Easton's Halloween Week Keeps Its Distance From Its Own Ghost Story

Union Cemetery sits at the junction of Routes 59 and 136. Its oldest surviving headstone dates to 1761. Most of the year the cemetery holds a few hundred years of Easton families. In late October it holds a legend that travels much farther than the town does. After dusk, by posted rule, nobody is supposed to be in it at all.

The week ahead turns that closure into a working arrangement. Easton puts on a 5K named for the Lady in White, a storyteller's night, a haunted hallway, a scarecrow contest and a bonfire. Every one of them happens on a road, a field or a church floor somewhere other than the cemetery. The one public invitation to step inside comes two weeks after Halloween, at nine in the morning, with a request to bring your own tools.

The Legend, Kept at Arm's Length

The Easton Courier's history of the cemetery, written with the Historical Society of Easton, credits Ed and Lorraine Warren's 1992 book with carrying the apparition stories well beyond town. The same account notes that even the Warrens never said for certain who the Lady was. It offers two possible sources for the legend, Harriet Seeley Bryan, who died in 1836, and Harriet R. Seeley, who died in 1853, and treats neither as settled.

The version told most often online involves a murder and a sinkhole. Connecticut Magazine, writing for CT Insider, repeated that story and stated plainly that no evidence supports it.

That leaves a cemetery with a real age, a reputation it never sought and a private owner to look after it. In its 2022 report on the grounds, the Courier described Union Cemetery as privately managed by its association and covered the signage and ordinance that close it after dusk. Easton's Halloween calendar starts from that boundary.

A 5K That Runs the Other Way

The clearest example is the race carrying the legend's name. "Chasing the Legend – Easton's Lady in White" holds its 5K run/walk this Saturday, October 24, billed in the town's notice and on the flyer as the fifth annual. The race flyer lists the address as 59 Church Road. The registration page names the site as Christ's Church and puts the course on North Park Avenue.

When the race was new in 2022, the Easton Courier published a correction noting that the route heads away from Union Cemetery and never passes it. The race borrows the story and leaves the grounds alone. That year the Courier reported the Cemetery Committee, Easton Park & Recreation and Christ Church as co-sponsors, with proceeds going to the Cemetery Committee and Christ Church ministries. A run that never reaches the cemetery may well have been raising money for its upkeep.

Advance pricing ended October 17, so race-week entry is $45 for a single runner. Teens ages 13 to 17 pay $10, and children 12 and under run free. The registration page notes the course is not certified, so treat the time as a Halloween result, not a qualifier.

Saturday the 24th, in Order

The race lands in the middle of the most crowded morning on Easton's fall calendar. Three groups have booked the same few hours, and none of them is going near Union Cemetery.

1. 8 to 10 a.m., Trout Brook Valley Orchard. The Aspetuck Land Trust leads a free birding and photography walk looking for fall migrants in the orchard and nearby woods. RSVP is required, attendance is capped at 25, and members get priority. Event details are on the Land Trust's site.
2. 9 a.m. check-in, 10 a.m. start, 59 Church Road. The Lady in White 5K. Awards follow at 10:30, the Kids Shuttle Run starts at 11 and the Kids Fun Run at 11:15.
3. 11 a.m., Covenant Church parking lot, 1 Sport Hill Road. The ribbon-cutting and stream-side walk for the Mill River restoration.

The last two overlap. Families with a child in the 11:15 fun run will be on North Park Avenue while the ribbon is being cut.

The Mill River event deserves the detour if the timing works, because it marks the only genuinely new addition to the town this fall. The Nutmeg Chapter of Trout Unlimited has finished Phase 1 of its restoration along Congress Street. The work covers nearly half a mile of river and adds pools, boulder features, riffles and better trout habitat. In its September announcement, the chapter counted eight new or enhanced pools and improved spawning habitat. By late December 2025, according to the chapter's year-end letter, more than $41,000 had been raised, including a contribution from the Bass Pro/Cabela's Outdoor Fund.

Bring a rod if you like. Fly rods will be on hand for demonstrations, and six chapter board members are matching donations dollar for dollar up to $4,500 to fund continued restoration and stewardship. The chapter's own post still lists the original September 26 date. The town's October 9 notice confirms the move to the 24th. For anyone planning to cast on the restored stretch later in the season, the Connecticut DEEP fishing regulations page carries the 2026 freshwater guide.

The Rest of the Week, Venue by Venue

The other events follow the same pattern. Each borrows a little of the season's mood and holds it in a building or on a field the town already uses for everything else.

The Thursday program comes from Washington Irving's Hudson Valley, not from Easton. The town's listing for it, hosted by the Staples Academy Foundation, describes Kruk as a master storyteller returning to Easton. A week of ghost stories in a town with its own famous one, and the evening performance is a story imported from New York.

Why the Big Night Is Friday

The town's notice for Trunk or Treat puts it bluntly: "Please note: not on Halloween!" The gathering takes Friday, October 30, which leaves Saturday the 31st free for each household to plan as it likes.

Trunks set up from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Samuel Staples parking lot. To register a car, email [email protected]. Trick-or-treating starts at 5:30, and the bonfire and costume contest follow at 6 p.m. at Morehouse Fields. Easton Park & Recreation and the Lions Club supply music and snacks, and the Knights of Gore will spar and perform.

Morehouse gets dressed for the night ahead of time. Under Scarecrow Palooza, Park & Recreation invites residents, schools and local businesses to build scarecrows and attach them to the split-rail fencing at Morehouse Field. The steps are short:

• Sign up through the Easton Recreation site. The first ten entries get a free hay bale.
• Fix your scarecrow to the Morehouse fence.
• Email a photo with your name to [email protected] to receive a judging number.

The town's flyer has the full schedule.

The One Invitation Through the Gate

Once the costumes are put away, Union Cemetery finally gets a public date of its own. The Union Grounds Committee's annual fall cleanup is Saturday, November 14, starting at 9 a.m., with a rain date of Saturday, November 21. The work is leaf cleanup, brush cleanup and clearing invasive growth. Volunteers are asked to bring leaf blowers, rakes, tarps, brush cutters, gloves or whatever else seems useful. The committee asks that you call ahead so it can plan coffee and donuts. Contact numbers are in the town's October 9 newsletter.

This is the one time on the fall calendar when the town asks people to come to the cemetery. It happens in morning light, after the races and bonfires have moved on, and the work is caring for headstones that go back to 1761.

Easton's older properties often carry long histories of their own, with deeds, stone walls and family names that run back generations. If you own one of them and are weighing its next chapter, Andrew Whiteley & Wendy Ryan would be glad to talk it through privately. Request a Confidential Home Valuation whenever the timing feels right.