Throwback to traveling days for Haunted Asylums, Prisons, and Sanatoriums. A sampling of some of my favorite photos to get into the Halloween spirit!
Ashmore Estates
Waverly Hills
To purchase your copy of Haunted Asylums, Prisons, and Sanatoriums, head on over to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Asylums-Prisons-Sanatoriums-Institutions/dp/073873750X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Manhattan Road Notes.
Whitney Museum of American Art
First of all, as usual, the art that I think is “Halloween Art” is not marketed as such. But c’mon, man!
I forgot to take a picture of the placard, so the one below is just self-titled by me: “Eat Your Heart Out.” I think that pretty much sums it up. Dig the claws!
Gratuitous skeleton art. Self-explanatory.
I actually find Summer Days by Georgia O’Keefe to be quite peaceful and inspiring. It’s a life / death / rebirth type of thing. Plus, I love those desert southwest mountains.
Edward Hopper’s A Woman in the Sun qualifies as Halloween art because of the color of the light coming through the window, shining a sliver of afternoon death into the room. That light is the color of death. I don’t know how I know, but I know it. I saw it in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and on another afternoon once, when I was much younger. Now I saw it in Hopper’s painting. I wonder if he knew it too.
This last one is not obviously Halloween art, but this is the scariest thing I saw. Leidy Churchman has painted the view from 432 Park Avenue, a 1,396-foot-high luxury condominium completed in 2015. The placard goes on to say that the building “sparked an outcry over … the stratospheric cost of its apartments,” and “hinting at the glaring divide between the ultra-rich and ordinary New Yorkers.” Let me tell you something. I would take the ultra-rich view over the poor person’s view AFD (I’m looking at you, Skyliner).
What scares me is this recently growing trend in the media to perpetuate the cultural belief that “ordinary” people should have a hatred of the rich. I find that completely unacceptable and plain stupid. Why all this rich shaming? When was the last time a poor person gave you a good job, and opportunities for growth and development? I’m so sick of this ignorant crap everywhere I go lately! I really haven’t gotten political on this blog, but my visit to New York is bringing some things out in me that need to be said to any liberal imbecile who happens upon this page. My message to you? Quit hating people who are achieving things, you bunch of losers! Keep your heads down and work harder. Make something. Build something. Have an idea and develop it. Or better yet, go live in Venezuela and see how that works out for you.
Hate the rich? Are you insane? I love them. I want to learn everything they know and become one. I don’t want to drag them down to my level. I want to rise to their level. That’s the difference between a liberal and a conservative. We want to pursue or make our own opportunities. We don’t expect someone to hand us money because we were born or because we need something. If we need something, we will go out and work and get it. If we are sick or hurt, we figure out how to work anyway. Rise, bitches. Rise. Or get the hell out of America. I’m sick of paying for your CUSSING safe rooms and supplementing your so-called “living wage” that you think everyone is entitled to somehow.
Okay, that’s all. But I’m not taking it down. And guess what? If you leave me an asshole comment, I’ll just code you to SPAM. So eat it up. Liberals.
Next.
Soho / Chelsea Market / Greenwich Village
Too crowded, but fun to walk around in the neighborhoods for a bit. The Moleskine store – where I am LOVING yellow! Fiore’s pizza – 165 Bleecker Street. Best slices we’ve found in the last three years. Lombardi’s? Eh. Sal’s? Get the hell on with your flat pepperoni. I’m telling you. Fiore’s. They even had that grandma.
New York Public Library
Beautiful museum-like space, with a gift shop and a small cafe, but I swear to God, we did not see one book the whole 30 minutes or so we walked around exploring. I don’t get it. We did see one giant door that was chained up. I wish I took a photo. It must be where all the New York liberals hid the books that offended them. The experience actually really pissed me off. Because I love libraries, and this my friend, was not a library. It was a commercial monstrosity. Quite frankly, it was a bullshit library, and 5th Avenue is just awful smell-wise and crowd-wise. It’s like being shuffled and beaten in a bad dream, all with the constant stench of human excrement and urine forever stuck in your nostrils. I fully intend to NEVER darken the streets of 5th Avenue again. I’ve never smelled anything like it.
Brooklyn Heights / Brooklyn Bridge Park / Cobble Hill
This was actually the highlight of Labor Day to me, walking through this neighborhood. I wish I took pictures of the views from Brooklyn, looking at both bridges, and from the park in Brooklyn Heights, looking over towards Manhattan. I highly recommend that if you have never ventured over to Brooklyn, you need to do it ASAP for a beautiful neighborhood walk. Really picturesque and almost quaint, even. And, there were no stinky smells in Brooklyn. Zero, none, not one.
At the corner of Henry and Amity Streets in Cobble Hill, a building caught my attention. I looked up and saw the sign:
The abandoned Polhemus Memorial Clinic in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Imagine that, an abandoned hospital catching my attention.
As always, our analog version of our travels is kept in our “Play” Journal, by Stealth Journals. “Play” is an indexed book journal that should be used to record all of your good times!
Montana – Beautiful. Livingston, Bozeman, Emigrant, Big Sky. We will see you again soon.
Yellowstone: Apparently, where the dumbest people in the world congregate, to elbow each other while fighting over the opportunity to photograph buffalo alongside the road. It concerned me greatly that we found our way among them. 35 mph for 3 hours. Can we please have this day refunded to our life bank?
Jackson, WY – Grand Tetons and the Snake River. Taggart Lake secluded hike. Beautiful patio dining at Signal Mountain Lodge.
Idaho Falls – a dignified standoffishness. Steak bites with gorgonzola sauce. Greenbelt river walk.
Salt Lake City – the Mormons seem to be doing very well with their cult out here. Butternut squash on a patio. Ruth’s Diner.
We keep analog versions of our travels inside our “Play” Journal by Stealth Journals. “Play” is an indexed book journal that should be used to record all of your good times!
A pretty little historic corner of Governor’s Harbor, Eleuthera.
St. Patrick’s Church, their Prayer Garden, and Cemetery:
Haynes Library, 1897:
The Journey Continues. I like it.
Our travels are also record in our “Play” Journal by Stealth Journals. “Play” is an indexed book journal from Stealth Journals that should be used to record all of your good times!
“Juwan said he thinks he closed the portal, and now I’ve got to go sleep in there.” — Marcus
Many years ago, Sam Queen and I conducted a mini-investigation at The Fitzpatrick Hotel in Washington, Georgia. I remember investigating the ballroom late at night, and although we did not believe the investigation turned up any “evidence,” we were both impressed by the beauty and the feel of the old hotel, as well as the history of the restoration as evidenced in the book that was shared at the registration desk.
The Fitzpatrick Hotel, and the small town of Washington, Georgia, itself, is a special place, and I remember the hotel and town fondly. It’s funny, because I couldn’t even tell you what drew me to the place. A feeling, I guess. A rogue hunch. I needed to get into that tower room, and Sam and I needed local places to practice before ultimately researching and traveling for the book we worked on in 2012 (Haunted Asylums, Prisons, and Sanatoriums – released in 2013 by Llewellyn Worldwide).
The whole town is full of history, and old buildings that beg to be investigated.
It pleased me to watch this new paranormal team feature and investigate The Fitzpatrick Hotel. It was educational to learn more of the history of the land and building, because we did not know any of this when we visited. For instance, these interesting little points from the show:
I thought the show was hilarious! Seeing the guys reluctantly participate in some of the paranormal investigations was a refreshing take on the typical “[Insert mysterious loud noise] Did you hear that?” schtick that unfortunately gets overplayed a bit for the paranormal television genre. The Bloody Mary experiment is something that I have never done, and never will do. I can’t look at myself in the mirror for that long of a time in the dark. It’s just not right.
The guys had flashlights lighting up seemingly in response to questions (you know I love that method!) and batteries were drained in combination with an EVP of a mysterious breath. I thought the Spirit Circle experiment that they conducted in the ballroom was interesting, with the alphabet represented on pieces of paper. It was as though they were participating in a life-size human Ouija Board. Marcus declined to participate in that one, because he didn’t want to “open anything up.”
Strangely, despite voicing that opinion, Marcus was the one who was woken up in the middle of the night because something touched him. He was not having it at all, and woke his team up. It was time to go. Active dreaming, hallucination, or real unexplainable touch? Who can say.
They had a lot of interesting things happen to them that they captured on camera, and they were entertaining to watch. My takeaway from the show? Me, slamming my fist in the mattress while I watched, exclaiming: “Man, I knew that place was haunted!”
If you ask me, that whole town is haunted. Particularly, that white columned Vampire House that smells old. Trust me on that one.
Who knew such a beautiful bike trail exists about an hour outside of Savannah?! Well, we do now.
Inside the old barn:
The ruins of the Old Pickle Factory:
End of the line:
As always, we log our adventures inside our “Play” Journal, by Stealth Journals. “Play,” is an indexed book journal by Stealth Journals that should be used to record all of your good times.
Well, no one told Maine that it was summer, because I just left and it was about 60 degrees up there. Refreshing, though! And it smells sweet. You can use your pretty words to trick the tourists into seeing Savannah in the summer, but we all know what it is if we are being honest with ourselves: stinky, sweltering, and buggy. Yeah, I said it. But I digress.
Also, even though Tybee Island and Savannah are obviously right on THE WATER, our seafood has never tasted as good as the lobster roll that came out of this shack here.
Kennebunkport is a touristy little spot with plenty of shops/restaurants/galleries, and I imagine it gets very crowded, very fast. We killed a few hours there when the beach got too cold. Check out the locks of love bridge. I guess you two crazy kids are supposed to write your names on the lock, and then throw the key into the ocean. What a bunch of assholes.
Luckily, if you like to hunt ghosts at night in historic properties, and lounge on blue blood beaches by day, Kennebunkport may be just the spot to spend a long weekend. Don’t tell them I sent you, because some of these places are straight up lips sealed about their ghosties. Pictured below is the Tides by the Sea, which sits on Goose Rocks Beach. The cat is officially out of the bag on this one, since Frances Kermeen wrote about her stay in 2002’s “Ghostly Encounters.” At the time, the building was known/operated as the Tides Inn-by-the-Sea.
Emma, the former owner of the 1899 hotel (known back then as The New Belvidere), is said to haunt the building, particularly Room 25. In her time, she hosted such guests as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Theodore Roosevelt. According to Kermeen’s interview with the former owners, Emma notoriously had a habit of causing trouble for ill-tempered men who checked into “her” Room (No. 25).
The Captain Lord Mansion has claims associated with it that involve a female apparition walking through the Lincoln bedroom.
The Breakwater Inn is situated right off the river (flowing from the ocean) into the port. The hotel is in an interesting position to watch for ghost ships.
The Captain Fairfield Inn is one that may have a spirit or two, but as of 2013, the owners were NOT open to exploring or encouraging that line of questioning. Still, reports persist. I have several books in my library that cover this house. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
As always, our travels are kept in an analog version as well. We use “Play,” by Stealth Journals. Play is an indexed book journal that should be used to record all of your good times!
The Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville, SC, is a multi-use trail that is about 21 miles long. Bob and I saw it via bicycle. Our preference was to start at Travelers Rest, pass Furman University, and end at Falls Reedy Park and the Clemson campus. Then, pedal uphill to Main Street and find a cup of coffee before turning back around.
For the paranormally inclined, you may want to stay at the Westin Poinsett, which has been written about in Jason Profit’s “Haunted Greenville,” and just also happens to be centrally located, with easy trail access so you can park onsite and ride to the trail.
As always, we log our adventures inside our “Play” Journal, by Stealth Journals. “Play,” is an indexed book journal by Stealth Journals that should be used to record all of your good times.
Additional Reading:
http://www.traillink.com/trail/greenville-health-system-swamp-rabbit-trail.aspx
http://greenvilleghost.com/tag/westin-poinsett/
http://southernspiritguide.blogspot.com/2012/01/carolina-cornucopia-haunt-brief.html
Jamie Davis Writes 