There are museums you visit because they house the treasures of human civilization. Then there are museums you visit because you made a series of bad life choices and now you’re standing under a flickering “OPEN” sign, questioning everything. The Museum of Mystical Oddities is housed in a former discount mattress store. You can still … Read more
You haven’t truly plumbed the depths of human gullibility until you’ve stood ankle-deep in dust, surrounded by plywood storefronts, being lectured by a seventeen-year-old wearing a fake sheriff’s badge about the “tragic spectral echoes” of men who allegedly died mining fool’s gold with fool’s tools for fool’s wages. Welcome to Silver Flats, Colorado — once … Read more
The Grand Majestic Lodge markets itself as “the most haunted hotel in the Cragstone Mountains,” which is impressive, considering the competition consists mostly of abandoned ski chalets and outhouses with broken locks. Perched on a cliff like a rotting wedding cake, the Majestic lures in ghost hunters, paranormal thrill-seekers, and the occasional unfortunate skeptic (guess … Read more
Few cryptids have captured the popular imagination — or lowered the bar for eyewitness credibility — quite like the Chupacabra, the legendary “goat sucker” of Latin American folklore. Decades after is should have slunk off into obscurity, the Chupacabra somehow manages to keep sucking in the gullible. For those of you who have mercifully escaped … Read more
There’s something uniquely depressing about a forest that’s been weaponized for spiritual tourism. At The Wailing Woods Retreat Center, nestled in the least scenic corner of the state park system, you’re invited to “reconnect with the wisdom of nature” and “attune to the whispering spirits of the ancient woods.” What you’re actually reconnecting with is … Read more
Somewhere along the line, fermented tea stopped being an accident best left in the back of your fridge and became a $2 billion industry fueled by Instagram wellness influencers, dubious health claims, and the willingness of otherwise sensible adults to drink liquids that smell like a locker room. Kombucha, for the blissfully uninitiated, is sweetened … Read more
There are historic hotels, and then there are “historic” hotels — places where the only thing authentic is the mold creeping up the bathroom grout. The Silverveil Hotel proudly belongs to the second category. Billed as “the most haunted establishment east of the river” — which, judging by the river in question, isn’t a particularly … Read more
Nestled high in the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, surrounded by crumbling stone fences and optimistic goats, lies Valle Encantado — a village so proud of its alleged paranormal portal that they built a souvenir shack and two taco stands next to it before anyone could even prove it existed. According to local legend, a “doorway … Read more
Somewhere on the high, frozen plains of North Dakota lies Calaveras Junction, a town so stubbornly remote, I half-expected to dine by oil lamp and semaphore. But no. Nestled between a Cenex station and a taxidermist’s co-op, I found El Toro Borracho , the region’s only Spanish restaurant — and, I daresay, the only one … Read more
There are haunted mansions. There are haunted hotels. There are haunted abandoned asylums with grim nicknames, peeling paint, and badly edited YouTube documentaries. And then there’s Prairie Falls, Kansas’ claim to fame: a haunted post office. The Millstone Post Office looks exactly like you’d expect a building haunted by bureaucracy to look: square, beige, buzzing with fluorescent … Read more