Want to celebrate Halloween like they did back in the day? Like, way back — the Victorian Era, to be exact. Well, this Halloween, or Hallowe’en, as they said back then, is your chance to attend A Hallowe’en Victoriana. A fundraiser for the Shelton McMurphey Johnson House Museum, the iconic green Victorian house opens its doors to invite people to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve, like Eugeneans did over a hundred years ago. There will be period-accurate festivities, such as games, seasonal foods, fortune telling and ghost stories. However, there is a rule: attendees must wear period-appropriate Halloween costumes. Example: Dracula, OK; hippie costume, not OK. While the event aims for accuracy, some things, like bobbing for apples, will thankfully not be making an appearance. “Because we have 21st-century ideas about hygiene. We’re not putting people in a big tub of salivaed-up water,” says Jerry Ferraccio, a volunteer organizer for A Hallowe’en Victoriana. Halloween underwent major changes after WWII, according to Ferraccio. Before the Great Wars, it was a holiday everyone could enjoy. But afterward, it was seen as a holiday for children. Then, the late 1970s-80s brought Halloween into its scary iteration. But during the Victorian era, “it was all about the dead,” Ferraccio says. “It was all about our spiritual love, our dead loved ones. Are they alright? Can we communicate with them?” This is why the evening ghost stories will be one of the main events. At the Shelton McMurphey Johnson House, this Halloween can be one for the ages.

A Hallowe’en Victoriana is 7 pm to 9 pm, Friday, Oct. 31, at the Shelton McMurphey Johnson House Museum, 303 Willamette Street. Tickets are $35 per guest, $30 per guest for members and are available at SmjHouse.org. For more information, visit the website or call  541-484-0808.