EASTON, Pa. — Residents of Country Meadows Retirement Communities had an opportunity to enjoy an eerie yet educational experience via virtual tours across the creepiest locations in the world this month.
In keeping with the spooky season, seniors at the Forks community enjoyed guided tours with 360-degree photographs of haunted and harrowing locations courtesy of Rendever Live, a virtual activity platform intended to allow seniors to “experience the sights and sounds of new places, and build new relationships as you compete in engaging games.”
Dynamic Living Director Lisa Nowacoski explained the activity as a “platform that allows us to have a variety of experiences with a live presenter,” adding the latest programming has focused on some spectacularly spooky content.
Wednesday’s theme was “spooky places,” a perfect genre for the Halloween season, with participants sitting in on tours of places like the Sedlec Ossuary, also known as the “Church of Bones,” in the Czech Republic, the home of a prosecutor during the Salem Witch Trials, and the unsettling grounds of Eastern State Penitentiary.
“So what's nice is we will be experiencing it with them, and often the presenter will ask questions and we will type in our answers."Lisa Nowacoski
A presenter from Rendever, Dr. Bob, led the event, offering up numerous bits of trivia as the group traversed the scary spectacles, including the likes of the Stanley Hotel, which inspired Stephen King to write his celebrated horror novel-turned-classic film, “The Shining.”
“So what's nice is we will be experiencing it with them, and often the presenter will ask questions and we will type in our answers,” Nowacoski said.
“Also what's nice about it as well is the way the pictures are formatted; we can do a 360-degree view, and we can also zoom in and zoom out, so you can see the entire surrounding area that it shows. But the variety is nice because it is enlightening and adventurous and it's great for our residents. It offers challenge and learning, so it's really exciting for us.”
Nowacoski said the program format has attracted plenty of attention from the residents, inspiring conversation during and after the presentations. A previous showcase of “foods from around the world” featured a Turkish spice market in Istanbul, with one member of the viewing party sharing his own personal experience visiting the locale with his wife.
Wednesday’s programming saw several residents speculating as to what kind of person would ever want to rent the haunted Room 217 in the Stanley Hotel, or how eerie it would be to walk through the myriad mausoleums in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Within that gorgeous but haunting cemetery sits various burial structures, many of which are watched over by gargoyles — but that isn’t the spookiest part, Dr. Bob explained.
“One of the most famous ghost stories of this cemetery is that of a girl who was buried alive after doctors mistook her as having passed away,” Dr. Bob said.
“Her vengeful, upset spirit haunts the cemetery and has been seen walking out of her mausoleum. But who blame her if she wants a little air?”
In a virtual visit to Salem, Massachusetts, Dr. Bob spoke on the unnerving nature of existing during a time when dogmatic Puritans were all too ready to punish those they considered wicked.
“Can you imagine how terrifying it would be to be falsely accused? Don't act strangely for a moment if you want to stay safe from the judgment of Judge Jonathan Corwin. Now, during the trials, almost 150 people were accused of being witches, and 20 were killed,” Dr. Bob told the crowd.
Resident Jean Lamardo, who sat in on Wednesday’s session, said the presentation was engaging, but the real terror came from speculating on what it would be like to be in those horrifying conditions.
“The one last thing that I find fantastic about this is that it brings the world to our residents, and mobility is not an issue, so that's a big deal.”Lisa Nowacoski
“It’s scary that you think that human beings are put into those rooms, and it’s just like it said — there was all kinds of sickness and everything. And while the prisoners did bad things, so they should be in prison, they had to be some kind of humane way to treat them,” Lamardo said, reflecting on the 1,200 prisoners who died at Eastern State during its time.
And as for the witches?
“It is scary to think these things happened, even in New England where they were killing all these women,” Lamardo said.
“I mean, I think he was crazier than them. They probably were very innocent, and they lost their lives because of him.”
Several guests stuck around to chat following the haunting tour, reflecting on not only the horrors, but wonders of the world they could still see and learn about.
“As much as they have to share with us and we have to learn from them, there's so much new learning that they have, that we can give that to them,” Nowacoski said. “The one last thing that I find fantastic about this is that it brings the world to our residents, and mobility is not an issue, so that's a big deal.”
