Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and everyone in between! It’s that time of the year again – the season of love, the month of romance, the time when Cupid takes out his bow and arrow and starts shooting hearts at random people — and years in, and no one has dared put the clamps on that cherub malcontent. What some see as a gesture from the Gods, the rest of society labels as assault with a deadly weapon.
Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day! And if we’re lucky we’ll survive it this year. Long gone are the days of Disney feed malarkey. We’ve gotten wise to the situation. It’s a sham — a mercantile inspired free-for-all. That grosses over $20 billion dollars a year. And how dare they tag it a month and a half after Christmas. We’re still, globally, trying to get over that hump. Most of us having, flashbacks, chills and shelling out cash to our shrinks to fight off the eggnog inspired PTSD. Valentines was partly invented by none other than Richard Cadbury — the chocolate maker.
Valentines, or how half the human race likes to re-brand it “Singles Awareness Day”, generally evokes 2 main reactions from the public: Warm fuzzies or severe displeasure. There’s this anxiety to be in a relationship; the desperate need to top last year’s gift with something equally important; the complexity of bedroom shenanigans after a bottle of fine wine or what you were able to buy on a budget, enough chocolate to make a diabetic out of a marathon runner, and a dinner on credit that’s bound to haunt you ‘till next Valentine’s day. There are actual financial benefits, big ones, to skipping the holiday.
“All you need is love Love is just a game… Cause diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”
— Moulin Rouge, by the way, spoiler alert – she died of consumption at the end, and Ewan’s lovelorn writer most likely became an Absinthe addict because of it. So, yeah, the best Valentine movie ever.
At US Ghost Adventures we’re here for you. For those that have decided that this year it’s simply too much. For those making a stand. For those braving the perils of a woman scorned. Or simply for those that want a little peace and quiet, and go postal when they see that restaurants spike up their prices on the Saint’s holy day — nothing says love than crippling debt. So we’ve decided to celebrate this holiday a bit differently, remembering and documenting tragic events and unexplained phenomena that tell the tale of a markedly different holiday. Or telling you stories of couples whose participants deserve their own Darwin Awards.
Where roses are black and The Scarlet Letter is a more appropriate montage of all the ways life, love, disaster, death, and the afterlife shove their way into our lives.
Lost love. Brides waiting for their soldiers to return from war or the sea. Murder-suicides of love or love triangles gone wrong. A boy killed by kisses. The madness of the Gatsby era. Houdini catfishing his wife from the afterlife.
Grab your favorite pint of ice cream, or something much more fortified, snuggle up to your furry friends, light some candles in pitch darkness, and dive into these stories of the downside, and madcap escapades of a holiday that started with a Saint being served as petit fours to a couple of lions — yeah, think about that!
Let’s celebrate “A Bloody Valentine’s Day”.