Spooky Specials

No tricks, just treats this week leading up to Halloween on WSBE Rhode Island PBS!

Night owls will love A Cemetery Special at 4 A.M. overnight tonight (technically tomorrow) Thursday, October 27, or 2 A.M. on Saturday October 29. The rest of you can watch it at more civilized hour at 10 P.M. tomorrow night, Thursday, October 27. A Cemetery Special takes a look at graves, monuments, family plots, sculpture, and the way cemeteries interconnect with many aspects of modern American culture. Traveling from Key West to central Alaska, the program features examples of burial grounds as special sites where history and art are preserved, where flowers and trees can be important attractions, where people make pilgrimages to the final resting places of the famous and the familial, and where old and new traditions often combine in fascinating ways. The documentary is by Rick Seback - the same artistic mind that has delighted us for years with such quirky but charming documentaries as Sandwiches You Will Like, An Ice Cream Show, Great Old Amusement Parks, and A Flea Market Documentary.

On Friday at 4 A.M., we bring back Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare, a documentary by local filmmaker Ricardo Rebello, about what is arguably the region's most infamous unsolved double murder and the woman at its center: Lizzie Borden. Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare also airs on Saturday, October 29 at 7 P.M.as part of WSBE's ongoing series, Rhode Island Stories.

On Sunday night at 10, we encore Haunted RI, the darkumentary that explores the vampire legend of Mercy Lena Brown in Exeter, and visits Ramtail Factory in Foster.

On Halloween night, October 31, tuck the kiddies into bed after a fun-filled and safe evening of trick or treating, and tune in for your own treat: Haunted RI airs at 8 P.M.

Halloween Night: Local Spooky Stories!

After the candy's been inspected, the goopy Halloween makeup's been scrubbed off, and pajamas have replaced the costumes, put the kiddies safely to bed and settle in for a couple of stories about real life spooky characters - just for grown-ups.

At 10 PM on Halloween night, Ghost and Vampire Legends of Rhode Island examines the origins of mysteries around the Ocean State, including the wandering monk at Belcourt Castle, specters on Benefit Street, a burning ship off Block Island, and several more. Ghost and Vampire Legends of Rhode Island was nominated for a New England Emmy Award and won a first-place national Telly, and was the first independent documentary for 3rd Story Productions, Maria and Scott Saracen.

At 11 PM, we re-broadcast Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare, a documentary film by Bristol Community College film instructor, Ricardo Rebelo. The film explores the legend and lore of Lizzie Borden, the woman accused - and acquitted - of killing her father and stepmother with an ax. The documentary looks at not only the facts of the murder, but at the "popularity" of the crime and the culture of those who follow it.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits over the air on digital 36.1; Cox/Verizon/Full Channel 08; DirecTV 36; Dish Network 7776; ComCast subscribers, please check local listings for the channel number in your area.

"Lizzie Borden took an ax..." Did she really? Watch Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare

On the hot New England summer afternoon of August 4, 1892, a brutal double murder took place in the  Victorian city of Fall River, Massachusetts, home to some of the wealthiest people in America. More than 100 years later, the crime is still one of the most studied in history. The woman at the center of the crime has become one of the most infamous personalities in American history, too. Her name: Lizzie Borden.

Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare is a documentary film about the legend and lore of Lizzie Borden, the woman accused - and acquitted - of killing her father and stepmother with an ax. The documentary looks at not only the facts of the murder, but at the "popularity" of the crime and the culture of those who follow it.

The film started as a master's thesis project two years ago by the director, Bristol Community College film instructor, Ricardo Rebelo. He said people are drawn to Lizzie for different reasons. For some, it's the Victorian-era that draws them; for others, it's the fact that an upper-class woman is at the center of the murder controversy. For still others, they like a good spooky story, or true crime element.

Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare will air on Rhode Island PBS on Halloween weekend, Saturday night, October 30 at 7 PM as part of Rhode Island Stories, and on October 31 at 11 PM.