The Old Depot Museum looked more like a haunted house Tuesday for its “Night at the Museum.”

The Halloween-themed event gave kids of all ages the chance to have fun and learn more about what’s happening at the museum.

With the museum only lit by black lights, the guests filed in the door for a special tour.

“It really is a neat, fun place to go,” Spivey said. “Museums can be fun. It doesn’t have to be a boring thing that you have to suffer through — it can be a fun event, and that was the main reason, just to get people in here.”

Dr. Jerry Light, president of the museum’s board, thought of the idea as a way to bring people in and get them interested in the museum and what it has to offer.

“We were talking about events to do for the future, and one of the things that I’ve bemoaned since I’ve been here in Selma is that we’ve got a lot of treasures that are hidden, and the Depot Museum is one of them,” Light said.

“I love this place, I’ve walked through and I’ve learned more about Selma in this one building than I have in all my other experiences here. I thought if we could only get people in this building to see it, they would come back again and again.”

While the adults took a tour and listened to ghost stories told by community members, the children were out back making crafts, playing games and getting their faces painted.

“Just having children want to come to a museum on a Tuesday night is a good feeling,” Spivey said. “To get someone out on a rainy Tuesday night, and a month where it’s packed with activities, it is a wonderful feeling.”

When Spivey took over as the director at the museum, she began working to bring back the glory of what the building once was, and that is still her mission.

“I still want to take down everything that was put in when it was made a forensics lab,” Spivey said. “I want to strip it down to the bare bones when it was the Depot, to open it up.”

Spivey had continued to sort through the many items that already call the Depot home, but sometimes, new things will find a way there.

“We just acquired … a rare architectural drawing of the rebuilding of Fort Sumter from a Selma family that had moved to Virginia,” Spivey said in reference to one of the new items the Depot has on display.

But over all, Spivey and Light said they were happy with the turnout of the Night at the Museum.

“It’s been amazing the response that we’ve had,” Light said. “Even tonight, seeing all the people here is really touching, and there’s as many children as there are adults.”