Halloween events around the world offer as much in the way of cultural exploration as they do scares, and this year the Wyoming State Territorial Prison is offering both.
The Wyoming State Territorial Prison Historic Site offers Laramie residents the opportunity to explore the history of the area and will be offering a Halloween-themed night tour alongside the Ghost Tours of Laramie businesses.
A unique show not offered only by the Territorial Prison in Laramie from Oct. 28 to Oct. 30.
“That event is back here after a 4-year hiatus,” Renee Slider, a representative of the historic site said. “They do reenactments of actual historic events that happened in Laramie, and then visitors are dropped off at the back door of the prison.”
The event aims to be both a return to form after the effects of the pandemic, as well as a return to a much-beloved event by the Laramie community.
The historic site traditionally runs museum-style tours most of the time but has planned numerous events for this holiday season beyond Halloween to engage more with the Laramie community.
Some of these planned holiday shows have been slated to be free to the public.
Before it was a museum, the site served as an actual prison and in 1986 an extension of the UW Agriculture program much to the surprise of some in the community.
“Animal research on sheep wool, then the prison was converted into a dairy farm. We had pigs,” Slider said. “I mean, this was a full-on farm. It was an educational working farm.”
This is just one of the handful of unique uses the facility has seen since it was constructed.
The Halloween event will be the first event on the site this season that includes a unique tour to explore some of these stories.
The prison is also offering a night tour in a completely blacked-out prison alongside a haunted hayride experience.
Following this event’s conclusion, the site hopes to plan more events for UW students.
At this time the events are not ready to be announced, but the site hopes to encourage more participation from campus students.
One event will be a free Christmas lights show, which will feature a light display in time with music across the prison. This event will be Dec. 10, 11, and 18.
Those interested in attending the Halloween events on Oct. 28-30 can call (307) 760-8835 to reserve tickets. Tickets for students are $20 and include both the haunted hayride and the night tour of the prison.
