Spooky Season 2024

For the last 3 years I’ve challenged myself to do something Halloween or fall themed every day of October and document it on my personal Instagram. Now that we’re full-time RVers, our spooky season will be spent on the road! I’ll be documenting Spooky Season 2024 on the blog and Roaming Nelsons socials. This post will serve as a hub for all things spooky-themed, as well as a daily journal of the season- so check back regularly. If you’re looking for more spooky season reading, a big inspiration for this project has been J.W. Ocker of Odd Things I’ve Seen.

New Fall and Halloween Themed Blog Posts

• History in Stone: 10 Remarkable Illinois Cemeteries To Visit
• Exploring Abandoned Illinois: 5 (Legal) Spots You Need to Visit
• True Crime in the Heartland: Exploring the Belle Gunness Exhibit

Spooky Season 2024 Daily Blog

October 26th

Ah, finally a real Spooky Season activity again! In the evening we headed out the Dr. Samuel Mudd House for Victorian Halloween. Dr. Mudd was another John Wilkes Booth co-conspirator, but tonight’s event wasn’t focused on him. The house was decorated for Halloween and in three rooms costumed docents spoke about Victorian Halloween. In the first room (the bedroom where Dr. Mudd worked on Booth’s leg), the docent told us about Victorian morning traditions, in the next room another docent talked about the history of Halloween itself, and in the final room the docent talked about Victorians and spiritualism. Each room also had a ghost story or two about the house itself.

Spooky Movie of the Night: Carved (2024), about a killer pumpkin, is billed as a horror comedy. It wasn’t that funny, but was lighthearted and fun. Not a great movie, but a good seasonal watch.

October 25th

No fun spooky activities to report, but I still wanted to highlight the Spooky Movie of the Night. Since we’ve been learning all about the Lincoln assassination, I wanted a themed movie so we watched Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012) which was better than either of us expected it to be. Of course the premise is silly, but it was a good watch.

October 20th

Sunday was our first big Washington DC day. We focused on the Mall area and saw a good chunk of the memorials and monuments, and did a couple Smithsonian museums. At the Museum of American History, they had a temporary exhibit on forensic science that had some good spooky season artifacts.

From left to right: photo of impression of Ted Bundy’s teeth, evidence logs from the OJ Simpson case, splatter head used in the TV show Dexter:

October 19th

Saturday was another lightly-spooky day. We spent the morning with a local Wild Ones chapter at their plant swap, and then had some time for activities after. At the nearby Brookside Gardens, they had a few fall displays up.

Then we had just enough time for one bigger activity and ended up choosing the National Cryptologic Museum at NSA Headquarters. I’m going to count it here, since the NSA is pretty spooky! This is a great museum all about the history of US cryptology and has tons of interesting artifacts on display. If you want to see more photos, there’s an album on our Facebook page too.

Spooky Movies of the Night: The Babysitter (2017) and The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020) aren’t necessarily good movies, but they are very enjoyable movies. The premise is around answering the question of what babysitters do once the kids go to sleep… and in this case the answer is they’re part of a satanic cult. 

October 18th

Friday we went to a local museum that was high on my list for this trip- the Surratt House. Mary Surratt has the distinction of being the first woman executed by the US government. She was convicted of being one of the co-conspirators that helped John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of President Lincoln. Mary owned both a boarding house in DC and a tavern in Clinton (just a few miles from our campground). The tour we took was of the Clinton tavern, which was used to hide guns and other supplies for the assassination. Mary was eventually arrested, convicted, and hanged. We had a great tour of the house that told Mary’s story, as well as the story of some of the enslaved people who worked there. 

October 17th

Not much to report on the 17th either, but we went to Green Green in Washington DC and the bar was decorated pretty awesome for Halloween.

October 16th

The back half of October ended up being pretty light in the spooky arena. On the 16th I made a fall recipe- butternut squash and prosciutto pizza. The squash should have been preocooked more, but it definitely fulfilled its mission of bringing fall vibes.

Spooky Movie of the Night: Edward Scissorhands (1990) is yet another movie that it’s weird I hadn’t seen yet. I love Tim Burton, so I don’t know why it’s taken so long to watch this one. It lived up to the hype and I’m sure I’ll watch it again.

October 15th

Tuesday we got out to do our first exploring of Maryland (other than the grocery store). We first visited Harmony Hall, which is managed as part of NPS’s Fort Washington. Even though there’s nothing inherently spooky about it, it’s barely managed and felt like we shouldn’t be there. Then we headed over to Saint John’s Episcopal Church. This is the oldest church site in Prince George’s County and the land was first purchased in 1694. The church there today is the 4th version and was finished in 1768. As you can see from the sign below, George Washington was said to have attended here occasionally. 

There were tons of stones with the name Kerby, but one with Kirby. I have a feeling it might have been a misspelling, and from what I see on FindAGrave, it looks like it was.

Another interesting part of the cemetery was an area full of unknown graves. It seems like there are from when bodies were moved at some point.

Our last stop of the day was at Miller Farms to check out the farm store and bakery. We ended up getting an apple cider doughnut sundae. It included doughnut crumbles, apple pie soft serve, caramel, and whipped cream. It was so good! And definitely the perfect fall treat. 

Spooky TV of the Night: American Horror Stories is back. If you haven’t watched it yet, it’s a spin-off of the horror anthology American Horror Story. In this version, though, instead of each season being a stand alone story, each episode is. We watched the first three episodes that are out now- Backrooms, Clone, and X. Backrooms was definitely interesting because it took a concept that’s such an internet-thing and adapted it in a big budget mainstream way, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Clone was good, we didn’t expect the ending and it was pretty funny. X was a good story, but we both agreed that the black and white didn’t really add anything to this particular story.

October 14th

Monday we had a lazy day at home mostly, but we did get caught up on some chores. Once we got the camper cleaned up, I was finally motivated to decorate for fall/Halloween! Since we have a small space, it’s not a ton of decorations, but it definitely feels more festive in here now.

Spooky Movie of the Night- The VVitch (2015) is on every list of top folk horror movies I’ve seen. I didn’t think it was scary at all, but it was very atmospheric. It’s also a super small cast, but the actors are all so good that it works well. It’s about family, fear, the patriarchy, pride, and so many more themes.

October 13th

Sunday was another not very spooky day. We drove from New Jersey to Maryland and got settled into our campsite. We at least watched a spooky movie, though!

Spooky Movie of the Night- Freaky (2020) is basically Freaky Friday the 13th. A magical dagger causes a teenage girl and a serial killer to switch bodies. It’s very fun and silly, but also doesn’t shy away from the gore and kills. Also, this might be my favorite Vince Vaughn performance ever- he plays a great teenage girl.

October 12th

Saturday was a travel day between New Jersey and our one night stop in Delaware (again, just to say we slept in Delaware). We didn’t really get to do anything spooky this day- our main activity was visiting the Atlantic Ocean. We were camping at a brewery, so we did at least try their Oktoberfest beer and then we watched a spooky movie. 

Spooky Movie of the Night- Goosebumps (2015) is set in Delaware, which is the only reason I chose it. We both thought it was fun and surprisingly good for a kids’ horror movie. Neither of us has an extensive Goosebumps knowledge and you can tell it’s definitely made for fans who know all the stories.

October 11th

Friday was a very exciting Spooky Season evening. We were camping for just a night in New Jersey (just to say we stayed in New Jersey), but our activity for the night was actually back in Pennsylvania, just across the river. We went on a candlelight tour of Fort Mifflin- said to be one of the most haunted places in America. We liked the vibe of the tour too, as the website says, “No decorations. No hype. Just, you, a few candles, and REAL Ghosts!” 

So, why is Fort Mifflin haunted? The fort got its start in the Colonial period (and has gone several name changes over the year) and was instrumental in defending Philadelphia. It was originally a British fort, but reconstructed and used by the Americans in the Revolutionary War. In 1777, the British attacked Mifflin via the Delaware River and destroyed a lot of the fort. There were 400 Americans at the fort and at least half of them died there. This part of the history of the Fort is treated solemnly by the staff today. Our tour guide kept reminding us that we were walking on hallowed grounds because of the 200 men that gave their lives fighting for America. We really appreciated that stance, versus many “haunted” places that sensationalize their stories.

Fort Mifflin was also used in the Civil War and houses Confederate prisoners of war and Union soldiers who had gone AWOL, etc. They were housed in the Casemates in horrible conditions, and of course many died there. We went into a few of the Casemates during our tour, including the very haunted Casemate #11.

We didn’t see any ghosts, but had a great time on this tour. Even if it hadn’t been about the ghosts, it still would have just been cool to have an off-hours nighttime tour. We would definitely like to go back during the daytime someday to actually see more of the Fort. That night for our Spooky Season viewing, we found the episode of Ghost Hunters all about Fort Mifflin, which was fun to see on TV.

October 10th

Thursday we got in one last cemetery visit before leaving Pennsylvania. We drove out to Robeson Lutheran Church & Cemetery in Plowsville. The main attraction here was the grave of Pulitzer winning writer John Updike. Updike is best known for his series of Rabbit novels, and was also a poet. His gravestone is very unique. On the back is a poem, but I wasn’t able to get good enough lighting to get a legible photo. 

Of course, we found some other nice older stones to admire too.

Spooky Movie of the Night- The Omen (1976) is one of those movies where I’ve seen the remake but never the original. From what I remember of the remake, they’re actually really similar. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the newer one, but I didn’t notice anything big that had been changed.

October 9th

We had another chill state park day, so that meant another fall recipe. This time I made french onion gnocchi- basically a thicker heartier french onion soup. I also made my favorite fall cocktail. This caramel apple cocktail is the easier thing ever, but my favorite drink this time of year.

Spooky Movie of the Night- Ginger Snaps (2000) is another teen girl horror movie favorite of mine and first time watch for Josh. It’s very obviously low budget, but a cult classic. Basically one of the main characters turns into a werewolf as a metaphor for puberty, but it’s also about the two sisters and their relationship. Someday I still need to watch the sequels.

October 8th

Tuesday was a laid back day and we didn’t do any big adventures- just explored the park we’re staying at more and played some disc golf. This meant I finally had time to cook a fall recipe, though. I made pizza with apples, bacon, caramelized onions, and goat cheese. It turned out awesome and definitely gave me fall vibes.

October 7th

Monday we drove out to Valley Forge National Historical Park. This was the site of George Washington’s encampment during the Revolutionary War. The park sights are mostly along a big loop road, so we were able to drive place to place. We ran out of time to stop at everything, but we did stop at the George Washington Memorial Chapel which was built in 1903 as a tribute to Washington. It’s still an active church and has a churchyard cemetery that we explored. The building itself is a gorgeous gothic structure and I hope sometime we’re able to come back and actually go inside.

The first gravestone that caught our eye in the cemetery was a full drumset. I think it’s one of my favorite gravestones I’ve ever seen. I love how joyful and fun it is- what a great way to be remembered.

October 6th

Sunday was our one chance to actually get into Philly, which is an hour away from our campsite. Since we didn’t have a ton of time, we focused on Independence National Historical Park and other nearby history sites. We, of course, found a couple famous graves.

First up was Benjamin Franklin’s grave in Christ Church Cemetery. Luckily he’s buried right next to the fence, since it would have cost $10 for us to actually enter the cemetery and we decided it isn’t worth it.

The other famous grave we found was Betsy Ross’s third grave, right outside her house. We toured the small museum here and then visited her grave in the courtyard. She was buried in a couple different cemeteries before being moved here.

We also found an interesting burial ground at the Arch Street Meeting House. This is a very old Quaker meeting house and thousands of people were buried here- but there are only 4 headstones left. The Quakers at one point decided that grave markers were inconsistent with Quaker principles and were almost removed.

We found three of the four remaining stones, including the memorial to Samuel Nicholas who was a big part of founding the marines.

Spooky Movie of the Night- The Blob (1985) is a fun classic that we enjoyed- it’s pretty bonkers. It was actually the wrong Blob movie though, I didn’t realize until afterwards that one I wanted was the 1950’s one since the diner and theatre from it were near our campground area.

October 5th

Our big activity of the day was joining Wild Ones and Colonial Canopy for a native planting project at a township building. Afterwards,though, we had some time for an afternoon activity. We went to Morris Arboretum, which besides its usual gardens, had its Ar-BOO-etum event going on. There was a pumpkin cottage and scarecrow walk for the event. Also, just everywhere throughout the gardens there were pumpkins and gourds tucked around, so the whole place had a great fall vibe.

Spooky Movie of the Night- Jennifer’s Body (2009) is one of my favorites, but new to Josh. It’s very much a teen girl horror movie- kind of spooky Mean Girls vibes.

October 4th

For today’s Spooky Season we did a fall farm double feature! We started off at Mast Farms, primarily for the corn maze. This was a good corn maze- pretty big, not too easy, not too hard, and we picked a good time with no one else in the maze. The field is actually split into two mazes- one large and one small. We did a few other small activities there and then had a hayride all to ourselves.

After Mast Farms, we went over to Weaver’s Orchards. We skipped the activities here, but did a good amount of shopping. They have an amazing farm market and store. I seriously wanted everything there and it was so hard to decide what to get. We ended up getting apples, apple cider, apple cider doughnuts, apple butter, corn, and a few gifts for family. We also grabbed ice-cream while we were there.

October 3rd

Our big activity of the day was visiting Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. We were able to go into a bunch of the buildings to learn all about how the iron furnace worked and the community that built around the industry. After seeing everything in the main historic site, we took a quick drive over to Bethesda Church and Cemetery. The church was originally non-denominational and was used by many of the Hopewell workers and their families. The cemetery was used from 1807-1997. 

The most interesting graves here are the table tombstones (also known as a pedestal tombstone). This style of marker was mostly used in the 19th century for prominent or wealthy people. The ones in Bethesda Cemetery are for members of the Lloyd family, which was the family that originally built the church as a meeting house.

October 2nd

We’ve settled into home for the next couple weeks at French Creek State Park in Pennsylvania, so it was time to go get groceries. We decided to go to the store in nearby Pottstown so we could check off a few things to do there too. We stopped in at the River of Revolutions Interpretive Center that’s part of Schuylkill River Greenways NHA, Edgewood Cemetery, and Ringing Rocks Park.

Our first person to visit at Edgewood Cemetery was social reformer Annnie Wittenmyer. Annie was involved in the temperance movement, but also did work like running the local soldiers’ aid society, establishing the Women’s Relief Corps, helping pass a law to create pensions for army nurses, helped found the Kentucky Soldiers Home, and much more.

Other graves we found interesting were Sarah and Anna Potts Hobart, who had a unique arch connecting them, Bessie Hitner with a marble tombstone, and WM Price Coryell’s treestump tombstone.

Spooky Movie of the Night- Ready or Not (2019) has been on my list to watch for a while and unexpectedly was available on Hulu. I know a love of people who really like this movie and now you can add me to the list too. The main character Grace is an awesome final girl, and there was a lot of dark humor throughout the movie that I really enjoyed. The ending is a little controversial, but I thought it was a fun twist.

October 1st

We started off Spooky Season strong by waking up next to a cemetery. September 30 and October 1 were both long drive days, so we stayed at a Harvest Host overnight. We had originally been trying to stay at a winery, but didn’t get the reservation approval in time, so we ended up staying at Unity Community Church. At first it was disappointing, until we realized that the church had a cemetery right next to the parking lot where we would be camping. Monday was too rainy to check out the cemetery, so right after breakfast on Tuesday we went for a cemetery walk to start the day. It was actually a pretty interesting cemetery too, because parts were better maintained than others. Usually with church cemeteries it’s pretty even.There were boundary markers up that looked like maybe they were working on some mapping projects too. My favorite markers we found were these two zinkies (white bronze) markers- not only are zinkies always fun to find, but these were especially ornate ones. 

Spooky Movie of the Night- Trick ‘r Treat (2007) is a modern classic that I’ve somehow never seen before. It’s usually listed as an anthology, but is really five interwoven stories about Halloween night. It was the perfect start to the season and has great Halloween night vibes. Unlike a traditional anthology, it was fun to see how the separate stories crossed paths.