The Haunted Places I've Visited ~ Virtual #Ghost Tour #Halloween #Paranormal

This is the cover of my individual story
in the Love Under Fire Box Set - you can
get it exclusively in the set on 11/13!

My 6th novel, a spooky ghost mystery mixed with romance, releases in just two weeks!  You can read more about The Haunting of Hillwood Farm in this post; it's part of a fabulous Limited Edition Box Set available for just 99 cents on Pre-order!  This is my 4th novel involving ghosts, and as a fan of all things spooky, Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love checking out haunted locations, and many of the places I've visited have inspired story ideas.  So today's post is a virtual tour of some of the locations I've visited and written about.

I took this photo of the Old
Jail House - what's in the top
window?  Building was
closed and locked!

My novel Haunted Souls was inspired by a ghost tour that ended with a stop at Barnstable Village's Old Jail House - the oldest wooden jail in the entire country, built circa 1690.  You can find more on the structure's haunted history here.

A book signing for that book led to an invitation to tour other very old and reportedly haunted buildings in Barnstable Village, and this post details that amazing private tour!



A trip to NYC last winter brought me to The Dakota, an apartment building near Central Park with a creepy history and a Gothic design so mysterious the building was used in the movie Rosemary's Baby.  More on that here.

The Dakota has quite a history, and this is
where John Lennon was killed

While in Paris, I took a tour of the Catacombs.  If you don't know that story, it's incredibly fascinating (although dark).  History and pics of the tunnels of remains inside the Catacombs here.

One small shot of all the skeletons below the city of Paris...

Tied with the Catacombs for creepiest place was my (not exactly legal) self-tour of the abandoned Glenn Dale TB Sanatorium.  I've gotten more emails about this excursion than any other blog post!  

The abandoned Glenn Dale Tuberculosis
Isolation Hospital and Santatorium in Maryland

What's the spookiest place you've ever visited?  Please comment below!

And if you like ghost stories that are eerie without being gory, with some steamy romance to counteract the chills up your spine, check out my books!  'Tis the season for haunted reading!

Haunted History of #theDakota ~ #NYC #NewYork #Travel #paranormal #ghosts

View of the Dakota from Central Park

Because I have a strong fascination with all things spooky, I tend to seek out haunted places to visit when we go on trips.  When we spent a day in Paris during a London trip, I insisted on exploring the Catacombs.  We also spent a day at the Tower of London, which is surely home to some restless spirits.  In Maryland, I've explored the abandoned Glenn Dale TB Hospital.  Closer to home, I've taken tours of the Old Jail (oldest wooden jail in the entire country), and haunted locations around Barnstable Village. 

More recently, between Christmas and New Year's this winter, we went to New York City to spend some time with our best friends again...with our family in MA, and theirs in VA, NYC is an excellent--albeit expensive--half-way point.  And there's so much to see packed into such a small area!

Looking up from the street...I can believe this building is haunted

When I looked up a list of haunted places in NYC to see what would come up, I was intrigued by The Dakota.  This is an exclusive apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, built in 1884 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The list of celebrities who have lived--or currently live--here is very long, but one of the most well-known residents was John Lennon of the Beatles, who was murdered at the entrance of the building in 1980.  Some claim to see Lennon's ghost, but John Lennon himself apparently spoke of some supernatural encounters in the building before his assassination.  He mentioned an encounter with an apparition in the hallway, who he dubbed "the Crying Lady Ghost".

Site of John Lennon's assassination

Another frequently seen spirit is a little blonde girl dressed in early 1900s clothing, sometimes bouncing a ball.  There have been reports of other apparitions, including a figure resembling Edward Clark, head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, who built the Dakota but died before the building's completion.

Residents and employees have reported seeing objects move on their own, including things too heavy for a person to lift.

The exterior of the building is a Gothic blend of gables and dormers, arches and balustrades, with ornate iron details.  It is imposing and intimidating enough to have been chosen to represent The Bramford in the horror movie Rosemary's Baby, in which a Satanic cult in the building try to impregnate a new resident with the Devil's baby.  Thankfully, that is a fictitious tale created by Ira Levin in his book of the same name.

This intricate & somewhat sinister ironwork goes all the way around the building

I would have loved to explore the interior of the building, but as I mentioned, it's the home of many famous and affluent residents, and there is security at the entrances.  But I took plenty of photos of from outside, and while I don't think I caught any ghosts on camera, it did give off a spooky vibe that sent a few shivers down my spine.

This was as close as I could get...at one time,
these arched entrances allowed carriages inside.
A Christmas tree was still on display in the courtyard.