Happy Halloween, everyone!
Truth be known, this is my most profitable time of year. The week of Halloween, I usually pull in a few hundred bucks thanks to various costume contests. One time, I had no idea what day or even month it was and I was passing through a college town somewhere. I saw a big house with funny letters on the side… I smelled cheap beer. I knew I’d found a home for the next few hours.
Someone gave me a pill, a “mood enhancer” and I went crazy. I asked everyone for some spare cash over and over and over and over again… eventually they gave me $500 for best costume.
I kept saying, “This isn’t a costume, it’s a lifestyle!”
In the spirit of Halloween, I’d like to offer some of the wisdom of my travels around the world. I’ve been in a lot of scary places… but only a few actual haunted ones.
For Halloween, here’s my top 4 most haunted places in the United States.
4. White House Motel – Thanks to the Presidents and history, the tourism industry is big in Washington DC.
As a professional bum, you need to avoid tourist places. I know, I know, there’s lots of people with money… but since they’re in an unfamiliar place, they’re less likely to talk to strangers. Incidentally, that makes them more susceptible to muggings, but that’s not my style. I’m from the happy-go-lucky school of pro bumming.
Anyhow, knowing this information, I took what cash I had and decided to treat myself to a room for the night. So, I checked out the White House Motel… it’s over by the courthouse in DC. I got a deal on a room for 8 hours. As soon as I got to my room, I stared hearing noises… like moans and stuff. Hold on, I know the difference between moans and the sounds of a working girl selling ten-dollar anal… and these were definitely moans.
I went outside and saw a tall, skinny, bearded pale figure of a man wandering the hallway looking for a Ford or something. Next thing I know, he was gone. I should’ve known that a place with a roof is no place for a bum. I checked out after two hours.
It’s too bad because the place was real nice.
3. Winchester Home – For most of his bumming career, Stinky Winchester was a bum’s bum. He was good people. One time, Stinky was simply following the cardinal rule of being a bum… picking up dropped lotto ticket. The thinking is clear: Maybe you’ll win enough for a bottle of good booze. It’s like our version of the lottery: the odds of picking up a dropped winner are the same as actually winning.
Anyhow, Stinky picked up a winner that actually a HUGE winner! He found a dropped ticket that paid him over $50 million dollars! Stinky bought a huge house… but he soon started to see things. People from his past were appearing in the house.
Stinky realized that these were the ghosts of all the people he bummed money from who were now dead and wanted it back! To escape from them, Stinky kept adding rooms to the mansion, trying to get the ghosts. It didn’t work, and Stinky spent all his money. Eventually, Stinky killed himself in the mansion. Now his ghost haunts the mansion too. A moral tale for all bums, if ever I heard one.
2. Alley Behind a Las Vegas Italian Restaurant – One time, I was in Las Vegas and I was sleeping out behind some Italian restaurant a few miles away from The Strip. It was late a bus drove by, and next thing I know, a bunch of people in the bus were taking pictures of me. I stood up to see what was happening… then they yelled at me and the bus drove off. This confused the hell out of me.
Thankfully, a nice old gay man came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“They thought you were me,” he said.
“Well, I not,” I said.
“I know you’re not, sweetie.”
This guy had on some flashy, sparkly clothes, so the professional in me took over.
“Excuse me sir,” I said. “Do you think you could spare a little...?”
“My dear,” he laughed. “I haven’t needed my money for a long time now. Look at me… I’m fabulous. You don’t need money, honey.”
He turned and walked away from me, but he didn’t have any feet!!!
1. Prison Cell on an Island – One time, after spending an evening in a haze in San Francisco, I woke up and found myself locked up in a dark prison cell. My head was cut, and I had a note pinned on me that said, “If you can read this… we didn’t hit you hard enough. Stay out of ‘Frisco, bum! – SFPD”
Next thing I know, there’s a short, fat, Italian man in my cell. He said his name was Al “Cat” Raz, and that he was a mobster or something. I told him that I wasn’t looking from trouble, but he said he was here to help me. Like all criminals, he said he wasn’t guilty of anything, and that he stuck around there to help all innocent people leave this “rock.” Whatever that meant.
Next thing I know, Al unlocked my cell door, tipped his cap to me, and then he walked through the wall! I gathered my bearings, took a quick nap, and then got out of that cell as fast as I could.
It was long swim back to San Francisco.
- Slocomb Jones has been a professional bum for over 50 years. In April 2007, he officially announced his retirement as a bum, and has segued into a successful second career as a retired bum and part-time bum coach/advisor. Ironically, he’s busier now that he’s retired than he’s ever been in his entire life.























