A Festival of Oddities

A Festival of Oddities, an annual celebration of all things macabre, returns to Charlotte’s historic Courthouse Square Museum 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 31) and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 1). The event will feature a Macabre Marketplace with more than 100 vendors, live performances hosted by the Dark Art of Michigan, roaming performers and cosplayers, food trucks, a photo booth, caricatures, face painting, a kitten adoption tent and more.

At the Living Library, sponsored by Deadtime Stories, paranormal, true-crime and horror authors will be available for photos, to sign copies of books and to chat about past and upcoming projects.

Inside the museum, guests can explore oddities from around the globe, rescue a scaly friend at the snake adoption pit and attend presentations hosted by experts in true crime, the paranormal and other spooky subjects. To purchase guaranteed seating for any of the presentations, visit festivalofoddities.com/guests.

Beach Market, down the street from the courthouse at the corner of Lovett and Bostwick streets, will offer even more spooky vendors. In addition, the Eaton Theatre will host meet-and-greets with actor Douglas Tait of “Annabelle Comes Home,” “Star Trek: Picard,” “Halloween Kills” and more noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Included in the $5 admission fee for the meet-and-greets are screenings of “Annabelle Comes Home” at 3 p.m. and “Halloween Kills” at 7 p.m. both days.

Tickets for the meet-and-greets with Tait are available at eatontheatre.com. Festival activities on the courthouse grounds are free and open to the public, and entry to the museum is $5 per person per day. For more information, visit festivalofoddities.com.