Episode 47: Haunted Hospitality and The Feminine Macabre with Amanda Woomer

Photograph by Barbara Fisher

Hello Fellow Travelers on the Pan-Paranormal Parkway!

This episode is a treat.

It reminds us all to eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die—and end up haunting a restaurant, bar, distillery, brewery, theatre, or hotel all eternity.

Amanda Woomer, the originatrix of the concept of “haunted hospitality” has a website called “Spook Eats” where she outlines and reviews haunted places of business in the hospitality and food and drink industries. She’s written a book called Spirit Guide: America’s Haunted Breweries, Distilleries and Wineries, which gives the Ghost Tourist places to stop to quench their thirst for both spirits and Spirits, if you know what I mean.

(She’s also written some adorable kid’s books about the paranormal.

She’s also edits a journal for women and non-binary people to write about their paranormal research projects and findings called The Feminine Macabre. She’s calling for submissions right now, and you can look at the guidelines here.

I highly recommend that all of our fellow ladies of supernatural write or create art for the next volume. (I’ll be sending in a piece.)

But these two projects, and her books—as cool as they are—are not all of what we discuss in this lively episode. We talk about ghost hunting—Amanda is an accomplished ghost hunter—and about the difference between ghost tours and ghost hunting. Even more interesting and useful information includes her ideas on how to create or hack your own ghost hunting equipment. A lot of the technology you see on television shows is expensive, and Amanda has figured out ways to adapt existing technology and build her own gadgets to help her in her quest to examine the haunted world.

And finally, she tells us where her favorite tasty treat she found in her paranormal perambulations lives: The Old Canal Inn in Nutley NJ. There you will find the infamous Death Seat Burger, an entree that truly tempts fate, but is delicious enough to travel for.

(However, after watching this week’s episode (Season 3, Episode 6 “The Escape”) of What We Do in the Shadows, I highly suggest that if you do travel to Nutley for a taste of the Death Seat Burger, you take great care if you book an airbnb. You don’t want to survive that burger only to get eaten by a pair of ghoulish vampires and a hellhound. )

You can find Amanda and her work at spookeats.com,

Her TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter handles are all @spookeats.