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 on April 8, 2019| 4 Comments »
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. (more…)
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 on March 4, 2019| 12 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. (more…)
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 on February 18, 2019| 6 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 authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, camera, Family, friends, Holidays, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, writing, tagged America, Americans, Baer House Inn, flags, foreign countries, foreigners, guests, inn guests, international, maps, Mississippi, thankful, the deep south, the south, tourists, travel, traveling, traveling abroad, United States, USA, visitors on January 21, 2019| 15 Comments »
One of the things I really like about innkeeping is meeting folks from all over the world. When we first bought the inn, I never imagined that I’d meet people from so many different countries. I truly never imagined there’d be so many people from other parts of the world interested in the deep south. (more…)
Posted in awards, Barbie, blogging, camera, Christmas, dogs, Family, friends, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, sports, toys, Vicksburg, writing, tagged Barbie, bikes, children, Christmas presents, cute, funny letters, kids, letters to Santa, newspaper, presents, random, Santa, Santa Claus, sweet, Xbox on January 7, 2019| 8 Comments »
So the holiday madness is behind us and all that’s left is the clean up. Yeah, that’s the part nobody really likes. I’m the person who likes to have everything cleaned up and put away by the end of the day on January 1. It doesn’t always work out that way, but it’s my goal. Not that I’m ready for the pretty sparkling lights to go away – because I’m not – but because I usually have an entire day on January 1st with nothing pressing to do, so I undecorate before the madness of “real” life settles back in. (more…)
Posted in Baer House Inn, blogging, breakfast, Christmas, Family, friends, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, musical theater, singing, Uncategorized, Vicksburg, writing, tagged acappella, choir, christmas music, funny christmas songs, funny holiday songs, funny songs, mens acappella, mens choir, music, music video, straight no chaser, video, Youtube on December 24, 2018| 12 Comments »
Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you’ve all got plans to be with family and loved ones this evening and tomorrow. I’ll be enjoying some peace and quiet here at the inn. (more…)
Posted in Amazon.com, authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, breakfast, drinks, Family, food, health, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, social media, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, words, writing, tagged Baer House, Baer House Inn, breakfast foods, camp stove, Diet Coke, guest room, honesty, innkeeper, innkeeping, napping, odd traits, parking lot, towels, wedding, weird, weird people on November 12, 2018| 8 Comments »
There’s never a dull moment here at The Baer House Inn. Guests come and guests go, some quietly, some with gusto. On several occasions in the past I’ve posted about odd behavior from guests, but just about the time I think I’ve seen it all, something new comes along that makes me scratch my head and say, “Nope, I guess I haven’t seen it all.” Here are some examples of recent unusual happenings here at the inn. (more…)
Posted in authors, blogging, driving, Family, Fiction, first car, friends, hill billy, humor, Jansen Schmidt, redneck, travel, vacation, Vicksburg, writing, tagged car horns, cars, danger, greeting, hello, honking, horn blowing, horn honking, horns, morse code, random, signal, signals, steering wheel, vehicles, warning on October 15, 2018| 13 Comments »
I don’t know about you, but I rarely use my car horn. I mean, seriously, hardly ever. And usually when I do, I have to press around on the steering wheel a bit to get the exact spot for sound to come out. I just don’t have an up-close and personal relationship with my car horn.
