Spring is finally here with warm gentle breezes and blooming flowers everywhere. While the Mighty Mississippi River is still REALLY high here in Vicksburg, things are starting to feel cheery and optimistic. The winter doldrums are waning. Birds are building nests, bees are pollinating and life in general looks bright. Continue Reading »
Posted in April, authors, blooms, books, desert, deserts, Fiction, Jansen Schmidt, love, reading, romance, travel, Vicksburg, weather, writers, writing | Tagged American Indians, Arizona, book launch, books, characters, Indian reservation, Native Americans, research, romantic suspense, sequels, suspense | 4 Comments »
I know it’s April Fools Day and some of you are either giving or getting pranked today, but this post is certainly not about that. This is a very serious post and one that is near and dear to my heart. I hope you’ll bear with me and know that I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer on this fabulous Monday. Such is not the case. Today is actually a day of celebration. Continue Reading »
Posted in April, drinks, Family, Fiction, friends, health, Jansen Schmidt, watching tv, words, writing | Tagged anniversary, April fools, breast cancer, cancer, cancer free, celebration, chemo, doctors, emotions, feeling normal, healing, I'm fine, medicine, mental health, normal | 12 Comments »
So Groundhog Day has come and gone. The most famous groundhog of Groundhog Day history is Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania. This year on February 2nd, Phil was released from his comfy captivity and forced into the wilds of Gobbler’s Knob in front of a camera crew and numerous onlookers to look around and predict whether or not spring was about to bust loose around us. Continue Reading »
Posted in April, beach, blooms, driving, Fiction, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, Lake Tahoe, spring break, travel, vacation, weather, writing | Tagged blizzard, Florida, Gobbler's Knob, Great Lakes, Groundhog, Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day Club, inner circle, liar, liars, Milltown Mel, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil, rodent, shadow, snow, spring, top hat, winter | 16 Comments »
As you may remember, I mentioned earlier that I traveled not too long ago and, for subscribers to my newsletter, I also mentioned that I’d be blogging about my journey. At the very end of January we spent 3 days at Disney World (yes – again) followed by a 7-night Disney cruise. Continue Reading »
Posted in beach, beer, blogging, blooms, breakfast, Caribbean, cruise, Disney, Disney World, drinks, Family, food, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, travel, vacation, Walt Disney World, writing | Tagged Bahamas, brunch, Caribbean, Castaway Cay, Cayman Islands, characters, clowning around, collages, Cozemel, Disney cruise, Falmouth, Good Hope Great House, Grand Cayman, Hell, islands, Jamaica, moonshine, photos, sangria | 8 Comments »
I’ve lived in Mississippi for almost 4 years now and there are still some things that I just can’t comprehend. Mostly I love the laid back way of life and southern hospitality. I love the charming small town feel of a lot of places in this great state. Other things, I don’t get. At all. Continue Reading »
Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, books, breakfast, Christmas, Family, Fiction, food, grammar, health, hill billy, Holidays, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, redneck, sports, travel, Uncategorized, Vicksburg, words, writing | Tagged chicken, chicken dinner, chitlins, cracklins, Faulkner, food, football, Halloween, hunting, hunting season, kale, Kansas, kumbachu, Mississippi, pork rinds, quinoa, unexplained, weird, Welty | 12 Comments »
You ever have one of those days when it feels like nothing is going right? You know the days I’m talking about, you get up on the wrong side of the bed or the planets don’t line up or whatever. This past weekend I had one of those days. It was more like two of those days in a row, but it just felt like I should crawl back into bed and stay there until, oh I don’t know, summer. Continue Reading »
Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, breakfast, Family, Fiction, food, friends, health, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, resolutions, success, vacation, writing | Tagged bacon, bad day, Baer House, Baer House Inn, burned bacon, candied bacon, Cooking, dinner, dinner party, dinner theater, distractions, food, having a bad day, phone, pilgrimage, salad, smoke, Vicksburg Pilgrimage, wedge salad | 14 Comments »
I love to explore creepy places. Haunted houses are always cool, old dilapidated buildings at night, attics, basements, cemeteries in the fog, those kinds of places. I like to check out all the little nooks and crannies to see if there’s any hidden switches that open doorways to secret rooms. You know, the kinds of stuff you see on TV.
Photo courtesy Google Images
Here are some photos of some mysterious and supposedly haunted places I’ve had the privilege of exploring:
We’ll start with a local one. These pictures were taken on one of the nights I took the haunted tour over at the McRaven Tour Home here in Vicksburg
If you are interested in touring this fabulous house, and you should if you’re in Vicksburg, here is the link for more information https://www.mcraventourhome.com/
Next we’ll go to California, to a VERY small town called Ione in Amador County. One of the last places I visited before leaving California for Mississippi was Preston Castle. Here is a brief bit of information about Preston Castle:
In 1890, the California State Legislature purchased 230 acres from the Ione Coal & Iron Company for construction of the Preston School of Industry, a place where troubled boys could learn a trade instead of being incarcerated in juvenile prisons.
The complex was highly self-sufficient; the large acreage of the purchase allowed the boys to grow their own food, raise livestock and learn farming trades. Additionally, there was a print shop, bakery and cobbler shop where the young delinquents and otherwise homeless boys could learn skills for self-preservation in the real world.
The school officially opened on June 13, 1894, and the first wards moved in only two weeks later. The superintendent controlled life inside the Preston School of Industry, where discipline was extreme. Loss of privileges seemed minor in comparison to starvation, isolation, and public paddling and lashings, severe strategies that were common at Preston.
Here are some of the photos from my tour:
For a brief time in 1954 country music legend Merle Haggard did time at Preston Castle for auto theft. For more information about Preston Castle click here:Â http://www.prestoncastle.com/
Next we’ll head up north to Victoria, British Columbia and take a peek at Craigdarroch Castle. The castle is a historic, Victorian-era Scottish Baronial mansion. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada due to its landmark status in Victoria
All of these places are reportedly quite haunted although I never experienced anything supernatural while I was there. Quite a few of my photographs from Craigdarroch Castle have what appear to be orbs in them, but it might just be dust motes in the air. This one in particular is of interest.
Me and Corey on the grand staircase at Craigdarroch Castle.
I don’t know what that big cloudy bubble thing is near my hand but it darn near touched me. And, there are at least 3 more smaller orbs in this photo. Do you see them?
Anyway, if you’d like more information about this creepy cool place, here’s where you need to start:Â https://thecastle.ca/
So there you have it my friends, my nod to keeping it creepy in February. What creepy places have you explored? Do you like visiting haunted houses?
Word of the day: Zloty
Fun fact about me: I guess I live in a haunted house, at least that’s what people tell me.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, January 2019. Photos by P. Rickrode and Google Images.
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Posted in blogging, Family, Fiction, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, Paranormal, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, watching tv, writing | Tagged cemetery, Craigdarroch Castle, creepy, creepy places, fog, graves, haunted houses, haunted tours, Ione California, McRaven House, Merle Haggard, orbs, Preston Castle, Victoria British Colombia | 6 Comments »
