Drink makes you sing for your spirits

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Get what you want, even if you have no idea what you need. That’s the point of Drink, it seems, a new bar in Boston. The bartenders are expected to figure out what’s ailing you and fix the situation with a carefully concocted cocktail.

Strangely, there is no menu. If you tend to scan (or scour) the list at your local dive, Drink will jar your system. Instead of reading and deciding, you’ll actually have to communicate with somebody. You form a relationship with your bartender, telling him what you’re feeling, what you like and how you want it.

So, instead of thinking about what you normally shove down your throat to the cheers of the crowd, focus on your thoughts. Think about your day and the mindset in which it has left you. Share this with your mixologist, and enjoy the cure.

[Via The Atlantic]

San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House

by Jeremy Kressmann on

This past weekend I found myself in San Jose, California. As far as Bay Area tourism is concerned, San Jose has always been the red-headed stepchild to more well-known destinations like San Francisco, the Napa Valley and Berkeley. However, during my stay I discovered a great reason to make the hour-long drive down to San Jose from San Francisco – the Winchester Mystery House.

This sprawling, ornate Victorian mansion sits just a short distance from the city’s downtown. Spanning a property of over 4 acres, the mansion contains more than 160 rooms, 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms and 3 elevators. But it’s not just pretty to look at – the Winchester Mansion boasts a mysterious history thanks to its late resident Sarah Winchester, heiress of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

Sarah’s husband William Wirt Winchester amassed great wealth through the sale of his company’s most famous product – the Winchester rifle. The gun was responsible for many deaths in the late 1800’s, which weighed heavily upon Sarah. She was convinced she was being haunted by the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles. In an effort to confuse these spirits, Mrs. Winchester began construction on a massive estate near San Jose. From 1884 until her death in 1922, the house underwent 38 years of continuous, non-stop construction, taking on a confusing and labyrinth-like floor plan. Stairways were built that led to nowhere and many doors open onto blank walls. All of this a tribute to the madness and persistence of its reclusive owner, Sarah Winchester.

The next time you’re in the Bay Area, why not swing by San Jose for a visit? For what you paid for that bottle of Napa Cabernet you’ll get to experience a real piece of Americana and a house that truly has to be seen to be believed.

Haunted Hotels to Get Your Halloween Freak On At

by Martha Edwards on

Are you into the supernatural, the kind of person who chases ghosts and spirits? If so, well … I don’t really know what to say except why?!?! That stuff totally freak me out. But to each their own.

And if you are a ghost-lover, you probably love Halloween too. But this Halloween, instead of doing some un-scary like going to a costume party or doing a pub-crawl, why not spend a night in a haunted hotel? I bet the rates are cheap because people in their right mind wouldn’t consider it (I kid, I kid … ) Here’s a list of hotels where the guests or employees never left, including:

  • The Admiral Fell Inn in Baltimore: Once a hospice, the night nurse is purportedly still on shift.
  • The Driskill Hotel in Austin: A senators daughter came crashing to her death her and is still supposedly playing with her ball in the hallways.
  • The Hawthorne Hotel in Salem: This hotel is home to a sad — but unidentified — young woman in suite 612.
  • The Hotel Galvez in Galveston: A young widow, who committed suicide after learning that her husbands ship had sunk, still keeps watch on the fifth floor.
  • Blennerhassett Hotel, Parkersville Parkersburg, West Virginia: Cigar smoke of an unknown source wafts through the halls here. Many believe it belongs to the hotels founder.

Want to find out where the other haunted hotels are? Read the full article.

Top Haunted Hikes

by Adrienne Wilson on

Go on and laugh when I tell you this, but horror is not my movie-watching genre of choice and the Blair Witch Project seriously scared the chicken-poop out of me, so when I read this piece about haunted hiking I could just feel the hairs-raising on my neck by imagining the sound of every snapping twig in a forest. In other words -psssh, yeah right. Count me out, hold me, and if I somehow manage to venture out just promise not to leave me behind. I kid you not, I’m the kind of person that will push a small child into the hands of a scary ghoul, goblin, ghost or U.F.O if I ever had an encounter with the paranormal. I’m that much of a wuss. No shame.

Anywho, let’s talk more spooky stuff. If you’re planning way ahead of the game for Halloween travel, you’re in luck because Andrea Lankford’s Haunted Hikes, Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America’s National Parks is available for purchase and to read over campfires. According to the author she doesn’t believe in ghosts, but she goes on to say things like such:

“…People disappear. People die. People kill. Bad things happen. Something lingers. Death leaves it’s mark on the landscape.”

A knack for story-telling or telling the truth? I guess that is for the curious National Parks traveler to find out and it is my hope that very curiosity won’t kill… Well, no time for clichés, USA Today talks about the author’s new book and highlights some of the spookiest hikes around. Big Bend National Park, Yosemite National Park, Virgin Islands National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway and Grand Canyon National Park are only a few that make the list. If you’d like to know why they’re haunted and the rest, you’ll need to check out the book or USA Today.