Seen on the cemetery streets of New Orleans

People place the craziest things on cemetery tombs in New Orleans. We'd say it was unique to the city but we've seen this phenomena all over the South. Here's a tomb in St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery of New Orleans that includes an angel, squirrel and rubber shark. We can't help but wonder how that combination plays out. He's hiding, too, under the seat which makes it even more strange.

The South's five smallest churches

Who has the bragging rights to the smallest church in America? You bet the contestants are in the South. 

            First up is the 10-foot by 20-foot church “deeded to Jesus Christ” in South Newport, Georgia, built in 1949 by Agnes Harper. There’s a bell tower, six chairs on each side of the aisle, stained glass windows and places to sit outside if you want make it a picnic. The 1998 bell tower is also a nice touch.

Chapel of the Madonna

            The Chapel of the Madonna outside White Castle, Louisiana, measures 8 feet by 8 feet, thus nabbing it the title as the “Smallest Church in the World” by Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Anthony Gullo built this chapel in 1903 after he prayed to the Virgin Mary to help heal his eldest son. Mass is held her every Aug. 15, the Day of the Assumption.

            Apparently Ripley’s is a two-timer.             At Thomas More College the small stone Monte Casino Chapel measures 8 feet high and was called the “Smallest Church in the World” by Ripley’s in 1922. It was built in 1878 by Benedictine Father Otto Kopf and Brother Albert Soltis, a German-born mason, as a quiet retreat at the Monte Casino Monastery in the hills of South Covington, Kentucky.

            One mile east of Warrenton, Texas, on Highway 237 lies the oldest Catholic Church in Fayette County. It’s also the smallest chapel in Texas — how’s that for a Texas brag? Circa-1915 St. Martin’s Church is only 12 feet by 16 feet, which inspired someone to proclaim it the “World’s Smallest Active Catholic Church” (we’re not sure who). Masses for the intentions left on the altar are celebrated monthly and there’s a minister and staff!

            Pause, pray and worship at the Traveler’s Chapel in Conway/Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and sign the book before you leave. Built in 1972, this tiny church seats 12 and measures 12-feet by 24-feet. You can even get married there! If you want a look-see inside, check out this YouTube video of “Ray writing a prayer.”

            There are other small churches in America. Want to see more. Visit RoadsideAmerica.com for a full list.

Cheré Coen is an award-winning travel writer specializing in the Deep South. She is also the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

How to have a weird Mother’s Day

            Don’t give Mom a candle this year or bring her to the old boring brunch spot. Make this year’s Mother’s Day weird! We can show you how.

            For instance, give mom the perfect gift for the upcoming football season. The Stadium Sippin’ Seat allows mom to enjoy her bourbon and coke at the LSU games without having to leave her seat! Talk about the perfect gift! The Sippin’ Seat even holds more alcohol than a traditional flask — "up to three cups of liquid" — and comes in your favorite team colors (we only found a sample of the seat in red but don't you think we endorse the University of Alabama!). You can view the handy video on how to use the Sippin' Seat here.
        The site offers some other wonderful alcohol hiders. We were particularly enamored with the binoculars flask which allows for two different types of alcohol so you can mix drinks at the game.

            We’re biased at Weird South (guess where we live?) but if you must pull for another SEC team, how about the Georgia Bulldogs or the Auburn High Heel Shoe Bottle Holder from www.Fanatics.com? You can get any SEC team, plus a number of NFL brands as well, allowing Mom to show her true team spirit while knocking back a bottle of wine. 

            Or if Mom wants to see the Saints play in style (OK, we're in Louisiana!), then how about a pair of Cuce Crusader High Heel Booties. Just make sure you hold Mom's elbow going up and down those Superdome stairs after she's enjoyed her Sippin' Seat concoctions.

            Speaking of sports, the Stadium bar and restaurant at L’Auberge Casino in Baton Rouge is hosting a Mother’s Day Special where moms can create their own Bloody Marys at the Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar. Items include boudin balls, chipotle meat straws, crawfish and crab claws, among many other items — even some that don’t reflect Louisiana crazy. Moms can add as many ingredients/toppings that will fit into one 16-ounce Bloody Mary drink. Hot damn!

            Don't worry, we're not all about alcohol and football. For the Southern religious mom, there’s Chocolate Jesus, artisanal dark chocolates (of course!) that’s enshrined in an archival box, sealed with a limited edition wrapper and topped with a satin ribbon, all for $35. But that’s not the best part. Each box contains a handwritten note by Chocolate Jesus himself, so Mom gets blessed as well.

People standing on rocks

            People love to stand on rocks in the South. Maybe it’s because our mountains are tired after years on this earth, resting gently to let the moss grow on their backs as opposed to the majestic heights of the Rocky Mountains to the west with its sharp precipices and mighty peaks. In the South, there aren’t that many grand places to step out on to. (Considering Southerners and their love of hijinks, that could be a good thing.) But life in the South is more like a soft Blue Ridge vista or an Ozark overlook sporting fall colors down a gentle slope.

            I hail from the Deep South, a land created by mud deposits of the Mississippi River where rocks are purchased at lapidary shops. So naturally, I’m all about shooting a photo of me on top of Lookout Mountain.

            “Offbeat Tennessee” writes about one such place that has drawn visitors for years, Umbrella Rock on Lookout Mountain above Chattanooga, Tenn., where up to 30 people at a time can pose on the formation — and have! Even presidents Theodore Roosevelt and FDR (must be a Roosevelt thing) have visited Umbrella Rock for a photo opp. Of course today taking one’s photo would be too dangerous so the rock formation is currently off limits.

            You can view a collection of photos taken on Umbrella Rock here. And even more here.

            And by the way, visitors standing on Umbrella Rock can view seven states from that impressive rock collection! On a clear day.

            I’m going to end with a couple of my own. My grandparents took my father on a road trip to the Ozarks and visited Pivet Rock and Natural Bridge outside Eureka Springs, Arkansas (that's the threesome in the photo to the right). When I visited the area, I stopped at the park and gazed upon this rock formation that I knew I had seen before. No, my family didn’t climb on top for their immortal photo — my grandfather would have never allowed it — but they did bring home a photo nonetheless. 

             And guess what? So did I.

Cheré Coen is an award-winning travel writer specializing in the Deep South. She is also the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Interstate Mullet Toss may be Gulf Coast’s greatest beach party

            Question: What fish is named for a hairstyle, is the only fish to have a gizzard and some say, at least in Orange Beach, Alabama, that it owns mystical properties. This fish is also the star of a massive party held every April.           

            It’s the mullet, of course. And every spring it gets tossed about at the annual Interstate Mullet Toss at the Flora-Bama Lounge and Oyster Bar in Orange Beach — or Florida, depending on where you stand on the famous bar’s property.

            Mullets are actually eaten along the Gulf Coast but at the Flora-Bama it’s another reason to party, with the annual Mullet Toss becoming one of the largest beach parties on the coast. Basically you toss a dead mullet over the state line — the bar sits on the Florida-Alabama line and on each side (read Weird South’s blog on the multi-state bar here) — and the one who tosses the fish the farthest wins.

            Don’t believe us? Check out the photos from past events.

            This year’s event is April 24-26, 2015. The fun begins at noon Friday, April 24 and again at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 25-26. It costs $15 to sign up to throw a mullet in various age groups and there’s an additional cover fee to get into the bar. There will also be live music with alcohol flowing freely.

            For more information, visit FloraBama.com or call (850) 492-0611.

Cheré Coen is an award-winning travel writer specializing in the Deep South. She is also the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

They are out there — in the Ozarks!

  

          Eureka Springs is known for its quirky side. Nestled in the Ozarks on the side of a mountain, the town attracts a variety of followers — including a few from outer space!

            The 28th annual Ozark Mountain UFO Conference, the oldest UFO conference in the United States, kicks off Friday, April 10, 2015, in Eureka Springs, bringing together experts and investigators in the field of UFOs, extraterrestrials and ancient and lost civilizations. The conference takes place at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center at 207 W. Van Buren St. in the heart of town.

Peter Davenport

            The event was the brainchild of the late UFOlogist (I didn’t make that word up, it was in the press release) Lucius O. Farish. Since his passing in 2013, the conference has been helmed by metaphysical author and researcher Dolores Cannon.

            The event opens with a lecture by Peter Davenport, another UFOlogist and director of the National UFO Reporting Center since 1994. He’s also a current member and former costate section director and Director of Investigation for the Washington State chapter of MUFON (Mutual UFO Network). Also on April 10, Thom Reed will recount his childhood ET/UFO encounters from the 1960s. Several of Thom's childhood sketches from 1969, depicting what he witnessed first-hand, are displayed at the Roswell UFO Museum in New Mexico, and the Great Barrington Historical Society of Massachusetts will also include Thom’s extraterrestrial encounters in their collection.

            Psychic Nikki Pattillo, author of “Children of the Stars: Advice for Parents and Star Children and A Spiritual Evolution,” will also speak on day one of the conference, giving her lecture titled “Star Children and a New Earth.”
            On April 11, Kewaunee Lapseritis, researching the Bigfoot/Sasquatch phenomenon, will give his presentation “Overwhelming Evidence for a Bigfoot/UFO Connection” and Barbara Lamb, veteran crop circle researcher and author of “Crop Circles Revealed,” will speak on “Crop Circles: A Worldwide Mystery.”

Kewaunee Lapseritis

            Linda Moulton Howe, recipient of the Lucius Farish Foundation Award for excellence in UFO research, TV producer, documentarian, author and Earthfiles.com editor, will speak as well as a keynote speech by UFO author, investigator, researcher and reporter Richard Dolan, who hosts the Richard Dolan Show on KGRA Radio, is a frequent guest to Coast-to-Coast AM, and is featured in the new television documentary series, “Hangar One.”

Melanie Young

            On April 12, Melanie Young, a neonatal nurse, will speak about her research into The Starchild Skull, a 900-year-old bone skull found in Mexico in the 1930s that is strangely shaped and exhibits possible qualities of an extraterrestrial origin.

Sherry Wilde, author of “The Forgotten Promise,” will return this year as the final speaker at the 2015 Ozark Mountain UFO Conference to further discuss her decades-long encounters with extraterrestrials in the presentation “The Esoteric Life of a Volunteer.”

            The final day of the conference will also include a tribute to the late Dolores Cannon, who passed away in October 2014 after writing dozens of books based on her nearly 50 years of investigations into UFOs and metaphysics. She obtained information about ETs and UFOs from thousands of past life regression sessions and developed her own technique of hypnotherapy, Quantum Healing Hypnosis Therapy (QHHT), which also enabled her to directly communicate with extraterrestrials. Dolores was involved with the Ozark UFO Conference since its inception.
             For more information, visit www.ozarkufoconference.com.

Cheré Coen is an award-winning travel writer specializing in the Deep South. She is also the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

'Walking Dead' may close for season but tours will not

Season 5 is ending! How will we survive?

            Once again the advent of spring brings sad news to “The Walking Dead” fans. The 90-minute finale of the most popular show in television airs Sunday, March 29, and will disappear for months!

            But it doesn’t have to mean the end of Rick, Carol, Daryl and the rest of those heroes until fall rolls around. You can visit film sites in Georgia and recreate the dark apocalypse all year long.

            Atlanta Movie Tours offers Big Zombie Tours that includes the hospital where Rick, our favorite sheriff who’s gone off the deep end this year, was first seen when the series debuted. There’s also the Center for Disease Control (it really didn’t blow up), downtown Atlanta and other location hot spots.

            The Southern Hollywood Film Tour also offers a Dead walk and includes the town of Harralson where 17 episodes from seasons 2-5 were shot.

            A lot of the series was filmed in Senoia, a small, quaint town outside of Atlanta that’s now being doubled as a film backlot. Fans can call Senoia “Woodbury” since it was the location for the Governor’s cozy little enclave, but seasons 3-5 of “The Walking Dead” were filmed here. Senoia — if those of you dead heads care — was also the backdrop of films “Drop Dead Diva,” “Fried Green Tomatoes” and many more.

Well, maybe not everyone is friendly.

            The Georgia Merchantile tours Senoia film locations, and guests can pick up some Georgia-made products at the same time. A great place to s"pend the night is The Veranda Bed and Breakfast where its believed author Margaret Mitchell interviewed Civil War veterans when she was doing research for “Gone With the Wind.” And don’t miss shopping at the Woodbury Shoppe, which sells “Dead” paraphernalia such as a Daryl Dixon claimed banner and “Walker Bait” caps as well as books on where the series was filmed so you can do your own touring. You can even become a member of The Woodbury Shoppe and be first in line for autograph sessions with cast and producers of the show, discount on products and other special privileges.
            One of our favorite stops in Senoia is the Senoia Coffee & Café, which not only serves up a mean cup of java, such as the Zombie Dark, but a tasty menu too — try the Senoia fried green tomato BLT!

Cheré Coen is an award-winning travel writer specializing in the Deep South. She is also the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.