Was very pleased to be invited back to chat with Donna and her colleagues the evening of Wednesday, December 9! This show has got some very earnest, engaged listeners and I always have a lot of fun addressing their questions (more on that below).
As usual, we covered a lot of ground during the 90-minute live show. Topics included haunted Henryton Hospital in Marriotsville, Maryland; my plans for launching a publishing imprint that covers paranormal topics other than ghosthunting, such as UFOs a…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on December 12, 2009 at 1:00am —
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In the lastest round of America's Haunted Road Trip books, we decided to include appendices of "Additional Haunted Places" containing brief descriptions of sites that did not receive full-chapter coverage. I included 50 such entries in
Ghosthunting Maryland but am constantly coming across ever more purportedly haunted sites that warrant at least a mention. This post will serve as a living document for such sites as I identify them. Note that many of these sites are more restricted than th…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on November 30, 2009 at 2:30am —
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Man, I just love this show and always have such a great time on it! An hour-and-a-half just flies by and we cover so much ground. Good questions and interaction from listeners calling in or posting to the Psi-fi Para-Radio chat room keeps everything lively and adds a random element to show.
We discussed any number of diverse things on the Nov. 4 show (which,as it went until half-past-midnight Central time, extended into Nov. 5 for me). These included my own
Ghosthunting Maryland and the…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on November 5, 2009 at 1:30am —
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Had a great chat this evening with Shirley MacLaine for her Independent Expression radio show about haunted places in not just in Maryland and Virginia but around the world! Going into it, I had a presentiment that it would be more challenging than usual, and it was ... Shirley asked me questions that I have
never been asked before and -- which I noted when I spoke with her -- will in some cases affect the way I approach ghosthunting in the future. Beyond usual topics like the nature of g…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 22, 2009 at 10:30pm —
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One of the last stops on my most recent book tour was Winchester, Virginia, which I have often described as one of the most haunted cities in Virginia. I devote an entire chapter of
Ghosthunting Virginia to a number of sites in the 18th century heart of the town, two of which I revisited last weekend.
The first was the
Fuller House Inn, a haunted establishment that my wife and I stayed at in April 2008 and eagerly hoped to visi…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 19, 2009 at 11:00pm —
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Have been continuing the book tour for
Ghosthunting Maryland and took it into the "Old Line State's" Eastern Shore over the weekend!
The main event was a visit to the wonderful
Mystery Loves Company bookstore in Oxford, where I spent about three hours chatting with proprietor Kathy Harig, author Andy Nunez, and radio personality Drake Ferguson of
WCEI Radio, who interv…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 12, 2009 at 11:30pm —
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Had a very full first day of promoting
Ghosthunting Maryland that included three hours chatting with the Inspired Ghost Tracking paranormal group in Odenton, Maryland! This is a smart, fun, very active group that I spent time with over the summer while I was doing fieldwork for my Maryland guide and deservedly have a presence in it. It was thus appropriate that I should kick off the book tour at one of their events. Thanks to Margaret, Julie, and all of the other great members of IGT.
I…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 10, 2009 at 12:30am —
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Spent a great couple of hours Saturday night chatting with Beth Brown and Henry on their Paranormal View radio show! Anyone interested in downloading our discussion can do so at http://theparanormalview.podomatic.com.
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on June 21, 2009 at 6:52pm —
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"Although dueling was made illegal within the limits of the District of Columbia early on in the history of the American republic, there was nonetheless a violent streak in the souls of many contemporary gentlemen that compelled them to settle their differences through single combat," I write in the first paragraph of the chapter on Bladensburg Dueling Ground in my
Ghosthunting Maryland. "The place where they would go to exchange gunfire with each other at close quarters was a narrow stri…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on May 19, 2009 at 9:30pm —
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Spent an interesting and enjoyable evening with the Inspired Ghost Tracking meetup group at the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore and would like to thank them for having me along! Had a great time chatting with group founder Margaret, along with Wendy, Julie, Paul, Chazz, Brenda, Coleen, Maria, Darla, Renee, Jay, Ross, and Amy.
Westminster Burying Ground is, of course, a key site for Maryland ghosthunters, in that it is the final resting place of none other that Edgar Allan Poe (…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on May 17, 2009 at 12:00am —
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"There are a number of reasons that
The Exorcist is widely considered to be among the most frightening and disturbing horror films ever made, the book of the same name that it is based on holding a similar position in literature," I write in the chapter I am currently working on for
Ghosthunting Maryland. "It is thus all the more unsettling to learn that the story is not merely the product of a fevered imagination but based on an actual series of events that occurred some six decad…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on March 31, 2009 at 11:30pm —
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Had a very enjoyable interview this evening with Rob McConnell of X-Zone Radio and recommend it to anyone interested in the subject of ghosthunting (http://www.xzone-radio.com). I am currently in colder-than-hell South Dakota, which seems as much like a province of the moon as it does a real state this time of year, but once I found out that X-Zone is broadcast out of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, I figured I would not win any points for whining about the weather.
I did not have too much of an opp…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on March 10, 2009 at 10:30pm —
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Just arrived at SheVaCon -- the Shenandoah Valley Convention, in Roanoke, Virginia -- and am attending it for the first time in the event's 17-year history! It is actually a pretty cool event and I am sorry that I had not previously made the trip four hours southwest from where I live just outside of Washington, D.C.
I here, naturally, in my capacity as the author of Ghosthunting Virginia, which came out in October 2008, and Ghosthunting Maryland, scheduled for release in October 2009. I have t…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on February 27, 2009 at 11:36pm —
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Had a very enjoyable chat this evening with Tory Ferraro of the Pee Dee Paranormal Research Society, which runs a paranormal talk show in conjunction with the Carolina's Paranormal Society. Both groups are active in North Carolina and South Carolina and share a Website that can be found at
http://www.carolinasparanormal.com.
We discussed a number of interesting sites, both ones covered in my
Ghosthunting Virginia and some I am planning on…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on January 16, 2009 at 10:30pm —
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Spent a great two hours Tuesday night chatting with Blaine and Nathan on their Ghost Mafia radio show and wanted to let people know where they could check out our conversation! Very much enjoyed talking to them about my travels and investigations in Virginia and Maryland and hearing about their's in Alabama and Georgia. Topics we touched on I found especially interesting included the nature of spirits and their interactions with electronic devices. Also enjoyed meeting and talking with Jose in G…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on December 10, 2008 at 12:33am —
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Had a great signing at the Borders in Manassas on Saturday, and would like to thank store personnel Sonja Shoemake, David Moore, and Jen Stewart for making it such a success! This bookstore is, incidentally, closer than any other I am familiar with to a major haunted site, namely Manassas National Battlefield Park, site of two major Civil War battles and since the 1940s especially innumerable instances of paranormal phenomena. This site is, in fact, the subject of one of the chapters in…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 25, 2008 at 11:30pm —
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Had a great signing for
Ghosthunting Virginia tonight, with lots of of great interaction from some new fans of the Haunted Roadtrip! Cathy Blount, store manager of the Barnes + Noble in Springfield, Virginia, and her assistant manager Emilie, did a great job of setting up the event, which had a very respectable turnout of readers, including several with firsthand paranormal experience. Especi…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 24, 2008 at 11:53pm —
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Wanted to thank Community Relations Manager Jessica Lynch for setting up a great signing event for
Ghosthunting Virginia at the Barnes and Noble at Potomac Yards in Alexandria, Virginia! Spoke with a number of people who I would now characterize as fans of either the series in general or my book in particular and heard some good stories from all of them about their own paranormal experiences.…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 23, 2008 at 11:00pm —
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L'aura Hladik and I recently had a great interview about
Ghosthunting Virginia and
Ghosthunting New Jersey with Jim Harold of
Paranormal Podcast, which some of you probably already know as a great source of material on ghosthunting and related subjects. Our interview can be reached directly at…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 22, 2008 at 12:00am —
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Had a great ghosthunting-oriented evening Firday! Chatted live for about an hour-and-a-half about
Ghosthunting Virginia with the hosts of
"No Holds Barred Radio," who have previously interviewed John K. a couple of times and are planning on talking with L'aura about
Ghosthunting New Jersey. Got out the word about the series and managed t…
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Added by Michael J. Varhola on October 20, 2008 at 2:00pm —
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