Flip the Ink on Courtney Mroch

For those of you who are a fan of Twitter, you may already know Courtney Mroch from her Paranormal Travel blog site: Haunt Jaunts. It was on Twitter that I first met Courtney...and was I surprised, I had never known a "Director of Paranormal Tourism." I am happy to say that my experience in meeting Courtney was a very pleasant surprise and I soon found out that we share a love...no, make that a PASSION, for haunted destinations! So much so, that Courtney interviewed me, and I then wrote a brief travel article for Haunt Jaunts about one of my favorite haunts...Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Needless to say (but I must!) this interview is truly a Flip the Ink on a paranormal personality. I know you will ejoy the interview...

INTERVIEW
Courtney Mroch is a writer, traveler and ghost enthusiast who indulges her passion for paranormal tourism with Haunt Jaunts, a travel blog for restless spirits at: http://hauntjaunts.net/blog/
Q/A Begins
Q: Let’s clarify the name of your Web site: Is it Haunt Jaunts, as two separate words or HauntJaunts and is it okay to refer to it as "HJ"? I ask because I’m a bit confused by it and it seems I’ve seen it both ways.
A: Yes, the name is Haunt Jaunts as two separate words. Just its Twitter handle is HauntJaunts. (Well, @HauntJaunts to be precise.) And it's perfectly fine to refer to it as HJ. That's how I often do it!
Q: Courtney, you say a little bit about yourself on your Web site in regard to recent struggles with Cancer and how your concept for HJ helped in your recovery. I find your story not only inspirational, but it is also down to earth in its realistic approach to getting and keeping a positive attitude. Please give my readers a thumbnail sketch of your Cancer experience and the eureka moment that sparked your idea to create HJ.
A: I can't even tell you how many years I've had the overall idea for Haunt Jaunts now. Since around 1999 I think. I initially envisioned it in book form - "Haunt Jaunts: A Travel Guide for Restless Spirits." It was about two years before I got cancer that I got the idea to put it on the web. I first envisioned it as a website listing haunted places, but I think in one of my chemo-induced sleeps it sort of popped in my head, "Duh! A blog would be ideal for HJ!" So…the second I started feeling better and could sit at the computer again I started one.
Q: I especially like how your dog Murphy bonded with you during treatment and was a bandanna twin to you (my description). How’s Murphy doing and does Murphy travel on haunted jaunts with you?
A: You sure got that right! Murph was my bandana buddy last summer when my hair started sprouting back. We'd put on our bandanas and away we'd go! See, he sort of had some health issues too. Right before I got sick he busted up his paw and needed a major surgery. He had a cast on his leg for like six months. He wasn't allowed to walk except in our yard. Then I got sick and couldn't walk him. (Although, he was still on limited walks anyway.) We're used to doing at least a couple of miles a day together. So when we both finally started getting mobile again it was a big deal. I suffer major separation anxiety when I'm away from my pets. (We have two cats.) We can't take the cats with us, but we try to take Murph as much as we possibly can when we travel, even on our "haunted jaunts!" (I liked how you phrased that so I'm borrowing it!)
Q: Have you always had an interest in travel destinations that are haunted? Was there an incident that caught your attention and fascination?
A: I've always liked to travel and I've always been interested in ghosts, but the two didn't come together until a work trip took me to Salt Lake City in 1998.
I had a bizarre experience at the Shilo Inn. I was there a total of two weeks. It was during my second week that I was woken up by children giggling. I had the oddest notion they were hiding in the drawers. Of course they weren't. No one was there. I was all alone. I went to get up to use the bathroom and something "flew" at my head. I ducked, but nothing was there. I thought it was just a vivid dream. It was only after I got back to Phoenix, where I was living at the time, that I learned from a fellow paralegal who had grown up in Salt Lake City that a woman had committed suicide at that hotel with her seven children. That both spooked and intrigued me. Had I really experienced something? I think my Haunt Jaunts are a way for me to see if I encounter anything else.
Q: How can readers benefit from HJ?
A: I like to think of Haunt Jaunts as a blog that provides a passport to paranormal tourism for ghost enthusiasts and travelers. My big offering is my Find Haunted Places page which lists various websites that track haunted places. http://hauntjaunts.net/blog/find-haunted-places/ The goal is to make it easy for people to find destinations. But there are also my blog posts. I write about paranormal places, my own personal haunt jaunts, ones I'd like to take, but I also encourage guest bloggers to share theirs. (Such as yourself with your wonderful Colonial Williamsburg article)
http://hauntjaunts.net/blog/2010/04/14/take-a-haunt-jaunt-to-colonial-williamsburg/ I'm also a big fan of interviewing people. Oh, and my sidebars are loaded with links to ghost tours and walks, haunted (web)sites, and some of the best paranormal blogs around.
Q: Do you travel alone to haunted places? By preference?
A: Yes, but I don't always mean to or know I'm doing it. (It's kind of like that night at the Shilo Inn. Once in a while I'll be somewhere not meaning to have a haunt jaunt but I will.) Mostly my husband comes with me, though. He likes to get out and about.
Q: What destination is the most haunted you ever been too?
A: Sheesh, that's a hard question. The Shilo Inn in Salt Lake City certainly left me unnerved.
Harry's in St. Augustine also made an impression. (I had an experience in the bathroom. Didn't know it was haunted at the time. Found out later and that was really the catalyst that set my Haunt Jaunting ways in motion.)
The Castillo de San Marco in St. Augustine and Fort Clinch in Fernandina Beach also both rank high on memorable Haunt Jaunts.
And I don't have specific locations to note, but the towns of Jerome, Prescott, and Bisbee in Arizona all moved me when we visited. Which was before I started officially Haunt Jaunting. I didn't know about all of their ghost stories until later when I started researching such things, but it made sense because the energy there is almost palpable.
But I also have to note Cheeseman Park in Denver. I went to a small private elementary school that used to be right on the edge of the park. I never knew the park's history then, or that there were rumors of ghosts, but I sure felt things at the time. Later, after I was out of college and living in Phoenix and learned the history of the park, a lot of experiences from my childhood made more sense. (Sensations I'd had and that sort of thing.) Now I make it a point to go back and visit every time we're home to see family. Besides, it's a gorgeous park.
Q: What destination for a really spooky Haunt Jaunt is on your wish list?
A: Oh boy, another hard question. I'd like to stay at the Myrtles Plantation, the Stanley Hotel, and the Hawthorne Inn. I'd also like to go to Gettysburg, Waverly Hills and Eastern State. And there are so many places overseas I can't even begin to name them.
Q: Before you got started with HJ… did you ever imagine you would be doing it, or anything else related to haunted places and ghosts?
A: Absolutely not. I was supposed to be a paralegal! Then I got the chance to stay home and try my hand at writing. It was supposed to be novels, but blogs (of all things!) ended up capturing my heart.
Q: Has there been any surprises in creating and maintaining HJ in regard to its place in the paranormal culture and Internet community?
A: I never, ever expected to hit over 1,000 Twitter followers in less than a year. I did it in less than six months. Nor did I ever expect to make as many wonderful contacts/friends as I have thanks to my blog.
Q: So… say I just got back from visiting a place, or lodging at a hotel or B&B and I had a ghostly experience. Would you want to know about where I lodged and what I did?
A: Definitely. If people have encounters while traveling, I love to hear about them, whether it's something that happened to them at their hotel or B&B, at a museum or a restaurant, or during a ghost tour. It's even better if they're willing to guest blog about it. All they need to do is send me an email at cmroch@hauntjaunts.net. Q: How much of a part of you is HJ?
A: 100%. (Well, minus the guest blogs.)
Q: Last but not least… Do you believe in ghosts?
A: Yes, I do believe in ghosts. I haven't actually seen one, but I've sure sensed energy, presences, spirits…whatever you want to call it. And it feels a certain way…it's hard to explain and it hasn't happened all that much to me, but the times it has it's been the same each time. (As far as the sensation, not necessarily what happened.)
Thank You Courtney!
So... readers, what do you think...are you ready to take a Haunt Jaunt?
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