By the light of a lone lantern, a group of 24 souls wandered through the dark streets of Highland Park Thursday evening on a haunted tour.
Led by Harry Glazer, a 20-year resident of Highland Park, the Haunted Highland Park Tour offered a glimpse into the town’s past through tales of some of the strange and mysterious occurrences residents claim to have encountered.
“The idea was to dramatize some of the lives of these figures to give residents of Highland Park today a sense of what their lives might have been like had they lived in the town at an earlier time,” said Michael Gordon, a 15-year resident of the town and co-collaborator of the tour.
Gordon and Glazer, a communications coordinator for University libraries, highlighted tales featuring important Highland Park residents.
One story on the tour centered on resident Earl Dixon, who invented the Band-Aid in 1921.
Dixon, who lived on Montgomery Street, invented the Band-Aid to help his wife who kept cutting herself in the kitchen. His innovation was so successful that it was mass-produced by Johnson & Johnson, and is now used in countries throughout the world, Glazer said.
“A lesser-known story I would like to tell you that goes along with that story is about [the Dixon’s] neighbors, Bob and Theresa Tehrune,” he said.
Bob Tehrune was a blue-collar worker who was envious of Dixon’s success, especially because his wife was so impressed with the Band-Aid. He decided he would invent a more effective product than Dixon’s, which he called the “Gauzehug,” Glazer said.
“Needless to say, the Gauzehug was a disaster,” Glazer said.
When Tehrune’s wife cut her finger while cooking, she decided to humor her husband by wearing his Gauzehug instead of Dixon’s Band-Aid, he said.
The Gauzehug was not only ineffective, but also unhygienic, as her finger was amputated after her wound became infected with gangrene. She was furious with her husband, and their marriage was filled with bitter arguments for the remainder of their lives, Glazer said.
“The argument wasn’t cut short by death,” he said.
Residents who live on Montgomery Street today claim that if they open their windows on a summer night, they can hear a couple arguing outside, but no one is seen, Glazer said.
“Maybe it’s a practical joke, but it could just be that the Gauzehug that fueled the couple’s argument years ago still continues today,” he said.
School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore Stacy Brody said she heard about the tour in Highland Park’s newsletter The Mirror and decided to attend because she loves ghost stories.
“It’s a nice thing to do for $5 on a Thursday night, as opposed to drinking,” Brody said.
The Haunted Highland Park Tour is a new addition to Main Street Highland Park’s annual “Autumn in the Park” celebration — a night of entertainment where residents can enjoy hayrides, receive free giveaways and listen to live music by a local band, according to the Main Street Highland Park Web site.
While the stories told on the tour are based on fact, they have been expanded for entertainment and to better portray the personalities of the town’s residents throughout history, according to the site.
Some of the other tales included an account of a spice merchant named Timothy Barrett III, who was last seen walking along the first railroad bridge in Highland Park toward Philadelphia in 1878; and the story of Fielding Lucas, who was the only Confederate soldier in New Jersey when he died in 1936.
“My favorite story on the tour is about the death of Fielding Lucas, which is a bit sad, a bit tragic and a bit haunted,” Glazer said.
Lucas had never fired a rifle when he was stationed just outside of Charleston, S.C. and was forced to confront an advance of Union soldiers on the outpost he was guarding. He missed the advancing soldiers both times he fired his rifle, and his unit was captured as a result, Glazer said.
“He was so humiliated after his performance in the Civil War that he packed up and moved as far north as he could,” Glazer said.
Lucas lived in Highland Park until his death at age 91. He died of a heart attack in 1936 during the town’s first Memorial Day parade. On this day, Lucas stepped outside of his house to find a line of veterans dressed as Union soldiers of the Civil War. In a panic, Lucas loaded his rifle and fired two shots into the air.
“Thank God he’s still an awful shot; no one was hurt,” Glazer said.
He said police officers ran ahead of the parade to find the source of the gunshots and found Lucas dead, declaring that he had to have died from the trauma of experiencing another Union advance.
Veterans who participate in the annual Memorial Day Parade say that as they get to the end of Main Street, they can hear gunshots being fired into the air, Glazer said.
“It could be pranks, it could be a myth or fallacy or it could be the restless soul of Fielding Lucas,” he said.
Glazer said the historical and factual information on the tour was derived from sources such as About.com and the book “Images of America: Highland Park” by Jeanne Kolva and Joanne Pisciotti, while the details pertaining to ghost stories and paranormal activity were creative additions.
Tour takes residents through town's haunted past
Published: Sunday, November 1, 2009
Updated: Sunday, November 1, 2009
Be the first to comment on this article!