Event Description
Museum open until 1 November 2026: Thursday, Friday & Sunday from 1.30pm – 4.30pm and Saturday from 10.30am – 4.30pm
Looking for some spooky family fun this October half term? There’s plenty to discover at The Tudor House Museum in Upton upon Severn!
Visitors can:
- Follow the bat trail around the museum
- Get creative with Halloweeen-themed crafts & enjoy delicious cakes (Saturday 31 October only)
- Hunt for Captain Bound’s ghost and solve the clues hidden around the museum
Come along for a little history, a few spooky surprises and plenty of Halloween fun!
Entry to the museum is free for the whole family.
The Ghost of Upton
Requirements – a mobile phone and an imagination
The task is simple – to release Captain Thomas Bound from the Tudor House Museum, where he has been hiding for the past 375 years since the battle of Upton. Children aged 9 + are sworn in at the front desk as trainee ghost hunters and sent through the building to succeed where the parson failed: to corner him at the top of the house and discover he does not need catching, he needs helping. The man who betrayed his town cannot rest until its stories are told properly, and only the real objects in the museum can tell them.
The hunt runs through eight pretend haunting spots, room by room. At each one, a tap on the phone, the family’s spectral receiver, summons an apparition and the Captain’s voice for a minute or so, captioned throughout, and he always lets something slip. Each task when completed releases one letter, written into a link of the Captain’s chain printed on the hunter’s card. The letters spell the release word, so wrong answers spell gibberish and only the correct word works. The confrontation comes at the top of the house. The chain is full, the release word is spoken aloud together, and the truth comes out.
Then, back to the front desk in reception: the final stamp, the Captain’s farewell, the family’s signature in the Ghost Hunters’ Register, and the sticker and card go home in small hands. The Captain is funny first and spooky second, and he never once threatens a child. Spooky like a story at bedtime, never like a scare.
The simple ghost hunt is a mobile phone based innocent piece of fun, using a child-friendly, indoor ghost-hunt experience at the Tudor House Museum that uses the museum collection to help the restless Captain Thomas Bound finally rest.
Other half-term fun in Upton upon Severn
Whilst you’re in Upton, why not also try the special new Halloween Trail around town? Visit Upton Tourist Information and Heritage Centre in the Pepperpot (open Saturday 24 – Saturday 31 October, except Sunday) to collect your free trail sheet (you’ll return here once you’ve completed the trail to collect your small prize).
