When obsessions collide
Oct. 26th, 2007 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonYou can view some atmospheric pictures of the notoriously haunted Waverly State Sanitarium here, plus a click through to an eery video, as well as read the commentary of someone who took the tour. Ghost Hunters will be doing their 6-hour live show from Waverly on Halloween night. I see a DVR recording in my future since that's way past my bedtime on a school night.
Apparently, the owners of Waverly want to turn it into a kind of haunted resort. Oh my. Herein lies my hypocrisy and contradictions. I think using the trapped and tormented spirits of the dead as entertainment like this is wrong—yet I eagerly gobble up all these ghost shows, and if I was anywhere near Waverly, I'd take the tour, or the one at Eastern State in Philadelphia, or any of the other infamously haunted places around the country.
I will further confess that the only reason I visited the Drum Barracks in Long Beach (actually adjacent Wilmington) is because they're supposed to have Civil War ghosts. My friend and I tried to surreptitiously get EVPs and took a lot of pictures, but we got nothing of scientific value. We did experience heavy atmosphere and creepy feelings: in other words, no evidence at all.
I guess I'm informally doing research for my novel, Venus in Transit, because I've been reading a number of books on ghost hunting and one of the MC's in that novel is a paranormal investigator. I hadn't planned on doing that, but the season has coincided with the time of year when I wonder what I'm going to work on next. VIT has the advantage of being two-thirds finished. I got close to 70k done on it before it went belly up. I went off on a tangent that didn't work, and I realized the ending was too nebulous, so it sort of died on the vine. I've had a few years to think about it and may have a new ending forming up. I also recently reread what I'd written, and everything but that tangent seems to hold up pretty well. (I can't say the same for the other older, unfinished novel I thought of working on, that which used to be called A Taste of Night before Vicky Petersson.)
And btw, those of you living in the Philadelphia area might be interested to know that Eastern State Penitentiary, abandoned and super-haunted prison, puts on a haunted house extravaganza this time of year with actors and special effects and loads of bloody-gory family fun.
I'd go in a minute if I was in the neighborhood. Even though that would be wrong.
Booga-booga, ya'll!
Apparently, the owners of Waverly want to turn it into a kind of haunted resort. Oh my. Herein lies my hypocrisy and contradictions. I think using the trapped and tormented spirits of the dead as entertainment like this is wrong—yet I eagerly gobble up all these ghost shows, and if I was anywhere near Waverly, I'd take the tour, or the one at Eastern State in Philadelphia, or any of the other infamously haunted places around the country.
I will further confess that the only reason I visited the Drum Barracks in Long Beach (actually adjacent Wilmington) is because they're supposed to have Civil War ghosts. My friend and I tried to surreptitiously get EVPs and took a lot of pictures, but we got nothing of scientific value. We did experience heavy atmosphere and creepy feelings: in other words, no evidence at all.
I guess I'm informally doing research for my novel, Venus in Transit, because I've been reading a number of books on ghost hunting and one of the MC's in that novel is a paranormal investigator. I hadn't planned on doing that, but the season has coincided with the time of year when I wonder what I'm going to work on next. VIT has the advantage of being two-thirds finished. I got close to 70k done on it before it went belly up. I went off on a tangent that didn't work, and I realized the ending was too nebulous, so it sort of died on the vine. I've had a few years to think about it and may have a new ending forming up. I also recently reread what I'd written, and everything but that tangent seems to hold up pretty well. (I can't say the same for the other older, unfinished novel I thought of working on, that which used to be called A Taste of Night before Vicky Petersson.)
And btw, those of you living in the Philadelphia area might be interested to know that Eastern State Penitentiary, abandoned and super-haunted prison, puts on a haunted house extravaganza this time of year with actors and special effects and loads of bloody-gory family fun.
I'd go in a minute if I was in the neighborhood. Even though that would be wrong.
Booga-booga, ya'll!
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Date: 2007-10-26 09:33 pm (UTC)There are quite a few up here in the Ventura area too. I reccomend the Richard Senate tours here...they're the most accurate and informative too.
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Date: 2007-10-26 09:37 pm (UTC)And I've seen Mr. Senate on TV. I should get out of LA once in a while and go see what I could see. :-)
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Date: 2007-10-26 09:41 pm (UTC)You should come do a Richard Senate tour! If you came up here, I'd meet up with you for the tour. (dinner too!)
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Date: 2007-10-26 10:25 pm (UTC)Which isn't to say I might not feel spooked out were I there in person, but people who try to capture ghosts on cameras just crack me up.
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Date: 2007-10-27 05:33 pm (UTC)Don't you think he was being ironic there? That's how I took it, and yes, taking long exposures without a tripod is folly unless you specifically want the blurry effect. I used to like to take the long exposures at night because of the interesting light effects you'd get, especially with infrared. But that was back when I was a real photographer, not a snapper, and that was with an SLR, not my digital. I seem to have lost the passion.
Far more impressive are the decayed interior shots.
Yes, I love those. This group, abandonedplaces, has some great stuff.
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Date: 2007-10-27 05:55 pm (UTC)I do think those sorts of places are super creepy in person. I have never understood the attraction of Alcatraz, for instance, as a jolly day trip.
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Date: 2007-10-27 07:35 pm (UTC)lol--no, I think it's more of a morbidly spinetingling day trip.
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Date: 2007-10-26 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-27 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-27 05:40 pm (UTC)Eastern Pen. is supposed to be great, but I've never gone. I'm okay in regular haunted houses that pop up this time of year, but... I have no desire to go through one in a place that's actually haunted.
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Date: 2007-10-27 05:46 pm (UTC)I just find myself wishing someone would try to help them move on. That's where my trouble lies.
I have no desire to go through one in a place that's actually haunted.
lol--yes! I wonder (I bet) the actors who've worked there probably have some interesting stories. I once heard an interesting story from a woman who "pretended" to be the famous slave ghost at the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana. Apparently, Chloe was not amused.
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Date: 2007-10-27 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-27 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-27 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-29 02:11 pm (UTC)I watched Fear when that was on. Creepy stuff.
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Date: 2007-10-29 05:01 pm (UTC)