Plans for today (2024)

SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
There are very old prisons in the UK that are no longer in use but open to the public who do ghost tours.
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We have some of those here - the most notorious is just a bit east of me right now, Eastern State Penitentiary, renowned for the atrocities that happened there, and reputed to be one of the most haunted places on the planet (if you’re into that sort of thing).

Our tour last night was entirely inside, at the Jennie Wade House. I really have mixed feelings about the whole thing, as it’s an incredibly sad story, especially when you get into some of the details (she was the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg), and it feels very strange indeed to go from room to room, detailing her movements leading up to her death, the aftermath, and then hear people exit telling the guide, “Thanks, we had a lot of fun tonight.”

I didn’t find it fun at all, just heartbreaking. If anyone has spent any time in Gettysburg, they have at least some familiarity with Jennie Wade, she’s a local celebrity (and source of income, apparently), and it’s easy to get desensitized to it all (“Oh yeah, Jennie Wade, only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg, blah blah blah where are we having lunch?”), but when you stop and really slow down and consider everything, I don’t know how anyone could “enjoy” it or “have fun.” It’s just another senseless loss of life, especially at such a young age (20), because too many people favor shooting at each other.

Thankfully, we’ve outgrown that as a species and all of that’s behind us. Oh wait… 😞

How’s that for a cheerful Sunday?
 
TastyReuben said:
We have some of those here - the most notorious is just a bit east of me right now, Eastern State Penitentiary, renowned for the atrocities that happened there, and reputed to be one of the most haunted places on the planet (if you’re into that sort of thing).

Our tour last night was entirely inside, at the Jennie Wade House. I really have mixed feelings about the whole thing, as it’s an incredibly sad story, especially when you get into some of the details (she was the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg), and it feels very strange indeed to go from room to room, detailing her movements leading up to her death, the aftermath, and then hear people exit telling the guide, “Thanks, we had a lot of fun tonight.”

I didn’t find it fun at all, just heartbreaking. If anyone has spent any time in Gettysburg, they have at least some familiarity with Jennie Wade, she’s a local celebrity (and source of income, apparently), and it’s easy to get desensitized to it all (“Oh yeah, Jennie Wade, only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg, blah blah blah where are we having lunch?”), but when you stop and really slow down and consider everything, I don’t know how anyone could “enjoy” it or “have fun.” It’s just another senseless loss of life, especially at such a young age (17), because too many people favor shooting at each other.

Thankfully, we’ve outgrown that as a species and all of that’s behind us. Oh wait… 😞

How’s that for a cheerful Sunday?
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Hmm some people are strange aren’t they, it’s like their empathy is switched off to anything that’s not happening right in front of them.
 
One last ghost tour remark:

We met in the gift shop to the house, right at closing time, maybe 10 of us. As with any group thing like that, there’s always one person/couple/friends who are there purely to disrupt. This was no different.

This was a couple, younger than us, and her dad, about my age. They were all on the spectrum…of drunkenness, with the wife being just about upright, and the others just sloppy and chatty.

It came time to start, and the gentleman organizing it stepped up and said something like, “All right, all right…welcome, everyone, to the Jennie Wade House, where tonight, you’ll have the opportunity to tour the house with one of our guides, learn about the life and death of the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg, and learn a bit about what their lives were like at Christmas in the mid-1800’s.”

<Pauses to take a breath>

“As you-“

At that point, Drunk Dad let out the longest, loudest, wettest fart that was ever farted. You know that Buddy the Elf burp from Elf? It was that burp in fart form. You know that Naked Gun scene, where Leslie Nielsen left his mic on and farted for a solid five minutes, stopping and starting again over and over? That was a baby fart compared to what this guy did.

The only upside was that they’d been causing quite a ruckus leading up to that, and that actually seemed to bring them back to their senses and they settled down somewhat.
 
TastyReuben said:
One last ghost tour remark:

We met in the gift shop to the house, right at closing time, maybe 10 of us. As with any group thing like that, there’s always one person/couple/friends who are there purely to disrupt. This was no different.

This was a couple, younger than us, and her dad, about my age. They were all on the spectrum…of drunkenness, with the wife being just about upright, and the others just sloppy and chatty.

It came time to start, and the gentleman organizing it stepped up and said something like, “All right, all right…welcome, everyone, to the Jennie Wade House, where tonight, you’ll have the opportunity to tour the house with one of our guides, learn about the life and death of the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg, and learn a bit about what their lives were like at Christmas in the mid-1800’s.”

<Pauses to take a breath>

“As you-“

At that point, Drunk Dad let out the longest, loudest, wettest fart that was ever farted. You know that Buddy the Elf burp from Elf? It was that burp in fart form. You know that Naked Gun scene, where Leslie Nielsen left his mic on and farted for a solid five minutes, stopping and starting again over and over? That was a baby fart compared to what this guy did.

The only upside was that they’d been causing quite a ruckus leading up to that, and that actually seemed to bring them back to their senses and they settled down somewhat.
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Wow that’s foul!
 
Tonight husband and I are going to see the Wicked movie. It’s one of our favourite musicals, we’ve seen it on stage 3 times over the years. We even got tix for the fancy VIP theatre.

It’s going to be my first time in a movie theatre since pre-pandemic. It’s one of those things we just haven’t gotten back to afterwards (we did go see the Barbie movie, but that was at the drive-in).
 
TastyReuben said:
We have some of those here - the most notorious is just a bit east of me right now, Eastern State Penitentiary, renowned for the atrocities that happened there, and reputed to be one of the most haunted places on the planet (if you’re into that sort of thing).

Our tour last night was entirely inside, at the Jennie Wade House. I really have mixed feelings about the whole thing, as it’s an incredibly sad story, especially when you get into some of the details (she was the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg), and it feels very strange indeed to go from room to room, detailing her movements leading up to her death, the aftermath, and then hear people exit telling the guide, “Thanks, we had a lot of fun tonight.”

I didn’t find it fun at all, just heartbreaking. If anyone has spent any time in Gettysburg, they have at least some familiarity with Jennie Wade, she’s a local celebrity (and source of income, apparently), and it’s easy to get desensitized to it all (“Oh yeah, Jennie Wade, only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg, blah blah blah where are we having lunch?”), but when you stop and really slow down and consider everything, I don’t know how anyone could “enjoy” it or “have fun.” It’s just another senseless loss of life, especially at such a young age (17), because too many people favor shooting at each other.

Thankfully, we’ve outgrown that as a species and all of that’s behind us. Oh wait… 😞

How’s that for a cheerful Sunday?
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Too sad.

Northwest of where you live in Ohio is this place. I'm sure you already know of it. For those who don't, it's where they filmed a movie called Shawshank Redemption.
Home - The Ohio State Reformatory Preservation Society
 
Herbaceous said:
Tonight husband and I are going to see the Wicked movie. It’s one of our favourite musicals, we’ve seen it on stage 3 times over the years. We even got tix for the fancy VIP theatre.

It’s going to be my first time in a movie theatre since pre-pandemic. It’s one of those things we just haven’t gotten back to afterwards (we did go see the Barbie movie, but that was at the drive-in).
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I have to admit, I’m about full up on Wicked promotionals and news stories. Every time I turn on the TV, there’s a Wicked ad, and every time I open a news site, there’s a Wicked story.

Regardless, I hope you have a marvelous time. We’ve gone to maybe two movies since the pandemic, and now, since we go so rarely, we do so at the beer-and-food-in-your-leather-recliner cinema.
 
TastyReuben said:
I have to admit, I’m about full up on Wicked promotionals and news stories. Every time I turn on the TV, there’s a Wicked ad, and every time I open a news site, there’s a Wicked story.

Regardless, I hope you have a marvelous time. We’ve gone to maybe two movies since the pandemic, and now, since we go so rarely, we do so at the beer-and-food-in-your-leather-recliner cinema.
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I’ve just rediscovered the Cinema.
The cinema of my childhood (art deco cinema that opened in 1935) closed. Made me quite sad.
Then after standing empty for nearly a year another cinema group reopened it.
The tickets are only £5 each so the four of us can go and enjoy a film together for £20!

And the last surviving seaside cinema organ (a Compton for those interested in that stuff) has been saved.
 
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TastyReuben said:
I have to admit, I’m about full up on Wicked promotionals and news stories. Every time I turn on the TV, there’s a Wicked ad, and every time I open a news site, there’s a Wicked story.

Regardless, I hope you have a marvelous time. We’ve gone to maybe two movies since the pandemic, and now, since we go so rarely, we do so at the beer-and-food-in-your-leather-recliner cinema.
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Yep, that’s the one we’re going to, where you can order the beer and cocktails right to your seat.

Since it’s 19+, there’s also no chance of the movie being interrupted by screaming children. I was saying the other day that I wish there were 2 separate screenings: one for people who want to talk, text, and generally be disruptive, and one for people who want to sit down, shut up, and watch the movie!
 
Herbaceous said:
Yep, that’s the one we’re going to, where you can order the beer and cocktails right to your seat.

Since it’s 19+, there’s also no chance of the movie being interrupted by screaming children. I was saying the other day that I wish there were 2 separate screenings: one for people who want to talk, text, and generally be disruptive, and one for people who want to sit down, shut up, and watch the movie!
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I love a good suds and cinema. We had one where I lived in Florida that was pretty awesome. They had pizza and other bar food type snacks. And this was 30 years ago!
 
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