Panelists experienced with seeking out the paranormal shared tips, tricks, hopes, and past explorations during “Horror Travels: Road Trips to the Dark Side” Friday at 2:30PM in International South (Hy). Moderated by Mark Muncy and hosting Brent Abell, Cris the Girl, Erika L. Lance, and Eric R. Vernor, it was enjoyably educational.
The panel began with a recounting of individual scary experiences featuring locations like St. Augustine and Savannah. Muncy regaled us with a story about hunting down information about a mysterious “Rat-man” who is rumored to rummage through garbage and grant wishes, which ended in him fleeing the “holler” after being approached by a pair of locals with shotguns. Sometimes we truly are the scariest thing out there.
The panelists shared some helpful tips for exploring spooky spots:
– Don’t go alone. If you do, have GPS tracking on and let people know where you will be.
– Get permission. Always.
– Be mindful of the buildings and potentially harmful things such as asbestos.
– Film always. Take lots of pictures. You never know what you’ll catch when looking through the material afterwards.
They discussed a few dream locations to explore and document:
Cris the Girl: “Number one was Salem. It was amazing. I would suggest not going during the spooky season. If you really want to soak it up… go during the spring season. It’s amazing. A dream location is really hard. Maybe some place in California, or Maine. That’s number one on my list. Bangor and all the Stephen King things.”
Eric R. Vernor: “I’ve researched approximately 1,000 places already but dream location is really hard to narrow down when you’ve been to so many places. Maybe Waverly since they are turning one of the branches into a convention space.”
Brent Abell: “My dream spots are in the planning stages now. One of them is the Stanley Hotel; I’m a really big Stephen King fan. We’re also looking at an East Coast swing that would hit Salem, Sleepy Hollow, the Conjuring house… just kind of an orgy of haunted locations.”
Erica L. Lance: “I like to travel a lot internationally. I want to do the Jack the Ripper tour in England, and I happen to know friends, one of the guards, that can get me into the towers. That might be illegal, we’ll see. It will be fine. I think it would be very fun to go on one of the most famous, still unsolved, serial killer cases.”
Mark Muncy: “My dream location is back to Tombstone. Back when I was a kid, I never understood the history that was there. Now that I’m an adult and can appreciate the history and folklore, I would love to go back”
Panelists discussed their favorite haunts, which included some repeat locations such as Salem and St. Augustine. Paranormal hotspots are popular for a reason, it would seem. They discussed how folklore is sometimes rooted in a darker truth about humanity.
