Hamilton (OH) – Nothing says spooky season like January. January? Sure. The new year is a perfect time to think about old things in a new light.
Enter Maria Pons-Schmidt. The former gerontology and hospice nurse with a penchant for exploring myths and legends turned her personal interest into a global business.
She will be the featured speaker at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts’ first Celebrating Self luncheon of 2024 on Wednesday, January 10.
Pons-Schmidt began with a website – hauntedjourneys.com – in 2015. The site catalogs distinctive historical destinations around the world that are said to experience ethereal phenomena and unexplainable activities.
A year later, Haunted Journeys commissioned the certification for National Ghost Hunting Day, celebrated the final Saturday of September. This is the now-annual date people participate in the World’s Largest Ghost Hunt™ and simultaneously raise funds for historical preservation of haunted sites.
Then in 2020, she started Mysterious Adventures Tours in Hamilton, creating a new travel category called supernatural tourism. Her travel business awakens curiosity for the unexplainable and esoteric while taking small groups to locations that break the mold of traditional tourism. Guests experience the enigmatic, spectral, spiritual and even haunted legends in some of the most stunning destinations around the world.
“It is travel driven by curiosity for the supernatural,” Pons-Schmidt said. “We do mysterious adventures and mythical travels curated for the curious.”
Mysterious Adventures Tours itineraries highlight hidden - almost secretive - locations not typically included on conventional tours. International destinations include Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Romania, Egypt, Germany, Peru, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Australia, Morocco, Iceland, and Costa Rica.
Mysterious Adventures Tours also travels domestically to places like New Orleans, Salem, Savannah and Saint Augustine, among other American cities.
Tickets to Celebrating Self are $21 for Fitton Center members, $27 for non-members, and include both the speaker and a buffet lunch served by Two Women In a Kitchen. The event runs 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, January 10, in the Carruthers Signature Ballroom. Call 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or click here to purchase tickets.
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.
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