© 2003 Connecting: Solo
Travel Network & Diane Redfern. Information.
NOTE: This article is reproduced here for inspirational value alone and will not normally be updated. Therefore, all facts, figures, and author's opinions are subject to change as time goes on.
Solo Travelers Have Fun – Visit Spooky Spots on Holiday
By Diane Redfern
Old Haunts in North Carolina
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Pink Lady: Built
in 1913 overlooking the Asheville skyline and the Blue Ridge Mountains,
the Grove Park Inn is one of North Carolina's oldest and grandest resorts.
The spa hotel is also home to the "Pink Lady." According to legend, in
the late 1910s or early 1920s, a woman fell to her death from the hotel's
fifth floor. She was wearing a flowing, pink gown. Shortly afterwards,
guests and employees began to encounter the apparition of a pink lady.
Now, travelers come from around the world to stay in her room – number 545. No
one knows if her death was a suicide, murder, or accident. To this day,
her name remains a mystery.
Details:
The Grove Park Inn Resort &Spa, 290 Macon Avenue, Asheville, NC
28804. Tel. 1-800-438-5800, 1-828-252-2711.
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Blackbeard: The
famous pirate Blackbeard favored the mists of Ocracoke Inlet in North Carolina's
Outer Banks so much he lost his head there. He was shot 20 times then beheaded.
Today, villagers and visitors alike swear they can still hear the volley
of gunfire as the sun rises over the misty inlet. Many claim to have seen
the spectral image of his masted ghost ship gliding through the silvery
waters.
Details:
www.ocracokeisland.com.
- The Devil's Tramping
Ground: The Devil is said to have created a 40-foot circle near Siler
City, North Carolina. It is said that no plant or tree will grow inside
this circle, and animals do not go there for no grass will grow. A path
leading to the circle is also barren. Visitors sometimes place sticks,
stones, or other objects inside the circle, but some unknown force removes
them by the next morning. The first settlers who came here attributed the
strange spot to Indians holding tribal ceremonies there, yet the circle
still remains though the Indians have long since departed.
Details:
www.visitchathamcounty.com.
Weird Wiltshire
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Crop circles:
Wiltshire, Southern England, claims to be the "crop circle capital of the
world." These strange patterns have appeared within cereal crops in 40
countries, but arguably some of the finest formations have been located
in Wiltshire's Marlborough Downs and Pewsey Vale. In 1999, the Wiltshire
Crop Circle Study Group began holding annual conferences exploring the
meaning of the phenomenon, with delegates attending from countries far
and wide.
- Neolithic monuments:
Crop circles are hardly the only oddities found in the county of Wiltshire.
Here you also find impressive Neolithic stone formations. Stonehenge, and
the lesser known Avebury are the most well known, but other well-preserved
structures include West Kennet Long Barrow, Wayland Smithy, and Woodhenge.
- Silbury Hill:
A short walk from the village of Avebury, Silbury Hill rises 39.6m (130ft)
high from a base covering over two hectares (five acres). Thought to have
been built around 2500BC, it is among the largest prehistoric man-made
mounds in the world.
-
White Horses:
Wiltshire has at least thirteen white horses carved into its hillsides,
although only eight are still visible to the naked eye. When they were
built and by whom is still a subject of conjecture.
Montréal Strange
Occurrences
A fur trader, a Mohawk
Indian, and a British General are among the spirits and spooks that hang
out in the streets of Old Montréal. Visitors who join in scheduled
ghost hunts throughout the summer months will learn of the city's legends,
historical events, unexplained facts, and maybe encounter a specter or
two.
-
The Old Montréal
Ghost Trail is rife with uncanny stories. Consider the tale of Jean
St-Père who was among the founding settlers of Montréal in
1642. One day, he was fixing the roof of his house when a band of Iroquois
suddenly appeared – mortal enemies of the French colonists. They attacked
and killed the settler, cut off his head, and carried it away with them.
As the braves departed with their trophy, the severed head began shouting
insults at them. Now, Jean St-Père did not know the Iroquois language,
but his disembodied head did! The terrified warriors tried to lose the
head, but it followed them shrieking affronts. Finally, they buried it
and fled far from the colony, and their tribe, never to be seen again.
-
Mark Twain's Apparition:
During a lecture tour, Mark Twain, the great American humorist, was being
honored at a reception at Montréal's Windsor Hotel. Looking down
the line of dignitaries, he spotted an old acquaintance, Mrs R, a lady
he had know well in Nevada 20 years before but had not seen since. The
woman in the crowd came within a few feet of the author, then disappeared.
Later that night, after his lecture, someone said to Twain, "Come into
the waiting room; there's a friend of yours there who wants to see you.
You'll not be introduced, you have to recognize the person without any
help if you can." Twain thought: "It is Mrs R, of course!"
In the waiting room
were about a dozen women, all seated. Among them was Mrs R, in the same
dress Twain had seen her in earlier. He went immediately to her, took her
hand, and said "I knew you the moment you appeared at the reception this
afternoon."
The woman was taken
aback. "I was not at the reception," she replied. "I have just arrived
and have not been in Montréal an hour." Now Twain was astonished.
Later on, still perplexed, he wrote an article about the strange experience
in Harper's Magazine, September 1895.
Planning These Spooky
Holidays
DR
