Looking for a favorite haunt? Downtown Lee’s Summit tour can help you with that

If your preferred type of scary story comes from local history, the Haunted and Historic Spaces Tour in downtown Lee’s Summit is sure to get you in the Halloween spirit. The popular walking tour, run by Downtown Lee’s Summit Main Street, will take place Oct. 16.

Nine tours with 30 people each will be held between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Committee chairman Nick Parker expected the event to sell out quickly, as they have in previous years.

“There have always been stories from building owners about ghost stories in their buildings,” Parker said.

Parker estimated that the tour has been going around 10 years. It started as a way to show off loft space for rent downtown. Now that there isn’t much open space for rent, it’s purely for entertainment.

Some of the seven stops on the tour will include outlaw Cole Younger’s home and the Country Club Bank, which used to be a furniture store that made caskets.

Actors from the Summit Theatre Group have been bringing the tales to life for the last few years.

“We have adapted the (original) script into a monologue, telling the story from the perspective of somebody who lived during that time and had a connection with the actual building,” said Ginger Birch, company manager of the Summit Theatre Group.

For the first time this year, the actors have auditioned, rather than just volunteered for the roles, and they will have full period costume, along with makeup to enhance the spooky stories.

Everyone has a favorite story. People coming to the tour tend to like the story of the Dayton Hotel and Dr. Strother, Parker said. Birch prefers tales of Cole Younger, who ran with both Jesse James and William Quantrill in the 19th century. Younger’s character is new to the tour.

To get the details right, Parker, Birch and Kirby Asplund consulted Donnie Rogers from Downtown Lee’s Summit Main Street, as well as the Lee’s Summit History Museum. Birch was thrilled to find an autobiography written by Younger that she could use as source material for the performance.

Birch said the performers will be having a conversation with audience, improvising in character when appropriate.

“We took the historical information that Downtown Lee’s Summit provided and did a little more research into the specific individuals represented, looked a little more into their lives. We’re speaking about more than just facts — (it’s) their personal feelings about what was going on at that time,” Birch said.

Although previous tours have had the actors doing a script-in-hand approach, this year, they will have their pieces fully memorized.

“It’s a much more intimate connection between actor and audience, breaking fourth wall and actually speaking to people in the tours and not necessarily just performing,” Birch said.

Although most of the tour is outside, they will go inside at the Dayton Hotel, Country Club Bank and the Lee’s Summit History Museum. At these locations, masks are required per the county health order.

Tickets are $25 each, with the money going to Downtown Lee’s Summit Main Street. For more ticket information, visit downtownls.eventbrite.com.