A tour to die for

Heritage Square Museum is getting a little creepy for Halloween. The Highland Park landmark is offering mourning tours, teaching about death etiquette in Victorian times. You even can participate in a funeral. Did you know, for instance, that while women were expected to mourn for two years, men got off with a single year? “Since funeral parlors were yet to be invented,” director of administration and operations Jessica Alicea says, “bodies were kept at home in a casket for viewing.” The programs will be offered noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 24 and 25. Sunday is more family friendly; children ages 2 to 12 are encouraged to come in costume, play period games and make 19th century harvest crafts. The San Gabriel Valley Storytellers will spin spooky stories in the Ford House, one of the historic structures that make up Heritage Square. $5 to $10; kids younger than 6 are free. 3800 Homer St., Los Angeles; (323) 225-2700, heritage square.org.

-- Barbara Thornburg