First off, yes, I totally stole the above header picture right off of the Odd Things I’ve Seen Site. Moving along…

Who would have thought we can say we know a famous writer featured on CNN.com for blogging about his extraordinary travels? With full-page articles and photos published in magazines such as Rue Morgue and in the midst of a book deal, we can say we are privileged to have met and befriended unconventional writer Jason Ocker and his wife, Lindsey.

We figured we’d experience a few “odd things” sleeping in the exact room that Abby Borden was brutally "axed" to death, allegedly by her step-daughter, Lizzie. It is odd enough to some people that we spent the first night of our honeymoon at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast. Little did we know that sharing our bathroom with a couple of strangers….on the first night of our honeymoon….in the Lizzie Borden house….would create a lasting friendship with Jason Ocker and then girlfriend, Lindsey.

It was an interesting night, experiencing a "séance" with Jason and Lindsey thanks to a Borden house tourguide's "psychic" friend. Later that night we talked to Jason and learned that he was "some" sardonic writer full of potential. A couple of weeks after our trip we searched for Jason’s online blog and found his site that included a detailed “testimony” about their visit at the Lizzie Borden house. The contemptuous article noted all of the fellow guests in the house that night, including “a pair of honeymooning amateur ghost hunters from Ohio”. After reading the derisory comments, and the fact stating they sneaked into our room, the John Morse room, to investigate when we were away from the house, we of course had to contact this….writer….and enlighten him of our “hefty bit of optimism” when it comes to our abilities to interact with ghosts as well as our investigation skills.

Fast forward a couple of years to 2009 after continuous E-mails back and forth, a budding friendship of two parallax investigators and writers (and our significant others) has grown from sharing the bathroom at the Lizzie Borden house on our honeymoon to our “odds on favorites” parallel friends. Jason and Lindsey are now married, and they relocated to New Hampshire from the Washington DC area - just over an hour from us in Salem.

Since we first met this “oddball” writer, Jason’s blogging website has developed into a full menagerie of his and Lindsey’s travels all over the United States and Ireland. Jason’s blogs are written with such a witty, eccentric style full of detail, and all blogs are accompanied with photographs taken by Lindsey. You can experience these peculiar locations vicariously though Jason’s humorous and comprehensive blogs on his website. www.oddthingsiveseen.com

Last but not least, Jason is in the process of compiling enough information to write a book about the odd locations he and Lindsey have traveled. Information on the OTIS book as well as its publication date will be posted here once it is finalized.

When you decide to visit the Odd Things I’ve Seen website, you’ll need quite some time as you’ll be overcome with intrigue and admiration of Jason. The blog list and photos on the OTIS site are truly amazing and well worth every second of your time reading them.