Daily News | The Betsy Ross House offers plenty of horrors on its Halloween tours. And they’re all true.
Halloween tales told at the Betsy Ross House have nothing to do with flag making — or even ghosts. There are no cheap scares amid the lantern light — no Colonial-costumed ghouls emerge in the courtyard fog or surprise in the shadows of creaky rooms.
A frighteningly familiar fever that wiped out 10% of Philadelphia, including Ross’ parents and sister only days apart. The medical horrors of an age when diseases like small pox and yellow fever claimed countless lives — and treatments like bloodletting were still used for the common cold, and brain surgeries and amputations were performed without anesthesia. A time when personal hygiene was so poor even citizens much wealthier than Ross could go almost their whole life without a bath.
Called the Spooky Twilight Tours — and running Friday and Saturday nights through Halloween — they promise a trip back into 1700s Philadelphia and the city’s “gruesome history of infection and inoculation.” The idea, naturally, sprouted from the pandemic. By fall of 2020, with COVID-19 fears choking attendance — and school and tour groups staying home — the Betsy Ross House searched for ways to stay relevant and busy.
With most of the tour taking place in the courtyard — and only small groups allowed in the house at any time — the tours were a hit that first year, and only grew more successful. This year they added more dates.
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