Mini Halloween Shop @ PopUp55

Seymour based artist and vintage clothing vendor Jillian Lyons is ready to give New Haven her
haunted vision of Halloween. Valley Vintage & Jillian Lyons Designs will be taking over Project
Storefront New Haven’s location, PopUp 55, for a one week only engagement from October
27th ­ November 3rd. The shop will feature vintage Halloween accessories, masks and
costumes as well as handmade costume pieces, vintage clothing in fall colorways, handmade
spooky jewelry and Halloween themed fine art photography. The shop will be open all seven
days from 12pm ­ 7pm. Items will be curated daily throughout its seven day run. The Mini
Halloween Shop may also be announcing special guests as the event date comes closer!

Jillian Lyons began Jillian Lyons Designs in late 2010 as a way to deal with an unexpected
cancer diagnosis. As she recovered, she began to create a full handmade inventory and start
working again. She took a part time position with New Haven’s own Vintanthromodern Vintage
working as an assistant as well as handling booking and promotions. Vintanthromodern’s
Melissa Gonzales was a big influence on Ms. Lyons. Jillian utilized her experience when taking her small collection of vintage clothing to create an online business, Valley Vintage. Jillian uses

Spooky New Haven 2013 (video)

Get ready this Halloween weekend for a really interesting one.  Remember the eventfulness, a year ago, when Hurricane Sandy knocked down the Lincoln Oak.  This year, the New Haven Museum is featuring an event on Halloween, and Robert S. Greenberg will be hosting an event on the Green itself, the night of the 30th.  Stay tuned.

Happy Halloween

Photo Credit: @BenBerkowitz

The Lincoln Oak fell during Hurricane Sandy (article) on the New Haven Green, exposing a human skeleton.

The New Haven Green was first used as a cemetery, until James Hillhouse decided that it wasn't the best place for kids to run around.  He decided to remove the tombstones, which were relocated into the nearby Grove Street Cemetery, where they still remain.  It's said that at the time, it was becoming a problem having the tombstones there.

If you ever want to see what the original burial ground looked like, just check out this recent video from March 2012, when Robert S. Greenberg spread the message to Occupy New Haven that they were occupying sacred ground.

Video of last night's event will eventually be assembled into a documentary about New Haven.  In the meantime, here are a few photos to get you in a Halloween state of mind.  It's likely that the body exhumed died from disease or natural causes.  The prominent diseases at the time were smallpox and yellow fever.  The body was buried underneath the tree, which had been planted in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln at the beginning of the 20th Century.  Therefore it was no mystery to the police that clearly the cold case was closed.  The meticulous efforts of the workers (an archaeologist from Yale, a forensics expert from the State of Connecticut, and police personnel to provide lighting assistance and crowd control), made for an interesting experience.

 Scientist depicted is Gary Aronsen ’04PhD,manager of the Yale Biological Anthropology Laboratories. 
This is the most likely path that James Hillhouse chose, when moving the headstones from the New Haven Green (lower icon) to the Grove Street Cemetery.  No one is certain how ceremonious this was, but there is sure to be folklore surrounding this event for at least 100 years.