Haunted Road Trip 2019: Route 66..6?

We left Oklahoma City and drove down to Texas, eventually landing at the Bonanza Hotel. It is not haunted, it is just a Route 66 hotel. I honestly don't recall anything we did this day except missing out on breakfast by being one minute late at a a place called Sid's. We eventually stopped at this interesting little Route 66 museum and it was kitschy fun. Day 8 started with a breakfast at the midway cafe in Texas, the halfway point of Route 66. I don't recall much else from this day. We spent the night at the Parq Central Hotel, a "boutique experience" hotel built in an old mental institution. Of course, we were put in the surgeon's quarters in the back yard so, no ghosts there. It cost almost $300 and there was no elevator, bell service, fridge, microwave or working curtains for the bedroom. It kind of sucked. Having talked over my overall disappointment with my mother, we were determined to make the 9th day worthwhile. Mom really wanted to see the Petr...

Leaving the Walnut Inn was bittersweet. The breakfast part of bed and breakfast was cool. French toast, bacon and fresh fruit (I tried a blackberry!) and fresh OJ were on the menu. We talked to Lisa, the cook/maid of the house talked to us for awhile. My mom took some pics and we hit the road. It rained most of the day. We found the Superman museum and it was closed until way later in the day. I was bummed out that it was closed. Here's a hot tip about Route 66, if you aren't a car enthusiast, there is very little worth seeing. Everything is a burned down motel or retro diner or closed filling station. Sometimes there is a mural and sometimes a museum of cars. It is dreadfully boring most of the time and adds so much time to your drive. I hate to be a debbie downer but the whole thing has been underwhelming so far. The other drawback has been how most of the places I have slept have been not spooky at all. The Lemp mansion and the lunatic asylum were cool but, at Walnut str...

On the Route 66 side of things, we stopped in a little town called Uranus. They really lean into the name. They sell fudge there and, once you have made your selection, are forced to say "Thank you for letting us pack your fudge." That kind of place. I bought a friend a Christmas gift and bought myself some fudge (which was just ok). They had an escape room there but I had no time to play it. It was a fun stop. Otherwise, things were not too eventful that day. That night, we rolled into Springfield, MO. We stayed at the haunted Walnut Street Inn. This is actually a very charming bed and breakfast operated by a nice man. We actually stayed in two rooms in the carriage house, which is decidedly not haunted. If we had stayed in the main house, probably would have gotten ghosts galore. As it was, there was a spa bath and it felt amazing. Also, a lot of vintage cameras in the room, all pointed at the bed. I don't know if they had hidden cameras in them but I wasn't...

We began the drive down Route 66 on this day. I have figured out that most of the early stages of Route 66 are just old hotels, diners and a few oddities here and there. We stopped in Joliet and I bought a delicious blue raspberry Route 66 Soda at the Rt 66 Museum. Below are some pics like the Gemini Man and Paul Bunyon holding a big ole hot dog. The drive was fun but did not offer a lot of things to get out and do. We arrived at the Lemp Mansion at about 8pm and there was a skeleton crew of a staff. Apparently, the staff just fucking leave at night. So, the guests are alone in the mansion and there are only 4 rooms. Across the hall from us were three women who were doing their own ghost hunting (I heard one ask the other if her EMF detector was charged). Our room had a huge sitting room that could be shut off with a giant pair of pocket doors. Our bathroom, also, was huge. There was another door in it leading to a small, servants hallway. My mom got freaked out when the doo...

The ride from West Virginia to Illinois was pretty easy considering my mother did all the work until it was time to actually enter Chicago (which, as always, was a nightmare of Atlanta proportions). We found our way to the Congress Plaza Hotel, the most haunted hotel in Chicago. We were sent to the 11th floor and the room was quite nice. We were both so exhausted, we just ordered some wings and crashed. The next day, we walked to the nearby fountain and lake front. I stopped at a comic book store. Mom got hustled by a charity. We went to the Cloud Gate and had a generally good time exploring all the cool stuff within a mile of our hotel. We were going to do some kind of tour but mom was tired (and I was, too). That night (night 3), we went out to the 1959 bar that is attached to Second City. We then watched a show (Best of Second City) that was a mixed bag but, overall, enjoyable. When we got back to the hotel, we noticed almost none of the rooms were lit up. We were practic...

The first day of my Route 666 tour was fraught with peril as the rental car I had reserved would not rent to me. Apparently, Thrifty, like a haint, cannot cross the running waters of the Mississippi. Hertz finally came through, and they threw in a doughnut. You know, a Hertz Doughnut? I drove the 6+ hours to Jane Lew, WV, arriving in the night. As the sun was setting over the mountains, we passed signs for the Flatwood Monster Museum. Now I am very curious about it. We checked into our Days Inn with a very judgy woman giving us the hairy eyeball for being a mother and son sharing a king size bed (not that I was going to be there). We ate at the Robin's Nest diner, bought some scratchy lotteries and rested before I left for the Lunatic Asylum. I got there at about 11:15 and this is what I saw... OK, not letting me load a picture...c'mon blogger get your shit together. Anyway, if you have ever seen my favorite horror movie, Session 9, the building was built exactly like...

Here I am, now three days away from departure. Some things have changed since I last made an entry. My friends have all, for various good reasons, had to remove themselves from my plans. I was originally planning to have my mother meet me in California to help drive home. However, at her suggestion and after no small amount of struggle with the idea, I have decided to let her come on the whole trip with me. There will still be some things I do alone but, as my mother is the person who instilled in me a love of horror, I think sharing this trip with her will be fun. It also never hurts to have a second set of eyes. At any rate, here is a breakdown of the travel with haunted activities in the mix. Night 1: Saturday October 5th, driving from Greenville, SC, to Weston, West Virginia. Once in Weston, I will be going to spend the night in the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum . I will be locked in from 11:30pm to 6am with, hopefully, some other people. I watched a Japanese movie about some...