With the spooky season upon us shows about hauntings and other creepy topics are seeing a boost in viewers. It seems every channel has its own way of celebrating the macabre and scary. One of our favorites is the Travel Channels “Most Terrifying Places.” Travel has done this before, but the previous incarnation of the show was the “Most Terrifying Places in America.” This time they’re going global for “Ghostober.” We did some digging of our own to see what sorts of things this spooky show might have hiding in its closet. Here are the top ten things we uncovered that you didn’t know about Travel’s “Most Terrifying Places.”
1. Ghostober is Annual
Every year the Travel Channel gets excited about October. “Halloween is Travel Channel’s Super Bowl,” Matthew Butler, general manager, Travel Channel, said to The Wrap . They’ve done specials about ghost hunting and haunted places in the USA in the past with great success. With summer beach houses going out of season and fall leaves changing, the scary season is one of the most fun of the year and Travel knows just how to freak you out.
2. So Much More
When you finish watching Most Terrifying Places, don’t touch your dial. There’s a whole lot of Halloween on Travel. Here’s just some of the new lineup that you’ll find when you finish watching Most Terrifying Places. There will be other returning shows and a miniseries too, so you won’t run out of chills and thrills this month:
- The Holzer Files– Based on the uncovered files of America’s first known ghost hunter, investigator Dave Schrader, psychic medium Cindy Kaza and equipment technician Shane Pittman search out the first American ghost hotspots.
- Ghost Nation- Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves, and Dave Tango are familiar faces helping people under siege by the paranormal.
- Hometown Horror- Many small communities have ongoing problems with the frightening and supernatural. This series seeks them out and shares their scares with the world.
- The Alaska Triangle- The largest state doesn’t have a whole lot of people, but it does have a seriously spooky history. From a supposed alien base to monsters lurking in the wilds, Alaska isn’t just cold; it’s spine chilling.
- Horror Story- We all love campfire ghost stories, but what about the people who have real-life tales of terror? Hear what they have to say about their authentic experiences.
- Destination Fear- Dakota Laden, siblings Zak and Chelsea Bagans and their friend Tanner take a cross country trip to spend nights in America’s most haunted locations.
3. No Cable?
If you don’t subscribe to a cable provider, you can still join in on the fun of Most Terrifying Places. Amazon will have the program available for pennies per episode. You can pick up the whole season for a couple of dollars. That’s a steal if you ask us.
4. Reenactments
We can safely assume there will be plenty of reenactments and retellings of the stories. IMDB has a partial cast list that shows the characters played by some of the actors on the show this season. We’re pretty sure that Barbie Pocase isn’t a real 1940’s ghost and we know Kellan Jackson wasn’t around for the Civil War. It looks like they’ve done a great job finding some spooks and cooks to fill up the storytelling portion of the show, but will the real ghosts come out to play on camera?
5. Lake Shawnee Amusement Park
Most of the time amusement parks are, well amusing. This park, however, has been abandoned since two children died there in 1966. The first episode of Most Terrifying Places will take you on a horror-filled ride through this bizarre and frightening place that was once home to cotton candy and another, cheerier sort of thrill. The park has a long and bloody history that stretches back to well before it was a play place for families. Up until 1783, the future dilapidated fun zone was home to a tribe of Native Americans. According to the NY Daily News, a farmer named Mitchell Clay tried to settle there with his family, and things didn’t end well. Are the ghosts just two unlucky visitors to the park, or perhaps could they be Tabitha and Ezekial, Mitchells children. Young Tabitha was stabbed, but her brother was reportedly kidnapped and burnt to death. Then again, the child ghosts might be the spirits of the local tribe who were hunted down and slaughtered after the attack that killed the Clay children.
6. Sweetwater Mansion
The second stop on this scary adventure is the Sweetwater Mansion in Florence, Alabama. This unusually chilling location was built by General John Brahan, a veteran soldier of the War of 1812. The manse wasn’t complete until 1835, and General Brahan never got to live there. Instead, this old plantation house was first occupied by Robert Patton, the future governor of Alabama and son-in-law to Brahan. From shadowy women to a caretaker who saw a Confederate soldier laid out in a casket, the spooks that haunt this place are many. One of Patton’s sons was a soldier in that war. When he died, the family held the service right there at home. Is this the echo of a real event? We’ll leave that to you to decide if you ever visit.
7. Drakelow Tunnels
The Drakelow Tunnels in Kidderminster England are the only publicly accessible WWII Shadow Factory and Cold War bunker. This particular location was active until 1993. Tourists love and fear this place. You can visit and take a historical tour, or a haunted tour if you like. They also hold Airsoft Games there, so there are more than a few people who can attest to the freak-out factor of this super scary former Shadow Factory. If you decide to visit, know that you cannot bring children under ten into these tunnels of terror.
8. Randolph County Infirmary
This freaky old asylum has scared the caretakers, the visitors, and doubtless the inmates as well. As the most haunted place in Indiana, you can go and spend an evening there if you book in advance. However, buyer beware, this frightful place is rumored to be a portal to other worlds. As one of the first places you’ll see on Most Terrifying Places, it’s fun to think about visiting in person.
9. Dawn’s Never Inn
This haunted bar has so much history we don’t know where to start. The gorgeous mahogany bar serves up drinks, karaoke, and seriously haunted past. Rumor has it the bar was a speakeasy during prohibition times and has tunnels that were used by booze runners, but there’s more than just tunnels. Moreover, it was also once a brothel. Staff and the owners have seen evidence of real hauntings over the years. If you stop in and meet Dawn herself, just ask. She’ll probably share the bar’s creepy history with you over a drink if you ask nicely.
10. Old Bryan Granary
The Old Bryan Granary in Ohio is known for its ghost tours and local reports of haunting. People on the tours have even reported paranormal activity. More frightening still, a couple of years ago, someone or something tried to burn the place to the ground. Local authorities looked into the issue, but we didn’t find any evidence that they found the culprits. Was it troubled youths, a creeped out employee or an otherworldly problem that almost made this haunted business disappear for good?
Final Thoughts
We love a good scare, and knowing you can visit some of the places featured in the first episode is fun. Perhaps we’ll do our own ghost hunting someday, just not while new episodes are still airing. Travel Channels Ghostober is one of our favorite annual events, and we’ll be glued to the screen all month for the scary fare they serve up so well. Now you know a little bit about what’s in store we hope you enjoy Ghostober and Most Terrifying Places even more. Do you know a place that the Travel Channel hasn’t yet stopped on one of their ghost hunting shows? Let us know what you’d like to see them feature next October in the comments below.
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