Vacations Delivered

Cited: ABC News

Stephen King’s “The Shining” featured the haunted Overlook Hotel, which in reality was the familiar Stanley Hotel in Estes Park CO.  The Stanley Hotel now offers “ghost tours” that highlight its creepy past.  It is one of the most haunted places in the country that compete to scare us out of our britches.

Some of them are better known than others and ABC News has compiled a random list of some of the most prominent ones to jump-scare your Halloween adventures.

King supposedly did most of the writing in Room 217, but if the hotel is fully booked, you might consider these alternatives closer to you. And while you’re at it, vote for your favorite here.

The Winchester Mystery House is a 100-year-old mansion in San Jose, Calif., that took 38 years to construct but considerably less time to become “the house built by spirits” after Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester, reportedly enacted nightly séances to help complete construction and confuse the ghosts. It is now a tourist attraction.

In Atlanta, Netherworld, a converted warehouse, is perennially ranked among the best. Actors take up to two hours to transform themselves into ghouls who’ve spooked visitors that include the Smashing Pumpkins and Bow Wow.

In Long Beach, Calif., the retired Queen Mary ocean liner, also known ominously as the “Grey Ghost, is permanently docked with 200 wayward spirits aboard that await visitors on what’s now a floating hotel and museum.

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In Austin, Texas, the House of Torment has a way of maintaining its power over visitors who exit before completing its hellish maze of monsters and special effects. Abandon the terrifying journey prematurely at your own peril.

Across town at the Scottish Rite Dormitory, University of Texas students can’t seem to escape the tale of a young student who threw herself down an elevator shaft decades ago, only to inhabit the place now in ghost form. Administrators have their doubts, but students offer no shortage of evidence.

In Chandler, Ariz., the Nest Haunted House traps visitors in total darkness for 10 minutes. And then the real haunting starts.

In Dickerson, Md., the ax-throwing practice at Markoff’s Haunted Forest might come in handy when the evil lumberjacks make their appearance.

The last on the list is in Micanopy FL where a ghost, called “woman in white” by one believer, has a problem with locked doors at the Herlong Mansion.  The mansion is now a bed-and-breakfast.

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My Take: I voted for the Stanley Hotel!  Why you ask, because “The Shining” scared me to death!  I could not stand to watch Jack Nicholson in anything for years.  Every time I saw him I started to shake because it was so real to me.  If they would’ve had house calls doctors back then, I would’ve been calling one.  However, since I don’t live in New Jersey, they would have come to my house.  But, if you get scared like that, you can call a nurse practitioner primary care and they will probably come to your house.

I wonder how many people are buying haunted houses this year.  You could still get a Lexington Kentucky mortgage for one I would imagine.  At least, I don’t think there is a difference between a Lexington KY mortgage on a new home or a haunted one.  I know hearing here in Phoenix, AZ real estate is the same whether it’s haunted or not.  I know a friend who is about to buy property Queen Creek is supposed to be haunted.  He said it was a little cheaper than the other house.  Maybe that is the only difference.

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