The Lansford Historical Society will host a guest speaker at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lansford Historical Museum on East Bertsch Street.

The free program will cover 19th and early 20th century death, burial and mourning customs, just in time for the Halloween season.

Noted area historian and speaker Bob Vybrenner of Tamaqua will educate as well as entertain the public with historical facts as he talks about how many of the death and funeral customs we think of today, began very differently a century or two ago and evolved over time.

Vybrenner will be dressed in an authentic undertakers costume from the late 1800s and will even display an early wooden coffin, photographs and many other strange artifacts relating to death, embalming and burial.

Have some fun and come dressed in your “finest black mourning outfit.”

Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. Free light refreshments will be served afterward.