New Art Exhibition Features ‘Banned Booty’ Confiscated From Airport Security Checkpoints

by Jessica Marati on

Ever wonder what happens to the tweezers, sewing scissors and Swiss Army Knives abandoned by hapless travelers at airport security? While most probably ended up in the landfill, some contraband nail clippers have received a second life through a new contemporary art exhibit from California artist Steve Maloney.

The exhibit, called “Banned Booty – Palm Springs Checkpoint,” opens October 18 at the Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, California. It will feature mixed-media installation pieces created from items, mostly sharp-ended, that were confiscated from carry-on luggage by the Travel Security Administration at the Palm Springs International Airport. The exhibit’s intention is “to ‘continue the conversation’ about present-day air travel,” particularly its relation to everyday lives and the city of Palm Springs, says a press release. According to Maloney:

American travel changed radically after September 11, 2001. The Banned Booty series captures a small aspect of this change. What used to be routine – checking into a flight and passing through the final security check point with no concern for the nail files or scissors stuffed in your bag – was transformed into a drawn-out endeavor.

The exhibit’s opening day will feature guests like Mayor Steve Pougnet, Palm Springs City Councilman Paul Lewin and Shannon Garcia-Hamilton, Federal Security Director for the TSA in Palm Springs, who will gather to participate in that conversation first-hand. For more information, visit BannedBooty.com.

US Hotels Offering Halloween Packages And Programming

by Jessica Festa on

Want to celebrate Halloween on the road this holiday? Stay at one of these U.S. hotels offering festive packages and programming.

The Sanctuary Hotel
New York, NY

Located in the heart of Manhattan, The Sanctuary Hotel is offering a “Haunted Hotel” package this Halloween. Along with luxurious accommodations, guests staying from October 29 to November 4 will receive:

  • A tour of the city in a hearse, highlighting everything from haunted buildings to where famous mobsters got whacked
  • A basket of sweet treats from Dylan’s Candy Bar in your room
  • A classic horror film screening in the hotel lobby on Halloween Eve, complete with popcorn and candy
  • Breakfast buffet each morning
  • Wi-Fi

Rates start at $554 per night based on double occupancy. Click here to book. Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa
Sonoma, California

The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa is home to many eerie legends. For example, in the evening when the fog rolls in from the bay, people have claimed to see a hauntingly beautiful woman named Victoria strolling the hallways of the inn in period dress, sipping a Sonoma Pinot. Her heritage can be traced back to the founding fathers of Sonoma Valley, and she is said to have celebrated her wedding and many anniversaries at the resort. Additionally, the property was once a sacred healing ground for Native Americans, and guests have commented on the otherworldly presence at the inn. To help celebrate their ghostly past, the property will feature ghoulish offerings during September. Halloween-themed cocktails like the “Bloody-Tini” and the “Twilight Cocktail,” pumpkin-inspired spa treatments, a spirited seasonal wine and dinner pairing and tours of nearby haunted sites, like the Sebastiani Theatre, The Blue Wing Inn and the former Sonoma Asylum will all be available.

Rates start at $229 per night based on double occupancy. Click here to book.

Hotel ZaZa Houston
Houston, Texas

At Hotel ZaZa Houston, guests can enjoy a full weekend of tricks and treats this Halloween. From now through October 27, guests can enjoy:

  • One night of luxury accommodations
  • Admission for two to Bone-Appetit Pumpkin Sculpting on October 27th from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. with Executive Chef Jonathan Jones
  • Two complimentary drinks from the Witches Cauldron
  • Admission for two to Monarch’s Dancing in Dark Halloween Party on October 27, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., featuring nationally acclaimed DJ Lady Bunny
  • Parking
  • Wi-Fi

Rates start at $299 per night based on double occupancy. Click here to book.

Congress Hall Hotel
Cape May, New Jersey

To help get you in the mood for Halloween, Congress Hall Hotel is offering a “Phantom Ball” package. From October 26 to 28, participating guests will receive:

  • Two nights of accommodation
  • A $20 breakfast voucher for two each morning at the Blue Pig Tavern
  • Two tickets to Congress Hall’s “Phantom Ball” on Friday night
  • Two tickets to a Cape May ghost tour on the Victorian streets of Cape May on Saturday

Rates start at $284.28 per night based on double occupancy. Call 888.944.1816 to book.

The Stanley Hotel
Estes Park, Colorado

If this hotel could scare horror writer Stephen King, it must be terrifying. The Stanley Hotel is said to be a hot spot for ghosts, especially in room 217, the very room that served as the inspiration for King’s novel, “The Shining.” The property has also been featured in several episodes of “Ghost Hunters.” As if this is not enough, the property is featuring themed events, including:

  • Accommodations
  • Two tickets to the Shining Ball (October 27)
  • The chance to go on a five-hour ghost hunt with on-staff paranormal investigators and learn how to use ghost hunting tools and test their new skills in some of the property’s most haunted locations that are inaccessible to the general public

Rates start at $299 per night based on double occupancy. Click here to book.

The Ranch at Rock Creek
Philipsburg, Montana

This holiday, The Ranch at Rock Creek is offering a festive “Halloween at the Ranch” package for guests staying between October 31 through November 3. The promotion includes:

  • Three nights of accommodation in a Western-style luxury lodge
  • Non-stop festive activities, like trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, a costume contest, bonfires with spooky ghost stories, a photo scavenger hunt, and trips to the Granite County Ghost Hall of Fame and famous Sweet Palace Candy Shop for Halloween treats
  • Free accommodations for children under 17
  • A fall-inspired pumpkin scrub treatment for two at their onsite Granite Spa

Guests can also take part in the ranch’s usual fare, like carriage rides, horseback riding, sporting clay shooting, archery, fly-fishing, hiking, mountain biking, bowling and more.

All-inclusive rates for this package start at $850 per person, per night (aside for children under 17). Rates include all activities, luxury lodge accommodations, gourmet dining, premium beverages, two pumpkin scrub spa treatments and airport transfers. Email welcome@theranchatrockcreek.com or call 406.859.6027 to book.

Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

At Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa there is fun to be had for kids and kids at heart throughout Halloween week with its “No Tricks Just Treats” package. From October 26 to November 3, guests will receive deluxe accommodations and a special trick-or-treating experience throughout the common rooms. Additionally, from October 27 to 28 and on the 31, themed activities will be held, including:

  • A Halloween obstacle course
  • Halloween mask/costume making
  • Themed arts & crafts
  • Traditional Halloween games
  • Themed cookie decorating
  • A family-friendly Halloween dive-in film on Halloween day

Rates start at $319 per night based on double occupancy. Click here to book.

Hershey Lodge
Hershey, Pennsylvania

Halloween is all about candy, so what better place to send it than the country’s chocolate hub, Hershey, Pennsylvania? The Hershey Lodge is offering a “Holiday in Hershey” package, which includes:

  • Deluxe accommodations
  • Breakfast with the Hershey’s product characters
  • One-day admission to Hersheypark in the Dark, their family-friendly Halloween alternative at Hersheypark
  • Admission to Hershey Gardens and The Hershey Story’s Museum Experience

There will also be Halloween-themed activities for kids, like a “Witches Brewed Children’s Tea” on Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. where children can come in costume to sample hot chocolate, orange and white chocolate teas and a variety of finger foods. The tea also includes pumpkin decorating, Halloween-themed storytelling and a kid-size apron. The cost is $40 for an adult and child, and $18 for each additional person.

The package is available Fridays and Saturdays from October 19 through November 3, with prices starting at $399 per person. Click here to book.

The White House Inn
Wilmington, Vermont

Ghosts and legends are a big part of Vermont’s culture, and have been for hundreds of years. To help celebrate the state’s heritage, The White House Inn will be hosting an eerie event on October 27. With the help of the inn’s own ghost, a baroness who haunts the halls, a séance and haunted tour will be held along with a three-course dinner. There will be two seatings, one at 7 p.m. and one at 9 p.m. The event will be led by a member of the New England Ghost Project, the area’s leading paranormal investigation team.

Rates start at $349 per night based on double occupancy. The dinner and séance event is $100. Click here to book.

Kalahari Resort
Sandusky, OH

If you’re looking to get wet this Halloween, Kalahari Resort boasts being home to the largest indoor waterpark in the country. Not only that, but this holiday, they’ll also be hosting a “Halloween Happenings” weekend from October 26 to 28. Festivities include Halloween coloring contests, arts and crafts, trick-or-treat bag designing, pumpkin painting at Safari Adventures, creepy cookie decorating, pumpkin bean bag toss, candy corn bingo, hula hoop competitions, costume parties, limbo competitions, Trick-or-Treating around the resort and more. With the package, guests will receive:

  • Admission to Kalahari’s indoor waterpark
  • Four black-light mini golf passes
  • Four Safari Adventures Animal Park passes

For a two-night package for up to four guests, prices range from $499.98 for a Hut Room to $579.98 for a Nomad Room or Lodge Suite. Click here to book.

Haunted Houses Back In St Louis To Kick Off Halloween Season

by Chris Owen on

Kicking off Halloween season, haunted houses around the United States are opening their doors to brave travelers who come to experience spooky, scary things that go bump in the night. Between now and October 31, a variety of events around the country make for a great weekend diversion or road trip. Centrally located St. Louis is an easy drive from most mid-west states and offers Scare Fest, a trilogy of terror with three haunted attractions known as some of the best across the nation.

The Darkness is a two-story haunted house in downtown St Louis. Now in its 19th year of screams and scares, The Darkness has flying and flesh-eating zombies, Hollywood-quality sets and animated zombie effects and more. Included is admission to their Monster Museum and TerrorVisions 3-D, one of America’s first 3-D haunted houses featuring freaky crazed clowns in a 3-D environment where the walls appear to be moving, floors are floating and everything is right in the face of visitors.


The Haunting of Lemp Brewery takes visitors several stories below ground into real caves and caverns, just a block away from the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. In an interactive pre-show, sprits and ghosts of brewery founder William Lemp come back from the underworld to warn visitors of demons that haunt the caves under the brewery.




The Screampark in Fenton has the longest maze of scare inducing “hauntings” in the country that last more than one hour and feature more live actors than any other haunted house. New this year are Twisted Torture 3D, Demons Dominion, Grisly’s Gore Zone, the Zombie Town theme for the haunted hayride and the world’s largest Famous Faces Pumpkin Display.


Find zombies, ghosts, haunted houses or more at HauntWorld, a site that has listings for the United States and Canada as well as international attractions in the UK and other parts of the world.

[Flickr photo by dehub]

Photo Of The Day: Diwali Is Coming Soon

by Jessica Marati on

Though Diwali – India‘s festival of lights – is more than a month away, decorations are already starting to spread through the capital of Delhi. According to Flickr user The Delhi Way, the city will be soon be “glittering in ferry lights, diyas and candles” – traditional symbols of the Hindu holiday, which are intended to make the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome. Other Diwali traditions include wearing new clothes, sharing sweets with family and lighting firecrackers to drive off evil spirits.

Do you have any photos from traditional fall festivals? Upload your shots to the Gadling Flickr Pool and your image could be selected as our Photo of the Day.

Sunset Magazine’s ‘Westphoria’ Blog Celebrates The Weirdness Of The Western States

by Laurel Miller on

It’s no secret that the 13 states comprising the Western U.S. are a bit unusual. Enter Westphoria, Sunset magazine’s 4-month-old blog dedicated to celebrating all that’s quirky, kick-ass, and distinct about the Left Coast, Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions. Think retrofitted teardrop campers, chicken “sitters,” bike-powered farmers market smoothies, and, uh, hotel rooms designed to resemble giant bird nests.

For those of you living on the other side of the Continental Divide, Sunset is the nation’s top Western lifestyle magazine, focused on travel, gardening, design, green living, food and the outdoors. Understandably, we’re big fans here at Gadling.

Westphoria is sort of like Sunset’s black sheep little sibling: edgy, on-trend, a smarty-pants with a sweet soul. Categories include themes like “House Crush,” “Made in the West,” “Dream Life,” “Food” and “Wanderlust.” I’m hooked.

[Photo credit: Flickr user Green Garden Girl]