Tag Archives: Halloween

Oct25

The Top 3 Most Haunted Places In The US

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The Top 3 Most Haunted Places In The US

Right now, the scariest thing we’re all facing is the raging Covid-19 pandemic. But, with Halloween upon us in a few days, it might be a good idea to take a break from worrying over the pandemic for a while and have some fun. 

We won’t be holding any costume parties for a while or until we get the pandemic under control. But we can always look for ways to get into the spirit of the season. Everyone loves to read a good ghost story, right? Let’s take our minds off the pandemic for a while. There’s no time like today to take a virtual tour and visit some of the most haunted places in the US.

San Antonio, Texas

The setting for one of the deadliest battles in the US, San Antonio, Texas is a hotbed for ghostly hauntings. There are many reports of apparitions of army men who fought for the independence of Texas from Mexico in the historic ‘The Battle of Alamo.’ You can also hear chanting and horse’s hooves in the prominent hotels around the area. It is said that the number of paranormal disturbances has actually increased over the years. Among the most haunted sites are: 

  • The Menger Hotel – that has the reputation of being the ‘Most haunted hotel in Texas’ 
  • The Crockett Hotel – where there are sightings of the Alamo Defenders in and around the hotel, and; 
  • The Emily Morgan Hotel – which once housed a morgue and a psychiatric ward.  

Hollywood, California

Good old Hollywood is the site for so many spooky stories, including celebrity hauntings. Here is no shortage of urban legends about celebrities who died and supposedly haunt the places they used to frequent. In fact, the Hotel Roosevelt has the most star-studded line up which includes celebrity ghost sightings by famous actors such as Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. Another haunted site that is a favorite of ghost hunters is the Queen Mary, a cruise liner that was turned into a hotel. Its Stateroom B340 has been the site of so many hauntings that management decided to close it off for a number of years.

Waynesville, Ohio

Waynesville has been called the most haunted town in Ohio, and for good reason. It is the site of 30 haunted houses. Yes, 30! It’s so haunted that The Museum at the Friends Home offers regular Ghostly History Walking Tours of many of those haunted locations. Among the many haunted sites in Waynesville, Ohio are:

  • The Hammel House in downtown Waynesville which houses the infamous room number 4, site of a gruesome 19th-century murder.
  • The Friends (Quaker) Meeting House, where a ghostly figure of a woman stares eerily from the white brick building’s windows.
  • The burial grounds at High Street, where you can hear the pained cries of the long departed.

Do you have any ghost stories or experiences? Share them with us in the comments. 

Happy Halloween! Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Oct26

5 True Horror Office Stories

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5 True Horror Office Stories

Halloween is coming up, and we all love a good scary story for Halloween, right? Fans of a good scare know that the scariest stories are the ones that happen in real life, to real people. Here are 5 true horror office stories that can happen to anyone.

Send to all

This story is at the top of the list for a reason: everyone is terrified of sending out emails that are misspelled or mistakenly sent to an unintended recipient. The most horrifying one is a badly spelled email that has been “sent to all.” You will go down in history as that person who sent “I apologize for any incontinence” to everyone in the mailing list. So proofread your emails, make it short and to the point, and please only include pertinent recipients. 

The sick co-worker

In light of recent happenings, it is a huge no-no to sneeze or cough in public. If you want to disperse a team meeting, all you have to do is cough and watch how quickly everyone disappears from the vicinity. Now, imagine having a co-worker with allergic rhinitis who has a sneezing fit of 6 to 7 sneezes but does not leave the meeting room. This used to be a mild annoyance. Now, everyone sees this as an affront to their health and safety. If you are sick, please do not go to work and see a doctor. If it’s just a case of bad allergies, be considerate and work remotely so as not to scare everyone.

The “Legally Blonde” moment

Remember the scene in the movie “Legally Blonde” where Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) shows up to a college party in full playboy bunny costume, only, it turns out to be a regular house party. Remember this when you decide to dress up for Halloween. A costume theme only works when everyone knows that there’s a costume theme going on AND has agreed to join you. So make sure that the team knows that you all agreed to dress up in costumes for the day. Otherwise, you will forever be known as “The Office Clown” if you show up dressed as Pennywise to the office.

Too much Halloween fun

Do not overindulge at office parties. This goes not only for Halloween parties but for all office parties in general. And by overindulging, I don’t mean just drinks. This goes for food, candy, and even (God forbid) office supplies. Moderation is key. Be a team player and save some for the others. 

True story, bro

I leave you with a “true” office horror story. You can read more real-life office scary stories, here.

“We’ve come to believe a terrible accident took place during the building [of our coffee shop]. The first time I noticed anything, I was in the lobby alone, no customers, all co-workers in the back room, and I heard a man ask, “Where are my hands?!” I nearly peed my pants. Since then, every now and then, weird things will happen. We’ll hear someone asking for help or saying, “Hello? Hello? Hello?!” when no one is in the store.

There have been multiple times I’m in the back alone washing dishes and see something move out of the corner of my eye or hear something fall or shuffle. I’ll check, and no one will be there. We’ll hear the bell of our door opening, but no one is there. I definitely don’t enjoy my shifts when something like that happens. —Francisca, barista for a major coffee chain in Washington”

Do you have your own office horror story? Share them with us in the comments. Happy Halloween! Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Oct28

Starting a Tradition at Work

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Starting a Tradition at Work

Starting and celebrating traditions at work is a very important aspect of employee well-being. It encourages employees to get to know one another better, build camaraderie, and have fun at the same time! Sure, you might have your occasional corporate volunteerism activities where you organize clean-up drives or volunteer at an elderly home for a day. However, these are different from building traditions that are pure celebration and 100% fun.

Here’s an idea, since Halloween is coming up, why not start a Halloween tradition. Halloween isn’t connected with any particular religious practice, and most people love the festivities associated with it anyway, so it’s the best way to insert traditional celebrations into your daily work rotation. After all, it is the second most widely celebrated and largest commercial holiday. The first, of course, is…you guessed it… Christmas.

A fair reminder though: if you do decide to make an event a yearly tradition, make sure that it is not mandatory. Unlike regular work, celebrations are not part of the regular work agenda. It should be voluntary and employers must not put unnecessary pressure on employees to participate.

Plan the activities
If you don’t have an events team in place, you might want to group together and form a cross-functional committee to plan and execute the Halloween activities. The exercise of planning an event will build teamwork, spark creative thinking, and enhance organizational skills. You can ask in-house departments to take turns planning the events out. The rotation will be good for creativity as fresh ideas will be generated for every event. It also gives them a chance to transfer leadership and responsibility and no one team or group will carry the burden of planning work events. Everyone can take turns planning, participating, and just enjoying the celebrations.

Here are some Halloween related activities to get you started:

Costume party
People will always enjoy an excuse to dress up. While you won’t be getting candy for your efforts, a costume party is a fun way to show off employee’s individuality and creativity. You can plan costumes around a theme like famous movie stars, superheroes, villains, music icons, national costumes, the ’80s, Netflix shows, etc. You can also give out awards like the best costume, scariest costume, funniest costume, most creative, etc.

Halloween buffet
Food is always a huge draw in any gathering. Though the event will not be mandatory, people will always come for free food. So, plan a buffet or potluck. You can have Halloween breakfast and serve pumpkin and apple pie with assorted fruits and pumpkin lattes. Or have a Halloween luncheon or dinner with Halloween themed entrees and drinks.

Halloween decoration contest
You can divide employees into groups or even via existing departments and offer a major prize for the best-decorated work area. If teams don’t have specific work areas, they can pick an area to decorate (like a lobby, break room, pantry, etc.) or section off their shared work area per team.

Do you have your own Halloween traditions at work? How do you celebrate? Share your stories with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Oct29

The Truth About Halloween…Candy

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The Truth About Halloween…Candy

A few days from now, streets are going to be flooded with monsters and characters demanding tribute, otherwise, they will wreak havoc on your yard. No, it’s not the apocalypse. It’s just a bunch of trick or treaters – kids dressed up as monsters or heroes shaking their candy bags or pumpkin pails in your face hoping to get some candy.

Ah, candy… who doesn’t love them? Even grown-ups don’t outgrow their love for candy. Halloween brings much joy with candies and costumes and scary movies. And the day after is even better, since all the candy is now on sale! Hurray for sweet tooths all over the world.

While it’s not a good idea to binge on Halloween candy, we can’t help but nick some from the Halloween loot pile. You could say that you’re helping your kids out of getting diabetes or tooth decay by eating half the calories and the sugar out of the trick or treat bucket. But if you’re trying to make healthier choices for you and your family, here are some tips of which to eat moderately and which Halloween treat to avoid.

Almond M&M’s over Plain ones:
Almonds are filled with antioxidants, Vit. E, and fiber. The almonds in M&Ms displace the sugar and carbs in plain M&Ms which are more sugar and carb dense since they’re pure milk chocolate coated in a colored sugar shell.

Anything Dark Chocolate:
Dark chocolate contains more antioxidants and heart-healthy compound than regular milk chocolate. The darker it is, the better it is for your health. Look for dark chocolate with almonds to amp the nutritional value.

Hard candies:
I’m sure your kids will sort through them anyway, but hard candies are better for you than toffee, caramels, or eclairs. They last longer and contain less sugar than their chewy counterparts.

Fun sized candy vs full sized ones:
This is a no-brainer, fun-sized bars have fewer calories and sugar because they’re smaller. It’s hard to gauge serving size with a full sized bar – you’d have to look at the back to see exactly how many blocks or squares constitute for a single serving. It’s easy to scarf down the whole thing. Fun size bars are most likely to be portioned into single serving sizes. You could even eat 2 and still be within serving size.

Real fruit instead of fruit rolls or dried fruit:
The drying process or the process of turning it into rolls can take out some of the fruits volatile nutrients like Vit. C. Dried fruit also has a higher concentration of sugar and so has a higher glycemic index. There’s also a higher chance you could overeat since these fruit rolls or dried fruit are more compact and no one ever stops at just one right? You’re better off eating fresh fruit to get all the nutrients and for better portion control.

What’s your favorite Halloween candy? Why? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard!

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help