Macabre Traveler

In this episode, we explore historic Deadwood and some of the peeps who have lived and died — and lived on — in this Wild West town. Made famous during the Gold Rush, this settlement became a city that “played by its own rules,” which means no rules. An entire city block was occupied by nothing but brothels, and prostitution was legal until the 1980s.

If you lived and/or died in Deadwood, you had to have a cool nickname. We discuss Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, and Potato Creek Johnny, and the resting place for most of them: Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Deadwood is a cool place to visit today, so check out our episode and, for patrons, the forthcoming snack and beverage pairing and travel itinerary!

This is our last episode of Season 1. We’re going on SUMMER BREAK, so we’ll catch you in the fall when LEAF FALL DOWN.

Welcome to the Bermuda Triangle and to allergy season! Jen and Kristin debate what the best flavor cold and flu medication is, whether colors are flavors, and how we survived to adulthood as children of the late 80s and early 90s.

There are some things it seems we have inherent knowledge of: Quicksand, who the villain in Scooby-Doo would be, and the Bermuda Triangle are the top three. Maybe the knowledge was implanted there by the ancient Atlanteans or aliens, or maybe it was our recent COVID-19 vaccines, but it seems like the Bermuda Triangle has always been part of our brains.

We review some of the weird disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle, as well as the most popular theories that apparently cause them. Sit back and enjoy, unless you’re in the Bermuda Triangle, in which case, KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU.

Jen and Kristin hang a hard right and head up to Michigan’s Mackinac Island, home of turtles, a thriving fudge business, and GHOSTS. Like everywhere else in the Americas, it was home to Native Americans long before white people came and messed everything up. In fact, it is said to be home to the great spirit, Gitche Manitou, and the first land that appeared after the great flood receded.

The only state highway on the island is a loop (because it’s an ISLAND, BABE), and the island doesn’t allow cars except for emergency vehicles. Tourists are sometimes referred to as “fudgies” and Mackinac Island fudge is said to be amazing (Jen confirms). You have to get there by seaplane, ferry, or a highway ICE BRIDGE made of Christmas trees during the winter, which is rad.

The island is the site of many hauntings, including at a forced reeducation school for Native American and Meite children. One of the child ghosts is nicknamed “Lucy” and is said to follow people around, especially at Crow’s Nest Trail. You can sleep in the Grand Hotel...on top of a Native American burial ground. Or chill with a black mass who might knock you out… for a few days.

Or maybe just buy some fudge and get the fuck out.

PS, check out Jen’s books here and here!

Hey everybody! Kristin normally does the show notes but alas I am adrift without her, so here's my shot:

In this episode, we're heading to Hoia Forest, a haunted forest in Romania with a gnarly clearing and a portal to the OTHER SIDE. Please also enjoy tangents about math and (of course) Outlander.

Sources:

Frights and sights in Transylvania: exploring haunted Hoia Baciu - from the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/oct/29/transylvania-hoia-baciu-haunted-forest-cluj-napoca-romania-culture

HOIA BACIU: INSIDE THE CREEPIEST FOREST IN TRANSYLVANIA - from the independent

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/hoia-baciu-transylvania-haunted-trees-ufo-ghosts-how-visit-camping-alex-surducan-marius-a8023136.html

Meet Hoia Baciu Forest, The Bermuda Triangle Of Romania - from travel awaits

https://www.travelawaits.com/2478360/hoia-baciu-forest-bermuda-triangle-romania/

Stories from the Hoia-Baciu Forest - from one excellence tours

https://tourinromania.com/reasons-to-visit-romania/stories-from-the-hoia-baciu-forest/

Ghost adventures, season 12, episode 1

Join Jen and Kristin as they go to the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas — America’s Most Haunted Hotel. Kristin is super psyched about the weird medical stuff and wacky con men, and Jen is psyched because she actually went there — without wacky medical stuff or con men, sadly.

We talk about the history (of course, it was once a young woman’s school, because all haunted places must be), its current iteration as a fancy-ass hotel, the ghosts, and, of course, the bad doctor (who dressed like old-timey Elton John): Norman Baker.

Come join us as we venture to the Ozarks, and, if you’ve been to the Crescent Hotel, be sure to write in and tell us!

In this bonus episode, Jen and Kristin were thrilled to spend some time with Chris Semtner, the curator at the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Virginia. We talk about the museum's exhibits, Poe's work, and the lasting effects of his legacy on us today.

Check out the museum here: http://www.poemuseum.org/

And Chris Semtner's amazing work here: https://chrissemtner.com/

On this episode of Macabre Traveler, the travel, history, and dark humor podcast for the places that love to scare you, Jen and Kristin are visiting one of the most famous haunted places in the US: the Myrtles Plantation.

Maybe it’s the legends that surround the Myrtles. Maybe it’s the plain fact that so much human suffering occurred there. Maybe it’s just the fog and the mist hanging off the myrtle trees.

Maybe it’s Maybelline.

Whatever it is, join us as we talk about the history of the plantation, the legends of the ancient Native American burial ground, Chloe (the ghost captured on camera), Cleo (the voodoo practitioner), and more.

The spookiest thing about this episode is how weirdly bad our audio is. OUR BAD. It was Kristin’s birthday so we had to shimmy shimmy our recording situation.

Join us as we travel to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, home to a super cool and wacky house. A mystery house, if you will.

This house is chock full of windows, doors, staircases, HELLA stuff that was installed… Maybe to deter ghosts? To appease ghosts? For shits and gigs?

We’ll never know. But Sarah Winchester's biographer seems determined to ruin everyone's fun about it.

Hop on, strap in, and enjoy the wild ride through Sarah Winchester’s Mystery Mansion.

SOURCES:

Winchester Mystery House Website

https://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE from the San Francisco Travel Association

https://www.sftravel.com/article/everything-you-need-know-about-winchester-mystery-house

And the Winchester Mystery House listing on Atlas Obscura.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/winchester-mystery-house

Leap Castle might be the most haunted castle in the world, or at least in Ireland. It was built on an ancient Druid ceremonial site and fought over for centuries. Families fought within families to get control over this thing, including brothers killing brothers during CHURCH. Jeez, bros.

The castle is a Zillow ghost hunter’s dream, containing an oubliette, a banshee who is Jen's dream BFF, several ghosts, and an ancient entity. We recount several real-life accounts of encounters with the entity.

Are there gnomes in Kristin’s nose? Is Gaelic the most gorgeous, difficult language ever? How many accents can we attempt in one episode? Let’s find out.

SOURCES:

Leap Castle website

Ghost Adventures Leap Castle and Hell-Fire Club Season 2 Episode 8

Leap Castle is the Most Haunted Castle in Ireland and this story proves it by Mark Lyon in Irish Central

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/leap-castle-ghost-story

FOR TOUR INFORMATION CONTACT: Sean Ryan

Phone: +353868690547

Email: [email protected]

In the latest episode, Jen and Kristin head across the pond to jolly old England, pip pip, Cheerios, old chaps, to check out the Tower of London and all the fun and murder that happened in and around it.

We talk about the menagerie that used to be kept at the Tower; the many, many, too many people killed there; Guy Fawkes’ Gun Powder plot and how Jen can’t say “effigy;” the little Lost Princes; and much more. And, of course, ghosts: Does Anne Boleyn walk around carrying her head? Is there a giant bear waiting to scare the bejesus out of tourists?

Listen and find out.

SOURCES:

The Story of the Tower of London, from Historic Royal Palaces

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/the-story-of-the-tower-of-london/#gs.tsn3g6

Anne Boleyn, Beefeaters, Guy Fawkes and the princes: a brief history of the Tower of London, from History Extra

https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/anne-boleyn-guy-fawkes-and-the-princes-a-brief-history-of-the-tower-of-london/