HAUNT JAUNTS » Archive for June 2009
Haunt Jaunts as Fundraising Venues
Increasingly I’m noticing a trend in some of my Google Alerts: stories about Haunt Jaunts as fundraising venues. Especially for historical societies and foundations. This weekend I came across another one. How the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum in Alabama recently did a ghost hunt as a fundraiser. Specifically, The Friends of the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum held a Paranormal Weekend in conjunction with Southern Paranormal Researchers. HOW IT WORKS Oftentimes the venue’s historical society (or preservation society, whatever name they might give … Read entire article »
Filed under: Ghosts, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Travel - General
Roadside America: A Guide to Uniquely Odd Tourist Attractions
After I posted my entry about haunted travel sites yesterday, I came across yet another travel site: Roadside America, an online guide to offbeat tourist attractions. Its focus isn’t necessarily restricted to haunted places, though. It’s a smorgasboard of things. WHAT YOU CAN FIND ON ROADSIDE AMERICA As travel sites go, they have pretty standard features, such as a listing of hotels & motels. But of course they put their own unique spin on it. When you click on … Read entire article »
Filed under: Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Haunted Places, Travel - General
HauntJaunts.net & Other Haunted Travel Sites
In yesterday’s post I mentioned how HauntJaunts.net is not a one-of-a-kind, there are other haunted travel sites out there. What are they? I listed them yesterday, but they’re worth noting again: THE OTHER HAUNTED TRAVEL SITES A Ghost in My Suitcase The Haunted Traveler TravelParanormal.com NOT SUCH A NOVEL CONCEPT It was in late 2007 when I first thought instead of doing Haunt Jaunts: A Travel Guide for Restless Spirits as a book like I’d initially seen it as that I’d set … Read entire article »
Filed under: Haunted Places, Travel - General
Planning a Haunt Jaunt to Gulf County, Florida
I’m planning a Haunt Jaunt to Florida’s Gulf County for July. When I was blogging at Families.com I wrote about Cape San Blas, a dog-friendly city in Gulf County. I’ve wanted to go ever since (and so has my pooch, Murphy). Wayne finally agreed that’s where we can take our next family vacation! Sort of a getaway to celebrate the end of my hitchhiker haunting me. Yes! I’m now in the planning stages. I have to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Apparition Attractions, Florida, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Historic Haunts, Spooky Stays, Travel - General
The Othersiders: Too Young To Hunt Ghosts?
While I was watching Cartoon Network’s “The Othersiders“ investigation of the Queen Mary, I found myself thinking, “Perhaps these kids aren’t too young to hunt ghosts after all.” With that said, I guess it’s a good time to admit that I shared the sentiments fellow blogger AutumnForest expressed in one of her posts about “The Othersiders.” Kids hunting ghosts? (Or as she put it, “drape climbers,” which just cracked me up.) Come on, be serious. Someone’s really trying to make a mockery of ghost hunting now. However, the Queen Mary investigation made me stop and go “Hmmm….” RELATE-ABILITY FACTOR Personally, I think “The Othersiders” is kind of boring as ghost hunting shows go. (Although, maybe if I was a kid I’d think it was great.) I also have a hard time believing the five were … Read entire article »
Yahoo! Groups Provide Haunt Jaunts Galore
Today I finally had some time to skim the posts on the Yahoo! Groups I belong to and ended up stumbling across Haunt Jaunts galore! (I didn’t have much time to lurk around these groups before, but I do now that I’m done with radiation. After what I came across today, I’m stoked because what a great additional resource for me to find new Haunt Jaunt activities!) All except one I found via the Haunted Times … Read entire article »
Filed under: Educational, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Historic Haunts, Spooky Stays
Haunted Cruise Tour of New England and Canada October 17-22, 2009
Recently one of my Google Alerts included a press release that caught my eye for three reasons: (1) it was about a cruise (something I love to do), (2) it was about a cruise in New England and Canada (places on my Bucket List), and (3) it involved ghosts. Mark Nesbitt, who’s penned quite a few ghost books (most notably his “Ghosts of Gettysburg” series), will “headline this unique cruise of New England and Canada October … Read entire article »
Filed under: Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Haunted Places, Maine
Is There a Law for Becoming a Ghost?
Thanks to the Haunted Formula AutumnForest is working on over at Ghost Hunting Theories and Lisa Logan’s Where Would YOU Haunt guest blog, I can’t stop wondering: is there a law to becoming a ghost? You know, like the Law of Gravity, the Law of Attraction…is there a Law of Lingering? (For lack of something else to call it.) PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS In a previous post I wrote about how AutumnForest is using six criteria to determine whether some … Read entire article »
Filed under: Educational, Ghosts
Indian Magician’s Ghostly Restaurant
The Times of India ran an interesting article recently called “Meet ghosts at a restaurant in Kolkata.” It was about P C Sorcar, a conjurer or magician, who’s planning to open a restaurant with ghosts, goblins and ghouls of every variety. Don’t worry. The ghosts aren’t real. They’ll be members in his troupe who will wait on patrons while performing illusions at the same time. “Imagine how it will be like if a waiter takes off his … Read entire article »
Filed under: Eerie Eateries & Pubs, Ghosts, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, India
Haunts Jaunts Extends a Friendship Blog Award to These 8 Blogs
Yesterday I saw an email from my good pal, Lisa Logan (who I introduced here last week who’ll be making a guest post), saying she’d given me a friendship blog award or some such on her blog, Writing in My Wildest Dreams. “Huh?” I thought, confused. See, I’d had a rather exhausting weekend. I haven’t seen my dad since March 2008, when I made an emergency trip back to Denver when my mom went into the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Awards, Haunt Jaunts by Venue
Where Would YOU Haunt? By Lisa Logan
Photo courtesy Stock Xchg Do we get to choose our Haunt Jaunts if we linger here in the afterlife? Or does the Haunt Jaunt choose us? I’ve had a fair share of ghostly experiences (like this one), and from what I’ve heard and seen, ghostly haunt spots usually make sense. An old woman haunts her favorite rocking chair. A soldier haunts the battlefield where he died. A librarian haunts, well, a library. While the presences of ghosts … Read entire article »
Filed under: Ghosts, Guest Bloggers
Haunt Jaunts Welcomes Guest Blogger Lisa Logan
Just a heads up that author Lisa Logan is going to be making an appearance as a guest blogger on Haunt Jaunts. While I’d love to take the credit for this idea, I can’t. It was entirely her idea. She suggested it after reading one of the posts. She was going to leave a comment, but it started getting lengthy, so she thought, “This would make a better post than a comment. I wonder if … Read entire article »
Filed under: Guest Bloggers, Haunt Jaunts by Venue
The End of My Hitchhiker Haunting Me
For the last six months I have been haunted by a hitchhiker. (My euphemism for cancer.) Today is the end of that haunting. I completed my 20th and final radiation therapy. “What does cancer have to do with Haunt Jaunts?” you may be wondering. Everything! Let me explain… MY HITCHHIKER, MY MUSE I don’t know why I didn’t include the tale of my hitchhiker in my very first post on this blog. As I explain in the About … Read entire article »
Filed under: Ghosts
Ghost Conferences for the Rest of 2009
A while back I wrote about HauntedCon, but this week I got to thinking about other ghost conferences coming up for the rest of 2009. Where were they and when? (I knew I’d seen some others during my travels around various websites, so…) I decided to do a little investigating and put together a list of what I came across. This is what I dug up. Whether you’re a ghost hunter or ghost enthusiast like myself, maybe one of these conferences will be near you. Could make for a fun (not to mention informative, educational, and possibly entertaining) little haunt jaunt! June 19-20: 2009 Haunted America “Lucky 13″ Conference. Where: The “haunted” Lincoln Theater in Decatur, Illinois. Cost: $60 (for both days.) Click here for more details. (Something I thought was neat was … Read entire article »
Filed under: Educational, Ghosts, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Haunted Places, Travel - General
The Ghost and the Mystery Museum
I found this clip of an alleged ghost in a museum on YouTube thanks to a Google alert about an alleged ghost caught on a CCTV in an office building in South Carolina. (I went to YouTube to try and find it, but of course got distracted and found this “ghost footage” instead.) Trouble is, I have no idea what museum this is or where it is. It didn’t say in the description. (That I saw. I’m not 100% YouTube savvy so perhaps I didn’t click through to something else that would shed some light on the mystery.) However, I did find another posting of it and this one alluded that the museum was somewhere in Mexico. And I’m not all that certain what it is I’m viewing in the clip. Is … Read entire article »
Filed under: Apparition Attractions, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Mexico
Ghost Adventures: Castillo de San Marcos
In my very first blog I explained the reaction I’d had the very first time we drove by the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine: Here there be ghosts… Well, if you watched Ghost Adventures on Friday, you saw they investigated the fort. And they did find paranormal activity. THE LANTERN The best footage was what appeared to be a lantern being lit on the ramparts. I’ve heard the rumors about the lantern man before, so it … Read entire article »
Filed under: Florida, Historic Haunts, Technology
Thoughts about Ghosts
I don’t know if ghosts exist or not. I’ve had some weird encounters (for instance, the Shilo Inn and Harry’s), but I didn’t have any kind of recording devices on me to capture any evidence. (And at that time I didn’t know about EVPs and such so even if I had had something, I wouldn’t have thought to use it.) But, as I’ve stated before, those kind of encounters sparked my interest in haunt jaunting. However, yesterday as I watched stories emerge about James von Brunn’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, I thought about the guard who died. Stephen Tyrone Johns, age 39. I’m 38. This year I was confronted with my own mortality. (Though it was cancer, not a gunman, whose barrel I stared down.) In fact, Haunt Jaunts the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Ghosts, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Haunted Places
Ghost Caught on CCTV in Chilean Mall
I love ghost caught on tape or CCTV videos from YouTube. I love trying to figure out if they’re real, tampered with, shadows, reflections…you know. The standard kind of thing most people wonder about when viewing alleged footage of “real” ghosts. The thing that lends some credibility to CCTV cameras catching ghosts is that who’s really going to tamper with them? I know it can happen. I remember watching some camera experts disprove a ghost at a car impound or something. It was a hoax. But this one I’m not so sure about. It’s footage of what’s claimed to be the ghost of a boy in a mall in Chile. How someone decided it’s the ghost of a boy I don’t know. It’s odd, for sure, but I can’t make out either age … Read entire article »
Haunted Golf Courses
I found a story about haunted golf courses when I was slogging through my backlog of Google alerts today and stumbled upon a posting by Stephen Wagner at About.com: Paranormal Phenomena called “The Latest Paranormal News.” Wagner was listing ghost-related or otherwise odd stories he’d found, among them one entitled “Even golf courses have ghost stories” by Joe Morelli at the New Haven Register. Apparently a book called Haunted Golf: Spirited Tales from the Rough … Read entire article »
Filed under: Apparition Attractions, Ghosts
Step Right Up! Get Your Haunted Dolls…on eBay!
Okay, this is more of a “virtual Jaunt” rather than the kind of Haunt Jaunt I prefer to write about, but how could I pass up commenting about haunted dolls? It all started last Friday when my Google alert included a link to this eye-catching title: “Yet Another ‘Haunted Doll’ on eBay – Lenora Piper.” Kind of like the ghosts in a bottle story, I knew I had to check this out. Which I finally had … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
A ‘Haunting Formula’ for Best Haunt Jaunts
On one of the blogs I’ve been following lately, Ghost Hunting Theories, the author has concocted a “Haunting Formula” in conjunction with some research she’s doing to rate “50 haunted sites around the US.” She uses a criteria of six things to base her scoring on: What the building’s constructed out of (i.e. brick, stone, etc) Age of the building The building’s history (history or death or other traumatic events) What it’s built on or over (i.e. limestone, sand, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Ghosts, Haunt Jaunts by Venue
Bring Home Your Very Own Ghost in a Bottle
My Google alerts notified me about a great story today on Baxterking.com: “Get Yourself A Bottle of Wine Containing a ‘Real’ Ghost.” It was about a company selling ghosts in wine bottles, appropriately named Ghost in a Bottle. Oh, the array of “spirits” jokes that immediately popped into my mind… I’ll spare you and just get on with the story. (But I can’t promise refraining from making spirit references…) Speaking of spirits, this wine bottle is devoid … Read entire article »
Filed under: Ghosts, Technology
Haunted Grass Valley Historical Walking Tour: Edgier Than Most
Today I came across a story on TheUnion.com called “Explore hauntings in the county” which told about the Haunted Grass Valley Historical Walking tour in Grass Valley, California. It caught my eye because the ghosts featured on the tour sounded a little edgier than those on most ghost tours. Why do I say that? Well, for one, the tour’s creator, Mark Lyons, is quoted as saying, “While I would be perfectly delighted to encounter any of … Read entire article »
Filed under: California
Ghosts, GPS, and Learning
Earlier today I wrote about using Haunt Jaunts to teach based in part on a headline one of my Google alerts popped up with: “Tracking Ghosts in the Valley: Ashby Lee Students Use GPS for New Learning Program” by Aimee Cregger. Well, I finally got around to reading the whole thing this afternoon. This is exactly the kind of thing I think more schools should offer! AUGMENTED REALITY The language and speech pathologists at Ashby Lee applied for a grant after learning about a new program called Augmented Reality. The grant allowed them to purchase 30 GPS units and pay for fifth graders from Ashby Lee to travel to New Market and Lexington. The other day at Examiner.com I wrote about geocaching. Well, this program sort of combined geocaching with ghost hunting. HUNTING GHOSTS … Read entire article »
Filed under: Children, Educational, Ghosts, Technology
Using Haunt Jaunts to Teach
My husband and I don’t have kids, but I got to thinking today how, if we did, what a great teaching tool Haunt Jaunts would make. Check out the various lessons that could be taught: HISTORY LESSONS Some kids find history dull. Others love it. I was one of those somewhere in between. Certain things I found interesting (both the first and second World Wars gripped me), but battles with Native Americans over land or the Civil War … Read entire article »
Filed under: Children, Educational, Haunt Jaunts by Venue, Technology
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