ONLINE: Talking Spirits

There are many interesting people buried at Madison’s Forest Hill Cemetery, including veterans. For more than 20 years, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum has been keeping their stories alive by hosting guided tours of the cemetery. This year the action is virtual but no less riveting. You’ll learn about Hettie Pierce, who was born into slavery in 1829 but eventually made her way to Madison, and Thomas "Bud” Truax, a graduate of UW who went on to become an Army Air Corps aviator and for whom Truax Field is named. Museum director Chris Kolakowski says the virtual tour actually presents an opportunity: “Using virtual technologies to show you the cemetery, we can take you to remote locations on the grounds and provide you with more stories and details which we haven’t been able to tell on previous tours." The tour launched on Oct. 15 and will be viewable through at least the end of 2020; read more at MadisonCemeteryTours.com.

press release: For a 23^rd year, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum will continue its renowned “Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours,” but with a spin. The “Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours: Myths and Realities” will be presented as a 360-degree virtual tour, launching October 15, 2020, at MadisonCemeteryTours.com.

Due to current restrictions on gatherings set forth by the city of Madison, the museum was unable to obtain a permit for the event at the historic Forest Hill Cemetery on Madison’s near west side. That did not deter the staff from devising a plan to tell the stories of Wisconsin veterans and others interred there.

"This year’s tour presents a unique challenge, and an equally unique opportunity. Using virtual technologies to show you the cemetery, we can take you to remote locations on the grounds and provide you with more stories and details which we haven’t been able to tell on previous tours," said museum director, Chris Kolakowski.

Embedded in the virtual tour are all the anticipated features of the in-person tour. It includes featured vignettes performed by actors who bring to life the tales of four intriguing people. Learn about the man for whom Truax Field is named, Madison’s oldest woman—who has a secret, a Civil War soldier who was shot in the head—and lived, and the capitol’s veteran gardener who suffered a tragic loss on the Fourth of July.

In addition to these riveting tales of Wisconsinites from the past, museum guides share accounts of unique points of interest on the grounds, such as the Caitlin Chapel, Union Rest, Confederate Rest, the effigy burial mounds within the veterans section of the cemetery, stories from the 1918 Pandemic, and more.

More information is available at MadisonCemeteryTours.com.