Halloween I: Spooky Travel

Haunted House

Destination: Another Dimension

Books: Galore

Only 9 days to Hallowe’en. Just time to book a spooky trip.

I decided to poke around the Web and see if I could find some travel guide books for ghostly travel. Fear not–or rather Fear A Lot– there are ghosts wherever you are traveling and there are more writers writing about ghosts than there are ghosts to write about.

I just love this web site where you can find all the scary places to travel: A Ghost in My Suitcase.

The web site’s title is also the title of a book, A Ghost in My Suitcase: A Guide to Haunted Travel in America which it promotes, but the site generously catalogs dozens of other books by state and under a miscellaneous category. Each has a link to a place where you can buy the book.

It seems there is no category of travel without its ghosts–lighthouses, restaurants, jails and railroads. I was surprised by some, like Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America’s National Parks. Written by a former park ranger, it provides fright factor ratings:

• 4 icons = “Gave me nightmares, and I’d rather not discuss them.”
• 3 icons = “I get chills just thinking about it.”
• 2 icons = “Very disturbing, but clowns are scarier.”
• 1 icon = “Makes 7-year-olds giggle.”

And if you wanted to buy an inclusive guide, would you choose The International Directory of Haunted Places, which I found in an About.com article? Or would you choose the brand new Encyclopedia of Haunted Places: Ghostly Locales from Around the World, which I found reviewed at Flyaway Cafe?

What’s your favorite Haunted Travel Experience? And tune in on October 29 to hear about my favorite Ghostly Travel Experience. I definitely give it 3 icons.

Tags: ghost, ghosts, Halloween, haunted house, spooky, Travel