The ghosts appear tonight

Gardnerville was named for John and Mary Gardner. Mormon Station was created from a log cabin built by Stephen Kinsey, who later became the county clerk and recorder and married a woman named Sarah Jane.

All four of them were dead and buried by 1905 - John Gardner died first in 1887, Mary followed him in 1899, Stephen Kinsey went in 1903 and Sarah Jane in 1905.

Who knows if the two couples knew each other, although they lived in Carson Valley at the same time. Maybe the Gardners attended the Kinseys' wedding on Oct. 2, 1856, when they were married by Judge Orson Hyde, although, according to museum records, it was in Washoe Valley and there were only a few friends and family in attendance. It's hard to imagine, with the population as small as I assume it was at that time, that the four never ran into each other at the store or church or somewhere. But, transportation wasn't what it is today either.

These four Valley pioneers are laid to rest not far from each other - the Gardners in Jacks Valley Cemetery, which is on private land, and the Kinseys in Genoa Cemetery.

I kind of wish that I could have a chance to go visit their graves before this weekend - maybe because I think somehow I might get a feeling for who they really were by standing there looking at their gravestones, or maybe just to somehow ask their permission to play them in the Douglas County Historical Society events this weekend.

Tonight I will be donning a long black skirt, white blouse, a cloak and an embellished black mourning bonnet in order to become Mary Gardner for the Gardnerville Ghost Walk. Saturday evening and Sunday morning I will be in the same outfit, only this time to portray Sarah Jane Kinsey for Saturday's Genoa Cemetery Tour and the Genoa Ghost Walk the following morning. My husband, Jack Carrerow, sports editor at the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, will play John and Stephen.

Since this is the 11th annual cemetery tour, I suppose I shouldn't be too worried about offending anybody, since others have portrayed them before, I'm sure. After all, they've all been gone for more than a century. But on the other hand, there's always a first time for everything. To find out more about these interesting peoples' lives, you will have to attend one or all of these events. My husband and I will be glad to make your acquaintance.

Spookiness and happiness run hand in hand sometimes, after all they are both strong emotions. In that case, I am approaching a very emotional time in the next couple weeks.

By day, I sift through announcements and photos of upcoming Halloween events as People editor. By night, I try to keep up with my own plans of my oldest son returning from the Navy for just a week and a half before heading to his new station in Hawaii. (Occasionally I shut the door to my room and pick up my bass just to escape my own excitement.)

It's going to be an unusual vacation, with Christmas dinner on Halloween (could I pick two more opposite holidays?). It seems almost appropriate for this mild mannered reporter, who has always had a pension for the scary. Costumes and haunted houses have been part of my life ever since I was a little kid - exploring abandoned houses, trick-or-treating so long my legs ached so I couldn't go to sleep at night, begging my friends to go see movies about vampires and ghouls with me in my teenage years and throwing some of the best, and highly decorated, Halloween parties in my 20s and 30s.

Moving to Tahoe put a crimp in my style since most Halloweens we have been buried in snow, not really giving you that gentle wind in your face I used to get on witching night. The trick-or-treating I've managed to do with my youngest son has been with snow hats, ski jackets and mittens on. Not quite the same.

This is the first year since I've been here that I can really get into dressing up.

So, if you have the time, and the inclination to wander the streets of yesteryear and enjoy the company of those who are no longer in existence, but may still have a story to tell pertaining to the history of the Valley, come visit us and many other old Carson Valley folks tonight and this weekend.

n The Douglas County Historical Society's Haunted Gardnerville Ghost Walk takes place tonight. Guided walking tours will depart from the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 1477 Highway 395, in Gardnerville at 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. The cost is $5 per person. Advanced reservations are recommended, as each tour group is limited in size. For reservations call the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center at 782-2555.

n On Saturday, at the Genoa Cemetery on Jacks Valley Road in Genoa from 6:30-8 p.m., the ghosts of Nevada's earliest pioneers will be on hand for the Douglas County Historical Society's 11th annual Cemetery Tour. Admission is $5 per person. The guided cemetery tour lets you step back in time as family members and others bring to life some of Nevada's earliest pioneers. Free hot cider and cookies will be served. For reservations call the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center at 782-2555.

n On Sunday, the Haunted Genoa Ghost Walk will depart from the Genoa Court House Museum at 10:30 a.m. Mormon Station, later known as Genoa, was the first permanent settlement in Nevada and has a rich and exciting history with or without ghosts. The cost is $5 per person. For reservations call the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center at 782-2555. Free cookies and cider will be served. Sunday is the last day the Genoa Court House Museum will be open until May.