Experience the supernatural side of Xmas

FREMONT — Experience the magic and supernatural side of Christmas with beloved Christmas stories, including "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens during an evening tour of parts of the historic Hayes Home. Hayes Home Holidays: Spirits of Christmas tours will be offered on Friday and Saturday. Tours begin each day at 5 p.m. with a new one starting every half-hour through 8 p.m. Dickens, one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era, was a favorite author of President Rutherford B. Hayes and lived at the same time as Hayes. Hear Dickens' beloved stories in Hayes' Victorian mansion, which will be lightly decorated for Christmas in a historically accurate manner. The Victorians believed Christmas was a time when the portal to another world was opened, which made the holiday popular for telling ghost stories. Many of Dickens' works, including Christmas stories, feature the supernatural. Enjoy the warmth of the Hayes Home at night, a time when it is not often open to visitors, while hearing stories that will tingle your spine but leave you with a warm feeling. A cup of wassail, a traditional holiday drink during Victorian times, will also put you in the Christmas spirit. Before tours, guests can enjoy the Hayes Train Special model train display in the museum auditorium. Tickets for non-members are $18 for adults ages 19 and older, $10 for kids 6-18 and free for kids 5 and younger. There is a discount for museum members. People can purchase tickets by visiting rbhayes.org and searching for "Enjoy Dickens stories during Hayes Home Holidays: Spirit of Christmas." They will also be available at the museum's front desk on both days, pending availability. For visitors who need special accommodations for mobility, vision or being hard of hearing, Hayes Presidential requests a notice of three full days beforehand. Contact Linda Lopez-Fouts, visitor services manager, at 419-332-2081 or llopez-fouts@rbhayes.org. Requests received with fewer than three days' notice will be handled to the best of Hayes Presidential's ability. Hayes Home Holidays is a part of A Presidential Christmas, a series of holiday events at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums. Partial funding for A Presidential Christmas is provided by Wright Leather Works.