Last week, Columbus’ favorite annual event illuminated the Friendship Cemetery for the 28th consecutive year. Every year, the U.S. History class called Tales from the Crypt, taught by Mr. Chuck Yarborough, hosts an event where students bring the dead to life. Students, locals and other guests from neighboring cities come to be led around the cemetery by Tales from the Crypt students and be told the stories of the permanent residents of the land they tread on.

The students spent their fall semester doing research on a person buried in Friendship Cemetery that they have selected. This, combined with long nights of learning scripts, finding costumes and practicing performances yields one of the most fantastic events Columbus has to offer: a candlelit tour of a graveyard where all residents are alive and telling their stories.

This year, the stories were especially interesting. Performer MSMS junior Ethan Trapolino told the story of John F. Williams, a Civil War era physician who fought and died in the war. Trapolino wrote an original folk song to tell Williams’ tragic tale. Trapolino expressed that he felt “tragedies are best told through epics, poems and therefore songs.”

However, not all students from Tales from the Crypt told stories such as these. Other students performed as Decoration Day Ladies, or ladies who honored the dead who had fallen in the Civil War. MSMS junior and Decoration Day Lady Mackenzie Umanzor said that the role “was definitely a challenge, especially because we had some challenges with the script towards the middle of preparation, leading to the script being rewritten. Luckily it came together in the end to be a fantastically powerful piece.”

The students who went on the tour were also moved by its power and sentiment. “I was amazed at how well the performances came together. Everyone could really tell that the students put a lot of time and hard work into this,” MSMS junior Advaith Sunil said.

When asked the age old question: “Would you consider this the best year yet?” by students, locals and aspiring journalists alike, Mr. Chuck Yarborough politely refrains from answering and reminds us to form our own opinions “and come back next year!” which all of MSMS agrees enthusiastically to do.