Category Archives: Road Trip

Spring Break Road Trip: Cassadaga, Florida

30 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in Camps, Cemeteries, Famous Locations, Florida Mysteries, Hauntings, Historic Places, Road Trip, Roadside Attractions, Uncategorized

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Spring Break Road Trip: Cassadaga, Florida

Spring Break is in full swing, and there are some off-the-beaten-path places worth exploring. One of them is Cassadaga, Florida. Cassadaga is 40 minutes north of Orlando, off I-4 or an hour and ½ southeast of Ocala. Here are 10 things to know before you go:

Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp

  1. Cassadaga is named after Cassadaga Lake outside Lily Dale, New York, sister town to Cassadaga, New York and Florida. Lily Dale is the oldest Spiritualist community in America. It was incorporated in 1879 as Cassadaga Lake Free Association but was ultimately renamed Lily Dale Assembly in 1906.
  2. George P. Colby (January 6, 1848-July 27, 1933), a trance medium, believed his Native American spirit guide “Seneca” led him to Volusia County, Florida in search of land to establish a Spiritualist community. George was homesteaded 145 acres in the area and donated 55 of those acres to create Cassadaga. He died at the age of 86 and is buried in the Lake Helen Cemetery.

Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Early Photo

  1. Cassadaga is a Native American word that means “water beneath the rocks.”
  2. Wintering psychics and mediums from the north sought a warm location to winter. The unincorporated town was established on December 18, 1894 as the Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Meeting Association.
  3. Cassadaga is known as the “Psychic Center of the South.” Less than 70 people reside in Cassadaga. All are psychics and mediums.
  4. The Cassadaga Hotel, the only hotel in town, was originally owned by the camp but was lost in foreclosure. It is privately owned. The original building burned down on Christmas Day 1926 but was rebuilt within 2 years.
  5. More than 15,000 people visit Cassadaga per year. There are 7 parks and meditation areas in the camp. Visitors can walk the town, book appointments with psychics, tour 2 historical buildings, shop the bookstore, or sip coffee at the hotel.
  6. Singer/songwriter Tom Petty (1950-2017) wrote the song “Casa Dega” about the town.
  7. Fiction writer and essayist Carl Hiaasen based the fictional town Grange in Lucky You on Cassadaga. In the novel, Grange is a strange town where people experience a lot of religious miracles. The main character JoLayne, and African-American woman who wins ½ of a Florida Lottery jackpot, resides in Grange.

CarlHiaasen

  1. If you visit, stop in the Lake Helen Cemetery, situated between Cassadaga and Lake Helen. In the cemetery in a family plot, there is a brick bench, a mourning bench. An urban legend has started that this is a “Devil’s Chair” whereby the Devil arrives when someone sits on the bench. Another tale states that if a can of beer is left, it will be empty in the morning. Let me know what happens.

DevilsChair2

Happy Travels!

Why Hospitals Are Haunted

28 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Abandoned America, Famous Locations, Hospitals, Road Trip, Uncategorized

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Hawkinsville State Hospital

Hawkinsville State Hospital, Georgia Archives.

Why Hospitals Are Haunted

Ghosts haunt hospitals. Paranormal teams can investigate a lot of shuttered hospitals; however, very few have access to those that are open. Unlike cemeteries where the dead don’t have a strong connection, hospitals across the nation are the perfect locations for residual hauntings.

Prior to 1885, sick people were cared for at home by their family. According to Wendy Cage, author of Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine, early American hospitals “provided lodging for the homeless, the poor, and travelers.” While some cities operated hospitals, a large number were established by religious organizations, specifically Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish organizations. Volunteer chaplains in many of these hospitals visited nearly every patient who died while admitted. Religious beliefs, prayer, and spirituality played a large role in the hospital ministry, even in an unofficial capacity. God and the afterlife may have been contemplated.

The pre-1920 hospital was where people went to die, not heal. These facilities were the place of last resort; staff were compassionate and helped ease death. For some, it was the last positive human experience; therefore, it would make sense that some dead would remain.

Modern US hospitals emerged after the Civil War. By 1920, people went to the hospital to be cured—not die. However, those who died in these hospitals may still have had a connection to the better service they received and may linger long after death.

TauntonTaunton State Hospital, Taunton, Mass.

Not all spirits who haunt hospitals are malevolent. In fact, there are numerous stories of helpful spirits or friendly spirits in closed hospitals. Nurses are commonly identified as haunting hospitals. Patients, too, linger. Few spirits are truly evil. Of these evil spirits, many may have not died at the hospital but are drawn there. However, abandoned asylums may be a different story.

Most of the facilities featured on Top Haunted Hospital lists were actually asylums. Further, a lot of these asylums and sanatoriums were horrible places. Cruelty prevailed. Understandably, these locations have a lot of negative energy and evil spirits attached. These abandoned facilities are dangerous. Anyone contemplating investigating an asylum or sanatorium should protect herself in body and mind. Say your prayers. Call on your spirit guides for protection. And when leaving, make sure that nothing or no one follows you home.

Trans-AllaghenyTrans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, West Virginia

If you find yourself in a hospital, look for these identify factors to see if the hospital is haunted:

  1. Scrutinize clothing. Look to see if the clothing is of a different time period.
  2. Check to see if you’re hallucinating. Were you dreaming?
  3. Look at people to see if they appear whole. Spirits will be missing a limb or some other important feature.
  4. Notice changes in smells.
  5. Watch for changes in electricity.
  6. Pay attention to sounds.
  7. Summon the courage to ask the nurses if the hospital keeps a “Ghost Report.” The GR is a listing of ghost sightings and strange phenomena. Not all hospitals keep a log, but you may get lucky.

Crisis and death happen at hospitals. Staff are employed over long periods of time and are attached to hospitals. Paranormal teams should head out to rural hospitals that have been closed and abandoned to investigate. These facilities present an opportunity to test new equipment, practice techniques, and discover new stories. Hit me up; I may tag along!

GAStateLunaticAsylum

5 Things I Learned While Binging Supernatural

18 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by in Road Trip, TV Reviews, Uncategorized

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5 Things I Learned While Binging Supernatural

The hit TV show Supernatural is heading into the home stretch. After 13 successful seasons, the show will end with a partial Season 14, on its 300th episode. It secured the title of longest running science fiction TV show in television history seasons ago. Further, its fan base seems strong and steady. According to the Executive Producer Robert Singer, the time just felt right. While binging the show, I learned 5 important things.

  1. Motels are better on TV. Sam and Dean Winchester stay at some kitsch motels. The demon hunting brothers have one rule when separated: Locate the first motel listed in the Yellow Pages and check in. Some of the motels would rival the best boutique hotels which charge substantially more. There are lots of Pinterest pages showcasing the motels and the insanely clever décor.

ManyMotelRooms

  1. Dean’s beloved 1967 Chevy Impala is too tinny sounding for me. I think I would slide right off the polished leather and onto the floor, too—not to mention it is entirely too clean for me. The Impala was not the initial choice in for the pilot episode; however, the writer reconsidered after learning that the Impala’s trunk was large enough to hold a body. The show has 9 cars. The predominantly used one is called the “Hero 1 Impala.” BTW, there have been 2 license plates. The first one was a Kansas tag “KAZ 2Y5.” It was replaced with an Ohio tag, “CNK 80Q3,” on the 20th episode of Season 2.

Impala

  1. I cannot visit the locations on an epic cross-country American road trip. The series is filmed predominantly in Vancouver, BC. However, I will be able to visit “The Rosemary” 1915 Tudor Revival house in the near future. The house served as the “Pierpont Inn” in the “Playthings” episode. The massive home (all 16,000 square feet) fell into disrepair and sold in 2013 for over $12 million Canadian dollars. The new owner, Mingfei Zhao, retired to Vancouver for the clean air. He has invested over $6 million in rehabbing the home. Once completed, the home will be open for fundraisers to aid the rehabilitation of other historic properties.

TudorRevival

  1. The show felt a little too X-Files-ish. Kim Manners, producer and director, worked on another popular science fiction TV show: The X-Files. He came to the production and directed 17 episodes before dying in 2009 from lung cancer.

X-Files crossover

 

  1. Who doesn’t love the song “Carry on Wayward Son” (1976)? Apparently, Netflix. The series is able to broadcast the Kansas anthem (the band and not the state) when the show airs on the CW; however, due to licensing, the song is not included on the streaming episodes on Netflix. But I can dig it. There are plenty of other groovy songs in the episodes.

WaywardSOn

Salvation for Fairyland

16 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by in Abandoned America, Curiosities, Famous Locations, Florida Mysteries, Road Trip, Roadside Attractions, Uncategorized

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Salvation for Fairyland

“You can’t put a price on history.”

Richard Gonzmart

Seemingly simplistic storybook-themed amusement parks popped up in the mid to late 50s. They were travel destinations for families with children. Over the years, decreased attendance and changing interests drove parks to update exhibits. Modernization was costly; therefore, many parks closed facilities and removed the exhibits. Few remain today. Some of these historically significant relics have been destroyed, thrown out, or lost. Fairyland, located in Tampa, Florida, seemed destined to the same fate; however, an auction saved the exhibits for future preservation. Preservation of these old amusement parks is vital to our American history.

Lowry-Park-Brochure-small4

Built in 1957 with private funds, Tampa’s Fairyland Park and Zoo was situated on 15 acres and free. Advertising referred to the attraction as a “storybook park for children”; however, people of all ages enjoyed the various fable-themed life-size figures and props. The City of Tampa shuttered Fairyland in 1996. All of the items were placed in an outdoor storage lot and ultimately forgotten. Twenty years later, the deteriorated figures were discovered and scheduled to thrown out. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn referred to them a “junk pile,” yet refused to donate them to a preservation group. After public outcry, the city decided to auction them off. The heated auction grossed the city $28,300.

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Save Fairyland! was created to solicit donations to purchase the lots and to raise awareness. They kept Facebook group members abreast of the auction. Although two mystery bidders attempted to thwart the bids and pushed winning bids to higher than expected prices, local businessman Gonzmart won 11 out of the 12 lots. The final price shocked members who were thrilled with a figurative Knight in Shining Armor defeating the outside bidders. The group continues to post restoration pictures along with Fairyland-related endeavors. To follow the restoration process, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/savefairyland/.

The auction serves as an important lesson and strategy for other groups hoping to preserve the past. Perseverance pays off.

 

For more information view https://www.tampapix.com/zoo_old.htm. It is an excellent resource providing historical information, as well as loads of pictures.

 

Mothman Was a … Green Beret?

17 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by in Debunking the Debunked, Famous Locations, Mothman, Paranormal, Road Trip, Uncategorized

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Mothman Was a … Green Beret?

The February 2014 issue of Soldiers of Fortune ran an incredibly thin article claiming that Mothman was a Green Beret. Titled “UFO Mystery Solved “Mothmen” Were Actually Green Berets,” author Harold Hutchison theorized that the 7-foot, red-eyed creature being spotted around Point Pleasant, West Virginia from November 15, 1966-December 15, 1967 was a specially trained US Army soldier wearing temporary glow-in-the-dark reflective paint practicing HALO (high-altitude, low-opening) parachute maneuvers. Unfortunately, the article lacked any evidence supporting his claim.

First, he misrepresented the second reported sighting. Hutchison wrote that it was “a couple” seeking “an intimate moment” who spotted the creature. However, nearly every writing on the topic credits Steve and Mary Mallette and Roger and Linda Scarberry as the first ones to report an encounter with Mothman. It wasn’t one couple; it was two couples who were together in a car. In addition, the author conveniently left out the part about the couples being chased at 100 M.P.H. By incompletely discussing the sighting, he reduced his credibility in his claim.

Hutchison innocuously wrote that the first reported sighting was made by 5 men digging a grave. This is troublesome. According to the Williamson Daily News, Kenneth Duncan, one of the men digging the grave, recalled seeing a “brown man … gliding through the trees … [with] eyes like red reflectors.” Duncan was describing one man—not several. Further, men parachuting down do not cut through trees. The parachute would restrict this. Moreover, reflective paint differs from glowing red eyes. All of the witness accounts described red eyes—not glowing war paint.

vietnam

Hutchison based his theory on military training here in the US to assist troops abroad in Vietnam. Unfortunately, he didn’t name one unit training in West Virginia. Nor did he supply any evidence that HALO training took place for 13 months around Point Pleasant and then abruptly stopped. Instead, he included a picture from the Utah National Guard completing “[s]imilar jumps.” This isn’t evidence.

He ended the short article reassuring his readers that the Department of Defense remained silent to protect the HALO program but now it was okay to openly discuss and to reveal the “secret.” This argument is flawed. It assumes that the HALO jumps only occurred at night, when in fact jumps also occur during daylight hours. If the Green Berets were in West Virginia practicing HALO jumps, more people, especially the newspaper reporters, would have reported it.

mothman-statue

While Hutchison’s theory is interesting and places a patriotic spin on Mothman, a truly Americana urban legend, it doesn’t make sense. So, no, Mothman was not a wayward Green Beret.

 

 

Mothman Turned 50: Let’s Celecbrate

26 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by in Animals, Conferences, Curiosities, Disasters, Famous Locations, In the News, Paranormal, Road Trip, Special Events, Ufology, UFOs, Uncategorized, Urban Legends

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Mothman Turned 50: Let’s Celebrate

Sightings of the red-eyed, 7 foot tall half man/half flying creature turned 50 last November. Although “Mothman,” as he was called, only appeared in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, from November 1966-December 15, 1967, he still captures the imaginations of cryptozoologists, paranormal researchers, and general urban legend fans. He has spawned an entire industry in the small town. There’s a Mothman Museum; TNT Tours to see McClintic Wildlife Management Area, where the first documented sighting occurred; evening U.F.O. sky watches; and the popular Mothman Festival. This year the festival will celebrate the 50th anniversary.

Mothman descended into the quite town of Point Pleasant on November 15, 1966. Two couples were taking a cousin out to the abandoned TNT factory for some night hiking. Upon arrival at the chain-linked fence, the five young adults reported encountering a 7’ feathery creature with large wings (possibly 15 feet wide). They quickly returned to the car and sped off into town. This begins the sightings made more popular by John A. Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies book published in 1975.

The first “Congress,” outdated word for festival, began over Labor Weekend in 1968 when Saucer News editor, Gray Barker, organized a small event. Forty-six people attended and participated in touring the Silver Bridge disaster, learning about Shawnee leader Cornstalk who was murdered in the area in 1777, and a “saucer watch,” whereby people stared up into the clear evening sky searching for U.F.O.s. Apparently, the Congress was a success. Renamed the Mothman Festival, the current event has been running for 16 years.

This year the event returns to downtown Point Pleasant, West Virginia, on September 16-17, 2017. Vendors, live music, food services, and a 5K run are planned. Admission to the Main Street events is free; however, nominal fees will be charged for the TNT tours and other additional events. According to the Official Mothman Festival Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/mothmanfestival/, 1,505 people are interested in attending and nearly 500 confirmed. Quite an uptick from the original 46.

Mothman is truly Americana. Other similar sightings have been reported, but none have the Appalachian appeal that Mothman brings to West Virginia. Definitely worth a visit.

For more information, visit: http://mothmanfestival.com/

Do You Ancestry? You May Have Paranormal Connections

20 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by in Abandoned America, Ancestry, Coal Mines, Ghost Towns, Historic Places, Road Trip, Uncategorized

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Do You Ancestry? You May Have Paranormal Connections

The NPR episode detailed the StoryCorps episode of Bill Jones, a homosexual man who longed to become a father. The late sixties were a challenging time for adopting out older children, particularly in California. In 1969, Bill adopted Aaron, a hard-to-place boy who was born to a heroin addict. Bill retold the story to his friend, Stu Maddux, which was recorded for the non-profit StoryCorps. Its “mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.” Listening to Bill’s story as he discussed how Aaron was diagnosed as schizophrenic and dying from a heroin overdose at age 30 was heartbreaking. Bill has no regrets only enduring love for his son. His story resonates as people discover their family lineage and pen the stories of their relatives. Genealogy is a popular hobby and well worth beginning.

storycorps

Outlining family trees has always been popular. Past generations kept records of family member milestones and past those memories down, usually through a family Bible. Today, it’s important to know your family history, most notable for medical reasons. People who know their family medical histories are better equipped to prevent illnesses. In addition, they are able to incorporate preventative measures into their lifestyles. However, not all diseases are hereditary.

Genealogy also provides a historical prospective by showing what events helped shape the person one becomes. It also links people to long-distance relatives one would never know or meet.

There comes a point when the genealogist hits a dead end. Or a roadblock. To help get over the obstacle, Ancestry.com started matching people’s DNA. By submitting saliva, one can learn the composition of her ancestry while connecting to other relatives. The DNA test makes a great gift. I purchased one for my mom for her birthday. Her DNA composition was nearly the same as she was told growing up: Irish, British, and Western European. I haven’t had much difficulty in her line. I’ve been able to trace it back to the 1700s. My father’s side, however, has been more problematic. Therefore, I just sent off my saliva to see my DNA matches. Fingers crossed I get some matches. If not, I’ll turn back to my mom’s side and keep updating my forms.

For me, genealogy is solving a mystery. I become a private detective sifting through clues and historic documents to assemble my lineage. I love it. I spend a lot of time researching my family lines. I go back through adding more details to the family information sheets I created. I’ve found incredibly fascinating facts. For instance, I have a cousin who died on the RMS Titanic. She was trying to get back to the United States to see her dying mother. She wasn’t even supposed to be on that ship, but her itinerary changed. Tragic story. One I’ve written down for my daughter to pass down to her children.

minersnuttall

One day, I’ll go through reading census forms writing down old home addresses. Then I’ll Google the addresses to see if they still exist. Some do; most don’t. Towns evolved into cities; homes torn down for progress. A few years ago I wrote down townships. My grandfather on my father’s mother’s side was a farmer in West Virginia. His 1920 Federal Census report shows he lived near Nuttall, West Virginia. I jotted down a note about how the town was also called Nuttallburg and is now a ghost town owned by the Department of the Interior. Recently, I was reviewing his record adding more information when I read my notation. I was curious. So I did an Internet search. Turns out Nuttall is a pretty big deal in the paranormal world, and I’ve got direct descendants who lived and worked there! Outstanding. This summer I’m heading up to West Virginia to visit the area. Follow my blog as I add pictures and share my experience hiking through the old coal mining town.