Michele Herrmann-Travel Journalist: 10 Destinations Where it Always Feels like Halloween

Michele Herrmann brings a fun and fascinating perspective to travel by exploring destinations that feel like Halloween all year long. From historic towns steeped in mystery to cities filled with eerie legends and ghostly lore, this conversation dives into the stories behind some of the world’s most spine-tingling places. What I loved most is how Michele blends history, culture, and a sense of adventure—showing that these destinations aren’t just about fear, but about curiosity and storytelling.

We explore places like Salem, New Orleans, Sleepy Hollow, and even international destinations like Transylvania and Ireland, uncovering what makes each one unique beyond just the spooky reputation. Whether you’re someone who loves haunted tours or simply enjoys rich history with a twist, this conversation is a reminder that travel can be both thrilling and deeply meaningful. 

Episode Highlights

[00:00:39] – Introduction to Michele Herrmann and her work as a travel journalist

[01:54] – Salem, Massachusetts: history of the witch trials and why it’s worth visiting year-round

[04:27] – New Orleans: haunted tours, cemeteries, and the city’s eerie charm

[06:19] – Sleepy Hollow, New York: literary history and the Great Jack-o’-lantern Blaze

[10:06] – Transylvania: the real history behind Dracula and Romanian folklore

[12:27] – St. Helens, Oregon: filming locations for Twilight and Halloweentown

[15:20] – Savannah, Georgia: haunted tours and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

[16:54] – Charleston, South Carolina: chilling experiences at the old city jail

[18:21] – Anoka, Minnesota: the Halloween Capital of the World and its festive traditions

[20:59] – Island of the Dolls, Mexico: eerie origins and haunting visuals

[21:04] – Ireland: the birthplace of Halloween and its rich cultural traditions

[22:10] – Michele’s advice: don’t wait to travel—life happens while you’re making plans

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Everyone has a story to tell. We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories. My name is Amelia Old, and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration. Join me as I share stories of friends, family, and strangers through my everyday life and travels. We will laugh, possibly cry, but walk away feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Today's guest, Michelle Herman, has been writing now for a quarter of her life and stays grateful for every byline. Her bylines have appeared on outlets ranging from Thrillist to Chandelin to Forbes in USA Today. While Michelle divides her time between New York City and New England, her adventures have taken her as far as Fiji. Today she joins us to talk about those frightful destinations that are fun to visit during Halloween, but might just be spooky all year long. Halloween is just weeks away, and locally we're starting to see corn mazes and pumpkin thicking and hay rides and haunted houses. And you wrote an article about places that can feel like Halloween all year long. And I would love for you to chat with me about some of those. There are a few that I've been to, and then there are a few that are kind of like on my bucket list. I love going on ghost tours and touring historical homes. And I'm really into the other side, if you will, more than just dressing up for the holiday of Halloween. So let's start with Salem. I'm actually going in April and I'm hoping to avoid the huge Halloween crowds. So I'm choosing to go with a group of friends in the springtime. I've been told that it's beautiful there. So yeah, let's talk about Salem.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Oh, yeah, no, definitely. I mean, it's actually this year's kind of the 330th anniversary of the Salem Witch trials, which, you know, definitely is always of a historic interest just to do the, you know, the story behind it as well as just what these people went through and what prompted to happen and what to learn from it. And I definitely recommend visiting the Salem Witch Trials Memorial because you really see the names of the 20 victims of the trials that happened in 1692, and you really kind of reflect on how the circumstances of what made them being accused of witchcraft, how that really impacted them and impacted their community. And I think recently the most, the very last person associated with the accusations just has been exonerated. So it's still really kind of a poignant topic to learn more about, not just in terms of Massachusetts history, but just overall US history as well. My deafer also recommend the Salem Witch History Museum is really good too. And also if you want something more lighthearted and fun, I think Salem also really kind of embraces this history, but in a kind of in a positive light, where even if you're not into the subject of what's associated with Salem, they also have a lot of cool shops, a lot of great places to eat. So you can kind of just really have a lot of fun in Salem. Um, you know, even if you're a big fan of the film Hocus Pocus 2, which just came out on Disney Plus, I've heard. I feel like watching it tomorrow with my daughter, and I'm super excited. Yeah, I know. I'm I'm trying to be good. I'm hoping you're gonna watch it tonight, but it's it's really kind of cool. I think the home is a private home, but there are if you go to Salem.org, which is the Salem's website, you can also find out about some of the places that have been filmed. I believe the house that represents Max and Danny's house might be a private home. So it might be something that might be off limits. But they do list some of the other public places that you can walk by or you know, maybe stop into just to that are associated with the film. But you know, definitely, and you know, I mean, overall Massachusetts, I mean you also have hopefully start to have the fall foliage coming in, you know, which will make the everything breathtaking. And I think also you can probably also include a house of the seven gables in your visit as well.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

I'm super excited. And fun fact, I have a puppy named Salem. That's how excited I am about this drive.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Well no, you enjoy it. One of my relatives worked for the college in Salem. I went to visit her one year and it just it was a cute little town just to walk around. Oh, Salem State University, that's who she worked for. So my sister you worked for there for a while. So I got to go up and visit and just you know, over had a really good time.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

That's awesome. So moving on your list is New Orleans. I actually have been there a couple of times, but it has been, I haven't been there for many years since you know, we're talking like prior to Hurricane Katrina. So it's been a really long time since I've actually been to the city.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Right. Same. I went about 2011, which you know, the city I think at the time was still kind of slowly show you coming back, but the uh the visitors were there, the attendants were there. And you know, it's just, I mean, a lot of people often really associate New Orleans with food, which is is definitely right free so. But you know, New Orleans does have its own tales of intrigue. You know, so you can definitely learn about that as well as some of the it's because of the land, one of the aspects about New Orleans is that a lot of the cemeteries have to be built above ground. And you know, some do offer chores, just check ahead of time because I think also with just our current current environment, some might have restrictions or so, or some might be closed, you know, just due to COVID. But for the most part, you can find haunted tours that will take you past buildings, houses, you know, there's and also just down sideways. I mean, there's also really kind of a great, kind of interesting store to check out called Boutique du Vampir, which is kind of a got themed shop, which you know, if you're a big fan of Van Rice, you can check out a shop you might see something that we make for a fun souvenir. Plus also just walking around at nighttime, it's got kind of an eerie, an eerie, but also kind of intriguing vibe you get around, especially around like the French quarter, I think.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

And then next on your list, Sleepy Hollow. I've actually never been to Sleepy Hollow. I've been to New York City many times. And obviously, when you hear Sleepy Hollow, you think of movies and books and and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

I actually have been for in timing with an event called the Great Jack-o'-lantern blaze, which if you're in the New York area, it actually takes place at two different locations. The first is at the original location for the event. It's Van Courtland Manor in Croyton on Hudson, which you could take a car and just drive to there. And you what it is, it's the it's an event called the Jet the Great Jack-o'-lantern blaze, where all these pumpkins have been decorated, lit up, and you literally walk through this pathway where they'll put not only just displays of pumpkins in general, but they've also have like cool exhibits. I've seen like a pumpkin windmill, I've seen a pumpkin lanterns, I mean figures. It's really fun. It's and it's also not scary, too. So if you have young kids and you want to look for something to do, I would log on to their website. It's Hudsonvalley.org bash backslash events, backslash blazed to make sure you get tickets ahead of time because you can't, unfortunately, you can't buy them on site, but you can buy them ahead of time. If you are on Long Island, you could see it there as well. It is happening um at one of the historic mansions. It's it's just really kind of a fun event because it's you know, just see a lot of creativity. It's like literally glowing at night. So out on Long Island, it's taking place at the the old Beth Page Village Restoration. It's kind of historic living history museum. So you can walk around there as well. And also do the same thing to buy your tickets online because none are sold at the door. And it's really popular. I believe they both go a little bit past Halloween, but you definitely want, if you want to stay in the season, go check it out during the month of October. You know, back in terms of Sleepy Hall itself, it's located in a part of New York State called the Hudson Valley, which is about maybe two-hour train ride or so from New York. And Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, its claim to fame is that the person behind that story is a writer named Washington Irving. He's actually the first author in the US in what we now know as America that kind of came up with what we now call the short story. So if you can visit Sleepy Hollow, you can also visit the cemetery where he's buried. If you go on the um the website for Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, they list tours that you can take that kind of associate in timing with Irving, with the story, but also got some colour other cool people buried at that cemetery as well. During certain months, you can also visit Washington Irving's home called Sunnyside, but you also have to go online to book tickets as well. And you know, just it's a beautiful area. You know, there's a great non-Halloweenish thing to do, such as you can walk the old and aqueduct trail. For a long time, this part of New York State provided fresh water to the city. And ironically, it had to do with something that was kind of scary. Um, New York City for a while had very bad water due to outbreaks such as chloria and just you know pretty much water pollution. So this old aqueduct trail was once like a major water distribution between this part of New York and the city, like where the Bryant Park, New York Public Library, stands today. That's actually the aqueduct back then. But if you what you can do now with the old Croton Aqueduct is you could actually walk this trail and it goes past some really cool houses and goes into some neighborhoods. If you recently saw the Netflix series on Mad CJ Walker, you actually passed by a row of homes and one of them was her home up there during her time in that area. And it's just like a beautiful walk, you know, if you want to do something a day, and then you could also go back to you know, hang around sleepy hollow at night.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Now, and next on your list, I had to cancel a trip there a few years back due to an unexpected surgery, and I was just so disappointed. But Transylvania.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Yes, and I'm in the same boat as you as you, but just different reasons. I was actually supposed to go to Romania in the summer of 2020. So I'm hoping I to get there back at some point. My supposedly my great-grandfather was born there, so I do have probably some heritage, I'm not sure. That's really cool. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was gonna spend most of my time within Bucharest, but I was hoping to also, as listed in this article, head out to Transylvania. And it actually is a real place we were not, you know, we often talk about a lot of times say that Dracula is associated due to a Roman Romanian ruler called Vlad Templis or Tempest, or often now referred to as Vad the Impaler. And supposedly Brahm Stroker did um he was aware of the castle that Vad Vad the Impaler lived in from during his rule in Romania, what we now know as Romania. Brian's it's interesting because Brahm Stroker is actually an Irish writer, and probably he never visited Romania. So you know, I've been trying to research and find out a little bit about how he heard about Vad the Impaler, but he just, you know, Bram Stroker kind of was one of the writers that definitely put horror, you know, horror or goth horror on the map with Dracula. So that's kind of interesting. And and on not to take away from Romania, but I believe also in Ireland, particularly in Dublin where he was born, they actually have a festival in his honor. So, you know, as a side trip, you know, Ireland definitely could make for a great trip as well. Which is actually the birthplace of Halloween. Yes, that is true. And it's and it's you know, it's just kind of an interesting and iconic aspect. And I think also, you know, when the Irish came to America, they brought a lot of these traditions with with them too. So it's pretty, pretty cool how much that legacy still stands.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Yeah, absolutely. And going along with our movies and book themes, St. Helens, Oregon is known for Twilight. My daughter is a she's 12, she's almost 13, huge Twilight fan. To the point we've had to paint our bedroom walls black when she has like red bedding and all of the movie posters hanging up on the walls. And it's it's a very Twilight-ish themed. But there's another movie that St. Helens is known for. And I actually did not know this until I read your article.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Same here. I I didn't know this until I was doing research for this piece. And it's, I mean, I guess it was kind of like a maybe like a small hit film for the Disney, which is pretty cool. And it's nice that that St. Helens has been able to kind of capitalize on this being used as a backdrop. And ironically, I think they put on a month-long event with Halloween in Halloween town. So it's pretty cool that that they put on Halloween town in St. Helens. Imagine saying that five times. Right. So if you go to their website, spiritofhalloween town.com, you'll be able to see a schedule of some of the events taking place there. And you know, as you were mentioning before with Twilight, one of the cool things is that the actual house is available on Airbnb. It's called the Twilight Swan House in St. Helens. And you can, I mean, it probably might cost you now doing well.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

To be honest, I actually have looked at booking this Airbnb and it stays booked out like years. Oh, no, right. Months. Yeah. Like I've looked at it as, you know, I'm in big into experiences for my children for gifts, you know, for Christmas and birthdays and stuff. And so I was thinking, oh wow, that would be just a really cool thing because I would love to go to the area and this would be a great thing for her. And then I I look at the Airbnb and it's like booked out. I you can't even see an open date, put it that way. Oh my gosh. Wow. But it's a pot Twilight has been around for for many years now. I mean, uh I don't know what, like 15 years or something, and it's still just as popular as it was.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Oh yeah, no, I I I hear you, and and and you know, hey, I that's I mean, I think it's pretty cool. I mean, even I was seeing somewhere for Hocus Pocus 2 that Airbnb was holding a contest where you might you'd be up to um stay at the at the Sanderson sisters cottage, but I I can imagine how competitive it will be for that to get that one night stay.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I think that just going along with talking about the Airbnbs and some of these films, I think that it actually is a good thing that they're able to use these locations. We just toured over the summer some of the filming locations for vampire diaries, because again, Twilight, she's into vampire diaries as well. And you can actually you stay in one of the locations as an Airbnb where they filmed. And that one did have opening dates, and that is actually just outside of Atlanta. And that kind of goes along with there. We're next place on the list. I'm actually originally from Georgia, all of my family live in Georgia. So I've been to Savannah a couple of times and absolutely love it. I've been on a haunted tour there, which was pretty neat because they have quite a few of those, a lot of companies there to do that. It's a great place to learn about the book, The Midnight, in the Garden of Good and Evil. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

And I've been to Savannah as well, where, you know, I love my visit around that area was during the day, but it's it's really kind of got a nice, eerie feeling to it. And, you know, there's definitely a lot you could check out. You can follow the novel in its footsteps. Um, if you go on to visit Savannah's website, there is a piece called Seven Ways to Experience Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in Savannah. And you could follow along that article, and it'll tell you, you know, in particular, to go past some buildings, but especially in particular the famous Bonaventure Cemetery, where you could see the original home with the bird girl statue. I believe the statue is now in a museum called the Tel Afair Academy Museum. But if you want to still kind of see the cemetery itself, it is really a beautiful wonder.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yeah, it really, it really is a beautiful. But Savannah is a beautiful place overall. And not far from Savannah is Charleston, which is where you and I were speaking off camera earlier. And my daughter lives in downtown Charleston. And so last year, a couple of years ago, we actually did a tour of the Charleston Gel Ghost Tour. And I must say, for those of us that maybe on the more sensitive side with uh certain abilities and stuff, it was absolutely terrifying. There was a moment in one of the rooms they turned off all the lights and the ceilings in that room was, I mean, just a lot of terror. And it was probably one of the most genuine ghost tours, if you will, that I had been on that didn't feel campy, that it felt real, that you could feel it in the air of what had been there and what had happened there previously.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Right. No, absolutely too. And I was actually in Charleston and went on a tour of the old Charleston jail. And I do agree with you. I remember at one point when we were there, it was the still the time of like point and shoot cameras for people. They were still pretty, pretty popular. And I remember just at one point toward the end, my battery just almost went literally dead. And it was just like really bizarre. And I was just like, you know, how why is this happening? And then what happened was as soon as I left the building, my battery was back up and I guess back to normal. I mean, there's there's still a lot of really neat places to visit. You can visit the Magnolia Cemetery. A popular place to eat is Pugan's Porch, which is named for its one-time owner's dog. And supposedly the you might feel the presence of that pet around, but it's really a nice place to eat. And even just you can just walk around to check out the rainbow houses, a downtown area is really nice with the market. And then there's the famous pineapple fountain, too.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, lots of history in Charleston. There's there's no shortage of things to do, you know, related to the the spookiness of Halloween or or not. And I think like that's one of those places, it doesn't matter the time of year that you go, it's just really nice. One city that holds the title of the Halloween Capital of the World, I have absolutely no idea about this, but maybe it's because I'm just not familiar with this particular state a whole lot. But this city is in Minnesota.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

I wasn't familiar with it either prior to doing my story two years ago. But Anoka, they actually hold the claim to fame as being the Halloween Capital World because it hosted one of the first Halloween parades in 1920. And ironically, when I was working on my Smithsonian piece, it would have it was a centenary of having of you know starting Halloween traditions in in Anoka. And they at the time they were kind of not really sure what was going to happen. And the person I spoke with who was the contact for the festivity said, like, we can't really say anything because we don't know if we're able to put them on, you know, for the year of 2020. So it's like, wow. And but luckily, I mean, things prevail. And one of the cool things about the way they celebrate Halloween is they put on different events such as parades, daytime, nighttime, ones where younger, you know, young kids can be involved in March, as well as the standard how parades that we see. And they also do like kind of cool little things like contests around town, non-scary things. So people wanted to, let's say, do a contest, they could do a contest to even, I think at one point they even had like we're holding blood drives. So I thought that was really kind of neat too. You know, so it's it's kind of like scary, but not so scary. Like they'll do a house decorating contests, they'll bingo nights, and they and there were supposedly the origins for Halloween was back, you know, as we know, sometimes with Halloween has mischief night and people do not so nice things. It was the frights that were actually starting to kind of get kids not to cause trouble, and it just kind of stuck since. And let's talk about this this part really fascinated me. Doll Island. Yes, I've never been, I've heard about it in past articles before. Um, you know, but definitely it it is a real real place where you can take a boat out and to the island, which is it's based about south of Mexico City, a tree in a borough called Chocomico. Supposedly the story behind this island is that there was a girl that drowned in the canal adjacent to it. And what happened was this young man came across a doll floating in the canal's waters and kind of hung it up out of respect for the deceased girl. And then suddenly he just turned into a caretaker for this island where he just kind of built this island of toys kind of in honor of this girl that drowned. And it's it's become you know a tourist attraction. You do you could pay a boat, such as one called the Trajinera, which will take you out. You know, I mean the the photos are quite interesting, I must say. That's something that I think I would like to see in person.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

And finally, you know, we talked about this earlier. It's the birthplace of Halloween, Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, Ireland, you can't go wrong with a trip for sure. You know, Dublin itself has some interesting Halloween history, such as bars that have connections from a prison called Termuseum called Keliman Go, which you know kind of had prisoners that were convicted in the 1916 uprising that supposedly the presence is still felt. And then as I mentioned before, there is a Brahmstroker festival every October, which is takes place just throughout the city, kind of honoring his legacy and the like. If you go on to Ireland's tourism board's website, you can find a lot of cool information that kind of goes into the Celtic traditions of Halloween as well as places that have uh special events as well. But I mean, Ireland, you can't go wrong any time of the year for sure. I have not been, but it's on my list.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

I I have family there, so I I'm hoping to go next year. Well, I can't wait to read your stories about your trip. Do you have a favorite quote or any words of wisdom that you would like to share with our listeners? I always like to ask this question to guests, anything that you would like to just leave with them.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Yeah, it's a good question. I think the past years have taught us that if there's something that you'd like to do and something you maybe dreamed about or wanted to do, just do it. I I think there were places that I always wanted to see and I put off and I'm trying to hopefully make up for that now. But if there's something that you wanted to go out and don't hesitate, I mean there's a great quote from John Lennon saying, Life happens while you're busy making plans, or attributed to John Lennon that life happens while you're busy making plans. And it's so true. Like I I've been hemming and hawing about going to a country, uh destiny such as Antarctica. So I'm trying to make a plan to make it happen for a late next year.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

That will be an amazing trip. And where can our listeners find you and follow these adventures?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

I do have an Instagram and TikTok and Twitter, you know, keeping my my name, which is Michelle Herman, and that's M-I-C-H-E-L-E H E R R M A N N. Feel free to follow along. I do try to post there a lot regularly. I do blog as well at a site called SheisgoingPlaces.com, which I'm trying to catch up on, but definitely social media is definitely the way to go.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

And I'll make sure that I linked your Instagram and your blog and some of your stories on this episode at voices of inspiration podcast.com. Thank you so much for joining me and being willing to share your thoughts on these really cool Halloween destinations. I honestly cannot believe it's just right around the corner. Oh, yeah, no. Thank you, Amelia. What are you doing for Halloween? You know, I'm not sure. I thought about I live on a farm, so I thought about having a, you know, friends over and doing something outside, like a bonfire or something, but you know, I'm not sure yet. I'm sure I've got awakes it aside, but it'll be here before I know it. Sometimes the best plans happen that way. So true. Thank you, Tower listeners. There are hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there, and I'm so grateful you've chosen to be with me today. My name is Amelia, and I'm the host of Voices of Inspiration. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?