MESA, Arizona (3TV / CBS 5) – If you’re looking for a good October event, how about a cemetery tour? There is an interesting tour option available in the East Valley this weekend – a walk among the tombstones. The Mesa Historical Museum allows you to tour the cemetery and learn about some of the influential people who made mesa their home.
General manager Susan Ricci said the event would not be respectful rather than frightening. “We don’t put the emphasis on Halloween, but of course it’s the perfect time of year to do it,” she said.
The 3rd Annual Mesa Cemetery Tour takes place on Saturday, October 23 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Guests can visit the graves of 14 figures from Mesa’s history.
The Mesa Historical Museum offers a cemetery tour where you can learn about some of the influential people who made mesa their home.
“One of the men we present here survived a shipwreck at sea,” said Ricci. Historians and elected officials will tell the colorful lives of people of the past. “We even have relatives of those buried here, so they’re going to tell family stories,” Ricci said.
William Burton, for example, was a bounty hunter, builder, firefighter, and clown – and these are just a few of the things on his resume. His photo and some artifacts will be displayed where he is buried.
“Powder River Jack” Lee was on the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, and you’ll hear one of his songs when you stop at his gravestone. “But it’s very questionable – some of the songs he produced, that they were plagiarized, so I think the plagiarism is perhaps as criminal as we have been, to our knowledge,” said Ricci.
Whether controversial or not … Everyone on the tour was instrumental in the founding of Mesa.
“It’s really wonderful that we learn the obstacles they face and the persistence. It’s inspiring,” said Ricci. You can buy tickets here, or buy them at the cemetery gate.
