Echoes of the Southwest

If you happen to be in Arizona on Halloween and looking for a haunted house to visit, here is a website with a list of the many around the state: http://www.hauntedhouse.com/search/Haunted_Attraction_Directory/_USA_,040All_50_States,041/Arizona/ Here is another website with a list of the 10 best haunted houses throughout the country: http://www.bestcollegesonline.net/blog/2010/10-best-haunted-house-attractions/

This past weekend my husband's company had a camp out on the Rim, northeast of Payson, AZ.  As I was wandering around taking pictures, I came across this strange looking tent in the forest.  I slowly approached it and peeked inside.  I found a makeshift potty with two rolls of toilet paper sitting beside it.  Hum, is this the work of a cleaver Bigfoot who is more human than we originally thought?  Perhaps even Bigfoot prefers his privacy when he or she is doing their business.

In 1900, Adamsville was wiped away by a flood when the Gila River overflowed its banks.  This town was small with around 400 residences and was bustling with activity.  It had several water towers and a thriving flour mill.  Today, all that is left of Adamsville is a couple of cemeteries, a water tower, tanks from the flour mill, and a shell of an adobe building.  I did get pictures of them except for the adobe building.  They had it fenced off and we were too tired to trespass.  I know, I know, but it was hot and we were ready to get home. I scheduled this to post at exactly 12:13 am on October 8th. This is the exact time and day I was born 52 years ago.

I'm not sure if it was because we were in Florence on a Sunday at four in the afternoon, or this crappy economy, but this town was virtually empty and looked like a ghost town.  We saw two cars and two humans on the sidewalk pass us by on this lonely downtown street.  Many of the buildings were empty but there was only one that Sharon pick up some sort of reading.  We drove around and took videos and photos of the many abandoned and old buildings.  It was very quiet and eerie standing in the middle of a street and not seeing a soul anywhere.  After cruising around we headed off to Adamsville (next post).

Sharon (Autumnforest, Ghost Hunting Theories) and I took a trip to Florence and Tucson, Arizona.  We hopped on the I-10 after breakfast at Dunkin Donuts and headed towards Tucson and our first stop, Vinnie's house.  Halfway between Phoenix and Tucson is a place known as Picacho Peak State Park.  Near the foot of this unusually shaped mountain, and near the highway, is the gift and souvenir shop.  We had to stop to check out the interesting items inside and for Sharon to get some quirky gifts for give-aways.  After the gift shop, we headed on to Vinnie's... The "Plaza" consists of one building. They are frickin' serious about this! Sharon stole Josh Gates hat and is not giving it back until he takes her on an investigation.  Sharon and her new friend.  Nice body dude! Hey, what are you reading?  They just ignored little ol' noisy me. My new friend.  I love those Grizzly Adam type dudes. Awww, Mamma and her baby! Th

The next place Sharon and I are taking a road trip to would be Florence, Arizona. There are many abandoned sites, a cool cemetery, a haunted prison, and is close to the town of Adamsville which was washed away by a flood. ( http://above-the-norm.blogspot.com/2010/04/adamsville-wiped-out-by-flood.html ) We should have more fun pictures for you and hopefully a story or two about the adventure. In the mean time, here is some information about Florence: In the middle of the Desert of Pinal County, Arizona, sits a city of roughly 23,000 residences. In the middle of town is the largest Arizona State Prison complex, and an unspoiled Main Street where the movie “Murphy’s Romance” was filmed. It is one of the oldest municipalities in the county and has over 100 structures listed on the National Historic Registry. Just north of Florence was located a huge prisoner of war camp for German and Italian detainees seized during the North Africa movement and called, “Camp Florence”. This World