Ghost-hunting classes in Mansfield

Ghost-hunting classes in Mansfield

Mansfield

This year you can dive into the world of the supernatural with ghost-hunting classes at Ohio State Reformatory. Taught by expert paranormal investigator Sherri Brake, classes are $115 per person and take place at 1 and 4 p.m. May 19 and Sept. 1. Students receive hands-on training in professional ghost-hunting techniques. After class, the group will return to the reformatory for a private ghost hunt from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Not for the faint of heart – or for travelers under age 13 – visitors can also get up close and personal with the spirits that are believed to haunt the prison’s halls with ghost hunts. Ghost hunts are presented in two categories, including the Ghost Hunt Challenge, offered for first-time hunters at $70. Intermediate/Advanced hunts are $100 and are open to those who have attended three or more ghost hunts, walks or classes in the past. Ghost walks are available for $25/adults and $20 for youths age 13-17. Doors open at 7 and 9:30 p.m., with walks beginning at 8 and 10:30 p.m.

Go to www.mrps.org for information.

History of Ohio glassmaker to be showcased

TOLEDO

The Toledo Museum of Art is planning an exhibit to mark 200 years of Libbey Glass.

The museum founded by the Libbey family in 1901 features an extensive glass collection.

Many of those items and others will be part of an exhibit opening May 4 called “Celebrating Libbey Glass.”

Among the items it will feature are lamps, vases, pitchers, goblets, paperweights and the museum’s famed Libbey Punch Bowl.

The glassmaker’s roots go back to in East Cambridge, Mass., where it began 200 years ago.

The company moved to Toledo in 1888 and later changed its name to the Libbey Glass Company.

It’s presence in Ohio helped give Toledo its nickname “The Glass City.”

Almost heaven: W.Va. starts new tourism campaign

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

West Virginia is embarking on a tourism advertising push using John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

Gov. Jim Justice unveiled a video recently as the centerpiece for the campaign that frames the iconic song and the mountainous state’s natural beauty. The campaign borrows the words “almost heaven” as its slogan.

Justice said that a key theme to the campaign is “even though you haven’t maybe been a West Virginian, once you come here, you will long to come back.”

Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby said research shows 86 percent of people who come to West Virginia eventually return. But last year, only 14 percent were first-time visitors.

“We want to change the way people think about West Virginia,” Ruby said.

The song on the video is performed by the indie folk-pop group “The Sea The Sea,” whose lead singer, Mira Stanley, is a Charleston native.

The state tourism office previously obtained the rights to use “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in marketing. The campaign plans to spend about $3 million this spring and summer. Targeted out-of-state markets include Baltimore; Charlotte, N.C.; Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Harrisburg, Lancaster and Pittsburgh; Richmond and Roanoke, Va.; and Washington, D.C.

One of Justice’s campaign themes before he was elected in 2016 was to make the state a tourism mecca that he hoped would create thousands of new jobs.

Associated Press