Supernatural Friday: Interviewing Courtney of HauntJaunts

Today for Supernatural Friday, I am interviewing Courtney of the blog, Haunt Jaunts, which says is a travel blog for restless spirits. If you want to find out places as travel destinations that are haunted, then this blog is for you.



Pamela -Please tell us why you started blogging about haunted destinations?

Courtney-I originally intended to write a book, Haunt Jaunts: A Travel Guide for Restless Spirits, about 10 years ago. The idea stayed with me, but I always found reasons not to do it. Then shortly before I was diagnosed with cancer I had decided to develop it into a website instead. When I got cancer it dawned on me that a blog would be a great format for it. Which sort of leads to answering your next question.

Pamela – What started you doing this blog?

Courtney-Cancer. I had been purposely haunt jaunting since 1999 with the intent to one day write a book based on my travels. When I was diagnosed my doctor said the people who get off the couch and are determined to keep living do, so Haunt Jaunts became my “get off the couch” project. (And I say purposely haunt jaunting because I was even doing it before, but not as knowingly as I started doing it in 1999.)

Pamela – Where do your ideas for blogging come from?

Courtney-Well, a bunch of places. My muse mostly. But she gathers a lot of her ideas from Twitter, all the various Facebook pages I follows, and Google alerts.

Pamela – What is the most rewarding thing about blogging on this subject over another kind of subject?

Courtney-I also maintain two other blogs, which each fulfill me in their own way. (One is personal and lets me rant about whatever, the other is where I share lessons learned about friendship, faith, love and self during my life as a stay-at-home wife.)

But Haunt Jaunts lets me indulge in reliving happy trips while planning and anticipating new ones. I’ve also met all sorts of interesting people who also share a love for a good ghost story, an appreciation of history, and paranormal theories. I can’t really explain it, but for whatever reason haunted travel and paranormal tourism speaks to my soul as well as allows my soul to express itself.

Pamela —Do you read books on the paranormal?

Courtney-Yes, but not as much as I used to. I don’t have a lot of time these days. But that doesn’t stop me from adding to my stack of books, which is now almost a mile high.

Pamela —Among paranormal books you have read, name a favorite one?

Courtney-Haunt Hunter’s Guide to Florida by Joyce Elson Moore.
Pamela – Have you ever thought about writing a haunted travel guide, like in the form of travel books?

Courtney-I sort of beat you to this and gave this away in my first answer. But I can expand on it. I’ve never given up on my original goal of writing a Haunt Jaunts: A Travel Guide for Restless Spirits book. I’m hoping to start shopping around the first in a series of them later this year.

Pamela – Besides these kinds of books, do you watch any of the paranormal TV shows (not just the investigator ones, but any of the others too)? A favorite one? One you do not like?

Courtney-There’s this one show that’s sometimes on Travel Channel and Bio. I don’t think it was ever a series. More like a series of specials about haunted places. Each show covers a different place, like New Orleans, Washington D.C., New York, and Charleston. They re-run it periodically during the year, and definitely at Halloween. I always re-watch them.

I used to like the paranormal investigation shows, but now I’ve grown weary of them. I hate to say it, but probably my favorite paranormal oriented show currently is “Vampire Diaries.”

Pamela —Besides ghosts, do you blog about any cryptos (Bigfoot, UFOs, sea serpents, lake monsters, extinct animals, etc…)?

Courtney-Yes. Usually in relation to places where they’ve been spotted and the best places to look for them.

Pamela—Please tell us about yourself (family, hobbies, education, etc.)

Courtney-Let’s see…in addition to blogging, sometimes write fiction too. When I’m not writing, I like to play tennis (a newfound love), play volleyball (even though I’m far too short to be any good at it), travel, cook, eat, and sleep. Most of all I love spending time with my husband and our three fur kids: Murphy, a bluetick coonhound/Australian shepherd mix; Mr. Meow, who we think is a Nebelung; and our Tabby Girl, a Tabby cat.

Pamela—Tell where people can find your blog?

Courtney—Haunt Jaunts http://hauntjaunts.net/blog/