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At 7:55 a.m. Hawaiian time, a Japanese dive bomber emblazoned with the red symbol of the Rising Sun appeared from the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes then descended on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, launching a ferocious surprise attack. This devastating assault struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet, irrevocably drawing the United States into World War II.

 Photos and Story By Ken Hulsey This weekend, our granddaughter wanted to visit the newly built playground at the corner of Masonic Drive and Babe Ruth Drive. While my wife and the little one went to play, I decided to take a stroll around the old Bringhurst Field - once the home of the minor league Alexandria Aces baseball team. The once-beautiful ballpark is now just a shell, with most of the brick gone and only the metal skeleton of the old bleachers remaining.

Trick-or-treating is a Halloween custom where children go door-to-door in costume, asking "Trick or treat?" and requesting treats such as candy or money. The "trick" part is an idle threat to play a prank on the homeowners if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is a central Halloween tradition. Homeowners in neighborhoods with children are generally expected to have candy ready for the influx of trick-or-treaters. In 2023, the National Confectioners Association found that 80% of American adults planned to distribute confections to trick-or-treaters, while 93% of children intended to go door-to-door collecting them. The practice of dressing up in costumes and going door-to-door to beg for treats on holidays dates back to the Middle Ages, including the tradition of Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating is similar to the late medieval practice of "souling," where the poor would visit homes on Hallowmas (November 1st) in exchange for food, offering prayers ...

I thought that on this Memorial Day, the day that we honor those brave men and women who died in service of our country in numerous wars fought all over the globe, I would do something a little different and hopefully more meaningful. Over the years I have chosen to post rather light-hearted articles featuring things like vintage war era pinup girls and the lot. Today, however, I wanted to get your attention away from your family barbeque for a moment and have you look at some images that will hopefully impact you as deeply as they did me.

 Terri and I stumbled upon a really great travel show last night called America The Land We Live In. The show centers around two New Yorkers named Doc and Sophia who travel across the country trying to find locations that were featured in William Cullen Bryant's 19th century book Picturesque America. The premiere episode really pulled on Terri's heart strings a bit, because the first half of the episode was filmed in North Carolina.

 Last October I visited the site of the Brookhill Ferry shipwreck site on the banks of the Mississippi River just off downtown Baton Rouge . At the time the water level of the river was at a all-time low and the site of the wreckage had been exposed for the first time in many years. The site drew a lot of visitors wanting get a look and unfortunately steal pieces of the old ship as souvenirs. Eventually the water level rose and the wreckage disappeared back into the murky Mississippi. Historic Photos of Steamboats on the Mississippi Hardcover - $19.99 @ Amazon.com - Order Here Yesterday I decided to revisit the site when I learned that the river had subsided enough to expose the shipwreck once again. What I discovered on my return was rather depressing to say the least. What remains of the Brookhill Ferry is now filled with thick mud and is quickly being consumed by vegetation. That of course would seem to be a natural progression of the state of the site due to its close proximity...

A few days before Halloween I ventured out to the Sarto Old Iron Bridge in remote Avoyelles Parish to check out the local legend of a ghostly apparition known as The Marlboro Man who reportedly haunts the area. While talking to Mr. Boo (a local legend in his own right) of the Big Bend Post Office Museum, he informed me of another interesting bridge site less than a mile away on the other side of Bayou de Glaises. He said if I looked closely that I would see the remains of an old Louisiana & Arkansas Railway bridge in and along the bayou. History of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana (Parish Histories) Paperback - $44.99 @ Amazon.com - Order Here Boo told me a little bit about the old bridge site, stating that in the old days the L&A line from Simmsport to Angola via a ferry on the Red River ran straight through the area. A massive flood in the 1920s destroyed the railroad's bridge over the bayou and they chose not to rebuild it. In fact the damage to the railroad was extensive t...

 Growing up in Southern California I loved seeing the two enormous WWII balloon hangers when I traveled through Tustin. I was saddened when I learned that one of them burned down earlier this week. From The Orange County Register: A powerful fire ripped through one of two 17-story-high hangars still standing at the long-shuttered Tustin Marine Corps Air Station early Tuesday morning, Nov. 7 , leading to a catastrophic collapse of most of the iconic structure’s outer shell. Dozens of Orange County firefighters responded when the blaze was first reported at the north hangar just before 12:55 a.m. By midmorning, however, they stood by watching the structure burn, helpless to stop its demise. Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Thanh Nguyen said sending firefighters into the building was too dangerous. “The biggest fear is collapse and getting our firefighters injured,” Nguyen said. The cause of the fire and where it began were not clear Tuesday. No injuries were reported and firefighte...

Story and Photos By Ken Hulsey A few weeks back our family took a trip up to Natchitoches to celebrate my wife's birthday. She was excited because she loves to wander around the old Kaffie-Frederick Mercantile Store on Front Street along the bayou in the town's historic district. The store is as close to an old fashioned mercantile as you can get with it's vintage items still on the walls and shelves. It is always a wonderful trip back in time to walk around the isles. Louisiana Off the Beaten Path: Discover Your Fun (Off the Beaten Path Series) Paperback - $11.99 @ Amazon.com - Order Here Last week Terri found a great article about the history of the Kaffie-Frederick Mercantile on the KLFY (Lafayette) website: Can you imagine being an immigrant in the American South during the Civil War and not being able to speak English? Can you imagine being brave enough to wander from plantation to plantation, speaking a foreign tongue, with the hopes of making enough money that you mi...

Horror fans worldwide know of the famous tale of the Headless Horseman (or Galloping Hessian) who author Washington Irving immortalized in the pages of his novel The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, yet most Louisiana residents are unaware that there is a legendary ghostly rider right here in the Pelican State. Down a lonely and winding stretch of Louisiana State Road 451 sits the Sarto Old Iron Bridge constructed in 1916 over Bayou de Glaises. As the legend goes a worker, known to locals as a cowboy, fell into the concrete while one of the pillars was being poured and was engulfed by the mixture while his coworkers helplessly looked on in terror.  Weird Louisiana: Your Travel Guide to Louisiana's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets Hardcover Book - $19.99 @ Amazon.com - Order Here Over the following decades people on or around the bridge have seen and felt the presence of 'The Marlboro Man' (so named by locals because he is said to resemble the famed cowboy in Marlboro cigarette ...