Discover the Freedom Trail in a new light – after dark – on the official Freedom Trail® Lantern Tours. Freedom Trail Foundation announces the return of the unique Freedom Trail® Lantern Tours, offering visitors and residents the opportunity to experience the dark history and mystery of the Freedom Trail by lantern-light! After a successful pilot program last year, the new, annual Freedom Trail Lantern Tours will be offered on Thursdays, September 22 through October 27 and Saturdays, October 8 through 29, at 7:00 p.m. from the ArtsBoston Bostix booth at Faneuil Hall.
Fatal sword duels, the grave of a ruthless pirate, tales of scandalous murders, and the punishment and hanging of convicted witches: all real, and all explored on the Freedom Trail Lantern Tours. Investigate the ghoulish side of Boston’s iconic red-lined path by lantern-light and hear historic tales too dark and macabre for day-time. Join a Freedom Trail® Player, darkly garbed with a lantern, and bring true accounts of appalling crimes, spies and assassins, cold-blooded killings, and demonic possession to life on these 90-minute walking tours.
Featuring locations such as the site of the Boston Massacre and the former site of the Old Gaol (Old Jail), adjacent to the Old State House and home to many of old Boston’s most infamous criminals, the Lantern Tour wends its way along the Freedom Trail. Visiting both the Granary Burying Ground and King’s Chapel Burying Ground, the tour illuminates these sites as the final resting places of convicted pirates, victims of vicious murders, and others connected to Boston’s less-illustrious past. Lantern Tours culminate at Boston Common, where one of Boston’s most notorious murder victims is commemorated, and accused witches and criminals met their fate.
“The Freedom Trail Foundation is thrilled to invite residents and visitors to explore Boston’s iconic Freedom Trail after dark on the new Lantern Tours this fall,” said Suzanne Taylor, Executive Director of the Freedom Trail Foundation, “These unique evening tours will bring Boston’s haunting history and gruesome side of the Revolutionary period to life.”
Led by 18th-century costumed guides, Freedom Trail Foundation walking tours are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors/students, and $8 for children, and include a $1 donation to the Freedom Trail Foundation’s Preservation Fund, which helps support preservation projects at official Freedom Trail historic sites. Tickets may be purchased at the ArtsBoston Bostix Booth at Faneuil Hall (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.), the Boston Common Visitor Information Center (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), Cheers Retail Gift Shop at Faneuil Hall Marketplace (10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.), and online at TheFreedomTrail.org – tickets are discounted when purchased online. For more information, please contact the Freedom Trail Foundation at 617.357.8300 or visit TheFreedomTrail.org.