Photo: Suzie Dundas
At Nevada's Abandoned State Prison, the Ghosts Pay the Bills
In mid-July, I spent an evening at the shuttered Nevada State Prison in Carson City. It closed in 2012 after roughly 150 years but is still standing with its cell blocks, guard tower, and the gas chamber where the US carried out its first execution by lethal gas — oof. The closest I'd ever come to being in a prison was watching Law & Order: SVU (shoutout to Detective Fin Tutuola), and I found my inside peek super fascinating.
I was on a 90-minute ghost walk, moving through the yard, mess hall, and various cell blocks while guide Verla Jackson, who describes herself as trained in "all things woo," shared the history of the prison's most infamous inmates and her belief that the best way to speak with spirits is to be open and friendly. After that, a $100 add-on kept five of us there past 9:30 PM, loaded up with EMF detectors, dowsing rods, and ghost-voice apps, posing questions in the courtroom and a women's cell block.
As a skeptic, I wasn't convinced we'd contacted anyone. After all, the meters react to plenty that isn't a ghost, and the apps couldn't agree on what the spirits were "saying." But one thing that did stay with me was the authenticity and respect of the guides: they never oversold it, and when the ghosts decided to stay quiet, they didn't fabricate anything. They seemed to treat the ghosts, if they did exist, as less of an attraction and more as former residents owed a little respect.
Check out more photos — and some of the prison's spookiest ghost tour photos — at the full article.
Keep it weird,
Suzie Dundas, editor
O U T D O O R
10 Hot-Air Balloon Rides That Show Off America’s Best Fall Landscapes
Photo: Steve Bower/Shutterstock
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D E A L S
The Flight Deals We'd Actually Book This Week
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P H O T O G R A P H Y
Boise, Idaho, in Color
Photos: Rulo Luna Ramos
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"For two days, I walked the city's streets and parks from sunrise to sunset," he says. "The palette gave me a way in, one color at a time: the green along the river, the blue of Boise State, the golden foothill grass, the copper on bridges and buildings, and the elusive purple hiding throughout the city. That's how I came to understand Boise."
S T A Y S
How Spending National Tequila Day Outside Puerto Vallarta Changed the Way I Drink Margaritas
Photo: Timo.T/Shutterstock
At Riu Palace Pacifico, an adults-only getaway in Puerto Vallarta, National Tequila Day meant margarita demos with Cuervo's master mixologists, hands-on classes, and a crash course in what actually goes into the glass.
Turns out there's a lot more to tequila than margaritas.
G I V E A W A Y
A Royal Romance Getaway to Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas
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Travel Well
The Matador Editorial Team
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