My Vacation Pick of the Year: A Haunted Cruise

Haunt Jaunts, run by the fabulous Courtney Mroch, has been one of my favorite blogs since I started writing about ghosts.  Her blog and her writing has inspired me from the beginning.  Not only is she an amazing writer, but she is an interesting and charismatic person that I have been lucky enough to ghost hunt with, so when I found out that Courtney would be hosting a haunted cruise I was beyond thrilled.  If I can, I'll be taking this cruise into the paranormal.  This cruise through the Bermuda Triangle will feature haunted destinations and ghost hunting presentations.  It will be everything the paranormal enthusiast could ever possibly want.  Below you will find the information I gathered on the cruise from a press release:

Haunt Jaunts, Courtney's travel blog for restless spirits, is expanding its reach into the paranormal tourism industry. In addition to covering the best places to take a haunted vacation, it’s now offering a way to experience them, via a cruise into Bermuda Triangle territory during Halloween week 2012.


“We’re really excited about our first ever group event,” Courtney Mroch, Director of Paranormal Tourism for Haunt Jaunts, says. “I love cruising and have long been wanting to branch out into group events. When Tracey Steslow from A Suite Cruise of Cruise Planners contacted me about doing a paranormal theme cruise, I was immediately on board with the idea. Pun intended.”

Mroch and Steslow researched cruises and decided Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas sailing out of Miami on October 29, 2012 was the one for them.

“It was pretty much a no-brainer,” Mroch says. “We’d be on a ship at Halloween. We’d be in the Bermuda Triangle on Halloween. That’s exactly the sort of thing Haunt Jaunts is all about. On top of it all, Key West, one of the cities that’s touted among the most haunted in the nation, was one of the ports. Even the prices were fantastic. It was the perfect cruise for us to offer.”

And that’s how the Haunt Jaunts Halloween in the Bermuda Triangle Cruise with special guest investigators Ghost Eyes Paranormal was born.

“I am excited to be a part of this,” Steve Vaughn, founder of Ghost Eyes Paranormal, says. “How can you say no to being in the Bermuda Triangle for Halloween? It is a true honor to have been asked to speak at this event. I look forward to meeting everyone and sharing what I know throughout the cruise. Halloween cannot get here fast enough.”

Mroch will be conducting a “Bermuda Triangle: Legends and Lore” presentation while aboard ship. Vaughn will be conducting a discussion about all things paranormal investigation, including techniques and equipment.
And as far as the prices Mroch mentioned? They really are reasonable. They start from $400.53 per person double occupancy, or $801.06 per cabin, for an inside cabin. That includes room, all onboard meals, as well as all onboard entertainment, Haunt Jaunts events, gratuities, taxes, and even a $25 per stateroom ($12.50 per person) onboard credit to spend however the cruiser wishes. (Photos, drinks, merchandise, etc.)

Ports of call part of the four-night roundtrip from Miami cruise include Nassau, Bahamas; Coco Cay, Bahamas (Royal Caribbean’s private island); and Key West, Florida. More information can be found on the Haunt Jaunts site, www.hauntjaunts.net, on the Halloween Cruise 2012 page, www.hauntjaunts.net/halloween-cruise-2012.

The Riverhaven Cabin

Most ghost stories are creepy. They hint at some unhappy soul lurking just beyond reality waiting to do us harm. The Riverhaven cabin is haunted, but the ghosts there seem pleasant and inviting.

Riverhaven is a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN. It is described by the reality company as pleasant and comfortable. This historic log home is an antique Chestnut log approx. 200 years old built in 1800. It has unique wormy Chestnut paneling inside. The cabin was constructed in the National Park and was moved in the 1930's to its current location in downtown Gatlinburg. The Realtors website shows many pretty pictures of the cabin and if you rent it, when you enter you'll be pleasantly surprised by its comfort and warmth.

Every cabin in Gatlinburg has a log or journal for visitors to share their experiences in. Typically, these logs are filled with stories of family vacations. Every page has the same bland pleasantries. It is as if they came from a script. Guests tell about their family, what they did, and the great time they had in the cabin. Riverhaven's journal is different. Each guest tells about flickering lights, moving objects, vanishing items, and odd noises. Not every resident there concludes the cabin is haunted, but every page indicated there is something odd about this pleasant cabin nestled by the river.

I only stayed at Riverhaven for three nights and for the most part it was quiet. I stayed with my family and we complained to each other about the lack of linens in the cabin. We searched it from top to bottom, pulling it apart in a futile quest for a table cloth or anything to cover the splintery, ancient dining table. Finally, on the first night we gave up and ate on our laps. We went to bed and dead bolted the door and locked the door with the sliding lock that even someone with a key couldn't open. In the morning, we awoke to find every table set with table cloths and silverware. The cabin was clean and pretty and we certainly hadn't left it that way when we went to sleep. We often laugh about this cabin as we flounder to explain our experiences there, but when I think of the strange journal there and the consistency of all the stories, I have to assume it was haunted by ghosts that liked us.

I’ve posted this ghost story before and interestingly  I was contacted by the new owners of this lovely little cabin to tell us more about it. They loved the blog and invited us to return to the cabin, which they have completely renovated and made even more lovely. Sadly, we couldn’t return to the cabin because it isn’t pet friendly, but it was nice to hear the cabin is being loved and is even nicer. I’m sure the ghosts are happy to see the improvements

Visiting The Haunted Ohio State Reformatory

The Ohio State Reformatory is one of the most haunted places I have ever traveled to. It is considered to be one of the most haunted places in the nation. Even as you walk up to this old building, the cold seeps out of it and chills you to the bone. Inside the castle like structure, it was so cold I had to put my coat on. Outside it was lovely. This cold seems to come from more than the old stone. It seems to drift from the very core of the building where haunting and terrible histories clog the structure with sorrow and ghosts.

The Ohio State Reformatory is a thing of rare beauty. In the states, structures of such epic beauty are as uncommon as snow in the South. The reformatory was designed by architect Levi Tucker Scofield. His work was visionary. He had designed insane asylums and orphanages and penitentiaries all with the belief that beauty could bring peace to lost souls and help heal them. The original reformatory was build on progressive ideals. The philosophy was that by separating young men from hardened criminal and giving them the opportunity to grow while in prison they could become better people and would be less likely to continue in a life of crime upon their release. This idea actually worked for a time. Recidivism rates for those leaving reformatory were amazingly low. Almost 90% of those leaving never committed another crime. Later figures show recidivism as close to 60% returning to a life of crime, but when the Reformatory was built in 1896 it was a shinning ideal and a monument to the beauty of progressive philosophy.

As with many such things I have written about in the United States, these lovely turn of the century progressive ideals eroded with time. Finances became more important than people and The Ohio State Reformatory slowly became nothing more than a prison. Horror stories drifted out of the prison and became part of its mortar. Guards were murdered in solitary. One story told of a man who was put in solitary confinement with another man and killed him and hid him under the bed. Men were accidentally pushed over the five story cell block guard rail to their deaths. Men hung themselves. In 1933, overcrowding created more and more problems in the reformatory by 1986 The Council of Human dignity was in the process of completing a lawsuit to shut the reformatory down because of the “brutalizing and inhumane” conditions found in the walls of the once idealic reformatory.

I can’t even begin to describe all the hauntings and horrors that have been seen in the Ohio State Reformatory here. I was in the reformatory for a brief period of time and I could feel the history seeping out of the walls. Those that work in the reformatory embrace its history and believe that the building is made more beautiful by it. It whispers secrets and calls to others to come explore them. The beauty and uniqueness of the structure has called to many since its closing. The Shawshank Redemption, Airforce One, Tango and Cash, and many other movies have been filmed there. People come from all over to tour the facility. Tours run daily. Famous ghost hunting teams from all the big televisions shows have locked themselves in the reformatory to see its ghosts and they are not disappointed. The ghosts in the reformatory are thick.

My guide said that paranormal occurrences are common in the reformatory in almost ever section of the structure. Objects fly about on their own. Doors open and close and lights flickers. Strange shadows creep up on you from quiet corners. The stories from the reformatory are numerous. A Guard named Frank Hanger was injured and later died during an escape attempt from solitary. It is said that his ghost and the ghosts of those hung for his murder still linger in solitary. Clear EVPs from this section of the prison have captured the voices of all these men. The Warden’s quarters where the warden and his family used to live is said to be haunted by the ghost of a warden and his wife who were both mortally injured in the warden’s quarters. One employee described seeing four phantoms walk straight towards her and then vanish in the warden‘s quarters. Another saw an orb moving in the shadows in the warden’s quarters. Full body apparitions have been seen in the administration wing, the wardens quarters, and the east cell block.. People have described being punched, pushed and hit. The list goes on and on. There are so many ghost stories that Sherri Brake was able to fill an entire book with stories just from The Ohio State Reformatory. I won’t try to tell them all here, but I will say that if you are ever in Ohio the reformatory is worth the visit. Its ghostly beauty will stay with me for a long time and its ghosts have made believers out of the most hardened skeptics.

The Shawshank Trail

It has been a very long day and I won't say too much tonight about the many stories I've collected on my trip this week, but I do want to share a little of how much I've enjoyed my day.  I began my exploration of Mansfield, Ohio today with a day of touring The Shawshank Trail.   The Shawshank Trail is a tour of all the places that were used in the filming of the movie, The Shawshank Redemption.  The Shawshank Redemption, based on the novel by Stephen King, is the story of one man's overwhelming strength of spirit in the face of almost insurmountable odds.  The main character, Andy, is falsely imprisoned, tortured and raped in prison, and yet still finds a way to carry on and escape.   The movie is shot mostly in the breathtaking Ohio Reformatory.    The Reformatory is hauntingly beautiful and just haunted.   After touring the reformatory today,  I was left wanting more.  They do offer all night ghost hunting trips and ghost tours of this amazing facility and I think that it would be worth an extra trip later to participate in one of these activities.  There were many corners of the reformatory that our little group missed and several ghost stories I didn't catch in the rush to see more.   Yet, just being in the reformatory carried a sense of history and mystery so deep it pulled me in and left me longing for more study.  
After the reformatory, The Shawshank Trail took us to many other locations.  We went to Pugh cabin where Andy dreamt of killing his wife.  We saw the tree where Red found his salvation and enough money to carry him away from his life.   We had a lovely meal at an old Carriage house on Malabar Farm, a location famous for its history and ghosts.  We even went to the haunted and beautiful Renaissance Theater where the premier for Shawshank Redemption was.  

Although I haven't completed my tour of Mansfield or The Shawshank Trail, I have to say that Mansfield is a lovely, little town for those who love ghost stories and Stephen King.  It is also a great vacation for people looking for haunting locations that are just off the beaten path.   There is a quiet in the autumn leaves here that calls for further exploration and helps you understand why this small town has been visited by so many ghost hunters and used for so many movies.   Mansfield has many hauntings in its quiet corners and holds a beauty that the larger, more touristy cities lack.  Of course, I always forget something when I travel, and this trip I forgot my camera cord so I can't post any photographs of my trip until tomorrow, but I think when I do the pictures will say a thousand words.