Truckee may be a lively mountain town with upscale boutiques, wine shops and tasting rooms, fine dining and other accouterments of a destination resort, but it wasn't always so.

You can return to Truckee's Wild West railroad and logging roots by taking part in the town's annual adults-only Historical Haunted Tour on Thursday, October 18.

The tour, which starts off with a glass of wine at Moody's on the ground floor of the venerable Truckee Hotel, wanders through the front and back streets of downtown Truckee, making stops at various modern establishments that were once the watering holes, boarding houses and other business concerns of town's 19th Century and early 20th Century origins.

Conducted under the auspices of the Truckee Donner Historical Society, the two-hour evening walking tour features memorable tales – some of them with entertaining twists – of the town's spirited past.

Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased at truckeehistorytour.com. And for those wish to partake in the tour but have youngsters in tow, a Halloween-themed night of science is available at the KidZone Museum from 5-8:30 p.m.; the cost is $20 per child for Historical Haunted Tour attendees and includes activities and pizza dinner (call 530-587-5437 for reservations).
Several hotels, including the Truckee Hotel, the Richardson House and the River Street Inn, are offering reduced rates for tour participants.