Visitors from Ottawa, Marilyn Sylvester (left) and Jaime Wong visit the witch’s wake on display at the Queens County Museum until Oct. 31. They are sitting with Druscilla. This is the first year the museum has had a Halloween program. There are over 100 students registered and the display is open to the public as well. Leanne Delong Photos
Prunella stars in ‘museum spooktackular’
Cobb webs, pumpkins, spiders, and mice surround the coffin in the Queens County Museum parlor, where a dead witch now rests.
Members of Prunella’s family have come from Halloween Town to attend her wake.
Museum director Linda Rafuse says this is the first year they have had a Halloween program.
Their “museum spooktackular” program has over 100 children registered.
Prunella was a great grand mother, who arrived with the first settlers about 250 years ago, explains Rafuse.
Nobody knows where she has been living all these years, she continues, because she is from a magical island.
She had an “unfortunate broom mishap,” says museum employee Kathy Stitt, which led to her death.
“If the children of Queens County come and visit the witch’s wake, they will hear more of the story of Prunella,” says Stitt.
Registered students will hear about the origins of Halloween, the meaning of symbols, how other countries celebrate Halloween, as well as local folklore, says Rafuse.
Stitt says although it is a school program, the public is welcome to look at the display anytime.
The witch’s wake will be on display at the Queens County Museum until Oct. 31.
by Leanne Delong/The Advance 
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