Gothic Travels

Haunted travelogues, where to visit, where to stay, the history and the truth behind the legends

Long Island

An exploration of Long Island’s gothic history and sites. From the homes of the rich to the haunted landscapes.

Rosemary’s Farm: “Life’s But A Walking Shadow …”

Continue Reading Rosemary’s Farm: “Life’s But A Walking Shadow …”

Tales of Old Stony Brook I: The Haunting of the Stony Brook Grist Mill

Continue Reading Tales of Old Stony Brook I: The Haunting of the Stony Brook Grist Mill

Tales From Head of the Harbor and St. James I: New Thoughts on Mary Hatchet and Mary’s Grave

Continue Reading Tales From Head of the Harbor and St. James I: New Thoughts on Mary Hatchet and Mary’s Grave

The Ghosts of Fire Island Lighthouse

Continue Reading The Ghosts of Fire Island Lighthouse

A Romantic Getaway At Kings Park Psychiatric Institution

Continue Reading A Romantic Getaway At Kings Park Psychiatric Institution

Hempstead House and Castlegould: A Tale of Two Houses in Sands Point, New York

Continue Reading Hempstead House and Castlegould: A Tale of Two Houses in Sands Point, New York

More Long Island

New England

History, hauntings and the horrors of the witch trials.

From The History Trekker: A bedtime story for a forgetful country …

Continue Reading From The History Trekker: A bedtime story for a forgetful country …

Halloween on Cape Cod, digging into the history for stories of Barnstable ghosts, witches and other curiosities

Continue Reading Halloween on Cape Cod, digging into the history for stories of Barnstable ghosts, witches and other curiosities

The Black Flash of Provincetown, MA: Folk horror and hysteria from New England echoes in the midwestern countryside

Continue Reading The Black Flash of Provincetown, MA: Folk horror and hysteria from New England echoes in the midwestern countryside

Haunted Plymouth: The macabre history of Plymouth, Mass., where Pilgrim and native American spirits haunt side by side

Continue Reading Haunted Plymouth: The macabre history of Plymouth, Mass., where Pilgrim and native American spirits haunt side by side

Running from the storm

Continue Reading Running from the storm

Is it really the House of the Seven Gables? Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way the Turner-Ingersoll mansion in Salem breathes New England history

Continue Reading Is it really the House of the Seven Gables? Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way the Turner-Ingersoll mansion in Salem breathes New England history

More New England

The Hudson River Valley

From Sleepy Hollow to the Catskills, with haunted destinations in between

A Christmas ghost story … how a memory and a dream led me to the enchantment of “The Curse of The Cat People”

Continue Reading A Christmas ghost story … how a memory and a dream led me to the enchantment of “The Curse of The Cat People”

Return to Sleepy Hollow, from an essay by Washington Irving

Continue Reading Return to Sleepy Hollow, from an essay by Washington Irving

True Confessions: In which the author relates his own encounters in the land of Sleepy Hollow

Continue Reading True Confessions: In which the author relates his own encounters in the land of Sleepy Hollow

Exploring the imagination of Washington Irving and early American folklore along the Rip Van Winkle Trail in the Catskills … a photo essay

Continue Reading Exploring the imagination of Washington Irving and early American folklore along the Rip Van Winkle Trail in the Catskills … a photo essay

Tip your hat to the Imp of Donder-Berg mountain, who still haunts the highlands of the Hudson River

Continue Reading Tip your hat to the Imp of Donder-Berg mountain, who still haunts the highlands of the Hudson River

Hiking Rockefeller State Park Preserve: Looking for Spook Rock, Hulda the witch and the non-headless horseman origins of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Continue Reading Hiking Rockefeller State Park Preserve: Looking for Spook Rock, Hulda the witch and the non-headless horseman origins of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

More Hudson Valley

The Midwest

Mysteries and hauntings in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys

Looking for the history of witches in Southern Illinois in the folklore of those who feared them

Continue Reading Looking for the history of witches in Southern Illinois in the folklore of those who feared them

Ghost Hunters Wanted: Looking for a creative investigation of a haunting stretching back sixty years … home sweet home!

Continue Reading Ghost Hunters Wanted: Looking for a creative investigation of a haunting stretching back sixty years … home sweet home!

The Old Slave House: The Crenshaw House breeds a ghost story that preserved the blackest stain on Illinois’ past. Will the state preserve the house, and the history?

Continue Reading The Old Slave House: The Crenshaw House breeds a ghost story that preserved the blackest stain on Illinois’ past. Will the state preserve the house, and the history?

Haunted Old Louisville: Is this Victorian gem America’s most haunted neighborhood? A summer photo essay

Continue Reading Haunted Old Louisville: Is this Victorian gem America’s most haunted neighborhood? A summer photo essay

Book excerpt from The Haunted History of Southern Illinois … Christmas ghost stories on the prairie in southern Illinois

Continue Reading Book excerpt from The Haunted History of Southern Illinois … Christmas ghost stories on the prairie in southern Illinois

Tales Told By A Tombstone … on Betsey Reed, The White Lady of Baker Cemetery, and a quartet of southern Illinois hauntings from Lawrence and Crawford counties

Continue Reading Tales Told By A Tombstone … on Betsey Reed, The White Lady of Baker Cemetery, and a quartet of southern Illinois hauntings from Lawrence and Crawford counties

The South

Journeys worth making for the culinary (or liquid) delights alone.

Eating Poe, Part II: Edgar Allan Poe’s time on Sullivan’s Island and debunking a Charleston myth

Continue Reading Eating Poe, Part II: Edgar Allan Poe’s time on Sullivan’s Island and debunking a Charleston myth

Yorktown Ghost Stories: Colonial era ghosts still haunt the streets of this landmark village of the American Revolution

Continue Reading Yorktown Ghost Stories: Colonial era ghosts still haunt the streets of this landmark village of the American Revolution

Piracy in Charleston, S.C.: The adoption of the gentleman pirate, Stede Bonnet

Continue Reading Piracy in Charleston, S.C.: The adoption of the gentleman pirate, Stede Bonnet

In old Charleston, the historic and haunted are around every corner

Continue Reading In old Charleston, the historic and haunted are around every corner

Exploring ancient Greece in Nashville, TN: The Parthenon

Continue Reading Exploring ancient Greece in Nashville, TN: The Parthenon

Daily Life of the American Colonies: The Role of the Tavern in Society

Continue Reading Daily Life of the American Colonies: The Role of the Tavern in Society

More of the South

Appalachia

Hauntings from the Appalachian Mountains and beyond

The death, resurrection and retribution of Zona Heaster Shue, The Greenbrier Ghost

Continue Reading The death, resurrection and retribution of Zona Heaster Shue, The Greenbrier Ghost

On fairy tales, American kitsch, Bullwinkle, Rock City and where I found enchantment

Continue Reading On fairy tales, American kitsch, Bullwinkle, Rock City and where I found enchantment

America’s Haunted Inns: Bardstown Kentucky’s chilling Old Talbott Tavern lives up to its reputation

Continue Reading America’s Haunted Inns: Bardstown Kentucky’s chilling Old Talbott Tavern lives up to its reputation

More Appalachia

Ireland

Saints, folklore and the evocative landscape of the emerald isle

The Haunted Fiddle: Travels in Donegal looking for ghost stories buried in the Irish fiddle tradition

Continue Reading The Haunted Fiddle: Travels in Donegal looking for ghost stories buried in the Irish fiddle tradition

The pagan customs of Imbolc: A look at the Irish and their Brigid, both goddess and saint

Continue Reading The pagan customs of Imbolc: A look at the Irish and their Brigid, both goddess and saint

Ballygally Castle Hotel: The knock at the door isn’t room service, and a last dash across northern Ireland to home

Continue Reading Ballygally Castle Hotel: The knock at the door isn’t room service, and a last dash across northern Ireland to home

Rattling the Bones: Digging into the psyche for ancestral memories of Brigid on Imbolc

Continue Reading Rattling the Bones: Digging into the psyche for ancestral memories of Brigid on Imbolc

Harvest Moon: The Magic of the Home, Hearth and Hard Work

Continue Reading Harvest Moon: The Magic of the Home, Hearth and Hard Work

Dame Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny, Ireland: A poisoner? Quite likely. A witch? Perhaps. A fighter? Absolutely.

Continue Reading Dame Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny, Ireland: A poisoner? Quite likely. A witch? Perhaps. A fighter? Absolutely.

Great Britain

Medieval hauntings, ancient standing stones and circles, the gothic homeland

Ballygally Castle Hotel: The knock at the door isn’t room service, and a last dash across northern Ireland to home

Continue Reading Ballygally Castle Hotel: The knock at the door isn’t room service, and a last dash across northern Ireland to home

A search for my ancestors’ beliefs about witches and witchcraft in the witch hunts of county Kent, England

Continue Reading A search for my ancestors’ beliefs about witches and witchcraft in the witch hunts of county Kent, England

Pagan holidays: Litha … On summer solstice celebrations, and the dangerous similarities between modern paganism and evangelical Christianity

Continue Reading Pagan holidays: Litha … On summer solstice celebrations, and the dangerous similarities between modern paganism and evangelical Christianity

Pondering why landscapes become sacred and the mysteries of the Uffington White Horse, Uffington Castle and White Horse Hill

Continue Reading Pondering why landscapes become sacred and the mysteries of the Uffington White Horse, Uffington Castle and White Horse Hill

The hammer of the gods still ring out at Wayland’s Smithy, a long barrow chamber tomb nestled in a secluded grove in Oxfordshire

Continue Reading The hammer of the gods still ring out at Wayland’s Smithy, a long barrow chamber tomb nestled in a secluded grove in Oxfordshire

Folk horror from Wiltshire: The Blood Stone at Luccombe Spring, starving out the Vikings at Bratton Camp, the White Horse of Westbury and the nature of folklore

Continue Reading Folk horror from Wiltshire: The Blood Stone at Luccombe Spring, starving out the Vikings at Bratton Camp, the White Horse of Westbury and the nature of folklore