coming up we're connecting you with the creativity and culture in your community and celebrating the spooky season in Western New England we want to make sure everybody has fun but we want to make sure everybody gets a scare we'll explore the Traditions behind a local celebration of Dia de los Muertos The Day of the Dead in a very literal sense Dia de los Muertos is the return of your loved one Spirits back to the Earthly realm and an immersive theatrical production uncovers ghosts from the past we wanted to kind of call the ghosts out of the building so you cling to the things they sowed you and if we can put someone in the middle of all that rather than outside of it it can be a very cool show join us for those stories and more as we explore the creativity culture and community that make us Western New England up next on Connecting Point support for Connecting Point is provided by our contributing viewers welcome and thanks for joining us for Connecting Point your source for creativity culture and Community I'm Tony Dunn in for Zaid Elise Bauer every week we explore all that Western New England has to offer and as it's officially the spooky season today we're coming to you from the old burying ground at Historic Deerfield it's a place rich in history with some grave markers dating back to the 1600s we'll learn more about the old bearing ground a little later in the program but we start off our show today in the Berkshires for those who love the spooky season Once the calendar turns to October the Halloween spirit kicks in and the decorations go up this fall you may be hard-pressed to find anyone happier to see the calendar change than the folks at Jiminy Peak mountain resort the last time they were able to celebrate Halloween was three years ago but they're back this year and connecting Point's Brian Sullivan traveled to Hancock Massachusetts to experience their haunted 13 nights at Gemini event for himself the last time that signs like these were posted around the Jiminy Peak mountain resort was back in October of 2019 which for many may seem like long ago enough that they forget just what 13 nights is for those who only know Jiminy Peak as one of the more popular ski destinations in Massachusetts here's a quick refresher since 2012 for 13 nights in the month of October when the Sun goes down over this peaceful Village the lines form the ghouls come out the haunting begins and the people who organize it all take it pretty seriously there's a group of us a small group of us that the core group that have done the build every year and the planning and the themes we kind of live it year round it's one of those things we talk about year round we were forced into a two-year Hiatus but now that we're back going we're super excited the hiring part was one of the easiest we've ever done every year the first day I open applications I get eight or ten right away and when they interview those people they're they're people like myself that are just big time Halloween fans you know they're the type of people that would wait in a freezer for 20 minutes so their mother would open the hood and you could get that good scare these are people with a passion for Halloween so it's really easy for us to hire a good staff that want to take us on that Journey foreign The Haunt features three mazes for visitors to pass through two of those can be found here at the base of the mountain and with this perfectly good and functioning chair lift that can seat up to six why not use it to get to another maze the chairlift is a big part of it it's dark a lot of people have never ridden a chairlift in the dark and 99 of people have never ridden a chair lift down the mountain it's a unique feeling so that by itself kind of lends itself to the scary part but we've got eight or nine actors up there that are scattered through the woods anywhere between start and the Finish we've got Gilly suits there's some actors in there we've got flame throwers building structures quite a bit of stuff up there well we still had some daylight and the ghouls and goblins were still in hiding we decided to head up there ourselves and get a sneak peek as soon as I heard that there was a chair lift involved in this and that one of the haunts was at the top of the mountain I just had to do it and the best part is I get to take the chair lift down so that would be really cool getting a look around up here with some daylight gives the course a different perspective and keeps me from getting scared out of my wits by having someone jump out of the bushes it also allowed for a chance to soak in the phenomenal views from this vantage point and as Jason mentioned earlier the trip down on the chairlift was very unique the idea for utilizing this feature was actually one that they had borrowed from their neighbors to the north our sister Resort cranmore mountain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire had a haunt called the gulag that was a really big hit and they did the same type of thing they rode the chair lift up and we kind of went up a group four of us went up from Jiminy Peak and visited it in 2011 and came back and talked to our bosses and so we have to do this here you know we're 350 miles away we're not in competition this is a great thing we've done it ever since and it still continues to bring people back after their two-year Hiatus this includes children and adults but even though a good time is the main goal it can be a little spooky so they recommend kids be at least 10 years old to participate the main thing here we want to make sure everybody has fun but we want to make sure everybody gets a scare you know it's a it's a super fun our actors take pride in what they do you don't always get that perfect scare sometimes somebody sneaks up on you in the wrong time but um we go we go to Extreme Measures to make sure everybody gets the same experience so we do I think we do pretty well foreign every week Connecting Point explores the creativity culture and community that make us Western New England but it doesn't stop there you can find us online anytime for exclusive features and content and in this week's digital exclusive Jiminy Peaks Mountain Services director Jason Griffin discusses the history behind the mountain Resort's 13 nights at Jiminy Halloween attraction on 13 special nights each October the sheep used to disappear into the mountains and the farmers didn't know if the Sheep were running away from them or running towards something you can find that digital exclusive online right now at nepm.org Connecting Point Dia de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead is a holiday with indigenous roots that originated several thousand years ago in what is now Mexico and is celebrated the day after Halloween one of the Traditions involves the creation of an afrenda an altar where community members can Welcome Back The Souls of their loved ones who have passed for the past few years artist Jason Montgomery has organized local apprendous and zeitelis Bower spoke to him to learn more about their meaning and the holiday behind them dude los Muertos primarily is a holiday that that originated in southern Mexico amongst um particular uh indigenous groups there um it was a very local holiday there's actually multiple days it's Diaz de los Muertos um it usually begins on uh the midnight of the 28th with Dia de los angelitos or Dave the little angels it's for children who had lost their lives um and then it moves into All Souls day and then finally you know de los Muertos proper one of the pivotal traditions of the holiday is the ofrenda can you explain what Eno frienda is and what it entails so I know from the translated means offering um and the ofrenda is the altar that you are putting up to your loved ones who have passed on in a very literal sense Dia de los Muertos is the return of your loved one Spirits back to the Earthly realm they literally come and visit you and they come and enter your household and they commune with you and so the ofrenda the offering is to them it is to your loved ones it is normally three levels um it usually starts with the base level which is um sustenance because you know we believe that the in the afterlife there's no food there's no water so there's a bowl of water to help quench their thirst the next level would be the things that they enjoyed about the world you know toys there's usually a little bit of booze some tobacco all of those things that they they would enjoy and that they would love to see and then on the top level is their photograph to remind them that we haven't forgotten them and so they can find their way so it's a way to have the people that you love come back and be a part of them and you remember the things that they loved and the things that they maybe didn't love and you remember all of them as a person and you get to be with them for for a couple days looking um through all of the pictures from last year and everybody just submitting the the photos of their loved ones that they have lost and as you were saying the offerings how does it make you feel as a Chicano starting to celebrate Dia de los Muertos later on but how does it make you feel to see the community come together and just be able to offer them a space for that remembrance and and life it honestly is the most fulfilling thing as a Community Arts and engagement person I think I've ever done um it really truly um you know I can't begin to describe how meaningful it is there was one individual in particular they had shared a photo last year of their child who passed away and I didn't know whose child it was and so um I come from there there were seven Gomez women um that my grandmothers there were seven of them and so um I just kind of put this child with my people because I was like hey you guys like babies look after her um and I was telling I was telling this individual as I was walking them to the afrenda about this child and about you know how I didn't know whose people it was so I put them with my people and the the young woman I was with broke down crying um because it was hers um and you know we had a long conversation about how no one's really gone and how we're all kind of connected and it was it was one of the most meaningful moments of of my of my artistic life and you know I will do this forever as long as I possibly can just based on the the joy that one moment brought immersive theater removes the stage and puts the audience within the performance itself Franklin County's egg tooth Productions recently offered theater goers a strange and mysterious immersive story just perfect for this time of year as producer Dave Fraser discovered when he experienced their production of deus ex machina which uncovered some of the ghosts of the past at the Shea Theater Arts Center in Turner's Falls right ritual Magic possibility of magic it's the theater described as a love letter to the Shea egg tooth Productions kicked off its fall season with a remounting of the 2017 immersive theater production deus ex machina audience members were given a chance to pull back the curtain and get a glimpse into the colorful history of the theater that opened in 1927. the theater is a very storied space and we wanted to kind of call the ghosts out of the building I think a few of our actual characters are based quite literally on people's senses or ghost stories from times past but then also just the layers of History just wants to call us back into these eras and if we can put someone in the middle of all that rather than outside of it it can be a very cool show people with no talent and lots of pretensions all they know how to do is attack people with real talent real talent as an immersive experience the theater's 330 seats remained empty during the performance rather the show begins at the back door as audience members are broken into small groups and take part in the show through movement it's kind of an amazing experience for audience members to see all the secret passageways and all the ways the theatrical magic is made like you get to go backstage you get to go under the stage it's just a very experiential way to enjoy art so you cling to the things they sold you with an intimate one-to-one cast to audience ratio and the entire Shea theater as they're set participants experience a series of sublime engagements with an array of characters inspired by the building's storied history as a 1920s Vaudeville house to a 70s hippie commune and to the theater and community space that it is today there are only 18 people per show so there are actually more cast members than audience members which makes it easy for us to have some one-on-one experiences with them and it's a very intimate and personal theatrical experience in this play I Am specifically the Earth ghosts although there are many ghosts that are activated during this time so I in this show have my face covered so rather than an individual character I'm really embodying the fabric and the spirit that is kind of emanating from the walls of this building I'm the clown which basically means I'm the comic relief so I'm kind of an agent of chaos if you think of Harpo Marx um that is who I base myself on a lot of the time at the conclusion of the show cast members greet the audience in the lobby to share the experience of their night I didn't know what to expect I'll say that this was our first time computer performance and we were maybe a little bit intimidated but it was such a delight I thought the sights The Sounds the music the movement was just beautiful and haunting and funny they they just sort of captured the Shea and gave it to us it was beautiful after the coronavirus forced many theaters to go dark and arts groups to disband producers and directors are finally gearing up to welcome live audiences back to the stage there's this middle space of communities full of wonderful talented people that want to make work that are in and around their communities but also come in with a level of skill and training that really befit what we could bring so it's very important and I think it's also one of the last big live forums for people to meet each other in this post-pandemic and very digital time so we've been through a lot in the last few years and our performers and our creators have had no opportunities to create really the bottom has dropped out of the theater and art in general and certainly performances in general and so to come back is great foreign Stockbridge estate known as Nam keg has been transformed into a Halloween Oasis every October the trustees of reservations decorate the hillside property with flowers lights and over a thousand carved pumpkins to give visitors the ultimate All Hallows Eve experience if you couldn't make it this year have no fear connecting points Brian Sullivan brings us there it's early afternoon in late October on the eight acre property in Stockbridge Massachusetts known as namcag right now aside from the staff putting on some Finishing Touches for the pumpkin display or some hanging carved jack-o-lanterns gently blowing in the breeze all is quiet on this palatial estate it doesn't take long though for that silent Serenity to be replaced by the sounds of parents and children making their way along these pumpkin decorated paths and while the carvings of Star Wars characters and witches cauldron that boils over with smoke-filled bubbles may be a big draw for the little ones I suspect it doesn't take a lot of arm twisting to get the adults to come out this way it's wonderful they have pumpkins and chrysanthemums all fall colors it's gorgeous and they're all through the grounds and they have extraordinary lighting my first Trek along the trails was during the daylight hours so I still had a little time to soak in the natural beauty of this display before they turned on that extraordinary lighting as day turns to night the transformation from New England Autumn Walk Through the Woods to the coolest trick-or-treating Trail ever begins to take shape that one time seemingly harmless Kettle blowing out bubbles earlier in the day has suddenly turned itself into something resembling a volcano By Night the very welcoming Chinese Garden by day becomes a Gothic playground as the daylight Fades and none of this is by accident it's kind of two different experiences here right we have our daytime experience which we have a lot more younger families coming to so they can see it in the day get their kids home in bed before the sun goes down so we try to decorate that with a lot of horticulture uh fall decoration pumpkins gourds and then the lights go out and you can't see as much of that but then you really get to enjoy the element of the lights that we hang around the property as well from across the Farmland we can see cars lining up to turn down the long driveway to five Prospect Hill Road the erstwhile property of Joseph and Caroline Choate has now become something of a destination spot for visitors from near and far for several events throughout the year for the month of October it turns itself into a sort of Halloween Wonderland and that's thanks in no small part to the tireless efforts put forth by the trustees every year we try to make it bigger better make it feel fresh and new for the people who are returning and if you're coming here for the first time we want you to take away that Nom cake and the trustees is a place that you can come for fun family entertainment you know no matter what the season cemeteries naturally take on an increased interest as Halloween approaches a visit to one can not only get you in the mood for Ghosts and Goblins it can also provide a great lesson in history and in honor of the spooky season producer Dave Fraser visited two of the oldest final resting places in the region to learn more about these special and sacred places Halloween is a time when we sort of dare ourselves to think about death we dare ourselves to to think about the mechanisms of death the meaning of death it was different back then so the English settlers were Puritans and they believed in predestination so when you're dead you're dead your body is just a husk the burying ground is located at the end of Albany Road in the village of what is now called Old Deerfield grave markers range in date from the late 1600s add to the early 1800s and they change over time the earliest Graves were probably marked with field stones or wooden markers and those have since all withered away and there are about 266 Stones 265 stones that are remaining in the bearing ground the oldest one is dated 1695. there are many stories of the old buildings being haunted in the Village of Old Deerfield including the Deerfield Inn there's a few people resident ghosts who are very friendly in the Inn the bearing ground doesn't have so many stories about hauntings or spookiness but recently there were people there at four in the morning doing an investigation so who knows this is the beautiful Springfield Cemetery which was opened in 1841 and at that point it was considered what they called as a rural cemetery because none of the houses none of these buildings existed at that time if you come up to the cemetery you come up the hill and you're close to Pine Street that's where you're going to see this whole group of stones that date from the 1700s and they're pretty remarkable because at that point they put a lot of information even to the point of explaining to the reader not only who the person was but how they passed if you're involved in any sort of local history if you're curious about where your community came from visit a cemetery like this this is still a place that people come to walk in and they come to to think in and they come to to just enjoy a quiet moment and may have nothing to do with who is buried here or that they're coming to visit a particular grave it's it's all about the the the peace that actually this place represents Autumn brings with it changing leaves chilly nights and of course apple picking pumpkin carving and corn mazes and through the months of September and October you can stop at Hicks Family Farm in Charlemont for one of the very best with family friendly Fun by day and a frighteningly good haunted Time by night this corn maze has become an annual tradition for many connecting points Brian Sullivan traveled down the Mohawk Trail to bring us the story every Saturday and Sunday from the first weekend in September to the last day of October visitors travel from near and far to the town of Charlemont Massachusetts to be a part of this fall festival the corn maze that began as a means of supplementing income has now turned into an annual tradition my family went out of the dairy business and we wanted to continue to keep the farm going so we did go into the beef business we do have 35 had a cattle but we needed somehow to you know support the farm so we came up with the idea of starting up a corn maze of course the fun goes beyond just the corn maze there's a giant game of checkers available to renew a sibling rivalry mini golf where a dad can teach his daughter the finer points of putting or not they've got baby goats whose cute Factor breaks the scale and for many of the local kids this place is their right of passage I've been doing it since I was really young so probably like five years and originally I just did the one during the day because I was I didn't really want to get scared because I was so young but now I work in the night one and I scare people and it's pretty good yes it's true that when the Sun goes down these winding paths where the kids and adults get to have fun doing a scavenger hunt during the day turned into one of the spookier haunted corn mazes in the Commonwealth but the haunting doesn't start until early October and since the maze changes shape every year none of this happens without a plan around March or April we'll get together on a rainy day and think of you know some different paths different directions where we want to have the people go and um you know we kind of map it out on a piece of paper and come you know June we plant the corn and come out and process the paths and the processor in Chief is none other than Paul Hicks sister Joanne I come out when the corn is just this high and I just start making pads I do have a map that I work with if some corn doesn't um you know come up in one spot I might move the path over I got a little John Deere tractor with a blade on it and that's why there's no sharp angles everything circled and I start around Fourth of July luckily it's a labor of love because it wasn't always this easy when they planted the first corn fields years ago my brother says JoJo we need a corn maze and well okay so I just uh I only had a hoe and rake and I'm out here every morning by six before it gets too hot and uh just uh I like making things aside from making these Trails Joanne is also responsible for making all of the signs along the way including the jokes that the maze Wanderers passed by in their quest to find everything on the scavenger hunt list my original plan was to stick around until Nightfall for the haunted maze but hunt has been plenty of fun and I'm not sure my heart can take being scared tonight okay and that does it for this edition of Connecting Point remember you can always find all the stories that you saw in this episode as well as exclusive features digital only content and so much more online anytime at nepm.org connectingpoint our thanks to Historic Deerfield for hosting us today and please be sure to join us again every week right here for more stories of the creativity culture and community that make us Western New England I'm Tony Dunn in for Zaid Elise Bauer thanks for watching season support for connecting points is provided by our contributing viewers foreign