Dan surprised me last week with a trip to Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) in Sturbridge, Massachusetts to see, “Phantom by Firelight,” an annual Halloween event. He said he thought I would love OSV because he’d been there before as a kid and remembered it being similar to Silver Dollar City (SDC)–a place in Missouri where I loved to visit when I was growing up.

Old Sturbridge Village is a recreated Old New England village, showing what life was like in the early 1800’s. You can walk through the old homes, church, school, and shops, and feel totally transported back in time.

Like SDC, OSV has tradesmen and craftsmen who demonstrate their skills, including blacksmiths, glass-blowers, candy-makers, and women weaving wreaths and flowers from human hair.

For 3 weeks every year, OSV becomes a completely immersive, early 19th century Halloween experience.

There are games that anyone can play, like these. Dan and I played each of them, and naturally, he won. But, I am proud to say that I successfully hooked a ring on the wall with a rope and I lassoed a pumpkin (once, and then I walked away while I was ahead.)

Everything was lit up in color-changing lights for Halloween.

There were performers in the village center, and they were amazing! One person did unbelievable tricks with a giant hula-hoop.

A ballerina/acrobat caught our attention, so we walked toward the church to get a closer look. She looked familiar, and at some point I said to Dan, “I think we saw her on America’s Got Talent (AGT)!” We did a little research, and sure enough, it was true. Ashlee Montague, one of the finalists from the 2024 season of AGT, performed at Phantom by Firelight! And, we saw her do some of what she did on the show–she walked across bottles on point! Absolutely amazing!

We saw a couple dance with fire–on their bodies and in their mouths! How did they do that? And, we were sitting close enough to feel the heat, so it wasn’t just special effects. People are amazing!

We did a corn maze (which I forgot to take pictures of). It was kind of a lame maze, though (sorry, OSV), because there was only one way to go, and nothing scary happened or anything. So, being the silly couple that we are, we came up with an idea. I told Dan that when we reached the center, we should count to three and scream really loudly.

When we did, I think we scared a few people, because we immediately heard several sharp, surprised shrieks. Sorry, not sorry! Funny thing, because lots of people wanted to do the corn maze after that–I guess to find out what all the screaming was about!

It was very cold outside, so we sat by the bonfire for a few minutes and ate some halloween candy we brought with us. (We bought a bag of fun-sized candy bars last week for ourselves, in honor of Halloween.) I should also mention, we participated in a scavenger hunt where we had to visit certain places and get our cards stamped, so we could turn them in for a free treat bag at the end. Our treat bags had skittles, m&m’s, goldfish crackers, and lots of other candy inside. Fun!

It was a wonderful evening at Phantom by Firelight, and I definitely want to go back again. I also want to go back to OSV during the day so that I can take my time and walk through each building in daylight. (They didn’t have electricity in the early 1800s, and we couldn’t see everything by candlelight this time.)

Thank you to Dan for a wonderful surprise!

XOXO,

Joanna