Moment in Oddity - The White Baneberry
Many varieties of flora can take unusual forms, they can be beautiful or strange in appearance, and some can even be deadly. We've previously featured the naked man orchid, the white egret orchid and also the corpse flower whose bloom smells like rotting flesh. Another strange plant with a creepiness all its own, is the White Baneberry. This is an upright plant featuring fern-like leaves with white flowers and distinctive white berries. These white berries have a black dot resembling a pupil, giving this perennial plant the nickname of "dolls eyes". Not only are the multiple eyes watching you creepy, but the entire plant is quite toxic, especially the berries. The compounds of the eyeball berries can cause cardiac arrest. This perennial herb dies back to the ground each winter and can be found in wooded areas from Eastern Canada down to southern locations like Georgia and west to Louisiana, Missouri and Minnesota. It thrives in rich, moist deciduous forests, especially under northern hardwoods in humus rich, acidic soils. To many people, dolls in general are creepy and they sometimes can be haunted, but a toxic plant whose berries look like creepy doll eyeballs watching you, certainly is odd.
Hotel Metlen
Dillon, Montana has served some important purposes in its time. This was the terminus for the Utah and Northern Railway and was the supply and shipping hub for the Beaverhead Valley, meaning it supplied most of the mining in the area. Eventually this would be the wool capital of America. The Hotel Metlen was built here and it still stands today in the town's historic district. There are several ghosts that reside within the hotel and not all of them are friendly. Join us for the history and hauntings of Hotel Metlen!
Like many states in the west, precious metals would bring settlers to Montana to establish towns. In the mid 1800s, silver and then gold were discovered in what would become the Beaverhead Valley. Not only was this ore rich, but this was also agriculturally rich. Immigrants flocked here and the railroad took notice with the Utah and Northern Railway founding Dillon as a railroad town in 1880. They first named it Terminus since that is what it was for the railway, but they eventually changed the name to Dillon in honor of the Union Pacific Railroad President at the time, Sidney Dillon. Dillon had been the key architect for getting the railroad through Butte, Montana. The town was situated perfectly to be a support hub for all of the nearby boomtowns like Virginia City, Bannack and Argenta. We've done an episode on the ghost town of Bannack. The introduction of the gold dredge at the same time as Dillon was being established, really helped the town flourish as well. Dillon was incorporated in 1884 and really started growing at this time. And then the gold mining was done and most boomtowns faltered, but Dillon held on because of agriculture. The area was perfect for cattle ranching and especially, sheep ranching. Dillon would become the largest exporter of sheep wool in the country. In 1897, the Montana State Normal School opened to train teachers for the state and it is today University of Montana Western.
Before there was a Metlen Hotel, there was the Corrine Hotel. This was a unique hotel made from canvas that could be moved. It was named for the town where it started, Corrine, Utah, and it traveled with the railroad to Dillon. It's hard to believe a flimsy hotel of canvas could thrive, but it did.
Joseph C. Metlen had been born in Pennsylvania in 1834 and he traveled to Montana with his brother where they settled on Horse Prairie in 1867 and started in a business to bring supplies from Corrine, Utah to Bannock. By 1871, Metlen was involved in politics, representing Beaverhead County in the territorial legislature. In 1883, when he was elected county treasurer, Metlen moved to Dillon. He ran for sheriff in 1884, but lost. The Corrine Hotel had been improved from a canvas hotel to a wood hotel by 1884 and so Metlen decided since he wasn't going to be sheriff, he should get into the hotel business and he bought the Corrine. Unfortunately, the hotel burned to the ground in 1892. Unthwarted, Metlen decided to rebuild and he chose the Second Empire architectural style with the distinctive mansard roof that was really popular at the time. The building was three-stories and made from white sandstone brick and there was also a central tower. The third story has dormer windows all along and around the mansard roof. Ashlar was quarried from the nearby Daly's Spur Quarry to serve as the foundation. The front entrance was recessed with a semi-circular arch over the top that was filled with a three-lite fan window and was beneath the tower. A second entrance was to the right when facing the building and this led into the saloon. There had been a balcony on the front originally, but that no longer exists. The building took up the entire city block. Inside there was Oregon pine and on the first floor was the lobby, bar and billiard room, dining room, double parlors, kitchen and the proprietor’s room. The second floor had a women's parlor and the twenty-seven guest rooms. While the hotel appeared to be just two-stories from the outside, it did have a third floor under the mansard roof that had twenty-nine rooms. The tower was accessible and had seats so guests could get a good view of the countryside and town. The hotel remains much the same today, although a large neon sign with the hotel's name stretches across the roof. During World War II, there was an aircraft warning facility added to the roof, which was like a penthouse apartment.
The hotel officially opened in February 11, 1898 with an afternoon reception and an evening ball and gala. Everyone who was anyone in the state attended, including Governor RB Smith, Attorney General Nolan, State Auditor TW Poindexter, Chief Justice Pemberton and several other judges.
The rooms were considered luxurious and there were call bells in each room. The hotel had electricity and steam heating throughout and there was hot and cold running water. The hotel was proud to advertise that their boiling was "absolutely free from hammering." Metlen ran the hotel until he died in 1906. The hotel was a social center for the town and still remains so today. It is said that it has the coolest back bar in the state made from solid oak with a mahogany bar top. There have been a series of owners with the hotel being put up for sale as recently as 2021 for $1.3 million. We believe the current owner is Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan who upgraded many things about the building, focusing on the bar by adding a new sound and lighting system to drum up business. They advertise, “Come dance with us at the only dance floor for miles around! Our state of the art sound and lighting system is perfect to get down to everything from country western to hip-hop hits.” The hotel still rents rooms and has a bar and cafe and there are ghost tours offered inside.
There are several ghosts in the hotel. Patrons and employees have smelled phantom cigar smoke, seen apparitions and shadow figures, watched as items floated through the air, had items go missing and have heard disembodied voices. An EVP once captured a male or female voice saying, "They don't know that we are dead."
Here are some of the ghosts that are thought to be here. A male spirit hangs out upstairs and he is very angry. This entity is so malevolent that the third floor has been padlocked at time for the protection of the living. Investigators have captured EVPs of a male voice cursing. He particularly likes to say, "Eff you, get out!" There is a Lady in White seen floating on the dance floor. She is usually smiling and seems pleasant. The room above the bar is Room 19 and this woman has also been seen in there and a woman claimed to see a woman in a white dress staring back at her from a mirror in the women's restroom. She was alone in the restroom when she turned around. A previous owner had a wife that liked to wear a black bonnet and there is a female ghost that hangs out in the back bar that wears a black bonnet, so everybody assumes that is who that is. There has been a cowboy ghost wandering around. The hotel's general manager in 2018, Bailey Murphy, spoke with NBC Montana and he said, "Everybody thinks it's haunted. I would say it probably is. I think a lot of them are the cowboy customers that still wander these halls. I think they're cowboys because of the noise their boots make on the hardwood floors. They're fun ghosts. The ghosts that are here had a good time. We like to say we are the caretakers of their place." Bailey went on to say that sometimes keys go missing, doors unlock on their own, furniture moves and staff hear footsteps.
A group of people were hanging out in the little tower of the hotel and when they entered, all the windows were closed. When they left the tower, they noticed that the windows had been opened slightly and they hadn't noticed it or heard it. Some investigators decided to use a Ouija board and the first thing they got to come through was "I don't want you here."
Ghost Adventures was here during Season 13. When the crew was setting up their equipment, Billy heard a voice whisper "Bill" into his ear. The group heard an audible disembodied scream. Something unseen grabbed Zak's arm. There were many unexplained noises like boards moving, stomping sounds, the ceiling cracking and footsteps. The spirit box said, "Taken", "Want some?", "Be gentle", "You're welcome" and "Yeah." The Ovilus got the words, "RAN", "LOOK", "FOUND", "NANA", "GREAT", "ROCKET", "CHEAT", "BEG", "MALEVOLENT", "FORTY" and "CLOSET." The thermal imaging camera captures a figure walking from left to right which carried a cold signature. Right after, Billy felt chills.
Finney L. Bryant was a caretaker at the hotel and had numerous experiences. He wrote on Facebook, "My first experience took place in the Basement. There used to be a guy named Bill that was a gunsmith and lived in an apartment that was located in the front of the hotel in the basement. He was the night watchman and restocked the bar for about 35 years I was told. He had some health issues and his son had moved him out about a month before we took over the Metlen Hotel. It was a good month before I had entered his apartment. There are many rooms in the basement and in one of the rooms was a freezer that had maybe 20-30 packages of game meat well wrapped and dated less than a year previous. (Of course, we ate it all.) One night around 10:30, I went down to check something in the basement. I went down the stairs and unlocked the basement door and continued down the long hallway and as I passed the room with the freezer, I looked in the dark room and about 20 feet away was the freezer against the wall with a green light on. (Anyone that has a chest freezer that has malfunctioned knows why its good to always see the green light on) this means everything is still frozen. I continued down to the end of basement where my shop is and then returned back upstairs again passing the room where the freezer is located and saw the green light on again (just habit). I locked the basement door and returned to the bar. Of course, Sophie told me to check the soda bibs which I forgot so I returned to the basement door, unlocked it and continued down the Hallway. First thing I noticed was a wrapped package of elk meat right in the middle of the hallway, and then another, and in almost every room there were packages of game meat scattered around the floor maybe 10-12. Absolutely no way it could have happened in less than a couple of minutes - when you go down to the basement you always have to turn on the lights because its devil dark down there.
The packages of meat were still frozen. I collected them and returned them to the freezer. I checked and the door was padlocked from the inside of the basement, then I went to the very back of the basement where the exit door has a big slide bolt. It was locked from the inside. Hum that's weird. Only one way in and one way out. Never figured that one out. Strange."
He also shared, "My second strange event at the Hotel Metlen was my daughter bought me a Samsung smart watch to keep track of how many steps and stairs I take everyday. Jjust in the hotel, I average about 5-7 miles a day and at least 20-25 flights of stairs. In the very back of the basement I have a large workshop that I spend most of my time in. Whenever I am in the hotel, I lock the front door so I don't get disturbed by tourists wanting to check it out. One day I came in, locked the front door and continued down to the basement to my shop, which is about 150' from the front door walking. There have been a few times where I was in my shop and heard people walking around on the first floor because I forgot to lock the front door, so I would would go upstairs and meet with them and usually because I have the gift of the gab, I would talk with them for some time about the history and usually it turned to the paranormal stuff. After they would leave, I would go back to work in my shop. One day I was working in my shop, which is directly under the back bar area, and I heard someone walking in the bar upstairs, real hard footsteps like boots. I followed the footsteps all the way to the front and continued up the stairs, and like I had many times before, I yelled out "Hello!" There was no answer so I went to the back bar and there was no one there. The back bar exit was locked from the inside. I went to the kitchen exit and again, found another door locked from the inside. I returned to the front hotel door figuring they left already and that was locked from the inside. I think "hum weird." I walked the entire hotel twice, all the floors, and I found no other humans and all the doors were locked up tight. My wife Sophie was the only other person with a new key for the locks and she was in Bozeman. So, who was walking the entire run of hallways? Strange."
"My third strange event at the Hotel Metlen happened two months ago. The bar is only open on thursday, friday and saturday nights starting at 7pm. Normally, the front door is always locked and it was about 3 in the afternoon and I had just unlocked and opened the bar front door to empty the garbage can outside. At this moment, my Daughter Mana and my wife Sophie walked up and came inside the bar. We sat down at the end of the bar, facing the front of the bar and we were talking. I was on a bar stool with my boots up on the bar and my daughter and my wife were seated in such a way that we all could see the front entrance. All of a sudden, the front door opened as if somebody was walking in. The door swung like 45 to 50 degrees and there was no one there and then it just closed. We all watched it.They were freaked out because we were looking right at it when it opened (I was so happy this happened with them there because usually i don't tell them the things i see in the hotel.) My daughter Mana ran to the front door and went outside and looked up and down the streets and there was no one around at all. When she came back inside, we all kind of laughed at how weird that was. I never changed my posture, boots still on the bar and my hands clasped behind my head and just for kicks, because we still hadn't recovered from the event, I said out loud, "On the count of 3, show yourself!" We were all watching the front door and I counted "1-2-3" and nothing. I kept counting and when I got to five, it happened again while we were watching. No wind, no drafts, it was a sunny day and most important, the hydraulic door closer was cranked down so was really hard to open the door. The door is heavy and it keeps the drunk football players from ripping it open. It was really strange."
There is another haunted location in town, the University of Montana Western. The university got its start as the Montana State Normal School in 1893. The purpose was to train teachers according to a model used by other states. The first term wouldn't start until September 6, 1897. To earn a degree in elementary education, it took two years. There was also a one-year professional course for all teachers with two years of prior experience. A four-year Latin course was also offered. Eventually this became a four-year college and was renamed Western Montana College. It became part of the Montana University System in 2000 and its name was changed to University of Montana Western at that time.
The ghost that haunts Old Main is named Marie. There are a couple of stories about how Marie met her fate. In both versions, Marie was a Dillon resident who came to campus for musical lessons. The Western Centennial History Book has her as a cello player that came to campus to practice and play with the campus orchestra. In the other account, Marie was an elementary student who came to campus after school for piano lessons. She would go home after school, leave her books and then come to campus. One afternoon, she was running late and didn't bother to go home. She went directly to campus. Marie hurried home after her lesson and forgot to grab her school books. After dinner, she went to do her homework and realized she had left her books on campus. She rushed back and was struck by a car on her way to campus. Students and faculty have all experienced haunting experiences. They have heard piano music playing in the Main Hall when the room is dark and no one is in there.
Mathews Hall is said to be haunted by the most famous ghost on the campus, Matilda. The story goes that she was a student in the early days of Montana State Normal College. During her second year at the college, she passed away suddenly. At least according to one telling. Another more dramatic story is the familiar, Matilda got pregnant out of wedlock and hanged herself. Matilda returned as a mischievous spirit who likes to pull pranks such as opening drawers and emptying the contents while the room occupants are asleep. When the dorms had radios in them, there was rule that radios had to be off when the resident was gone. One of Matilda’s favorite pranks was to turn the radio on after the resident left. That usually got the resident written up. The resident was left with no credible explanation other than “Matilda did it!” Students have heard disembodied footsteps and seen Matilda's full-bodied apparition.
Suzie O'Connell wrote in 2015, "Matilda primarily haunts the third, uppermost floor, but one night, she came all the way down to the basement floor where my roommate and I resided. We were up goofing around, cracking jokes in the wee hours of the morning in the dark, and my roommate suddenly asks why I went into the other room of our two-room suite. I was still in my bed, but she SWEARS she saw me get up and walk into the other room. We also heard stories of small appliances (microwaves, TVs, curling irons, etc.) turning on by themselves and people waking up with scratches."
Daen wrote in 2017, "My daughter literally called me 30 minutes ago from Matthews Hall where she is a freshman. She said she was sitting in her bed reading and her door handle started shaking like someone was trying to get in. Thinking it was her roommate, she let it go for several seconds before she got up and went to the door. It stopped and when she opened the door, no one was there. Immediately the sink faucet started lightly running. She walked toward the sink and the handle turned by itself full blast! She is a little freaked out at the moment."
Jen Phillip wrote in 2025, "I was a student down in Dillon at Western and I lived in Mathew’s dorm on the 3rd floor. I never noticed Matilda until I had my own room on the third floor of Mathew’s. Every night it sounded like someone was up in the attic walking back and forth bouncing a ball. This always took place between early hours around 2:00am. Matilda never scared me or bothered me other than re-arranging my posters in my room and turning on my TV and radio. I would go home on the weekends and not all the time would it happen, but my posters would be upside down on the opposite wall I had them on. At first I thought it was my RA playing games on me, but when I asked him, he said it wasn’t him. He explained that if he were to ever go into a students dorm without it being an emergency he could get into a lot of trouble. Matilda never hurt me or scared me. She would always let me know she was around but she NEVER once harmed me. I heard she liked to mess with the girls, but it was never anything bad or scary, she just wanted me to know she was around. There were times when I could swear there was someone at my door, but when I answered the door there was no one around. I always used to tell her hello and whenever I would get the sensation she was around, I would always say hello and ask her how’s she doing. After I found out I wasn’t losing my mind, I would always tell her to behave and to leave my posters alone. I told her if she wanted the TV or radio on, that was fine, but to leave my posters alone. There were times when I would get back to my dorm after the weekend was over to find my radio and TV on, but she never did mess with my posters again. I thought it was pretty cool to have a ghost in the dorm."
Dillon, Montana has decades of history behind it. Is it possible that these two locations, the hotel and the university, have spirits? Are they haunted? That is for you to decide!
