I had the privilege of visiting three of the most historically important cities in America; New Orleans, Gettysburg, and Washington DC (all three of which are considered to be "the most haunted city on Earth" according to all the postcards and tourist traps).
On my visit to New Orleans, I visited a vampire boutique (where I purchased a guide to the paranormal aspects of the city), a handful of voodoo shops, and a witchcraft store (where I got a copy of Psychic Self Defense by Dion Fortune). We also visited the Audubon Zoo which had an excellent exhibit on the Rougarou (a Cajun version of the werewolf. The term is derived from the French Loup-Garu) and Bigfoot's three-toed cousin, the Honey Island Swamp Monster. Needless to say, I got suckered into purchasing a Rougarou T-shirt.
My Gettysburg trip was fairly brief because it was a short stop on the way to visit some friends who live in Harrisburg, PA. We visited a Civil War museum, saw some of the statues and monuments, and went to numerous ghost shops. Gettysburg, interestingly, has no less than five different ghost stores as well as a handful of Wiccan, fortune teller, and other paranormal related venues (and an excellent comic book store). Needless to say, if you are looking for ghost-hunting equipment or a ghost-hunting team to join, you should probably move to Gettysburg.
When we visited Washington DC, we didn't do anything paranormal focused but we did visit a handful of monuments, the National Zoo, and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (which, unfortunately, did not have any of their prehistoric animal exhibits available to the public due to revisions in the exhibits). The Museum did have a couple sections that were of interest to cryptozoologists, though. They had a neat display about the coelacanth and giant squid, a fascinating exhibit about the thylacine (aka. Tasmanian tiger/wolf), and a stuffed okapi.
Overall I had a wonderful time. Next year we might venture to Florida, so I might go looking for the infamous Skunk Ape!
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| My sister and I with the terrifying Rougarou at New Orleans' Audubon Zoo |
For a second there, I thought that Rougarou was that rabbit dude from 'Donnie Darko'.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you plan your vacations well. We plan on attending the 'Weekend of the dead' out where they filmed 'Dawn of the Dead' this year.
We have not yet made it to the International Crypto Museum, but really want to.