Woodbridge Ghost Walk Tour Already Rehearsing for Halloween Rites

Sure, it's still the middle of summer.  There's still a month of pool parties, back-to-school shopping, barbeques, and baseball.  But is it ever really too early to start looking forward to Halloween?

The European School of Dance in Fords turned into a photo shoot of Woodbridge's haunted history Tuesday night, as performers in the third annual Woodbridge Ghost Walk gathered to get into costume and character as they plan this year's walk.

"There's a lot of history to Woodbridge," said Jane McLaughlin, the studio director of the school.  "There's a lot of things that people don't know about."

With the walk more than two months away, cast members old and new are already getting into character.  While photographer Kevin Seppelt took photographs that will be used to publicize the Walk, first-year performer Peter Hofstra - who will portray Cross Keys innkeeper and first postmaster general of Woodbridge John Manning - wandered the studio in period garb, defending his establishment from being called a lowly "bar" in his best 1700s accent, dubbing the Cross Keys "...the finest establishment this side of Staten Island."

"I'm friends with Jane," said Hofstra (sans accent) when asked about why he decided to join the Ghost Walk this year.  "I like her brand of craziness."

Craziness will certainly be in high supply at the Ghost Walk, scheduled for 6:30 PM on Saturday, October 15th, with tours kicking off every ten minutes from Parker Press Park until 9:30. 

In addition to Hofstra/Manning, tour-takers will get to see, interact with, and get a lesson in local history from Walter Clark (portraying Paddy Dunn, a worker on the train that crashed in Woodbridge on February 6, 1951 - the third-worst train disaster in American history), Genevieve Estanislau (portraying a young actress who died in that train crash) and Dorian Estanislau, who plays a mortuary cosmetologist, one of a handful of characters on the tour who are not deceased.

Barbara Kitchen, who will be participating in her third Ghost Walk, is a Woodbridge resident who lives near the First Presbyterian Church on Rahway Ave.  Her character, Frances Hadden, is buried in the church's cemetery, a fact Kitchen learned only after portraying her for the first time three years ago.

"I enjoy doing it," said Kitchen of taking the role for another year.  "I feel like I know her."