Riverside's Annual Fright Night Tours Return

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The spine-tingling "Ghost Walk Riverside" tours will return Friday evening and Saturday night in celebration of Halloween.

"Tours are new each year, and no two have ever been alike," according to a statement released by the California Riverside Ballet, which manages the production, now in its 28th year. "This event has the esteemed reputation for attracting artists from various areas, making a truly exceptional collaboration. Writers, storytellers, actors, musicians and vocalists all take part in a display of talent and walking adventure."

This time, tour attendees will be treated to one of four downtown walkabouts that occur hourly, and each of the outings will have Edgar Allen Poe themes, woven around Riverside's haunted history. Poe died 170 years ago this October.

"The Blood Red Tour" will highlight the author's stories "Tell-Tale Heart" and "Murder at the Rue Morgue."

The "Black Death Tour" will recount features of Poe's "The Pit & the Pendulum" and "The Black Cat."

The "House of Doom Tour" will use passages from "`The Fall of the House of Usher," while the "Beast Tour" will be based on "The Raven" and "The Sphinx."

High school students perform re-enactments and take on the roles of the goblins, apparitions, victims, malefactors and other Halloweenish figures who populate the tours, all of which begin on the Main Street pedestrian mall, where it intersects University Avenue.

Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the ballet and its programs.

More information is available at http://crballet.com/site/ghost-walk.

— By City News Service