Results tagged “Ohio” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Forget the white sheets this Halloween and go on a hunt for some real ghosts.  And what better places than abandoned prisons and hospitals?  The following include some of the most haunted asylums and penitentiaries in the country.  Many of them offer tours... are you brave enough?

Waverly Hills Sanatorium - Louisville, Kentucky

Opened in 1910, this treated tuberculosis patients during the TB epidemic of the early 1900s.  Fresh air and bed rest were the main treatments during this time - patients were kept outside on porches for most of the day, even during the winter (this led to the invention of electric blankets).  Heliotherapy, or "sun treatment", was also used, as it was believed the sun helped kill the bacteria that cause TB.  Other treatments included ways to temporarily restrict a portion of the lung in order to "let it rest".  One of these treatments, the "shot bag" method, included placing a one pound bag of shot on both collarbones of the patient. The amount was increased by four or five ounces each week until the patient would carry 5 pounds on the upper part of each lung. More permanent treatments involved various methods of collapsing one of the patient's lungs.

Visitors to the Sanatorium can take a 2-hour guided historical tour or spend a half-night (4 hours) or a full night (8 hours) hunting ghosts.  One common spot to have paranormal encounters is in the Body Chute, or Death Tunnel, which was once used to transport the bodies of deceased TB patients down the hill to waiting hearses or trains. Many patients died each day during the epidemic and the staff preferred to use the Body Chute rather than carry them through the main hall in an effort to keep morale up.  Unusual experiences at the Sanatorium include seeing shadows, smelling food from the abandoned kitchen and hearing voices screaming and moaning.  During the month of October, visitors can brave the Terror on the Hill, a haunted house at Waverly Hills.

Popular culture has done Cleveland a disservice. Most of its references to the city are negative: Drew Carey's "Cleveland Rocks" anthem did little more than reinforce stuffy mid-Western stereotypes; basketball star Lebron James is from there, but can't ever seem to stop talking about leaving town; David Foster Wallace used it as the ideal-because-it-isn't-ideal setting for his first major novel, The Broom of the System; even Dr. Seuss commented on the polluted state of Lake Erie in The Lorax. There was that unfortunate burning river situation (due to pollution) back in the '60s, and more recently, this series of "hastily made" tourism videos, which have drawn over a million views on YouTube, haven't helped. 

As we noted earlier this year, Cleveland is making strides to clean up its act. And you gotta love a city that doesn't take itself too seriously, as evidenced by the annual tongue-in-cheek Burning River Fest. But the one attraction that has me itching to visit Rock City, despite negative media representations, is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (pictured above), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Interestingly, the celebratory concert will be held in NYC's Madison Square Garden (on October 29 and 30), rather than in the Rock Hall's hometown. And with the opening of the Rock Annex in New York last year, it looks like Cleveland may be experiencing some competition to maintain its nickname. In the meantime, click through the jump for a few reasons to add the original Rock City to your destination list:

Forty years ago, Cleveland's river burned. Literally. The Cuyahoga River, which winds through Cleveland and Akron, was once one of the most polluted rivers in the United States, having caught fire more than a dozen times since 1868. When it burned in 1969, Time magazine described the Cuyahoga (which means "crooked river" in Iroquois) as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and where a person "does not drown but decays." Needless to say, the 1969 fire spurred environmental concerns and a plethora of environmental legislation was passed, including the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

But where is Cleveland today? According to MSNBC, Rock City still ranks among one of the most polluted cities in the U.S. (In fact, one fifth of the top 25 air-particle polluted cities are located in Ohio. Ouch.) But the city, if ever slowly, is hopping on the green bandwagon, trying to dispose of its bad rap.

Camping may seem like one of the greenest possible ways to travel. You're close to nature, bringing only what you need, and leaving only footprints behind. But as it turns out, the managers of campsites across the country are attempting to make the camping experience even greener, and are rolling out new methods of cutting the energy costs of running their sites. It's all part of the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) green parks initiative, called "Plan-it Green."

"A lot of parks were already doing things that helped the environment and I think a lot more of them are embracing the concept," says Linda Profaizer, president and CEO of ARVC, which represents the more than 8,000 private campgrounds, RV parks and resorts across the United States. Sites have been installing geothermal heating and cooling systems, low-flow shower heads, and efficient lightbulbs and hand-dryers, switching from chlorine-based pool cleaning systems to salt water treatments and even encouraging their staffs to use bikes instead of cars to travel the grounds.

As part of the initiative, ARVC has launched a competition which awards parks with the most outstanding forward-thinking practices. Last year's Green Award winner was the Grand Haven Resort in Kimbolton, Ohio. What put them over the edge? Among their eco-efforts was the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system for its customer service and fitness centers. The result? The site's heating and cooling costs drop from over $12,000 per year to just over $1,200. That's a big chunk of change. And that kind of change is a good thing.

Photo: ARVC

It's the eternal question: What do you get for the beer-loving travel junkie that has everything? Turns out, a vehicle exists for exactly that target demographic - the motorized bar stool. Who needs to look for a seat at the bar when you arrive on your own guzzle-ready chariot?

But this otherwise brilliant invention gained notoriety yesterday when the AP reported that an Ohio man was picked up by the cops earlier this month for driving under the influence on his contraption. (We wish that was a joke, but we can't help but think that was kind of the point?) Apparently, it can move up to 38 mph.

Photo: AP