Hello travelers! Welcome to my all new travel blog. My name is Chandra and I am an avid traveler and have been a lover of the strange, unusual, weird, creepy, macabre and paranormal for most of my life. I’ve been a believer in the paranormal since I was a little girl after having numerous strange encounters and experiences. Within the last few years, I’ve delved into the world of paranormal investigation and para-tourism as well as working on enhancing my own psychic abilities. Besides being a full time weirdo, I’m also a writer and a traveler. I’ve always had an interest in travel writing so I finally came to the conclusion that I should start a travel blog to chronicle my weird travels. I’ve been all over the country taking ghost tours and doing investigations but haven’t ever written down my experiences until now. My friends always ask about my trips and what sort of experiences I have and if I’ve gotten any evidence of the paranormal. My plan is to use this blog as not only a place to talk about my trips themselves but also to share any evidence I’ve captured along the way. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy reading about my travels! May they inspire you to venture out and explore some of the places I’ve been to and written about. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions of places I should visit!
How to charge your stones and crystals using the full moon.
This week there’s a super rare Super Blue Blood Moon combined with a lunar eclipse happening on Wednesday (8:27am is the peak). What better time to charge your stones under the light of a lunar phenomenon that hasn’t happened in over a hundred years?
There are a bunch of ways you can cleanse and charge your stones and crystals but my favorite is using the light of the full moon. I have a very strong connection to the moon and her energies. I’ve been a star gazer my entire life and have always had an obsession with the moon. In fact, my name (Chandra) means shining moon in Sanskrit and is the name of a Hindu moon god. So, naturally, I was born to have an obsession.
Moon charging is one of the easiest ways to cleanse and charge your stones and also the safest method for them because some stones will dissolve in water and others can color bleach in sunlight. Plus, it’s a one stop method to do both at once. Easy peasy!
So, why do you need to cleanse and charge your stones? Because stones and crystals are like most things with energy, like batteries, phones, cars, etc; sometimes, their energy runs out or gets corrupted. Some stones need to be charged more often than others if you carry them with you or wear them on jewelry. Others can go longer between cleansing if they’re not used often. Stones like amethyst, quartz and Black Tourmaline absorb negative energies and cleanse others so it’s a good idea to charge them up.
How do I cleanse my stones? You can cleanse them by passing them through candlelight (not through the flame but through the light above the flame or next to the flame.) or you can just cleanse them as you charge in the moonlight. Moonlight not only recharges your stones but also bathes the energy as well.
How does charging by moonlight work? To charge and cleanse, place your stones in direct moonlight for as long as possible during the full moon. Check the moons path and orbit the day before you put out your stones so you can find the best place to put them (front, side or back of your house). Its best to put them outside but if you don’t have a safe place to put them out or if the weather isn’t great, you can charge them inside on a window sill, though the glass can diffuse the energies so the charge isn’t quite as strong. I usually charge my stones from inside during the winter and it’s worked perfectly fine for me. You can charge your stones the day before the full moon, the day of and the day after but the full moon has the most powerful energy. It’s best to charge your stones over night but 2-5 hours during the peak full moon is good enough if you’re short on time. If your stones are small, you can place them in a clear bowl so they don’t get lost. For jewelry items, you may want to charge them inside on a window sill so mischievous crows, blue jays and other birds and critters don’t see something shiny and take it off your hands
What if it’s cloudy, raining or snowing? The full moon energy is the same even if it’s cloudy or foggy so feel free to set them out anyways. If it’s raining or there’s heavy fog, cover your stones with plastic wrap if you’re unsure wether they can get wet or not. Same if it’s snowing. Some stones are fine getting wet but others will start to dissolve and separate, so if you’re unsure, it’s better to protect them just in case.
When should I bring my stones in? You should bring your stones in as early as possible when the sun comes up. Some stones like amethyst can start to have their color bleached out in the sunlight.
Once your stones are charged, you can place them back on your shelves or alters or wherever you choose to keep them. Repeat as necessary.
How do I know if my stones need to be charged? You can do it every few months or when you feel like they’re not giving you as much positive energy as you need. Sometimes, if you’re an intuitive person, you can hold a stone and feel the difference in energy. If it doesn’t give you peace or positive energy when you hold it, it’s probably time to cleanse and recharge. Jewelry that’s worn often will need to be cleansed and charged more often. I’ll be posting another blog on more ways to cleanse and charge your stones in between full moons.
I hope these tips help everyone that’s new to the stone and crystal world or for those who were interested in learning a new way to take care of your stones. If you have any questions, leave a comment below or on my Instagram and I’ll be happy to help if I can!
Visit my shop!
Did you know I have my own shop now? Click the link below to visit!
Weird Ghoul’s Travels and Treasures Shop
I’ve recently started making handmade chainmaille and healing crystal jewelry. All jewelry listed in my shop has been handmade by me and all stones have been painstakingly sought out for the best price and energy I can find. I will also be listing interesting items I’ve found on my travels as well. Custom items are always available as well so if you need a specific length, or sized jewelry, just let me know!
Click the link provided to shop my items! New items are listed often so make sure you check back!
Boos and Booze with Strange Escapes First Cruise.
Ive been home from the Strange Escapes first ever cruise for a little over a week now but have spent it nursing a case of bronchitis. Luckily, it wasn’t due to the cruise or the travel. It was the lovely allergen ridden area I live in that got me. But the illness has delayed my many posts I’ve planned on writing! So lets get started!
The cruise was great!!! I had so much fun getting to hang out and socialize with all of my fellow Escapees. Our events usually last a full weekend and the weekends are chock full of awesome lectures so there isn’t always time to really hang out with the people we meet and really get to know them. The cruise was different. Being stuck in one area with everyone, with a couple days without even docking actually gave us time to hang out and talk and get to know each other more than we normally would have been able to. Some people I’ve seen at multiple SE events and have said “hi” in passing but have never really had the opportunity to get to know.
There were also a bunch of new Escapees this trip which was very cool. I did hear a lot from the newbies say that the trip was definitely different than they had expected. To those comments I always responded with a, “You definitely should come to a regular Escape, because they’re more like what you were envisioning.” There weren’t many lectures and we had a lot of free time on our hands, but thats the way the trip was designed. It was a vacation trip with 200 friends, not an investigation weekend. The ship had its own schedule and plans that the SE crew had to work with and around so it made things a little tricky. But overall, it went off really well! The speakers for this trip were Amy Bruni (who owns and runs Strange Escapes), Adam Berry, Grant Wilson (all from Syfy’s Ghost Hunters), Chip Coffey (from Psychic Kids and numerous other TV shows), John E.L. Tenney (from Ghost Stalkers), and Tim Weisburg (from Spooky South Coast paranormal podcast.)
The excursions were GREAT despite the insane humidity that we experienced. (I’ll write more about my excursions individually.) Life on the boat got more and more interesting, if not disturbing at times, as the week went on. The Strange Escapes group had 2 cocktail parties together and a scheduled dinner, as well as 2 group excursions to Mayan ruins.
A big group of us also took over the English pub on a nightly basis and participated (read endured) the nightly karaoke that went on. Ah, the karaoke. I still have nightmares about it. I can still hear the off key, shrill, screaming echoing in the back of my brain when I hear certain songs. Don’t get me wrong, there were a handful of legitimately good singers, it’s just that most of them were chased off by the not good to down right awful singers. The first night, everyone was pretty decent but by night 7, we were lucky we were in the ocean or there may have been packs of angry dogs chasing the boat down. Lets just say, there was a definite reason why we didn’t see a single whale or dolphin anywhere near the ship. We endured the torment though because the pub felt homey, the drinks were decent and the wait staff was awesome! By the end of the week, I called our waiter Aaron, my BFF. He was a very interesting guy and was definitely a trooper for putting up with our crazy group. (If, you’re ever on a Norwegian Cruise and have a bar waiter named Aaron from St. Lucia, tip him well!)
The ship was so full of interesting people. When a group of people that get together to search for ghosts and other strange and unexplained things, are not the weirdest people on the boat, you know there are some “colorful” people around. The ship becomes its own little world within a week and certain passengers even become “celebrities” in a way (Tim G. I’m talking to you here.) But like I said, as the week goes on, the ship dynamic changes and gets much weirder, especially at night. Day 1, people dress nicer and are well behaved and polite to each other. It’s very common to eat with people you don’t know because space is a hot commodity in restaurants and it’s nice to meet the people around you. That’s something you don’t really experience on a daily basis out in the real world. By day 3 or 4, people have been spending a lot of time out in the sun and heat. They’re sunburnt, they’re hungover, they’re sick of people and they’re getting tired of being on the ship. Basically, they start getting cranky and sometimes, down right rude. Nights start getting calmer in certain areas of the ship because a lot of people decide to call it a day early or stay in and watch a movie. And then there’s the areas like the pub (were my friends and I hung out) and (cringe) the Spinnaker Lounge. By the last night of the cruise, a lot of people have just plain lost their damn minds. That song with the lyrics “The freaks come out at night…” well, it wasn’t lying. I’m pretty sure people forget the social norms by day 7 and they just go for broke no matter who’s watching….. Some things just CANT. BE. UNSEEN!
So may good times were had, inside jokes were born, new legends were written about interesting people, late night talks were had about punk bands, new friends were made, and after a week of trying, I got my 2am bowl of pickles.
Overall, the cruise was a lot of fun. Definitely not bad for a first go at a big group trip! Kudos to Amy and Sarah for setting everything up, despite all of the hiccoughs that popped up. Rumor has it that next years cruise will be leaving from Salem Mass. I cannot wait!
To the SE friends I met and made shipboard, see you all soon!
Donald Trump almost made us miss our flight.
Today, my mom and I flew into New Orleans for our Strange Escapes at sea cruise but we almost didn’t make our flight and its Donald Trump’s fault. We were already running late due to normal traffic in and around San Francisco but today, there were extra circumstances involving Trump and protestors. As some of you may have seen in the news, Trump had a rally in Burlingame today that was heavily protested. Well, our long term airport parking is also in Burlingame and only a few blocks away from the place the rally was held. When I took the exit to the parking lot, we noticed a lot of CHP around and every corner we turned, there were more and more cops. Immediately we thought, wtf is going on that we haven’t heard about? We successfully parked and caught our shuttle to the terminal. Once we were on the plane, it took a LONG time to actually get off the ground but I figured it was normal flight delays. Nope. It was all connected. A man in front of us has msnbc on and they were reporting on the protesters waiting outside the building and they were also blocking the street rout to the rally location which was the street we took to get to the long term parking lot. While we sat on the tarmack waiting to take off, finally Trumps motorcade left the airport and followed the same rout I’d just drove which was now mostly blocked off by police. Once he was away from the airport, we took off. We came so so close to being blocked from getting a)to the parking place and b) getting to the airport. I’d have been livid if that jerk made us miss our flight.
But everything worked out and we made it to New Orleans. Just one more adventure to add to the books. Sometimes, you can’t even dream up circumstances that may block your path. I definitely didn’t wake up thinking, “Donald Trump is going to screw up my travel plans today.” Lol.
Back at it again!
Hey there strangers! It’s been a while hasn’t it? Things got away from me for a bit. I also haven’t been doing much traveling since my Gettysburg trip. I did go to Disneyland for New Years per my yearly tradition which was fun. I’m thinking of doing a Disneyland specific page on here for those interested in that travel. However, things are about to get interesting in the next month or so.
Next week, I’m headed off to the fantastically spooky Stanley Hotel for my yearly Strange Escapes trip. This year the Traveling Museum of the Paranormal and Occult will be there which I’m excited to see. My friend Kaci will also be joining me this go round.
Then soon after, I’m headed on the first ever Strange Escapes at sea adventure. It starts in New Orleans, which is somewhere I’ve been dying to visit for a long time. This adventure will take me to not only some Carribean islands but also to South America where I’ll be getting to investigate Mayan pyramids. How cool is THAT?! After we disembark from the ship, my mom and I will be spending some extra time in New Orleans, exploring the French Quarter, cemeteries, voodoo shops, and hopefully the abandoned amusement park. That’s going to be an epic trip!
Make sure you’re following my Instagram page because I post a lot of pictures from my trips on there! Also, I’ll be having a giveaway on there as a thank you to my followers. I’m excited to get back up and running after being home for a while. Adventure is calling!
Night time walk on a Gettysburg battlefield.
This weekend, I’ve been in Gettysburg for a Strange Escapes event. This place is unlike any other I’ve ever been to. Just driving into town, you can feel the heaviness of the area. Its thick with history. I recommend that people come here if ever possible. I’ve been on tours explaining the battle strategies each side used and I never realized how close the Civil War was. If one little plan went wrong, our country could be DRASTICALLY different. It’s almost overwhelming to think about.
Last night after our investigation, a couple other ladies and I decided to go check out the battlefield at night. First, let me put in this disclaimer. The park closes at 7pm. We went well after closing and were technically trespassing. I don’t advise it. There. I’ve officially said don’t trespass. Now on to our walk.
After being obnoxious to another group walking through the battlefield after we mistook them for some of our group, we walked up a road that used to be a creek. As we walked, we kept finding pockets that held that “zing” some investigators get before activity happens. At the first spot, we stopped and looked up the hill because it felt like at any moment, soldiers could walk over the ridge. As we watched and waited, I noticed someone standing under a large tree. I pointed him out and the others could see him too. We could clearly see his legs and that he was wearing a long coat that stopped just above his knees. We watched him for a minute or two and then he just kind of dissolved into nothing. Today, I went back in the day to see if I could find the tree and make sure there were no monuments that we might have mistaken as a person. There are a lot of monuments in the area but none of them matched what I saw. Very interesting.
The tree on the left is where I saw the soldier. He was standing to the left of the tree. There is a statue like the one on the right of the man on the horse but, it’s not very visible from the spot we were at and it also didn’t look like what we saw.
After that awesome experience, we walked further down the road. On the left, there is a field that we felt like at any moment, you could see people walking through the field. On the right, is a hill with cool old stone fences.
We stopped again at a pair of gnarly old trees because we felt that “zing” again. Pretty soon, we started hearing footsteps walking through the leaves. They were rhythmic and steady. After a few moments of listening, we noticed a mist staring to form and move across the hill in behind the tree and following the sound of the footsteps. My favorite part was when we started to hear the wooden wheels of either a cannon or a wagon rolling along with the steps. It was so distinct. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my digital recorder on at the time so I didn’t catch it. It’s just a personal experience but it was so awesome, I wanted to share it.
People experience these types of things all the time here. It’s an almost magical place in spite of the terrible, bloody history. It’s one thing to read about the events in a history book but it’s an entirely different thing walking through the actual locations. It hits you in the heart to look at the ground and imagine that 55,000 men and boys died on that land within a 3 day period. It’s staggering and overwhelming. Most importantly, it’s incredibly moving.
I definitely want to come back here again.
On to the next adventure!
Hi everyone! I’ve been home from Ireland for 2 days and I’m already off on another adventure. This time I’m headed to Liberty Missouri to do a paranormal investigation at the Belvoir Winery with the Strange Escapes crew. It’s been 6 months since my last Escape so I can’t wait to see some of my fellow weirdos.
I have LOADS of photos from Ireland to post up here as well as lots to talk about from each place I visited. I’m hoping I can get a few posts up this weekend while I’m out and about. I’ll also be posting on Parascope when I can. If you’re not already following my Instagram, you should! I’ve been posting a lot on there.
Can’t wait to share more adventures!
Driving in Ireland is scary!
Hello my weirdos. I’ve been the driver of our vanimal (what I’ve named our van) the last couple of days so I’ve been pretty tired by the time we’ve gotten back to our B&Bs and haven’t posted much. Driving requires all concentration. It’s weird enough to drive on the left side of the road on the right side of the car, but then you throw in the tiny roads, a crazy high speed limits and a massive van and you’ve got a white knuckle experience! Motorway and city driving has better, wider lanes which is nice but intersections, roundabouts (rotary) and different road markings make it a little confusing. Not to mention, there are very few street name signs in Ireland and nothing and I mean NOTHING has an actual address. You just kind of need to pop in a general area into your gps and guess a house number. It’s super weird.
Now country driving is where the real adventure is. Most of it is on “two lane roads” which really means one wide lane that’s a perfect fit for one large vehicle with rock walls on either side of the road. Sure. That’s fine, until another car comes from the opposite direction and you both have to basically scrape the wall to get around each other. It’s still doable though. Let’s throw in a lot of twists and turns and blind corners. Ok, tricky but still doable.Until a garbage truck or delivery truck come barreling down the road. You’d better hope you’re in a wide spot in the road when you see one and just stop or slow way way down so you can squeak by. Over all, it’s still doable, though stressful.
The stress of it all is heightened by the speed limits. Through all the twists and turns and narrowness, you’d think the speed limit would be a cautious one, right? Nope! It’s generally about 80 to 100km which is roughly 40-60mph. Ummmm, what? Sounds completely overwhelming right? If you panic, it can be. But if you find yourself driving here, just remember, you’ve been driving for a while, you know your own traffic laws so just translate them to here. Drive as fast as you’re comfortable with. There will be a line of cars behind you but they’ll either go around you or you can pull over in a wide spot and let them pass you. No big deal. Better to be safe than in an accident! Plus, there tends to be animals, bicyclists and pedestrians in the road as well. Slower is just safer.
I do however recommend that if you’re renting a car here, rent a midsize to compact car because getting around larger vehicles on narrow roads will be a hell of a lot easier!
Overall, I feel like I’ve done well. My passengers have not screamed for their lives more than once, I haven’t squashed any critters, I haven’t crashed or damaged the van, or had any fenderbenders. I’m getting used to the driving and I’m starting to feel comfortable with everything.
I know one thing, I won’t complain about California traffic as much after driving here. Good old, slow ass, LA and SF traffic.
Hello from Ireland!
Hi weirdlings! I’m currently trying to winde down after a fun day so I can go to bed and do more tomorrow. Just wanted to pop in and tell you all about my adventures so far.
Yesterday, I went to Leap Castle; one of the more reportedly haunted castles in Ireland. It’s a private residence so I didn’t know if we could go in or not but we just drove up to it and knocked on the door and Sean, the lovely owner/ caretaker gladly invited us inside to come wander around. It’s much smaller than I expected but it’s so cozy in the living spaces. It felt like home.
Today, we visited Duckett’s Grove and had the place all to ourselves since all of the shops and tours were closed today. The castle is still open so you can explore it any time. It was nice to have it to ourselves.
After Duckett’s Grove, we headed to Blarney Castle where we wandered the grounds for a bit and I worked up the courage to climb the 100 steep spiral steps to the top so I could kiss the Blarney Stone. Mission accomplished! I can now tick that off of my bucket list. Hanging upside down through a hole in the top of a castle was pretty scary but I did it and I’m super happy I did!
More adventures to come tomorrow! Time to hit the sack for the night. I’ll post more in depth blogs about each location and the individual experiences plus loads of more pictures as soon as I can.
Stay tuned!
UK/Ireland/Europe travel tips.
Most hotels I’ve encountered require you to put the key card in the power box before the electricity will work. The box will most likely be right next to the room’s door.
Make sure you have the appropriate power converter for the region. I’ve seen a lot of them in vending machines in the airport and in my hotel. Bringing a grounded power strip is also very useful. That way you only need one converter for multiple items and hotel outlets can be scarce a lot of the time.
Tip: if you accidentally pop a fuze when plugging in your converter and power strip, look for the small fuze box in your room (in my room, it’s in the closet near the ceiling) and make sure all fuzes are in the RED position. Just learned this one first hand. Lol.
So far, so good here in Ireland! Jet lag is a bitch though. I’m going to bed now and it’s only 8:30! Check out my Instagram @weirdghoulstravels for some pictures of my adventure so far.
More travel tips to come as I run into more strange occurrences. Tomorrow I’ll be driving on the left hand side of the road for the first time in a gigantic 8 passenger VW van on tiny Ireland roads. Wish me luck!
Weird Ghoul's Travels 