was not a far-fetched idea, considering that up to the time the amount of haunted attractions was negligible outside of those provided by the region's theme parks. Both being avid amateur historians with unique artistic talents, but sharing a common passion for historical reenactment
, acting and Gothic
lore, their concept evolved into a very different direction that including innovative puppetry, magic, actors, Storytellers and a historical trail, is self proclaiming to be a new from of Southern Gothic
for which De Leon created the name "Cracker Gothic
" to make a clear distinction.
After their random first meeting at the front door of the museum, where Mullen volunteers as president of the Mount Dora Historical Society, the two quickly allied to brainstorm potential ideas and one week later they had a complete full script and the marionette stage on its way. The plan was simply to create a group of mysterious ghostly characters along a story line based or inspired on the history of Mount Dora. After researching and writing the stories the decision was made to invite local volunteers willing to participate acting the theatrical vignettes along the route, providing the voices for the marionette theater sound track, helping with the logistics, or guiding the tours as storytellers. More than thirty people of all ages responded to this first call and within days a full cast was complete and scheduled for weekly rehearsals. Once the rehearsals finished, the historical museum transformed into a haunted version of a Freak Show
, and the marionette program was finalized; the official inaugural date of The Mount Dora Ghost Walk was October 28, 2008, with three shows running nightly through November 1, 2008.
As the initial plan was to have the event only once a year, Mullen and De Leon never expected to receive the torrent of requests that followed asking to continue the show permanently, specially from the local Mount Dora business sector. A decision was promptly made to accommodate this general support with shows offered the 1st and 3rd weekends of the month, and during special times like Halloween
, Christmas
or any Friday the 13th
. Since then, the group has continued providing a very creative entertaining production that has influenced and inspired others to bring more "scary" venues, particularly around Halloween. However, The Mount Dora ghost Walk continues as the only year around macabre show in their area, and the only one that has served as a platform to bring new entertainment options like the Cracker Gothic Acting Group producing dinner theater and parlor theater performances at the historical Lakeside Inn,
As The Mount Dora Ghost Walk main objective is to educate people about the history of a city already well known for its tourist appeal, the creators had the challenge to offer not only a tour through a historical trail, but a solid venue that could be compared in reputation to the many festivals traditionally offered. For this purpose they had to be sure that their intended product could stand out over the many others through the nation, presents a novel format, attracts the interest of the general public, adheres to the traditions of the city, and most importantly, entertains. Perhaps the most important goal was the overall general acceptance from the other merchants and organizers of events, such as the Mount Dora Village Merchant's and Business Association.
After researching and visiting similar tours from Key West, Florida
to Savannah, Georgia
, the consensus was to create not just a tour, but a complete show culminating with the outdoors walk. It was agreed that guides wearing costumes and describing isolated legends was not enough, and that a much enduring approach that could create unforgettable memories was the way to go.
After investigating the material compiled through their own work with the historical society, the creators wrote a storyline where every single haunted story converged on three mythical and fictional main characters through a very complex and twisted plot. These characters were to be the glue for all the other characters in the tour's stories, as they sustain their claims of either being involved with, or were responsible of each of the narrated events.
The plot is based on the idea of a fantastical man made gateway, known as the Keyhole Vortex, that transports living humans and ghosts back and forth between historical periods and the beyond. This movement ends up creating a series of disruptions of a hypothetical reality continuum that is the cause of all the bizarre events in all of history, particularly the history of Mount Dora. This Keyhole Vortex is like a time machine that not only travels through time, but is also capable of crossing the barriers between the spiritual and real worlds. All the acting characters are essentially macabre human or ghostly travelers of this device, whom unfortunately are trapped inside the continuum of current day Mount Dora. As any good plot always has a villain, in this case all the chaotically and mysterious events described are because of the evil doings of a never seen mythical but historically inspired ghost known as Dr. Nutter. Having no other way to return to their respective realities, the main characters have to endure their imposed captivity guiding and educating people about the dangers of the Keyhole Vortex's macabre effects on history, hoping that in exchange they will receive clues about the whereabouts of the infamous Dr. Nutter and his malignant spawn Raspail. With this crazy convoluted story highlighted by jokes, puns, and other weirdness, the whole thing takes a live of its own and keeps feeding itself with new situations and characters that complicate the story even more. After all, and as Mullen, De Leon and Miller will gladly claim, "this weird storyline can be consider almost a hybrid mutated child between shows like science fiction's Doctor Who
, The Time Tunnel
, and The X-Files
with comedy's Gilligan's Island
, The Munsters
, The Addams Family
and Monty Python
."
, legend "has, of necessity, some historical or topographical connection. It refers imaginary events to some real personage, or it localizes romantic stories in some definite spot."
Since the first scripted version of The Mount Dora Ghost Walk, Mullen and De Leon made the firm resolution of utilizing the vast number of resources and references available to them from the Mount Dora Historical Society's and the Mount Dora Library's archives. They conducted numerous personal interviews to tap into the resource of oral traditions, and consulted several books considered rare or out of print for more than sixty years. The stories compiled ranged from the bizarre and ridiculous tall tales being told a local pubs, to the more well known historical original material. As it turned out, considering that there were numerous and very interesting stories to select from, the task was more difficult than they anticipated. Finally the decision was made to select and develop those stories along a centralized and easy to complete walking route. Having as the main objective a family friendly and memorable entertainment event, rather than a ghost hunting symposium, the team saw as appropriate to modify or adapt some of the stories that because of their content would have resulted too graphic or intense. They knew that this would detract many of the hard core ghost enthusiasts, but this was not considered as a problem because true paranormal research has been done behind curtains and the information is available on request.
Among the stories presented during the show there are some that are part of the permanent repertoire and considered staples of Mount Dora's history. Other stories are included seasonally or alternated during special events, and some others are creative interpretations based on tales about a particular location or event. In general there is an average of 12 stories presented, with some of them enacted by the acting staff or the marionettes, while the rest are narrated during the tour. Each tour guide is a character of his own who has a particular narrative style that always delivers the performance according to his point of view and involvement with the plot. As they never have a predetermined schedule and the stories constantly change in relation to that character's mood, each tour can result in a completely different experience from the previous one, so in that way the audience will always have the chance of seeing something new. Perhaps the only exception is the plot performed by the marionettes, which is always a prerecorded play and necessary because of the logistical complexities involved in a puppetry show.
The following is an example of some of the stories throughout their regular season:
The Ghost of Fiddler's Pond: This is the oldest legend that has occurred within the city limits of today's Mount Dora. When it comes to historical, mystery, and romantic values, it is perhaps a true Mount Dora Gothic tale comparable to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
. The story is based on historical and folkloric elements that have been documented by different sources, including Edgerton's and Kennedy's books. Outside of the city of Mount Dora, by the intersection of Donnelly Street and State Road 441, exists a body of water named Fiddler's Pond. It is in reality a deep sink hole with a very steep bank, but which gives the appearance of a large pond. By the time the town settlement was on its way during the mid 1870's, early references already had named the body of water as Fiddler's Pond. Although no specific evidence has been found yet about the origin of the name, Edgerton described in his book that the location was a frequently used watering stop for the animals pulling wagons into Mount Dora. As the story goes, a Mellonville (today's Sanford, Florida
)merchant's wagon caravan suffered an accident losing all its cargo consisting of fiddle cases. However, several folk tales about the place have described that the location got its name after an errant vagrant fiddler mysteriously disappeared only leaving his fiddle case, which was later found floating on the waters. It was assumed that the man drowned there leaving the place haunted. Some local residents have claimed witnessing apparitions that wander around the area late at night, or have heard some sad fiddle sounds coming from the orange groves that for more than hundred years have surrounded the pond.
Mount Dora, Florida
Mount Dora is a U.S. city in Lake County, Florida. As of July 1, 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the Mount Dora population at 11,564. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
. It is an adventure into the darker side of the city often referred by visitors as the New England of the South, and gets its inspiration from the local history, legends and myths that are compiled by a group of historians and actors.
As an entertainment venue The Mount Dora Ghost Walk consists of live Victorian
Victorian fashion
Victorian fashion comprises the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and grew in province throughout the Victorian era and the reign of Queen Victoria, a period which would last from June 1837 to January 1901. Covering nearly two thirds of the 19th century, the 63 year reign...
costumed actors giving a macabre
Macabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
theatrical interpretation that involves comedy, Storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
, improvisation and parlor magic
Parlor magic
Parlor magic is done for larger audiences than close-up magic and for smaller audiences than stage magic. In parlor magic, the performer is usually standing and on the same level as the audience, which may be seated on chairs or even on the floor. According to the Encyclopedia of Magic and...
, all of which is immediately followed by the full stage marionette
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
theater performance that serves as the introductory platform launching the audience into the final walking tour. The outdoors tour itself, led by the same actors that performed during the indoors show, is the longest part of the venue and takes the participants through historical streets and inside landmark locations. The storyteller always stay in character while performing the interactive narration using props and other theatrical resources. To this date the show is considered the leading attraction of its kind in Lake County, Florida
Lake County, Florida
Lake County is a county located in the state of Florida, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 210,528. The Census Bureau estimated the population in 2008 to be 307,243. Its county seat is Tavares...
, has been ranked among the top 10 spooky attractions in the Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
area, and a location that regularly attracts the attention of paranormal investigators.
For its first 3 years of existence the enterprise operated exclusively from the Mount Dora Historical Society Old Jail Museum, but as its aim has grown considerably to also include full length theatrical productions, the show is now associated with the historical Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora.
The Mount Dora Ghost Walk originality and unique approaches have been a staple for the entire Central Florida area, and its reputation as an entertainment venue has stimulated several other groups to try to copy the concept, but unfortunately with less success. The creators would like to see more venues like theirs spawning all around the area. According to one of its founders Andrew Mullen, their failure may be because "the others just wanted to do a spooky show, but we have created the entire Cracker Gothic
Cracker Gothic
Cracker Gothic is a term most often used to describe some historical homes in Florida that are otherwise considered under the Florida cracker architecture style...
concept, restored cemeteries, produced full theater, and no one will be able to surpass or even match that! We are the original ghost storytellers in Lake County!"
History
Although considered by many as a ghost tour or haunted attractionHaunted attraction
A haunted attraction is a form of entertainment that simulates the experience of entering a haunted location that might be inhabited by ghosts, monsters, criminals, humorous characters, and other such creatures...
, The Mount Dora Ghost Walk can be more precisely defined as a theater experience very similar to the old and long gone ghost shows running from the 1920s through the 1960s on movie theater stages across the United States.
Inspired by the increasing public interest on the paranormal research of ghost hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
, and the proliferating number of guided tours geared towards the macabre side of history as a tourist attraction, its creators and founders Andrew Mullen and Hector De Leon adopted the idea for a similar ghost walk as their contribution to benefit the Mount Dora History Museum
Mount Dora History Museum
The Mount Dora History Museum is located at 450 Royellou Lane, Mount Dora, Florida. It contains exhibits depicting the history of Mount Dora. The building itself, constructed in the 1920s, was originally the firehouse and jail for the city.-Websites:*...
and the Mount Dora Historical Society.The City of Mount Dora and Lake County, Florida
Lake County, Florida
Lake County is a county located in the state of Florida, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 210,528. The Census Bureau estimated the population in 2008 to be 307,243. Its county seat is Tavares...
have a rich patrimony of ghostly legends of historical value, so having a venue such as a ghost tour was not a far-fetched idea, considering that up to the time the amount of haunted attractions was negligible outside of those provided by the region's theme parks. Both being avid amateur historians with unique artistic talents, but sharing a common passion for historical reenactment
Historical reenactment
Historical reenactment is an educational activity in which participants attempt torecreate some aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge at the Great Reunion of 1913, or as broad as an entire...
, acting and Gothic
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
lore, their concept evolved into a very different direction that including innovative puppetry, magic, actors, Storytellers and a historical trail, is self proclaiming to be a new from of Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction unique to American literature that takes place exclusively in the American South. It resembles its parent genre in that it relies on supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to guide the plot...
for which De Leon created the name "Cracker Gothic
Cracker Gothic
Cracker Gothic is a term most often used to describe some historical homes in Florida that are otherwise considered under the Florida cracker architecture style...
" to make a clear distinction.
After their random first meeting at the front door of the museum, where Mullen volunteers as president of the Mount Dora Historical Society, the two quickly allied to brainstorm potential ideas and one week later they had a complete full script and the marionette stage on its way. The plan was simply to create a group of mysterious ghostly characters along a story line based or inspired on the history of Mount Dora. After researching and writing the stories the decision was made to invite local volunteers willing to participate acting the theatrical vignettes along the route, providing the voices for the marionette theater sound track, helping with the logistics, or guiding the tours as storytellers. More than thirty people of all ages responded to this first call and within days a full cast was complete and scheduled for weekly rehearsals. Once the rehearsals finished, the historical museum transformed into a haunted version of a Freak Show
Freak show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
, and the marionette program was finalized; the official inaugural date of The Mount Dora Ghost Walk was October 28, 2008, with three shows running nightly through November 1, 2008.
As the initial plan was to have the event only once a year, Mullen and De Leon never expected to receive the torrent of requests that followed asking to continue the show permanently, specially from the local Mount Dora business sector. A decision was promptly made to accommodate this general support with shows offered the 1st and 3rd weekends of the month, and during special times like Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
or any Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on a Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of bad luck. In the Gregorian calendar, this day occurs at least once, but at most three times a year...
. Since then, the group has continued providing a very creative entertaining production that has influenced and inspired others to bring more "scary" venues, particularly around Halloween. However, The Mount Dora ghost Walk continues as the only year around macabre show in their area, and the only one that has served as a platform to bring new entertainment options like the Cracker Gothic Acting Group producing dinner theater and parlor theater performances at the historical Lakeside Inn,
The Story Line
Most known ghost tours in the United States are guided excursions of the hosting city. More often than not they are just walking experiences although several well known ones also use trolleys and even converted hearses to take their audience out. Some other tours combine special packages that may include dinning, pub visits, or other specialized privileges like a visit to a more restricted location.As The Mount Dora Ghost Walk main objective is to educate people about the history of a city already well known for its tourist appeal, the creators had the challenge to offer not only a tour through a historical trail, but a solid venue that could be compared in reputation to the many festivals traditionally offered. For this purpose they had to be sure that their intended product could stand out over the many others through the nation, presents a novel format, attracts the interest of the general public, adheres to the traditions of the city, and most importantly, entertains. Perhaps the most important goal was the overall general acceptance from the other merchants and organizers of events, such as the Mount Dora Village Merchant's and Business Association.
After researching and visiting similar tours from Key West, Florida
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...
to Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, the consensus was to create not just a tour, but a complete show culminating with the outdoors walk. It was agreed that guides wearing costumes and describing isolated legends was not enough, and that a much enduring approach that could create unforgettable memories was the way to go.
After investigating the material compiled through their own work with the historical society, the creators wrote a storyline where every single haunted story converged on three mythical and fictional main characters through a very complex and twisted plot. These characters were to be the glue for all the other characters in the tour's stories, as they sustain their claims of either being involved with, or were responsible of each of the narrated events.
The plot is based on the idea of a fantastical man made gateway, known as the Keyhole Vortex, that transports living humans and ghosts back and forth between historical periods and the beyond. This movement ends up creating a series of disruptions of a hypothetical reality continuum that is the cause of all the bizarre events in all of history, particularly the history of Mount Dora. This Keyhole Vortex is like a time machine that not only travels through time, but is also capable of crossing the barriers between the spiritual and real worlds. All the acting characters are essentially macabre human or ghostly travelers of this device, whom unfortunately are trapped inside the continuum of current day Mount Dora. As any good plot always has a villain, in this case all the chaotically and mysterious events described are because of the evil doings of a never seen mythical but historically inspired ghost known as Dr. Nutter. Having no other way to return to their respective realities, the main characters have to endure their imposed captivity guiding and educating people about the dangers of the Keyhole Vortex's macabre effects on history, hoping that in exchange they will receive clues about the whereabouts of the infamous Dr. Nutter and his malignant spawn Raspail. With this crazy convoluted story highlighted by jokes, puns, and other weirdness, the whole thing takes a live of its own and keeps feeding itself with new situations and characters that complicate the story even more. After all, and as Mullen, De Leon and Miller will gladly claim, "this weird storyline can be consider almost a hybrid mutated child between shows like science fiction's Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
, and The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
with comedy's Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
, The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
, The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....
and Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
."
The stories
For a ghost tour to be successful it is necessary to have a well prepared set of interesting stories related to important locations, prominent people and remarkable events. Although the sources for these stories may be very variable, in general they are mostly based on true historical facts, legends, myths, or oral traditions. Researching historical facts can be measured even scientifically. But to define legend and myth there are more ambiguities of different types such a sociological, cultural, and religious among other. Although not everything that is part of folklore can be absolutely verifiable material, at least even the most bizarre of stories can be supported by saying that myth and legend are always based one something true. A definition of Legend states that "legends are tales that, because of the tie to a historical event or location, are believable, although not necessarily believed," and according to Hippolyte DelehayeHippolyte Delehaye
Hippolyte Delehaye was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographic scholar and an outstanding member of the Bollandists, who established critical editions of texts relating to the Christian saints and martyrs that were based on applying the critical method of sound archaeological and documentary...
, legend "has, of necessity, some historical or topographical connection. It refers imaginary events to some real personage, or it localizes romantic stories in some definite spot."
Since the first scripted version of The Mount Dora Ghost Walk, Mullen and De Leon made the firm resolution of utilizing the vast number of resources and references available to them from the Mount Dora Historical Society's and the Mount Dora Library's archives. They conducted numerous personal interviews to tap into the resource of oral traditions, and consulted several books considered rare or out of print for more than sixty years. The stories compiled ranged from the bizarre and ridiculous tall tales being told a local pubs, to the more well known historical original material. As it turned out, considering that there were numerous and very interesting stories to select from, the task was more difficult than they anticipated. Finally the decision was made to select and develop those stories along a centralized and easy to complete walking route. Having as the main objective a family friendly and memorable entertainment event, rather than a ghost hunting symposium, the team saw as appropriate to modify or adapt some of the stories that because of their content would have resulted too graphic or intense. They knew that this would detract many of the hard core ghost enthusiasts, but this was not considered as a problem because true paranormal research has been done behind curtains and the information is available on request.
Among the stories presented during the show there are some that are part of the permanent repertoire and considered staples of Mount Dora's history. Other stories are included seasonally or alternated during special events, and some others are creative interpretations based on tales about a particular location or event. In general there is an average of 12 stories presented, with some of them enacted by the acting staff or the marionettes, while the rest are narrated during the tour. Each tour guide is a character of his own who has a particular narrative style that always delivers the performance according to his point of view and involvement with the plot. As they never have a predetermined schedule and the stories constantly change in relation to that character's mood, each tour can result in a completely different experience from the previous one, so in that way the audience will always have the chance of seeing something new. Perhaps the only exception is the plot performed by the marionettes, which is always a prerecorded play and necessary because of the logistical complexities involved in a puppetry show.
The following is an example of some of the stories throughout their regular season:
The Ghost of Fiddler's Pond: This is the oldest legend that has occurred within the city limits of today's Mount Dora. When it comes to historical, mystery, and romantic values, it is perhaps a true Mount Dora Gothic tale comparable to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820...
. The story is based on historical and folkloric elements that have been documented by different sources, including Edgerton's and Kennedy's books. Outside of the city of Mount Dora, by the intersection of Donnelly Street and State Road 441, exists a body of water named Fiddler's Pond. It is in reality a deep sink hole with a very steep bank, but which gives the appearance of a large pond. By the time the town settlement was on its way during the mid 1870's, early references already had named the body of water as Fiddler's Pond. Although no specific evidence has been found yet about the origin of the name, Edgerton described in his book that the location was a frequently used watering stop for the animals pulling wagons into Mount Dora. As the story goes, a Mellonville (today's Sanford, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
)merchant's wagon caravan suffered an accident losing all its cargo consisting of fiddle cases. However, several folk tales about the place have described that the location got its name after an errant vagrant fiddler mysteriously disappeared only leaving his fiddle case, which was later found floating on the waters. It was assumed that the man drowned there leaving the place haunted. Some local residents have claimed witnessing apparitions that wander around the area late at night, or have heard some sad fiddle sounds coming from the orange groves that for more than hundred years have surrounded the pond.