Museum explains the darker events of Idaho Falls

Are you ready to travel back in time to experience the darker side of Idaho Falls history?

Friday is the Museum of Idaho’s first night of this year’s “Haunted History Tour.” The museum will take 100 people around downtown Idaho Falls and explain some of the history of the city.

“We get to share the history with people in a way that makes them excited about the town that they live in, because a lot of people don’t really know some of the darker side of Idaho Falls,” said Chloe Doucett, the director of education at the MOI.

The tour takes people to four never-before-toured buildings downtown.

“We’ve got two that are in our residential area in the Ridge Avenue District and we’ve got two that are downtown in our Old Historic District,” Doucett said.

The MOI tells stories of true events that happened previously in Idaho Falls, including some unexplained events.

“We do a lot of research, we have some great things here in our archives,” said Carrie Anderson Athay, the curator at the MOI. “We have a lot of newspapers, we have police records, we have court logs. Then we dig deeper, we explore some of these stories.”

Those on the tour also get to hear about the findings from a medium and a paranormal investigator.

“Liz Rivera, she’s a medium. Sometimes she sees ghosts. As well, she hears them, and she shares that with us,” Doucett said. “Scott Brian, his approach is actually to do investigation with scientific tools. So, he’ll go in with EVPs and different readers and tools to allow him to do camera, microphone investigation.”

While ghosts and paranormal activity are not guaranteed on this tour, those who do visit these places are sure to walk away with some facts.

“We hope to learn about some commonalities that we have with the past,” said Anderson Athay. “Things that help us understand that we have a complex history, things that will help propel us into the future. We hope that we learn that history is fun and that we can learn a lot from the past.”

This year’s Haunted History Tour is already sold out for all four nights. The Museum of Idaho said if anyone wants to learn more about the city of Idaho Falls, there are “Museum After Dark” events that will teach you. Those are held on the third Friday of each month.

The museum also said those wanting to get tickets to next year’s Haunted History Tour should set your calendars for midnight Oct. 1.

All proceeds from the tour benefit the museum’s education programs and the Student Ticket Initiative.