John Carpenter’s first “real” movie remains one of his best. Also: The ghosts of Las Vegas live in plain sight … for now.

The “Grand Theft Auto” series of video games is known for a lot of things, but sightseeing rarely makes the list. Until now!

For a hot minute, I considered running with the bulls myself — down the main drag of Mesquite, Nevada, past stunned onlookers, into a waiting limousine.

On a good road trip, we’d remember to bring the directions to someone-or-other’s aunt’s lake cabin and we’d head in that general direction. The best trips would happen when we actually found it.

It’s not right to call it a graveyard. These things were never really alive to begin with. And besides, the Neon Boneyard is soon coming back to life.

There have been times in my life when I’ve been happy to be fooled. Though I have a pretty good idea of how the Haunted Shack at Knott’s Berry Farm worked, I don’t know for sure. And that’s fine.

The great showman P.T. Barnum once wrote a book collecting together stories of historical lies and frauds. Barnum wouldn’t like to hear me use the word “fraud,” however — he preferred “humbug.”

P.T. Barnum was not a man to be content with the small stuff. His museum exhibited large animals including lions, bears, and most remarkably, two beluga whales.

It says a lot that the people of the mid-1800′s were willing to take time off from work to attend circuses. Circus fever was spreading, and with it many came many myths, legends and vernacular that are part of our world today.

The same Wisconsin landscape that attracted puritans was exactly what circus folk needed as a home for their menagerie of animals. Before Wisconsin even became a state, these two groups had to find a way to co-exist.