The Plan: Day 3 (MA, ME, NH, VT, NY)

This is my schedule for Monday, the 14th of October.

8:00 am- Leave friend’s house. I am starting this day off early, as you can see, because I have a lot of ground to cover and things to do.

9:10 am- Arrive in Salem, MA. Of course, the land of the witch trials. If I have time, I will tour the witch museum again (something I haven't done since...8th grade?). I am definitely buying a shirt or something.

10:10 am- Leave Salem, MA.

11:25 am- Arrive in Ogunquit, ME, at the playhouse. I doubt I will be able to get in but they say you can see Revolutionary War ghosts here. I really wanted to drive all the way to Portland, ME, the birthplace of Stephen King but...no such luck. Too much to do!

11:45 am- Leave Ogunquit.

1:20 pm- Arrive at Margarita’s Mexican restaurant in Concord, NH, for lunch. This is an old jail converted into a restaurant where dishes get moved when no one is looking. I figure this is a good time to eat and see a haunted spot.

2:05 pm- Leave Concord, NH.

4:21 pm- Reach Glastonbury Mtn in Bennington, VT. This is one of two places that make me honestly a little nervous. This is a mountain cursed by local Indian tribes. Apparently, there have been about 40 disappearances on this mountain and the forest on it is devoid of animal life. I don't mind ghosts but I just don't want to vanish off the face of the earth.

5:21 pm- Leave Bennington, VT.

6:08 pm- Arrive at pine view cemetery in Troy, NY. Supposedly one of the top ten most haunted cemeteries in the country. Lots of potential for good pics.

6:28 pm- Leave cemetery

10:25 pm- arrive at hotel in Rochester, NY.

So, there you have it. If I started at my usual time of 9am, I wouldn't get to my hotel until close to midnight. This is, by far, the most time consuming day. My original intent was to stay in Salem at the end of Day 2 but I can't pass up a free place to crash. The length of the day, coupled with the scary-ass mountain in Vermont should make this my most stressful day of the trip. At least I am getting it out of the way.

The Plan: Day 2

With the first day out of the way, I have a very challenging second day ahead of me. One of my friends (who shall remain unidentified) is offering to put me up for the night in Massachusetts. In order to get to her house early enough to not be a jerk, I had to rearrange my schedule a bit but let's just take a look...

9:00 am- Leave hotel.

10:35 am- Arrive at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA. This is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in America. I have watched TV shows devoted entirely to this place. I have even played a video game based on the layout of this old prison. I can't wait to see it. Plus, the audio tour is narrated by Steve Buscemi!

11:40 am- Leave Eastern State.

1:30 pm- Stop for lunch

2:00 pm- Arrive at Old River Road in Edgewater, NJ. This road is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the Leni Lenapi tribe. I doubt this will be so at 2 in the afternoon, but who knows?

2:20 pm- Leave Edgewater.

3:45 pm- Arrive at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Milford, CT. A woman in a long, white gown haunts the cemetery waiting for her husband to return from WW1. What I really want to do is go to Charles Island, which has its own fascinating history.

4:05 pm- Leave Milford, CT.

6:15 pm- Arrive at H.P. Lovecraft’s Grave in Providence, RI.

6:35 pm- Leave Providence.

7:30 pm- Arrive at my friend's house in Hudson, MA. End Day 2

Notice, today wraps up pretty early (even though I get PA, NJ, CT and RI done). This leads to day 3 being a real bear.

Josh

The Plan: Day 1

This is the beginning of a 16 part series where I discuss my planned itinerary. All times are estimated and subject to change.

On the night of October 9th, I plan to go see Andrew Bird in Asheville, NC. Hopefully, one of the cool people I know up there will let me crash with them for one night or I will get a hotel. Either way, I am starting the trip on Saturday, October 10th.

9:00 am- Leave Hotel (or friend's house).

9:10 am- Arrive at Chicken Alley, Asheville. Besides being a cool alley, this locale is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Dr. Jamie Smith, who died in a bar brawl in 1902. I don't expect much since this will be in daylight.

9:20 am- Leave Chicken Alley.

10:25 am- Arrive at the Okolona Rd exit in Johnson City, TN. This is one where I can (maybe) test the legend. Based on the story of a man who died while trying to push his broken down car (with his family inside) to safety, you are supposed to put your car in neutral on the exit and it will roll uphill. If done long enough, you see handprints and the rear windshield gets foggy. This should not take long.

10:30 am- Leave the Okolona Rd exit.

1:30 pm- Stop somewhere for lunch

3:30 pm- Arrive at Kiester School, Harrisonburg, VA. This one is a little troublesome. The haunted spot is in a wooded area behind an elementary school. I don't really want to snoop behind a school but, since it will be the weekend, that may not be an issue? The woods are said to be haunted in that you feel someone watching you. Also, a dude disappeared into the woods in the 1960s and was never found.

3:50 pm- Leave Keister School.

5:35 pm- Arrive at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Harpers Ferry, WV. Home to a ghost priest and the screams of wounded Civil War soldiers.

5:55 pm- Leave St. Peter's.

7:10 pm- Arrive at Edgar Allan Poe's grave in Baltimore, MD. Nothing haunted here, just want to see the guy's grave since he wrote some awesome scary stories.

7:30 pm- Leave Poe's Grave.

9:00 pm- Arrive at Dead President’s Tavern in Wilmington, DE. The home to the ghost of a prankster named Lemonade Mullery who died in the 1960s by slipping on piss in the men's room (!). Apparently, he likes to play gags by throwing dishes around and levitating objects in the game room. I figured this would be a good place to stop and eat dinner, maybe grab a pint. I was originally supposed to stop in Aberdeen, MD, for the night but this is just too good an opportunity to pass up.

9:45 pm- Leave Tavern for my hotel.

That is day one, and a long day it is. However, I will get 6 states out of the way. Pretty good, I think. Let me know if you see a flaw in the plan.

Josh

Welcome to the Haunted Road Trip blog

For those who don't know (or have blocked it from their minds), I am insane. As such, I am going to attempt a semi-interesting feat. This October, I plan to drive through all 48 contiguous states in 16 days. On top of that, I plan to visit a haunted locale in each state.

This blog will eventually be a journal of my travels but, for now, it will be a sort of record for my preparations. I have about two and a half months to pull all of this together so let's look at where I'm at so far...

First up, I had to get the time off. Done. Next up, I had to figure out if it was going to be cheaper to rent a car and pay with a gas card or use my company vehicle, which provides free gas but charges me for excessive personal mileage (cross country=hella personal miles). I have figured out that, even if the personal mileage thing is brutal, it will still be cheaper than paying it out of pocket. Plus, it spreads around the expense.

Next up, what route am I taking? I had a pretty decent route planned out but then I looked into this idea and found a guy who wrote about his efforts to ride across all 48 states in 10 days by motorcycle. He made a map that sort of demonstrates the best way to conquer the states (hint: lots of skimming). So, generally speaking the order will be as follows:

NC, TN, VA, WV, MD, DE, PA, NJ, CT, RI, MA, ME, NH, VT, NY, OH, MI, IN, IL, WI, MN, ND, SD, IA, NE, CO, WY, MT, WA, OR, ID, UT, NV, CA, AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, MO, KY, AR, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA and SC. Or, to steal this guy's map...


Then, I had to go to Shadowlands and a few other websites to find all my ghost targets. I am mostly done with that (Kentucky is proving to be a problem, especially the corner I am hitting).

Hopefully, I will have the day by day breakdown up this week for everyone to peruse and make recommendations on.

Here is my question...do I take anyone with me? If so, who? No one else can legally drive my car so no one can help with that. Having a second bladder to pull over for may slow me down. The advantages would be having someone to help pay for the hotels but I would also miss out on getting to stay with some of my friends who have volunteered couches. What to do...? Comment below and help me out.

Josh