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DENVER — As the leaves change color and cool evenings settle over the city, the Denver Botanic Gardens is offering a seasonal mix of spooky storytelling and family-friendly fall activities.

An after-dark event called Ghosts in the Gardens will be held from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. on October 17, 18, 19, and 30. Visitors can wander illuminated paths while trained storytellers recount eerie tales about the gardens and the Denver area.

“The weather is still usually gorgeous, so it’s kind of that shoulder season where people get to enjoy being outside,” Manager of Adult Programs for the gardens Sydney Goldade said. “They know how to tell a good story in detail, but also make you feel the story a little bit more and take it on as your own.”

The gardens are decorated for the Glow at the Gardens event with playful displays like skeletons with pool floaties, to darker decorations for visitors who prefer something scarier. The decorations are all viewable throughout the day, even outside of special event times.

“There’s something for everyone, and it can be as fun or it can be as serious as you want it to be,” Goldade said. “You get to go at your own pace. There’s no rush for the night.”

‘Ghosts in the Gardens’ blends history, spooky tales at Denver Botanic Gardens

Ghosts in the Gardens also gives guests rare access to the Waring House, a nearly century-old staff building on the property that is often the subject of rumors about hauntings.

“If you’ve ever seen this giant house and wondered what it looks like inside, this is your only chance to do so during the year,” Goldade said.

Denver7’s Ethan Carlson

The event blends local history with entertainment. Goldade noted that the gardens were once a burial ground for early Denver residents and that storytellers weave those historical elements into their performances.

“It’s a little history lesson, and a little fun storytelling, but they really bring in some of those elements from the greater Denver area,” she said. “It’s really fun to know a little bit more about the space that that we all live now and what it used to look like.”

Tickets are $29 for members and $34 for nonmembers. Goldade said all proceeds support the gardens’ education programs, which offer more than 700 classes and activities each year — from school and kids’ programs to adult workshops in gardening, cooking, and floral arranging.

Organizers recommend Ghosts in the Gardens for visitors 12 years of age and older.

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