Write a commentLee Ellen Hickey became a published author in February with Girl in the Glass Coffin: The Tonkin Affairs. The story of little Virginia Tonkin has circulated for ages throughout Oswego, frequently used to frighten elementary students, and her husband had shared it with her previously. However, Hickey found her interest piqued when she attended a local Haunted History tour put on by Colette Astoria and heard a bit more of the "fun rumors."
When Hickey experienced the urge to write, she found herself ruminating on the story of Virginia Tonkin once again. Her initial desire was to "dramatize those rumors that Colette mentioned" for her children to read. Like all creative projects, the piece quickly grew wings.
With the spark of this story set in historical fact, the project involved massive amounts of research. "To make it on that local shelf, you've got to adhere to those rules," Hickey said with a laugh. Luckily, Bryan Hickey, Hickey's husband and contributor for the book, was a history major at SUNY Oswego.
"My husband heard my plight and started printing out articles about it." Bryan mainly accessed articles posted on Fulton Postcards. He would search a name and read through the article only to stumble upon another name, sending himself down various bunny trails. "Anytime he found something relevant, he would print it and give it to me and I would put them in chronological order. I had this stack of papers," Hickey said, her hand hovering about a foot off the table.
Hickey describes these articles as being "like the Inquirer" with their gossip and social pages. According to Astoria, the social section was often larger than the rest of the newspaper. This early form of social media provided Hickey with more than enough detail to fill in the stories of the families mentioned within the books.
However, Hickey found that her most powerful tool while writing was to approach each subject with empathy. "I couldn't be more humble about my writing ability, but I knew this story would be huge. I did my best to bring it to life." She had the situations and the responses, but she had to determine "how would this person react to this based on what I knew about them already." This was especially important with a story that focused on loss and how it affected those who interacted with it. When asked about the odder moments of the story, Hickey said, "I can't help but think there's some basis of innocence, but it gets elaborated."
Justin White, former Oswego County Historian, was vital to the development of the book and the historical tours. According to Hickey, "Justin was so important to this book and he's become my dear friend through this experience." His expertise covered the ways of life during the time period that provided the background of the story and centered it within the historical setting. This included how telephone use worked at the time, the networks of servants and the gossip they spread, and the importance of a calling card and prioritizing who to respond to first.
Astoria recruited White within the development of her history tours. "He went with me to map it out," Astoria said. "He explained how there was the manor house, an empty space, and then the carriage house. This space was where they'd empty the carriage and switch things around."
With this new well of information, the Haunted Tours are adapting their current version of the story to better fit the real events. "It's so surprising that the real story is even more bizarre than the legends," Astoria said with glee. She plans to update her performance to reflect how long Virginia was truly in the coffin, a whole year longer than originally stated, and to include the vigils the family made to see the dead child. The details of the flowers, the angry florists, and the rather alarming birthday party are also expected to make an appearance.
At the moment, Virginia and the Tonkins have Hickey's full attention and she doesn't think she'll be able to let them go that easily. However, she's considered future projects. "You'll never see me write about the Wright Mansion, but I would consider Gray Road. I still don't want to talk about the things I heard about Wright's Mansion," Hickey joked. Hickey wishes to keep the momentum of the stories alive and "get people interested in investing and saving our history." This project inspired Hickey to join the Historical Society.
Hickey admires the goals of the historical tours and their presentation. "It's so much fun! And it helps introduce the college students and new families to the history of Oswego." She talks about the features added throughout, such as the man in a top hat often seen lurking around the streets, that added to the atmosphere. Astoria explains the various additions of period specific life, such as pointing out the servants quarters on old houses, as a way to "get people to see Oswego as once having this upper echelon because it gives them the setting of how it used to be."
With the publication of the book, Hickey has done multiple promotional events where she's spoken to the general public about her experience with the Tonkins and Condes. She held a book signing in the Oswego Public Library on March 16 that went exceedingly well. "It meant a lot to people. You filled up the library," Astoria said.
"It's been such an adventure and I can't wait to see where it leads. My dream is for Netflix to pick it up and turn it into a series," Hickey said. "I say that because I want to watch it. I want to see the hats in the church and the yacht and the servants."
Information and booking for the Haunted History and the Food and History tours can be found online at oswegotours.com. Girl in the Glass Coffin: The Tonkin Affairs by Hickey can be purchased at the river's end bookstore within the local history section, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.
