October is a great time of year to travel, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, the leaves are turning beautiful colors, the weather is starting to cool off, and kids are back in school which means NO MORE CROWDS! It is the perfect time to get away so I’m going to do just that. For the next few days I’ll be exploring the city of New Orleans. I’ve read about so many interesting things to do and I doubt I’ll have time to do them all. But here are a few items on my must do list:
- Take a voodoo tour.
- Visit the spooky New Orleans cemeteries.
- Explore the swamps and bayous in a small boat.
- Stroll down Pirate’s Alley.
- Check out the mansion of author Anne Rice.
I’m hoping to do these things and more! I’ll be posting updates while I’m in New Orleans so stay tuned. As I was making this list, I began thinking of other creepy travel destinations I’d like to travel to. I also thought of some creepy places I’ve already been that you guys might like to visit someday. So I’ve put this Halloween travel bucket list together to get us inspired to travel like the Halloween enthusiasts we are.
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is not a fictional place but a very real village in in the town of Mount Pleasant in New York. Washington Irving is buried here and it is the setting for his classic tale “The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow”. (My personal favorite!) Sadly there is no covered bridge where Ichabod is said to have lost his head, but there are plenty of beautiful old buildings and areas to visit. I checked out the events in October and there are a ton! This town really knows how to celebrate the season.
Salem, Massachusetts
You’ve heard it before. The whole sad story of girls being convicted of being witches in the late 1600’s then being burned at the stake. It’s actually a terribly tragic and embarrassing part of our country’s history, but it happened. If I’m ever in Salem, I probably will take some kind of witch tour. One place in particular I’ll visit is The Witch House, one of Salem’s most historic homes with direct ties to the Witch trials of 1692.
Guanajuato, Mexico
When I was five years old, I visited Mexico with my family and the one thing I remember that I would never forget for the rest of my life were the Mummies of Guanajuato. The mummy museum is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Mexico. Due to a cholera outbreak in 1833, bodies of the deceased were buried immediately to help control the spread of the disease. If your family couldn’t afford to pay the tax, the deceased family member was disinterred (removed from the grave). Of the bodies that were removed, some had been mummified. Those mummified bodies were stored in a building where they remain to this day. The creepy thing is that some people that were dying were buried by accident! The result are horrific expressions on the faces of some of the mummies probably because they woke up in a coffin and realized they had been buried alive. I have a friend who just returned from Guanajuato and took some incredible pictures. I’ll be posting a full story on this soon.
Dublin, Ireland
I’ve always wanted to visit Dublin, Ireland. When I found out this is the birthplace of Bram Stoker, author of the classic novel Dracula (1897), I had to add it to my Halloween travel bucket list. Each year the city of Dublin hosts The Bram Stoker Festival in his honor. This year the festival is set for October 24-27. Looks like they have movies, music, lectures, and lots and lots of gothic fun!
Transylvania, Romania
This one is a no brainer. The specific reason I would love to travel to Transylvania is to get a glimpse of Bran Castle, nicknamed “Dracula’s Castle”, the alleged inspiration for Dracula’s castle in Bram Stoker’s novel. Romania has been unfairly plagued by the negative impact of the historical ruler Vlad the Impaler and the fictional Dracula. But they have profitted economically from the tourism it draws every year. There are a ton of Dracula tours most of which are really about the true history and beauty of Romania.
What are your favorite Halloween destinations? Leave a comment and I will do a follow up story to share some of the best destinations shared.
