(no subject)

[olivermoss]

* I wonder how many historical building and societies stay in business by catering to paranormal TV and youtube shows? The Conjuring House was purchased an an investment to do exactly that, and some former work houses and other places have... a lot of dolls around and a room in the basement paneled in mirrors for no historical reason. I know McMenamins Edgefeild used to try to lure investigators based on being a reliable place to get wild EMF readings, but the building used to literally be a power station... There are transformers from like the 1910 still on site. They've made some money off of White Eagle thought to be haunted for a long time, even before youtube, so they were actively spreading rumors about Edgefield and Backstage.

*check youtube* Yes, some people have done episodes on Edgefield. *facepalm* White Eagle has been though to be haunted by local paranormal groups since at least the 90s, probably longer. Edgefield and Backstage are... not. And also they lie about the history of Little Chimes... I need to give up and just do some sort of organize info dump about all those.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

Reminds me of skimming through old posts on "shadowlands" or whatever, which was MOSTLY bullshit "hauntings" that had absolutely no historical backing. It's like everyone hears an urban legend and transplants it to their local spooky looking building.

Though with the rise of influencers and people being interested in ghost tour type stuff... I bet that's a more booming business now than it was decades ago.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, there is money to be made in that space, makes it harder to know what is organic and what is marketing

[mistressofmuses]

Very much so. I realize that there've basically *always* been grifts and hoaxes and all, but it feels very omnipresent. At the very least, I think it's lower-effort now, and easier to just rope in some influencers, or seed some "rumors" in the right places. More financial incentive certainly does muddy the waters a lot.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, and also the bookable places get such focus and the non-bookable places, not so much.

[mistressofmuses]

That's a good point.

To me, it triggers a twinge of skepticism when I hear a place is bookable/offering in-house tours/etc. (Not that those things CAN'T be legitimate, just that the financial interest exists.)

Though I guess it is true that it makes it a lot more accessible. If someone *wants* to do their own investigation, it's a lot easier to pay x amount to do it somewhere that welcomes it, rather than having to deal with trespassing to poke around abandoned buildings, or trying to go after dark to places that close at sunset or whatnot. (Or just having to give up because the location is privately owned by someone who DOESN'T want that sort of attention/reputation.)

But that does a lot to skew what locations people may be visiting, and therefore what locations other people hear of... it kind of feeds into itself, because so many "hits" on the same location makes it sound even MORE legitimate, when actually it was just *easier.*

[olivermoss]

I have gone to parks after dark, etc, a long time ago. I could get away with some filming, but not the level of production or monetization they do. The spot I've heard the most about over the years is Cathedral Park on hot summer nights specifically. No way to get filming permission there. For sneaky filming it's doubly hard to film nights in summer because night starts later. You aren't there at a cheeky 5 PM sunset, you've got like a 9 PM start.

But it is funding a lot of historical places. Conjuring House aside, some of these places are local historical societies keeping the old work house from being torn down. I really think Washoe Club needs to be preserved. I know for Detune part of why he's fine paying some of these places is that the money is, at least currently, it's staying in local non-profits and I am all about them taking in some cash this way.... even if it's a bit weird a lot of them are adding dolls and mirror rooms.

[mistressofmuses]

Oh yeah. There are a lot of cemeteries and parks around here that have haunting rumors and stories... but all the cemeteries tend to have a "close at dusk" rule. Basically the only time they allow anyone after-dark is when they do paid tours around Halloween... which is interesting, but not exactly time for investigating. A few cemeteries used to be the sorts of places you could at least *maybe* get away with going to after dark, because there were out-of-the-way gates or low fences. More and more of them have replaced the fences with much higher ones, and leave all but the main gates locked all the time now. (Trying to curb vandalism, and prevent homeless camps.)

There were a couple tiny middle-of-nowhere cemeteries that were easier to visit at all hours, but a lot really did require like... an hour or more drive out onto the plains and taking the correct barely-marked roads to get to them. And the last time we visited any of those was more than a decade ago, when we still lived in Greeley. I have no idea which are still accessible.
A couple little mountain ones I'd visited were completely destroyed in some of the wildfires a few years ago. They're still... *there*, but now utterly unmarked.
Also, I never heard any haunting rumors about the little ones... possibly because no one knew they were there.

And oh, yes! Winter filming at night gives you a bit of plausible deniability: "oh, my work day just ended and I wanted to take a quick walk... it just gets dark so early now!" During the summer? It's a lot harder to convince someone you "accidentally" wound up out and about at 9:00pm, lol.

Funding and saving some of those historical buildings IS a good thing, and certainly an effect I can't be mad about. It can be really hard to fund preservation, and if this makes it happen? That's pretty cool. Though lol, yes: catering to the proper "creepy aesthetic" does feel a bit weird and artificial, haha. But if it means that fewer interesting historic places get knocked down to make way for overpriced hideous condos or a gas station or whatnot... I'm happy for them!

[olivermoss]

Lone Fir does ghost tours, but I actually haven't really heard about any cemeteries or mausoleums being haunted here. Still would be fun to check some out. I do want to do some content on cemeteries here because some have interesting histories.

Yeah, I'd feel a lot better about bending rules and closing times in my own stomping grounds than far away. It's also less of a time and cost risk if I don't get anything done.

[mistressofmuses]

Cemeteries do often have really interesting histories! And I'm just a sucker for old, elaborate, or interesting grave markers.

(Though one of my favorites, which was in one of the cemeteries that is basically gone post-wildfire, was a slab of sandstone with a hand-carved "Alex. Mining accident." on it. Not elaborate in the slightest, but gave me emotions.)

Oh yes. Having to go a ways to get somewhere makes it a lot riskier in a lot of ways, especially if you are hoping to bend the rules a bit. And a fair point - less of a sunk cost when you don't get much worthwhile from the trip. (That's what's sunk a lot of our plans to go back up to the plains to look around for things: it's now a three+ hour drive each way, instead of 90 minutes.)

[olivermoss]

Oof, yeah that is chilling.

Fortunately, I do have a lot to cover just for local stuff. It'll take a while because while I will finish it, it's just not going to be a priority for a while. Just want to gather links and stuff, maybe also pictures.

[dine]

yeah, I remember hearing the haunting stories about White Eagle since the earlyish 90s

I didn't know McMenamins now owned it (it's been literal decades since I've been there)

[olivermoss]

The White Eagle rumors sound organic to me, their attempts at making Edgefield spooky reeked of marketing.

I've actually only been there once, for a show.