The annual Bulloch County Historical Society’s “Tales from the Tomb” tours will take place a bit earlier this year, with tours featuring “spirits” of some of Statesboro’s past prominent citizens taking place Thursday, Sept. 24.
        Tickets are available for $10 each at the Statesboro Herald office at 1 Proctor Street, said Joe McGlamery, president of both the Bulloch County Historical Society and the Statesboro Herald.
        The 2015 Tales from the Tomb “has an outstanding lineup,” he said. The tours, which last from 5:30 to 7:15 p.m. at Statesboro’s Eastside Cemetery, feature local actors portraying a host of “spirits” of past Statesboro residents who left their marks on the community.
         The spirit of Prince H. Preston Jr., a Statesboro attorney who first served in the Georgia House of Representatives (1935-38) and later in the United States House of Representatives, will be one “spirit” to greet tourists, McGlamery said. Preston served in the United States Army after completing his term with the Georgia House of Representatives, and served six terms as a U.S representative afterward.
        Another “pioneer” local attorney, William Gesmon Neville, will be featured during the tour, he said. Neville was solicitor general for the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit from 1929 to 1940, and served as Statesboro’s solicitor of the city court from 1950 to 1956 and again from 1961-1964.
        The spirits of an intriguing couple, Ward and Rebecca Franklin Morehouse, will delight tourists with tales of life in New York, according to McGlamery.
        A Statesboro native, Rebecca Morehouse graduated from the University of Georgia in Athens and later wrote for the Birmingham News and the Atlanta Journal.
        Then, she married Ward Morehouse, a Southern-born drama critic at the New York Sun, and moved to New York. She remained in Manhattan after her husband’s death in 1967, writing a column for Playbill magazine and a play, “Prom Party,” which was produced at George Southern University.
        Ward Morehouse worked as a reporter for the Savannah Press and Atlanta Journal.
        There will also be “guest spirits” of friends of the couple – Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, McGlamery said. This part of the tour’s scene will be a replica of a room at New York’s Club 21.
        Another noted Statesboro native who will greet tourists is Walter Aldred, whom McGlamery described as a “noted 20th century architect” who designed GSU’s Rosenwald Building, Statesboro’s First Methodist Church and the old Bulloch Memorial Hospital.
        All of these people are buried in Statesboro’s Eastside Cemetery, with the exception of Bogart and Bacall, he said.
        A “guest spirit” of a man who is also not buried at Eastside Cemetery will be portrayed by renowned local actor and producer Mical Whitaker, who will greet guests as the spirit of William James, a professor who positively impacted Statesboro by opening the City Colored School in 1907, which eventually was named after him. The William James Education Complex, formerly the school, is located on Williams Road in Statesboro. Growth prompted the school, William James Middle School, to move to its current Hwy. 80 West location.
        Anyone seeking tickets for the upcoming 2015 “Tales from the Tomb tours may visit the Statesboro Herald office at 1 Proctor Street. More information may be obtained by dialing (912) 764-9031. There will be eight tours, lasting about 45 minutes each, McGlamery said.

Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.