The Tamaqua Historical Society will offer a special program and large exhibit on Halloween night titled “Death, Burial and Mourning Traditions of the 19th and early 20th Centuries.”

The historically accurate, but nonetheless spooky program of how death was handled in the old days, how the body was prepared for burial and the different mourning customs for women and men, will astound those in attendance.

The speaker is historian Bob Vybrenner from Tamaqua, who is an authority on the subject.

In addition to the program, the Tamaqua Historical Society has assembled one of the largest collections of original death, funeral and mourning related artifacts in the region.

Original artifacts include coffins from different eras, home embalming artifacts, tools and chemicals to prepare the body, makeup, embalming fluids, an embalming machine, items from the wake, Victorian-era memorial cards, original mourning clothing, coffin lights, Victorian floral tributes, original death, funeral and burial photos, local funeral home signs and artifacts, and much more.

Many of the funeral traditions that are still practiced today had interesting beginnings over the past two centuries. The public is invited to this program beginning at 7 p.m. in the Tamaqua Museum Annex at 114 W. Broad St. in Tamaqua.

Admission is a $5 donation at the door. For further information, call 610-597-6722 and leave a message.