travel Archives

Where are the most haunted houses in the USA?

October 12, 2021 by Andrew Leave a Comment

MyBaggage, a site about travel and being prepared for it, has some Halloween content.

Tempted to do something spooky for ghost season? MyBaggage have researched the scariest haunted houses in the USA.

RANK	HOUSE NAME	STATE
1	Creepy Hollow Haunted House	TEXAS
2	Purgatory Scream Park	TEXAS
3	New Orleans Nightmare Haunted House	LOUISIANA
4	House of the Occult at Lemp Brewery	MISSOURI
5	Netherworld Haunted House	GEORGIA
6	Terror on the Coast	MISSISSIPPI
7	Statesville Haunted Prison	ILLINOIS
8	Factory of Terror OH	OHIO
9	13th Hour Haunted House	NEW JERSEY
10	Reapers Revenge	PENNSYLVANIA

Here’s a brief look at the top five haunted houses that you might include in your travels.

1. Creepy Hollow Haunted House

The ‘Creepy Hollow Haunted House’ in the southern state of Texas takes the top spot. This not-for-profit house highlights three spooky attractions, using realistic special effects and people in costumes to provide a scary experience.

Creepy Hollow gives proceeds go to good causes.

2. Purgatory Scream Park

The ‘Purgatory Scream Park’ comes second, the largest haunted house in Texas if you dare.

It takes 40 minutes for a terrifying walkthrough, and you’re bound to become immersed in the Halloween fun.

3. New Orleans Nightmare Haunted House

At this haunted house, you’ll find clowns, the walking dead, and even the Bogeyman to keep you up at night. There are three core attractions to pick from to maximise the chances of the hairs on the back of your neck standing up before you escape.

4. House of the Occult at Lemp Brewery

Underground, where no one will hear you scream. At the House of the Occult, you may come face to face with demons, mazes, and the pitch-black cavern.

5. Netherworld Haunted House

One of the two attractions here is the Monster Museum which features rare movie props that you won’t see anywhere else.

The other is a 3D experience hosted in a secret facility.

In Pure Spirit

Where do you think the spookiest haunted house in the States is?

Explore through the secret door

February 14, 2013 by Andrew Leave a Comment

The Secret Door makes use of Google Maps and images to let your randomly explore visual highlights of the world. I’ve found beautiful waterfalls, interesting pubs, crazy offices, people goofing around, cheeky dolphins and I was even inside a sauna once. Don’t worry; in the sauna it was all blurred faces and bikinis – it’s not that type of secret door!

The Secret Door is presented by Safestyle UK

In Pure Spirit

The Secret Door is a marketing/PR idea but I still rather liked it. Did you? Find anything interesting?

If you had a real secret door and could use it to take yourself on holiday anywhere. Where would yo go?

Wear turquoise for business trips

April 18, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Turquoise is a good stone to wear for business trips; it helps for both money matters and travel.

The Arabic name for it, Fayruz, means lucky stone and turquoise was sometimes known as the horseman’s talisman. Horsemen would wear it, mounted in gold, in order to protect themselves from falls. A second turquoise stone was often added to the horse’s saddle in order to protect the animal.

An ancient ritual sometimes used to encourage wealth makes use of turquoise. The ritual needs to be performed during the New Moon and for the caster to avoid looking at the moon until the spell.

The caster would hold the turquoise in their hand while visualising money entering their life. Slowly they would look up to the new moon – sighting it for the first time that month – and then back down to the turquoise. The stone would then be carried until the money arrived.

In Pure Spirit

Which crystal would you recommend for business trips and travelling?

Time for Air France and KLM to stop promoting ivory?

April 16, 2009 by Andrew 1 Comment

Flying Blue is the loyalty program from Air France and KLM. It was created in 2005 when the two airlines merged together and merged the Fréquence plus frequent flyer program with the Flying Dutchman frequent flyer program.

Kenya Airways, Air Europa, Aircalin and Northwest Airlines also make use of Flying Blue.

The frequent flyer program has four levels of membership. At the top there is the Platinum level (equivalent to SkyTeam Elite Plus), below that there is Gold (equivalent to Sky Team Elite), then Silver (Sky Team Elite) and the introductory level is Ivory (Basic).

Platinum, gold and silver are highly tradable precious metals. Ivory is not. It’s illegal to trade in new ivory. Elephants are hunted and killed in a horrific ivory black market.

The question is – should Air France and KLM be handing out loyalty cards which imply some sort of exclusivity, collectability and value in ivory?

It should be noted that Flying Blue cards are Natura Card’s by Selp. These cards are 85% made of yearly renewable resourcesand designed to be as green as possible.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Is it an overreaction to be concerned about Air France and KLM’s use of ivory in their loyalty program or are merged airlines really setting a bad example here?

Good for everyone: Budget responsible travel

February 4, 2009 by Andrew 2 Comments

The credit crunch provides us with some holiday dilemmas. Can we go somewhere nice on holiday without spending too much? Can we go somewhere nice and be responsible, ethical and green?

Researching such budget ethical holidays can be hard work but here at In Pure Spirit, we think it is worthwhile as success here is good for everyone.

The following post is five suggestions of good for everyone holidays from the responsible travel company. Each suggestion is for accommodation only offer from a holiday company which makes every effort to provide ethical and green choices.

Our first tip is related to the current weakness of the Pound against the Euro. The best good for everyone holidays is found either within the UK or just outside Europe.

Lodges in a Devon farm

Choose from three lovely lodges on an ethical farm in Devon. This holiday is ideal for dog owners and BBQ lovers.

The warm lodges are good for everyone as they make use of electricity provided from 100% renewable sources. Guests are encouraged to recycle paper, glass, cans and plastic.

Another key feature of these lodges is the wildlife – especially the owls and other birds.

You can research this holiday some more here*.

Bed and Breakfast at Loch Ness

Loch Ness is famous the world over. Whereas only a few people are lucky enough to be able to claim to have had a monster sighting everyone can claim to have seen the loch’s wonderful views.

This good for everyone holiday is ideal for walkers and photographers.

You can research more about this Loch Ness holiday here*.

An ethical Tobago beach holiday

The Tobago rainforest is the oldest protected rainforest in the Western world. These two all-wood lodges sit near the edge of the mango trees and bamboo.

This is a family-friendly good for everyone holiday as children has all the space they need to run and play. The coastline is also ideal for birdwatchers and it is even possible to arrange a tour with the famous ornithologist Newton George.

You can read more about this beach holiday here*.

Responsible accommodation in Transylvania

What can we say about a trip to the Carpathian Mountains, Romania and Transylvania? The countryside is breathtaking and the buildings historic – but we know everyone will be thinking about the most famous vampire story of them all.

This good for everyone holiday is ideal for monster hunters and culture vultures.

More information about responsible holidays in Transylvania can be found here*.

Imlil, the Atlas Mountains and Morocco

The Atlas Mountains are some of the most beautiful in the world. This family-sized home has 4 bedrooms, two large roof terraces and dining room top of the kasbah.

This good for everyone holiday really helps to support the local economy. The entre Kasbah was built by local workers from the nearby village. The owners help run a local grocery shop.

More information is available about this holiday here*.

In Pure Spirit

Hopefully, this list will help kick start your good for everyone holiday – you might even be able to research and book the whole thing during an ad break in Coronation Street.

What holiday tips would you offer to help people plan a responsible, ethical and green holiday that doesn’t break the bank?

Disclaimer: Links marked with stars* are revenue links.

Continental Airlines’ first ever biofuel flight

January 7, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

: Image by express000 via Flickr

Today Continental Airlines demonstrated the first ever biofuel flight for a commercial aircraft in North America.

The plane in question was a 737-800 with CFM International CFM56-7B engines. The goal of the flight was not just to demonstrate that such a flight was possible but to record and analyse important data the unique flight generated.

“This demonstration flight represents another step in Continental’s ongoing commitment to fuel efficiency and environmental responsibility,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Kellner. “The technical knowledge we gain today will contribute to a wider understanding of the future for transportation fuels.”

However, this is not a true biofuel flight – not if you were hoping that the plane would be running soley on biofuel. In fact, one of the two engines on the plane will use %100 traditional fuel. The second engine will use %50 biofuel and %50 traditional fuel.

Don’t be disheartened by that relatively low percentage of biofuel as Continental Airlines engineers have calculated that this change alone will result in a significant decrease in carbon emissions.

Furthermore this strain of biofuel has been designed so that acts as a ‘drop-in’ fuel. This means that neither the aircraft nor the engines need any special modification to use the biofuel. Many aircraft around the world could, in theory, be able to use the fuel.

Biofuels have become controversial since they are seen as taking away valuable food materials or even adding to deforestation. Many people argue that it is better to use food to feed the poor rather than convert it into biofuel to allow the rich to travel.

The biofuel in the Continental Airlines flight, however, is a second generation biofuel which avoids these problems. Second generation biofuels are often made from algae or jatropha plants taken from sustainable and managed specialist farms.

A company called Sapphire Energy was responsible for providing the improved fuel to Continental.

“The simple combination of sunlight, CO2 and algae to produce a carbon-neutral, renewable fuel source has the potential to profoundly change the petrochemical landscape forever,” said Jason Pyle, Sapphire Energy CEO. “Today’s flight puts us one step closer to moving away from fossil fuels and energy dependency, and with no impact on the transportation infrastructure, food sources or the environment.”

In Pure Spirit

Do you this today’s demonstration flight be Continental Airlines is a step in the right direction?

Is this a real effort to find an environmentally friendly sustainable fuel? Or is this just a publicity stunt?