So... am I the only freak who finds total sense of peace and beauty in cemeteries...? I always have. Maybe that's morbid, I dunno. But I have been exploring them and photographing them for as long as I can remember (see- here's me, graveyard-wandering at age 17)... they have always held a strange fascination for me.

I have been to tons of weird, spooky, and just plain bizzare locations for my site- 'haunted' places, abandoned buildings, lonely old roads, you name it- and oddly, out of all the places I've been... I have never, ever been 'spooked' in a cemetery. And I have been in cemeteries at all hours of the day and night. You think if I was gonna encounter something... unknown... it would be there, but... nope. Instead, I get a quiet feeling of peace when exploring them. I always have. And I have a great respect for their history and their tribute to those passed.

Sooo... I could tell you guys a whole bunch of graveyard tales. Or, I could just show you instead (well, those of you who haven't seen them, anyway... *wink*)... whaddaya think?? Ok, I shall!

Here- follow these links (if you are so inclined) for pictures & stories of some of my favorite cemetery trips (and trippy cemeteries!):



Chinese Graveyard:
A really strange old cemetery in San Antonio (explored while out wandering around digging up TX weirdness for the Weird Texas book), complete with 'No Witchcraft' (??!) signs..




Interstate Burial Ground:
millions of people each year pass right over a hidden NJ treasure as they drive a major freeway, without ever knowing it is there...




Tomb of 12 Nuns:
hidden in a shady (haha) NJ forest, this old, legendary tomb is the resting place of many spooky stories...




San Elizario Cemetery:
a dusty Old West TX cemetery complete with sinking plots, shallow graves, and a feathered guardian...


And... if you are still up for more cemetery stories and pics, I do have even more. Just check out this page here. Hope you enjoyed these pics & tales...

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Once again, my (hot, redheaded) friend- Casper (aka sextanika)- brings another tale of Iowa exploration to Lost Destinations...



This time, she veered down a mysterious river-side path to discover a whole host of forgotten structures, in a place she calls 'Broken Alley'. Cool stuff! And, there has also been an update to Casper's Black Angel page, with new information about this legendary dark monument (the updated part is down at the bottom... huhhuh huhhuh I said bottom...) Or, just click the pic above ^ to check all of the newness out.

Oh and also, I wanna send out a great, BIG congrats to Cas- who is going to have some of her awesome work published in a book- yay! I am so proud of you- and this is a great start to bigger things... *hugs* You go, girl!

Ahh, and, speaking of Riverside... yes I am still out in California... I think these damned ruby slippers are defective... *clicks slippers furiously... waits... nothing happens*

I still dunno when I will be returning home yet, though I am hoping it will be pretty soon (perhaps, in a week-ish?) I am kinda hyper-homesick at this point, and I think if I don't see my furbabies soon (especially my babycat- Sabre) I am gonna lose my damned mind. I also miss Markus, and my Gramma, and my crazy Auntie, and my fuzzy slippers, and feeding my funny goldfish, and my own computer, and the El Paso sunsets, and Taco Cabana, and my Buffy DVD collection, and my nightly Mr-Bubbly-bubble-bath ritual, and the darling pink Turkish geckos that live on my porch, and wandering the desert, and and and... well, just home.

Now... let me get back to working on these damned slippers...

*mutters 'there's no place like home, there's no place like home'...*

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Down a narrow, rutted dirt road... through the shadowy trees... past the NO TRESPASSING sign... lies a darkly-shaded place filled with unknown mystery...

Yep- it's the Lost Diner, and I will be your waitress tonight, serving up some saucy LIVE conversation and a little virtual coffee and pie (mmmm, pie) in our Diner chatroom in about an hour...



The Diner forum has been a virtual hangout for about the past 4 years now, and we've been gathering there in the chatroom every Thursday night for live chat for about that long now! We have a great group of regulars, and we always have a fun time chatting about any/every thing from the arcane to the just plain silly. And I'd love to have some of you guys join us there tonight, if you wanna...

The chat will be starting out in just about an hour (that's 9 pm EST)- if you need to figure out when this is in your time zone, you can always check this handy page right here, there's even a live chat countdown right on that page.

Some of you are long-time regulars... some of you have been there once or twice... and some of you have never been before. I extend an open invitation to any of you who are interested in joining us tonight (or any Thursday for that matter!) And also- remember, you can always post in the forums anytime you like.

So check it out! *bats eyelashes*

And now I gotta run- I have virtual sugar shakers to fill...

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As you can see by the palm trees, I am now in loverly Cal If Forn I Ay. And, as I am gonna be here for awhile longer, I am sending out an appeal for info to all the Californians out there...



I am in Riverside at the moment. Does anybody know of any good places for me to explore while I am in the vicinity (anything strange, scary, odd, abandoned, weird, unusual, odd, 'haunted', intriguing, or just plain odd...?) I would like to get out there and get some stuff for my site, but haven't had time (or chance) to do any CA research (been working on the book material) I would verily appreciate any tips/suggestions evah-so-muchly!

Also, you Arizona folks- send me some suggestions, too! On the way back to Texas (whenever I do head home) we will be passing through AZ once again... maybe stopping over in Phoenix/Tempe...

I did get to check out some great AZ places on the way here, but they are all for the upcoming book. I'd really love to get some new stuff for Lost Destinations, so any suggestions would be great!

Thanks in advance, guys... *smile*

So, a guy walks into the psychiatrist wearing only shorts made from Gladwrap. The psychiatrist says, 'Well, I can clearly see you're nuts'......

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This is my new pal. I call him Mr. Bitey. He enjoys ravaging lesser dinosaurs, sunsets, long walks in the sand, and Big Macs. Or so I assume, since I found him hanging out right outside a Mickey D's just offa the AZ highway...



Sorry that I have not posted in awhile- ack! I meant to. I really, really did. But, once we hit the odd little desert hotels in Phoenix, we lost our lovely WiFi connection. Dang! *shakes fist at sky*

But now we are in California. Yep, we made it. So, I am now back in Internet-Access-Land, and thus, can post again. We are currently crashing at Lobo's house in Riverside (*thanks, Lobo's Mom*!!!) while I rest, reset my brain, and work on the AZ book stuff and the pictures I took. All I can say is- Arizona is one weeeeird place. Much weirder than I had ever experienced on my previous jaunts through the 'Grand Canyon State' (and no- I have still never seen the Grand Canyon, dammit)

So... who wants to see PICTURES???

Ok- I just added a page of pics and tales of adventure(?) to LostDestinations.com, and you can see that right here.

I could take up a whole bunch of space here describing this stuff to you guys. Or, you could just click the link and see/read for yourself. Click the link, click the link!!! And then let me know what you think, ok, friends...? *wink*

(Sooooo... who has missed me??? Heh)

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Yes, the rumors are true (thanks, Bruce). It is time for another roadtrip.

ROOO-AAADTRIP!!! *yells it*

I have been asked to do some exploring/photographing/contributing for/to the upcoming Weird Arizona book...! Produced by the same masterminds (aka the Marks of Weird US) behind the other Weird books (Weird Texas... *ahem*)... this time Lobo and I will be blazing a trail across the weird wilds of the Grand Canyon State (poor Misery has to work and cannot go, alas) I can't tell much in the way of details, because that's how these things go. Heh.

But I can tell you that we will be hitting the road for AZ this weekend, and exploring for about 7-8 days. After that we may be taking a personal detour to California... and I'm not sure how long we'll be there...

But rest assured we will be seeking out whatever weird we can find while we are out there. Of course I will share the tales and pics when I get 'home' (and what IS home, anyway.... but that's a whooole other philosophical rant for another time...)...

Thanks to the modern breakthroughs in technology like rentable laptops at Rent Something, Incorporated we will have a mobile computer with us while we are out traipsing the badlands. We are hoping (...fools.... FOOLS...) to be able to get online while out on the road and maybe even- gasp!- post updates!

We'll see how that goes.

If all goes well... mebbe we'll get to do a Thursday night chat from the road, garsh darn. Well, stay tuned here (or on LD, or in the Diner, or on my 360 page... gah!) for updates on our cross-country adventures (I think we're leaving this Saturday)

(oh and don't forget our 'Virtual Bon Voyage Partay' in the Diner chatroom, tonight 8:00 pm CST, see prev post for details)

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Ok everyone. After all the torment and teasing and vague hints, the time has come to spill the beans. To unmask, lay bare, give away, make known, and otherwise let everyone in on the secret I have been hinting about!!! And this is it:

There is a BRAND-NEW Lost Diner forum (and fantastic new chatroom) now open for your virtual hanging-out pleasure!!! *woot*

Now, many of you know exactly what that means, because you were hardcore regulars in the Diner and the chats. So I don't have to explain to you guys. But to those who never experienced the phenomenon that was the Lost Diner... I will try to shed some light...

The Lost Diner was the official forum and chatroom of our website- Lost Destinations. We hosted a weekly night chat there that was THE place to be for on Thursdays for a dose of fun, craziness, weirdness, and absolute hilarity, and now- those chats are about to resume. Starting tomorrow night! (8:00 p.m. EST, and if you need to figure out when that is in your time zone- just check this handy page (it even has a countdown til the next chat- easy-peasy!)

The theme of tomorrow's chat will be: Virtual Bon Voyage PARTAY!!! As most of you now know, Lobo & I will be hitting the road for an wild 'n weird exploration roadtrip that will take us across Arizona and into California. Come to the chat and help send us off in party-hearty style! (who knows, there may even be a webcam involved... *nudge, nudge*)

As for the Diner's forums... check 'em out. We have a huge variety of fun and fascinating topics, polls, threads... the BEST emoticon collection (over 150- including custom user emoticons!) for posting use... even an Advice Column 'manned' by a stuffed bunny!! Need I say more? (If I do, I say this: please please please join us!!!)

The Diner was always a really superfun way to share stuff that eventually evolved into an awesome little community (and has spawned countless lifelong friendships). It has been down for awhile, sadly, due to technical issues... but we worked long & hard (huhhuh I said long and hard) to rebuild it even better than before. So I REALLY hope to see all of our old regulars there. And I hope to see many of you- YES YOU, my LJ friends!- there as well. So many of you are so great and amazingly funny and cool- too many of you who have never gotten to partake in the Diner luv... *pouts*

Registration of your personal ID is of course, free (as is everything in the Diner) and takes just a few seconds (just remember to validate your ID via the email verification to get started) And then please come on in for a virtual cuppa Joe and some conversation. Leave a post(s) and/or browse through the current ones. Have fun messing with the plethora of insane emoticons. Whatever floats your boat!

And stop by for the live chat later. Seriously. Thursday evening. 8:00 p.m (CST). Hope to see you there...

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Hey there ladies & germs... it's your old pal Bruce the Bunny here... *waves lil' knitted paw*

Shady has been working her little butt off all week, and the poor gal has passed out right here at her desk. So I decided to sneak on here and post an entry for her- she intended to, but she's obviously too TIRED to do it, heh.....

The news she was going to post about is this- she will be off on another roadtrip at the end of this week! I can't tell you all the details- something about exploring for a Weird Arizona book?- but she says that she is gonna take me with her. My first road trip! Woot.


(clickety to enlarge)

...now what I wanna know is- am I gonna get to go watch Shady and her drunken galpals dance on a bar like they did in San Antonio... (see her getting all debaucherous there on the right?)??? I better, dammit... that's all I'm sayin'. Or I am gonna be one pissed-off bunny.

Anyway, just wanted steal Shady's thunder and break the exciting news. Humans, pffft. I will let Shady give you the details in her next post (maybe she'll finally reveal that damned secret she's been hinting all over the place about???)....

*hops off*

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....*in George-Of-The-Jungle-Theme: watch out for that ass!!*.....



Got your attention? LOL... ok, that big, rusty ol' cage there that I am insanely climbing like a latex-clad lunatic female Spiderwoman was known as the 'Dover Mental Cage'. It was somewhat of a legend in New Jersey urban exloration... it was a Hell of an oddity on it's own (ancient-looking, people-sized cage in the woods...?)... but then it had rumors of being haunted, along with a creepy urban legend. What a trippy place it was.

Unfortunately, it was torn down... like so many of these locations ultimately are.

Some of you are familiar with it. Some may not be. It was such a cool place that I've decided to spotlight it as, errrmmm... *drumroll please*... The Lost Destination Of The Instant! (whateva that means, heh heh)

Learn more about The Cage here (my page on LD with more pictures and some info and a funny story about a spider). Or just use your own perverse imaginations to come up with twisted, vile uses for it. Pervs.

:P

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Heyhey.... looky here!

Click that link and check out the awesome interview and wrap-up interview that I (along with Scoobs Lobo, Raysie, & Mogs) participated in with the fantastic cyber-deejay Carter of CUAN last night. We had a KILLER time, Carter is a great host (and fellowe Knight- rock on!!!)... the interviews were fun and hysterical. Hopefully we'll do it again sometime soon!

If you are not familiar with his online show- Carter Up All Night- check it out now. He's hilarious and really freakin' entertaining! Plus, you can go back and read our interviews (you MIGHT be surprised- Carter got some shocking scoops!! The wrap-up interview is titled 'Shady's Panties & Other Myths Exposed', and the original interview is just before that one) Go. Now!

(Geez I'm sooo demanding. Hahaha) *bats eyelashes*

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......just wanted to let you guys know, I will be doing an interview with Carter Up All Night, Tuesday night, 10pm CST... we shall be talking about the Weird Texas book, and perhaps other things odd, strange, and generally weird (like me, ahahahhaa!)!

Hope that some of you will 'tune in' and check it out! Just follow the above link to Carter's 360 page for the online interview- be there, or be square! :P



(...and those of you who wanna check out MY 360 page- here 'tis)

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Hey everybody. Just wanted to share with you all- I have just finished designing the 2006 Lost Destinations calendar designs, and they are now available!

And there are two calendars to choose from this year: Abandoned Places, and The Cemetery Tour.... *woot*

Below are the covers of the two new calendars- click on them to get more details (and get a sneak-peek at all the pages inside)...





Each wall-hanging calendar features twelve 11.5 x 9 inch full-color glossy pages journeying through some of the spookiest abandoned sites and/or the most eerie cemeteries that I have explored over the years... so you can get 'lost' every day. Heh.

(Also, don't forget that we have a whole shop full of Ghosthunters, Urban Explorers, and general Lost Destinations goodies- T's, baby doll T's, tank tops, jerseys, baseball caps, boxer shorts, thongs, camisoles, hoodies, trinket boxes, mouse pads, mugs, tote bags, tile coasters, road trip mugs, frisbees, wall clocks, license plate frames, & more... click here to see!)

'K, I'mma done pimpin' stuff out now. Thanks! Carry on....

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Some of you may remember when we discovered the gigantic rock formations that resembled...um.... well, let's say male and female naughty bits...? Heh.

Wellll... while climbing Mt. Rubidoux I stumbled across their counterpart- the giants JurASSic Ass (complete w/bunghole and everything!)!!! lmao

So, I decided to post them all together on the Lost & Found section of LD for everyone's amusement. Or, you could just check them out under the following LJ-cut, you impatient pervs.... :P

( Jurassic dirtiness... you KNOW you wanna look... )

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...oh and one more thing on the Lost Destinations rss feed- we have just syndicated it for Livejournal (user: the_lost_feed)... so now you guys can add it to your LJ Friends page if you wanna. Basically, that means you will see all the LD news/updates/etc on right your Friends page. A'yup.

Just go here and add it, easy as pie. Mmmmm, piiiiie.

...and a big smack-a-roo... *SMACK*... to </a></b></a>bound_gagged for suggesting the teriffic idea. Thanks, dear!

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Guess hhhwhat, guys...... Lost Destinations now has it's own RSS Feed! *woot!*

Yep.... now you can keep track of the very latest additions to LD via our feed- just add it to your Yahoo 360 page (see my 360 page under 'Feeds', for example), your My Yahoo page, your custom Google homepage, as a Firefox Live Bookmark, or anything else you can add an RSS Feed to:

URL of the Feed:
http://www.lostdestinations.com/rss

Enjoy! And thanks, once again, to Lobo, techno-geniuusssss-extraordinaire... *hugs*

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Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-HOO!!!

I just finished doing my live BBC interview with Jimmy Franks (Late Show, BBC WM and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire in England).... and it was fantabulous....!

I dunno if any of you got to hear it (I had posted the approx time/date in a previous post, but who can keep track of such things???)... in fact I was even confused about what time it would be at today and so was surprised that they called when they did (freakin' international-time-zone-confusion!) I love-love-loved their lovely accents (see and now I cannot stop talking in a fake British accent myself for some reason, tally ho.... hahahaha)... and we had a nice little chat all about Lost Destinations, which they were super-complimentary of. In fact that's what the whole segment was about- LD! It was GREAT. Much thanks to Jimmy Franks & crew! (Omigod- I can't believe I was actually just on the BBC! Blimey!)

*tries to wipe grin from face*

Anyway, I hope at least some of you heard it. If not, Markus is going to try to see if he can get a copy of the segment from them so that we can post it somewhere for everyone to hear. Oh, not to mention- they said they'd like to have me on the show again sometime in the future... *yip!*

Anyway, sorry about my obnoxiously excited post. LOL... couldn't help it. Time for some tea and crumpets, or something.... (some Pig Snacks..... or Hog Lumps, perhaps...?) :P

*hugs you all in an unabashed display of happiness and affection*

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Ok you guys... I just did something that I have wanted to do for YEARS- I sent in my freaky-deaky anomalous 'devil face' photo (from the Sapphire Woods House) to one of the best/coolest radio shows about the 'unknown' ever- Coast To Coast AM... oi!

(If you have never seen the devil pic before, here is a copy of the creepy thing... brrrr!)

Now I am just crossing my fingers & toes that they post it on their site... it would be a huge deal to me.

Everyone, wish me luck!!!!!

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...quick update about the Lost Destinations interview I will be doing on the BBC (see my previous post) ...it won't be tonight as scheduled, doh, sorry... but those of you who asked me for the info so that you can listen in, here tis:

It will be around the midnight hour of Jimmy Franks Late Show (BBC WM and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire in England) on Monday Night/Tuesday Morning on November 7th (how's THAT for a slice of fried gold..?? *grin*) I will post a reminder here nearer to the date...

Carry on.

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...just wanted to drop in and wish an oooky, spooky, freaky-deaky, totally terrifying (yet safe!) Halloween to you all... I have a few 'treats' for you guys:

First, the mysterious Mount Rubidoux- the place I mentioned which Lobo & I exlored while we were out in California (the place w/all the weird legends about 'little people' and such)... just added a page of photos/info to the site, check it out (the castle-like medieval-y Tower on the mountaintop is sweeeeeet)...

And then, I also added a page about the 'Wander Inn'- an eerily empty outdoor bar & grill type complex which sat abandoned in the woods of Freehold NJ... forgotten, and slowly being buried under mounds of dead leaves... creeeepy.

Hope you all enjoy the pics and tales!

Oh oh oh, and one more thing- I am supposed to be doing a live radio interview about Lost Destinations on the BBC tonight (Monday) at some point... so my BBC-access-having friends, be sure to listen for that if you can... *smiley-smile-smile*!!

(...but damn, I still have nooooo idea what shenanigans we will get up to for Halloween yet... any El Pasoans have any suggestions...???)

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