HGB Ep. 141 - Waitomo Caves Hotel

 
Moment in Oddity - George Wyman's Journey
by: Bob Sherfield

George Wyman crossed the Sierra Nevada, following a route from San Francisco to Reno, in 1902 and during that journey he decided to do something amazing. He had made this current journey so that he could race on his motorbike at a county fair. The motorcycle he road and hoped to race had only 1 ¼ horsepower. During the ride, Wyman realized that no one had ever travelled across the USA in or on a motorized vehicle, and he decided to be the first to achieve it. Wyman departed San Francisco on May 16, 1903, leaving from Lotta’s Fountain on the corner of Market and Kearny at 2:30pm. He had promised The Motorcycle Magazine (a periodical of the time) that he would document and publish an account of his journey. He rode a California Moto Bike that was for all intents and purposes, simply a bicycle frame with an engine motor attached. It was capable of 25mph, and could cover 75 to 100 miles on a tank. Wyman carried with him surprisingly little in the way of equipment. He took warm clothing, money, a water bottle, oil and gas cans, a camera, cyclometer, a small set of tools and spare parts, and a long barrelled revolver. Fifty days later, on July 6th, he rolled into New York City. His motorcycle was so broken by the time he reached Albany, that he had been forced to pedal the last 150 miles using a path reserved for licensed cyclists. He had completed his journey and he was the first person to undertake and complete a transcontinental crossing on a motor vehicle. It had taken him 51 days to cover the 3800 miles. Then, just 20 days after he arrived, Horatio Nelson Jackson completed the same journey in a car. Jackson’s cross-country trip had taken longer than Wyman’s. He had two companions with him, one human and one canine, and the journey took 63 days from the west coast to the east coast. To the American people, it didn't matter that Horatio's journey took longer. He had captured their imagination because he had done it in a car. For this reason, most people do not know that Wyman was the first man to cross America on a motorized vehicle. That such a pioneer could be almost forgotten because he accomplished the feat on a motorbike, certainly is odd!

This Day in History - The Whiskey Rebellion
by: Kristin Swintek

On this day, August 7th, in 1794, US President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. In hopes to reduce the national debt which was incurred during the American Revolutionary War, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton imposed the first tax on a domestic product, distilled spirits. Whiskey was the most popular distilled drink in 18th-century America and this tax became known as the Whiskey Tax. This tax was resisted by farmers who distilled their grain and corn into Whiskey and used it to barter. Many of the resisters were also war veterans who believed in the principles they originally fought for: no taxation without local representation. Throughout Western Pennsylvania, federal officials who attempted to collect this tax were met with violence and intimidation. In July of 1794, 500 armed men attacked the home of tax inspector General John Neville. In response, Washington sent peace commissioners to negotiate with rebels and called on governors to send militia forces. With 13,000 militiamen, George Washington rode at the head of the army to suppress the insurgency. The rebels left before the the army’s arrival and there was no confrontation. The Whiskey Rebellion showed that the new US government had the will and ability to repress violent resistance to its laws. The Whiskey Tax was repealed when Thomas Jefferson came to power in 1801.

Waitomo Caves Hotel (Suggested by listener Erin Olivia)

Waitomo is a beautiful natural location on the North Island of New Zealand that is known for its lush bush area and sea caves. The original people of this land, the Maori, have developed a culture rich in legend. A main draw for people from around the world are the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. The caves are not only known for their natural beauty, but for the creature for whom they are named: the glowworm. A popular tourist destination needs lodgings for the visitors and that is where the Waitomo Caves Hotel comes in to fill the need. The hotel has existed for over a hundred years. Situating a hotel in a land rich with lore, limestone and strife has led to rumors of this hotel being haunted. Join us as we share the history, lore and hauntings of the Waitomo Caves and their hotel!

Waitomo is a Maori word that means "stream which flows into the hole in the ground." The name makes sense when considering that beneath Waitomo winds a series of caverns formed millions of years ago. Limestone bluffs shoot up above the ground, dotting the landscape. The Maori have been here since 1350. They claim to have come from the mythical Polynesian land of Hawaiki. In reality, they came by canoe from Eastern Polynesian islands. They settled on the shores of what would become New Zealand and they hunted seal and moas, which are a type of bird now extinct. They spread out and lived in small tribal groups. The Europeans arrived in the 1800s and initially it was mainly missionaires. They converted many of the Maori to Christianity. There was peace until the British tried to establish rule and set laws.

In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi established British law and government, but the Maori revolted and the Maori King Movement or Kingitanga, was formed. This would be the first time that the Maori had a king and that first king was Pōtatau Te Wherowhero. A dynasty was started with his coronation in 1858. This caused war, particularly in the 1860s. This war was known as the Waikato War. The Māori sought to defend their authority and lands. Eventually the Māori lost much of their land. The Kingitanga continues today and it is important to understand that this was not something formed against the British Crown as much as it was formed for the Maori. *Fun Fact: The Maori perform traditional dances called hakas. The most well known, particularly to Diane and I, is the Ka Mate Haka. The dance dates back to the early 1800s. We are going to play a portion of the audio for the Ka Mate Haka.*

The Maori consider the caves of Waitomo to be Tapu or sacred. They believe the caves are inhabited by Taniwha, guardian beings that live in rivers, in the sea and dark caves, and Patupaiarehe, whom are pale-skinned spirit beings that according to Maori folklore, live in deep forests and mountaintops in New Zealand and are thought to use ethereal flute music and singing to lure people to their doom. Similar to the Sirens of Greek mythology. It is thought that the caves have been used as a burial ground for the Maori. The caves are believed to have formed some 30 million years ago. Fossils and other deposits gathered on the sea floor, forming sedimentary rock. Volcanoes erupted and the shifting caused earthquakes and through this process huge slabs of limestone were lifted out of the sea. The rocks had cracks into which water flowed creating caverns that are the caves we see today. Inside the caves, visitors can see limestone crystal deposits, stalactites and stalagmites. Exploration of the caves by Europeans began in 1877 when government surveyor, Fred Mace, floated on a raft into the caves.

The caves are home to the glowworm. The caves are perfect for the glowworms because they are sheltered in a damp area where a river brings plenty of insects for food. These glowworms are the larvae of a species of gnat called Arachnocampa luminosa. This gnat is unique to New Zealand and resembles a maggot, growing to the size of a matchstick. They glow because their tails are bioluminescent. Oxygen in the air reacts with a chemical that they secrete and the result is a glowing light that appears to be bluish in color. They trap their food in a similar way to spiders by spinning a thread and then using their light to attract the bugs who become caught in the threads. *Fun Fact: Playskool makes a glowworm toy that plays lullaby music.*

The Waitomo Caves were first discovered by the Maori and it would be local Maori Tane Tinorau and his wife that would build a hostel near the caves for lodging. They picked a spot where a British fort had formerly been located. They completed construction in 1904 and called it Waitomo House. New Zealand had established the Department of Tourism and Publicity in 1901 and the goal of the government department was to buy up these national treasures. In 1905, the department bought both the caves and the hostel and a paper at the time claimed that a W. Rattan was running it when it was purchased.

The hostel needed updating, so wood was brought in via horse-drawn carts and utilites were equipped in special ways since the location was too remote to be hooked up to town supplies. Running water was pumped in from the Waitomo Stream and electricity, which was a luxury at this time, was generated by a dynamo powered by a petrol driven motor engine. This was completed in 1908 and now the lodgings were called the Government Hostel at Waitomo. The architectural style is Victorian and it has similar features to the mountain chalets of Europe and was designed by architect John Campbell. Guests were moved about by coach, which was great in the summer, but during the winter, the muddy pass forced the hotel to have to pull the coach through the quagmire.

This original structure still stands and is called the Victorian Wing today. When looking at the hotel, it is clear that there are two distinct buildings. The original hotel was proving to be too small to manage all the tourism. Many times, visitors would have to share rooms with total strangers. And when there were too many people for that arrangement to work, tents were set up outside. A new addition was completed in 1928 and it is known as the Art Deco Wing today. It features concrete pillars and was built in the Cape Dutch style found in South Africa and designed by architect John Thomas Mair. This style has roots in medieval Holland and Germany and most buildings built with this influence have a large distinctive front gable. The outside is clay with lime mortar and then the entire surface is whitewashed. Reminds us of old missions. This addition added twenty-four rooms to the six in the Victorian Wing. A large kitchen and dining room were added at this time as well.

In 1990, the government decided to sell the business and the hotel has transferred ownership multiple times. Wellesley Hotels and Resorts own the property today and they have been conducting an extensive renovation of the property, which was in desperate need of that according to reviews all over the internet. They have added a spa and relaxation area and most public areas have been refurbished including the reception and dining area. There are now 33 rooms and each has their own private bath. *Fun Fact: You can see the Southern Cross from the hotel. This constellation was immortalized in the Crobsy, Stills and Nash song "Southern Cross." "When you see the Southern Cross for the first time, you understand why you came this way..."*

A land steeped in legend that has experienced strife can sometimes spawn stories of hauntings of both the nefarious and sublime. The Waitomo Cave area and the hotel are reputedly quite haunted. While the hotel would have you believe that the only thing guests will experience is peace and tranquility, the possibility of cold spots, bathtubs dripping blood and encounters with dubious shadow people are all possibilities. Staff may be unwilling to detail their experiences, but enough of them and enough guests have encountered supernatural occurrences to put this hotel on the paranormal map.

Room 14 is one of the haunted locations at the hotel and its story was inspired by a Maori legend. This tale dates back to the war between the Maori and the British. One of the daughters of the Maori king had fallen in love with a British soldier. They would meet in secret and it was while she traveled to the British fort for one of these renedevous, that she was killed after being mistaken for a warrior. Her spirit has been at unrest ever since and haunts the former fort's area. A young male guest was staying in Room 14 and he suddenly felt the icy chill of a spirit he believed to be this Maori princess. He told several guests later that day of his experience and he was quite shaken. Later that evening, he ended up committing suicide. Some say it was by hanging and others claim it was by slitting his wrists. Stories that the bath tub in Room 14 is seen dripping with blood back-up the slitting the wrists theory. The young man's apparition is seen both in Room 14 and outside wandering the hallway.

The Maori princess not only is reputed to have visited this Room 14, but she has been witnessed walking around the Victorian wing of the hotel, which features the Honeymoon Suite. She also seems to like the attic and people claim to hear her moaning in there. She frequents Room 12 as well, which is next door to Room 14. Lights move about the room and guests complain that their bed sheets are pulled off and something unseen tickles their feet. Another room with activity is Room 12a that actually is Room 13, but superstition prevents the hotel from numbering it as such. Talcum powder spilt on the floor by investigators reveals footprints later on and objects within the room are moved about.

A little boy spirit named Daniel is heard giggling in the halls and his spirit is seen skipping sometimes. Little children complain about a child that is picking on them that parents cannot see. It is believed that Daniel was the son of a maid at the hotel in the 1930s. The hotel had a small cluster of rooms that catered to the staff and a hallway that connected these rooms to the kitchen and restaurant was dubbed Cat Alley. Daniel was skipping through Cat Alley and popped into the kitchen where he hit a pot of boiling water that came crashing down on him, scalding him horribly. He eventually died of his injuries. This Cat Alley is where Daniel is most often seen.

These hauntings all seem rather tame, but there is a malevolent spirit here, usually found in Room 25. The staff dislike entering this room and claim that they feel sick and that the energy in the room feels oppressive. Disembodied screams are heard and objects are moved and sometimes thrown. No one is sure who haunts this room, but it has been surmised that a former head staff member that has taken ownership of the building is to blame. They seem to want to keep order in the Art Deco wing.

Several paranormal groups and TV shows have investigated the hotel. The Haunted Auckland and Strange Occurrences teams are a couple of them. One of the members of the teams reported this weird experience in Room14, “I heard sounds of wind being disturbed, as if a bird with very soft wings was flying around the room.” This same individual felt strange in Room 25 and said,  “At a spot, in the middle of the room and at the foot of the left most bed, I felt a massive sinking sensation. Like when you go over a bump in the road, and leaves your heart in your mouth. It felt very different in there to other parts of the hotel. This was my first feeling of dread in the place. Until then, we had felt embraced. This felt uncomfortable, more in that room, than the bathroom, and definitely more in that area of the room.”

Another investigator named Barbara was staying in Room 12a. She had been wearing a cross and she took it off and put it on the night stand before going to bed. The next morning, she found it broken and took a picture of the cross. A woman named Christine claimed to catch an EVP at the hotel during a stay in 2006:  "My hubby had just asked me if I wanted a glass of wine. I said "yes", he handed it to me, and I said "thank you" and continued to tape the room. When I took a breath, there was a very audible sigh and "argh". Neither of us heard a thing at the time & it is not my husband's voice."

Joanne on TripAdvisor in 2012:  "I could not sleep as every noise played havoc with my mind, creeping floor boards all night long, footsteps coming from the room above and then around 1.30am I heard a strange moaning, crying coming from the room above, I woke my partner up so scared and he said go to sleep it must be a dog, but I knew there were not dogs here at the hotel and the noise was definitely coming from the room above.When we returned from our holiday we examined the photographs and this one in particular caught our eye. The photograph was taken in daylight by a digital Nikon SLR camera – no flash was used, there appears to be an orange glowing ball in front of us and above our room where we stayed there appears to be a strange green light top center a little to the left."

The Waitomo Caves seem to have attracted more than just tourists. Do spirits reside here in the afterlife? Is the Waitomo Caves Hotel haunted? That is for you to decide! 

HGB Ep. 140 - The Washoe Club

 
Moment in Oddity - James Chaffin's Ghost Helps Find His Will

James L. Chaffin was a father of four and a farmer in Mocksville, North Carolina. Tragically, he died in a fall, but he had guaranteed the continuation of his beloved farm in a will he had written years earlier that left the farm to his third son, Marshall. And then Marshall died. This left the family farm to Marshall's wife and took the farm out of the Chaffin family's hands. Then a most odd thing happened. We've heard of ghosts helping to solve their own murders and bring justice, but a ghost returning to make sure a will is found? Chaffin's second son James Jr. brought suit in 1925 claiming that the will that had given the farm to the widow was not valid. And he based this claim on the fact that his father's ghost led him to the most recent and valid will. James Jr. claimed that his father's ghost had come to him in dreams for several nights. In the final dream, the ghost of his father appeared wearing his favorite overcoat and he showed James that the will was in the pocket. James Jr. retrieved his father’s overcoat and when he reached into the pocket, he discovered a note behind a new lining. That note read “Read the 27th chapter of Genesis in my daddy’s old Bible.” James Jr. searched his father's belongings and found his grandfather’s old Bible. Inside the Bible, next to Genesis 27, was a new will written by his father in 1919. The will indicated that the farm should be divided among his children. The trial verified that the handwriting was James Chaffin's and Marshall's widow agreed to a settlement. Even she was convinced the will was authentic. A ghost leading his family to a hidden will, certainly is odd!

This Day in History - The Black Sox Scandal
by: Kristin Swintek

On this day, August 2nd, in 1921, Eight Chicago White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series. This was the "Black Sox Scandal." The scandal claimed that those eight White Sox players were given money by gamblers in exchange for intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. In the first game of the series, White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte (See cot) struck Cincinatti lead off hitter, Morrie Rath, in the back with his pitch, which was the pre-arranged signal that the series would be thrown. Rumors circulated throughout the series about Cicotte’s performance and claims were made that the games were fixed. The White Sox lost the series on October 9, 1919. Rumors continued during the White Sox’s 1920 season and in September a grand jury was convened to investigate these claims. On September 28th, players Eddie Cicotte and Shoeless Joe Jackson confessed to participating in the conspiracy. On October 22, 1920, eight players and five gamblers were implicated by the grand jury which included nine counts of conspiracy to defraud. The trial began on June 27, 1921 in Chicago. Coincidentally, signed confessions and other key evidence went missing from the Cook County courthouse. Cicotte and Jackson recanted their confessions. After deliberating for less than 3 hours, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on all charges of the accused players. Despite the verdict, nine Chicago White Sox players were permanently banned from Major League Baseball for life by the Commissioner of Baseball.

The Washoe Club (Suggested by listeners Tara Williams-Case and Jeni Justine)

Virginia City is an Old West mining town complete with a history of gun fights, explosions, brothels and mine cave-ins. The Comstock Lode was found in the Virginia Range near the future Virginia City and prospectors came looking for an alternative to the Gold Rush. Samuel Clemens was one of them. And when his luck at finding precious ore proved lacking, he took a job at the local paper and adopted the name we all know him by today: Mark Twain. The richer men in the city wanted a place to call their own and the Washoe Club was built for those millionaires. It is the oldest saloon in the city. And it is one of the most haunted locations in a reputedly very haunted town. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Old Washoe Club.

The people who originally lived in this area were the Washoe People. They had lived in the Great Basin for over 6,000 years. The name Washoe means "the people from here." A legend they share is that they were brought to the Great Basin by Gewe (Gyou), the Coyote. He told them that this was where they were meant to live as directed by Nentašu. Nentašu directed the land and her plants to nourish the people and she told the Washoe that it was their duty to care for the land. The tribe was originally made up of four bands from different areas that each had unique customs and language patterns. Everything changed for the Washoe People when the Gold and Silver Rushes brought people flocking to the area in an overwhelming flood. A. Brian Wallace, Former Chairman of the Washoe Tribe, said of this time, "The health of the land and the health of the people are tied together, and what happens to the land also happens to the people. When the land suffers so too do the people." The tribe today is in the Lake Tahoe area.

Today, many people may not have heard of Virginia City, but in its heyday, it was one of the most important cities between San Francisco and Denver. The Gold Rush had brought thousands of people out from the East. The Gold Rush peaked in 1852. The next time precious ore would capture the nation, it would be silver that would spark that rush. The first major discovery of silver ore was under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson in the Virginia Range. The find was called the Comstock Lode and it would make many men very rich and contribute to the building up of Nevada and the city of San Francisco. The announcement of the discovery was made in 1859. Mining was a tough life. Men worked long hours in hundred degree heat in mines that reached 3,000 feet into the mountain or ground. The sacrifice was worth it for many of these men as they not only got rich, but some believe that this silver that was used to finance the Civil War, probably helped save the Union. In 2009, Virginia City and its county of Storey were awarded the Distinctive Destinations Award by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Samuel Clemens accompanied his brother Orion to Nevada in 1861. Orion had been appointed secretary to the territorial governor of Nevada. Like most of the men in the bustling town, Clemens took up prospecting and went out to find his fortune. He had little success and he needed money. When he heard that the local paper in Virginia City, the Territorial Enterprise, was hiring, he applied for the job and he was hired as a reporter. Many newspaper men adopted pen names and he did the same, choosing Mark Twain. (You can hear all about his life and ghost in Ep. 29) His first article appeared on July 6, 1862. Our listeners will appreciate Twain's thoughts on his time with the Territorial Enterprise, "To find a petrified man, or break a stranger's leg, or cave an imaginary mine, or discover some dead Indians in a Gold Hill tunnel, or massacre a family at Dutch Nick's, were feats and calamities that we never hesitated about devising when the public needed matters of thrilling interest for breakfast. The seemingly tranquil ENTERPRISE office was a ghastly factory of slaughter, mutilation and general destruction in those days."

In our present time, rich people generally gather at country clubs. There were no country clubs in Virginia City, but what it did have was the Washoe Club. This club would come to be known throughout the Pacific Coast. It all began with a planning meeting on February 21, 1875 of sixty men who would become charter members. They each kicked in $150 to give them $9,000 to start the process of either buying or building a suitable meeting place. Among the sixty charter members were Territorial Enterprise editor R. M. Daggett, several Bank of California officers, Virginia and Truckee Railroad officers F.A. Tritle and H. M. Yerington, Tahoe lumber magnate D.L. Bliss, mining magnates John Mackay and James G. Fair, several mine superintendents, former Nevada Chief Justice James F. Lewis, Judge R.S. Mesick and Wells Fargo agent C.C. Pendergast. Membership was limited to 200 men.

After two months, the group decided to purchase the Reynolds Building located at 8 & 10 B Street. Renovations were begun to create a luxurious space. The interior of the club featured a parlor that was decorated with bronze statuettes, a large French plate glass mirror and Italian marble, a gorgeous billiard room, a wine room with a beautifully carved black walnut sideboard and the club boasted one of the finest libraries east of San Francisco. Expensive works of art adorned the walls. There were chandeliers covered with steel plate and polished to look like silver. On June 1st, 1875, the Washoe Club officially opened its doors to roaring success. The success would not last long though. Less then five months later, a fire would rip through Virginia City destroying many buildings, including much of the Washoe Club.

The group decided to move the club to a different location and constructed an even more palatial playground. There were three stories. A saloon was on the first floor and there were rooms for reading, cards, billiards and wine. A ballroom occupied the second floor. The Territorial Enterprise reported in 1876 the following about the new club, "Taken all together, the rooms are more convenient, better arranged and more elegantly and luxuriously fitted up than were the rooms which were occupied by the Club previous to the fire." The paper best describes the appearance of the club:

"The reading-room fronts on C Street and is lighted by four large windows of French plate glass. The apartment is 30×22 feet. The floor is covered by an Axminster carpet of the thickest and finest make and most elegant pattern. In the center of the room is a 4 by 12 table of black walnut inlaid with laurel, on which are all the papers and periodicals usually read on the coast. The room is abundantly provided with upholstered furniture in the shape of easy chairs, sofas, lounges and the like. On each side are placed $800 mirrors of French plate glass in frames and mountings manufactured expressly for the porch of the building in front. In the evening the apartment is brilliantly lighted by two chandeliers of polished steel. The reading-room is separated by folding doors from the billiard-parlor.

The billiard-parlor is in size its exact counterpart, so that when both rooms are thrown together an area of 22×60 feet is gained. It is lighted from the rear by day and by silvered chandeliers by night. The carpet of this parlor is of the same pattern as that of the reading room. It contains two Strahle tables of the very best make and latest improvements, the beds being of slate and the legs, etc., beautifully carved. Wilton carpets with mitred corners surround the tables. The markers are peculiar institutions and were manufactured expressly for the Washoe at a cost of $100 each. They consist of small black walnut stands, from the sides of which rise arms branching out about a yard. These are connected by wires on which are strung ivory buttons. The counting is done with the fingers and thus the unsightly and inconvenient wires across the room are avoided. A stationary washstand occupies one corner and the parlor is amply provided with furniture. This room communicates with the hall and main entrance and also with the wine-room.

The wine-room is connected with the billiard parlor by means of a broad, arched doorway, richly and heavily draped with crimson curtains, which are drawn aside during the occupancy of the rooms. This room contains an elegant sideboard amply stocked with the very best beverages and cigars which can be procured and a lunch table bountifully supplied with delicacies and substantials. It is richly carpeted with body Brussels. This room is adjoined on the west by the card-room, which is carpeted like the wine-room and furnished with all the appliances which belong to such places." 

There is a fancy spiral staircase that has become infamous. It was built by a man named François-Jean Rochas and he used no nails or glue in the construction. It is so unique that it has been featured by Ripley's Believe It or Not. Reminds us of the spiral staircase at Loretto Chapel in New Mexico. The reason is obvious. The same man built both in the same unique way. Although one staircase helped the choir get to the balcony, the other served a very different purpose. Men would come to the club not only for drinks and socializing, but for entertainment from the ladies of the night. They would climb this spiral staircase to meet the ladies. Reputedly, a couple of prostitutes were killed here at the club. The second floor was a ballroom. There was a storage room that had once served an unusual and macabre purpose. During the winter, the ground was too hard to dig graves and a cool dry place was needed to store embalmed bodies until winter was over. The club's storage room was the perfect spot. At one time there was as many as 70 coffins in there.

As mining production dropped, so did membership. Dues dropped and the amount required for membership dropped to $2.50. By 1897, the Washoe Club was finished. The building was condemned in the 1980s. Today, the club is owned by Cliff and Jennifer McCain. Restoration is ongoing to shore up the building against earthquake activity, to repair the roof and to restore the rest of the building. *Fun fact: Drinks offered at the club include Blue Lady, Lemon Orb, Time Warp and Buttery Nipple.*

Virginia City is reputed to be a really haunted city. The Old Washoe Club is one of its most haunted locations. The Ghost Adventures team has visited several times and Nick Groff claims that it is one of the locations that he is most scared of because his name has come up several times in EVP and Spirit Box sessions when he is not even at the building. In other words, the ghosts seem to know him personally. The TV show made the place pretty popular and they even host ghost tours and overnight ghost hunts are allowed.

Many claim that the storage room is the most haunted area. More than likely because embalmed bodies were stored here until the ground thawed for burial. Some people believe that several entities are angry because they are still possessive of the club and don't want people they consider to be non-members inside their club. Miss Ellie is a little girl whose apparition appears with a dog in an upstairs hallway. She was killed in an explosion when a neighboring building blew up because a man had stored his nitroglycerine, gunpowder and dynamite there. Twelve people were killed and it made national news. Cameras malfunction all the time in the hallway where Ellie is seen. Wilson is a bartender at the saloon and he claims to have witnessed a variety of manifestations that include matchbooks that roll down the bar and bar stools that fall over on their own.

One of the prostitutes was killed on the third floor and her murderer committed suicide on the second floor. Investigators claim that her name is Lena because a psychic told them that name. She has blonde hair and generally appears as a full bodied apparition on the spiral staircase. She is also referred to as the Lady in Blue. She appears as a blue mist on the stairs at times as well. However, another psychic claims that the Lady in Blue is actually a young girl who was given a blue dress by her father and that a miner raped her and killed her by hitting her in the head with a pick axe. Some people claim to get headaches near the stairs. Of course, this is relying on information from psychics rather than documented history.

A thirteen-year-old girl was killed by a predator in the basement, but her spirit is sometimes seen on the second floor. People claim to smell a floral perfume scent or cherry cigar smoke scent in certain areas upstairs. Betty is one of the guides and she once heard her name called out on a spirit box. One of the spirits claimed to be Tom and explained that he was a hippie who died of a heroin overdose there. A shadow with a big brown hat is seen on the second floor. In the early 80s, a man killed himself that lived in a third floor apartment after his seven-year-old son fell into a mine shaft and died. There is a lot of activity in the room. Room 12 on the third floor has a door that slams hard on its own all the time. The door has cracked from the force. A suicide took place in the room. Several people complain of being scratched in the room. The typical three rows.

Lisa H. on Yelp: Toured Millionaires Club 5/6/2016. Tour was at night. Had a great time. Heard footsteps and pounding coming from the 3rd floor. Definitely had an eerie feeling and my chest was tight the entire time. Took lots of pictures and caught something out of the ordinary. Will be returning to stay overnight in a few weeks.

Marciel B. on Yelp: We have had our fair share of experiences here as well. From my arm being grabbed and my hair played with all nicely, to banging on the walls so loud during a night tour that Carl rushed us off to another part of the top floor. I highly recommend that you visit here.

Do spirits from the Old West still wander Virginia City? Are former prostitutes still at the Washoe Club in the afterlife? Is the Old Washoe Club haunted? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:
Overnight investigations are available as such:  We are still offering overnight ghost investigations for your paranormal group or ghost hunting crew - only $400 for up to 8 people gets you overnight access to all 2 upper floors of the Millionaire's club and first floor museum and Crypt - Investigations can start as early as 7pm Sun-Thurs and 10 pm Fri-Sat - All Investigators must be or become Washoe Club Members (only $20 per year) - call the saloon 775-847-4467 for Info and booking dates.

Pictures shared by Ronda Borgen:

Door where prostitutes snuck in

Original card table used by Twain, General Sherman and others

Mummified cat found in wall

This sometimes rocks on its own

 

Blue Lady Spiral Staircase

Trying to capture Blue Lady

Virginia City Cemetery

Did you see that?

HGB Ep. 139 - Brice House

 
Moment in Oddity - Ozark Spooklight

On the border of Missouri and Oklahoma is a peculiar phenomenon known as the Ozark Spooklight. This spooklight was first seen over a century ago by the Native Americans walking along the Trail of Tears. The light is described as a glowing ball of supernatural energy that gives off colors ranging in hues from orange to blue to green. Some witnesses claim that it pulsates and changes colors and others say that the light appears as a cluster, rather than just one single orb. The orb is between the size of a baseball and a basketball and it spins down the center of the road at high speeds. Some claim it is almost like a lantern swinging back and forth.The light usually appears between ten and midnight at night. No investigators, including the Army Corps of Engineers, has been able to identify why the light is appearing. It is nor reflecting headlights, nor some form of swamp gas because it is unaffected by wind or rain. The mythical will-o’-the-wisp has been suggested,but the light is too bright for that. So what is the story behind the spooklight? If we look to science, it could be an electrical atmospheric charge. Deep below the earth's surface, rocks grind and shift and an electrical charge is created. The spooklight resides in an area where there is a fault line where four earthquakes occured during the eighteenth century. A more interesting story claims this light represents the spirits of two Native American youths who had fallen in love, but the woman's father forbade the marriage and the two jump off a nearby cliff when the father sent his men to keep them from eloping. Another story claims that a family had lived in a cabin nearby and when the father, who was a miner, was away, the family was killed and the light is his lantern as he looks for his lost family. Some claim an Osage chief was decapitated here and this light is his spirit. Whatever the true story is behind the Ozark Spooklight, it certainly is odd!

This Day in History - Battle of Ezra Church
by: Richard Schaffer

On this day, July 28th, in 1864, the battle of Ezra Church took place. It was part of the Atlanta Campaign of the Civil War. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman led his troops, the Union Army of the Tennessee, against Gen. John B. Hood and his Confederate troops, the Army of Tennessee. Two prior attempts had been made to break Atlanta from the grasp of the Union Army, but had failed. Gen. Sherman sent Gen. Oliver O. Howard to destroy the Macon and Western Railroad, which was one of the only remaining rail lines into Atlanta. Gen. Hood sent Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee and his troops to stop the Union advance. Lee’s army attacked at Ezra Church. The ensuing engagement went poorly for Confederate forces as they thought despite possessing smaller numbers they could surprise Union forces. Union forces had erected barricades using the church’s pews and logs. Unbeknownst to Lee, he was not attacking the Union flank, but actually the Union center. Lee’s army was pushed back several times, finally retiring after losing 3,000 men. Union losses totaled 630 men. This would later open the door to Sherman’s March to the Sea. An important note to make about this affair would be the actions of 24 year old Sergeant, Ernst R. Torgler of the 37th Ohio Infantry, who saved his commanding officer from capture. He would later receive the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

The Brice House (Suggested by listener Amanda Prouty, Research Assistant Steven Pappas)

At the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay sits the home of the United State Naval Academy, the city of Annapolis, which claims to have more original structures dating back to the 18th century than any other city in America. One of those structures is The Brice House. A house that exudes a malevolent energy that might be carrying over from the corrupt family that once inhabited the residence. Tales of skeletons in walls and other legends have lead to claims that the mansion is haunted. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Brice House. (Amanda will join us to share a bit about the supernatural experiences at this location.)

The capital of the state of Maryland, Annapolis, is known as the "Athens of America." The city was originally a small seaport that held the distinction of being a colonial capitol. Annapolis was originally named "Providence" when the Puritans first settled there in 1649. The proprietary colony was owned by Lord Baltimore and the name Providence was changed to "Anne Arundel's Towne," after his wife. Royal Governor, Sir Francis Nicholson, changed the name to its current name of Annapolis in honor of Princess Anne, heir to the throne. When Anne became queen, she charted the seaport as a city and this happened in 1708. It is her royal badge that features a crown over the entwined thistle of Scotland and Tudor rose of England that is depicted on the official flag of the city of Annapolis.

Sir Francis Nicholson designed the city in a similar grid as that used in many European capitals, which incorporated circles with radiating streets that would draw the focus to certain structures. An example of this would be St Anne's Episcopal Church, which is the spiritual center of Annapolis. The State House is another example. This historic location is where George Washington tendered his resignation as General of the Continental Army after the Revolutionary War was over. Washington so liked the design of Annapolis that he asked Pierre L'Enfant to incorporate it in the design of Washington, D.C. The architecture found throughout the city is beautiful and as mentioned earlier, many historic properties have been saved and restored from the William Paca House that was home to one of Maryland's four signees to the Declaration of Independence to the James Brice House.

James Brice was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland in 1746 to Sarah and John Brice. He would go on to become a Lawyer in Annapolis, as well as a farmer and a politician. James married Juliana Jennings in 1781, and the couple had six children: Julia, Sarah, Anne, Thomas, Elizabeth, James and John. Sarah died shortly before her first birthday. In 1782, he was elected as the mayor of Annapolis and he held that position for one year. He served as mayor of the city once again for a year in 1787. George Plater was the sixth governor of Maryland and during his time, Maryland ceded the land that would become Washington, D. C. He died in office in 1792 after only serving for three months and James Brice took over the governorship, in which his only act of governance was to convene an election for the new governor. He was a prominent figure in Maryland's history, even serving as a president elector, both times voting for president George Washington. In addition, he served as treasurer for the city of Annapolis from 1784 until his death in 1801.

James Brice's father John began construction on a Georgian styled mansion that was completed by James between 1767 and 1775. This home would become known as the Brice House. James Brice kept a detailed logbook of the construction, which later provided details to historians. The cornerstone of the house, marked with the words "The Beginning," was laid on the first day of construction. According to the logbook, the construction took six years and materials included 326,000 bricks and 90,800 shingles. Total cost to build was $4,014 in Maryland colonial currency. When finished, the James Brice House was considered one of the most elegant of the Annapolis five-part mansions and it was the largest. Some of the interiors have been attributed to William Buckland. The Historic Annapolis website describes the home in this way:

"The first floor of the central block is laid out similarly to a nearby house built by James Brice’s father, with a stair hall just inside the entrance and three adjoining public rooms. The main staircase is crafted of rich mahogany. The drawing room is the home’s largest and most lavishly decorated space, featuring a plaster cornice and paneling, a carved mantel and overmantel, and interior window shutters. A hidden service stair, similar again to one in the house where James Brice grew up, provided access to the second floor, where private family chambers are arranged to the front and rear of a transverse passage."

First floor Ballroom

Several dignitaries visited the house included George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette and James Madison. Thomas inherited the house and lived there as a bachelor. The house remained in the possession of the family until 1874 and was eventually purchased in the 1920s by St. John's College as a residence for school faculty. In 1953, the Wohl family took control of the property and began restorations on the home. The Brice House was added to the National Registry of Historic Places on April 15, 1970. In 2014, the city of Annapolis purchased the property from the masons who had used it as a headquarters for many years. Now it is the Historic Annapolis office headquarters.

During the restoration, peculiar things were found within the walls of the house. The Brice family had black servants, many of whom came with their own superstitions and beliefs from their regions of origin. Those beliefs included Hoodoo and Voodoo. Part of the practices with those spiritual beliefs is the use of talismans for protection. Several of these talismans, which also included crosses, were found in the walls. No one is sure if they were meant to serve as protection or as a curse on the family. Something more sinister was found as well. The skeleton of one of the servant girls was in the wall down in the basement during renovations. And rumors have circulated from that time that the Brice boys had something to do with her death. Many think she was walled up while still alive. This theory was tested by TAPS by putting an opera singer within the wall and it proved to be basically sound proof. Amanda Prouty shares with us the tales that are told about this on the show. (The tale that goes with this is that either the servant was raped and killed or that she became impregnated and then killed.)

Many people think the Brice House is the most haunted place in the city of Annapolis. The fact that the house sits at a crossroads in the city has added to the mystique. Amanda also shared with us that talismans and crosses were found beneath the cobblestone of the crossroads. One guide working for one of the ghost tours in the city claims to have witnessed at least 15 different entities in the home. People have often reported seeing the full bodied apparition of James Brice in the house. These sightings date back all the way to his wife, who claimed to see him after he died. He is seen wearing black period clothing with long white hair. Sightings continued when the house was used by St. Johns College. As hard as it is to believe, Professors of all people, detailed their supernatural experiences from the house in interviews and articles.

Another spirit rumored to haunt the location is James' son Thomas. He was bludgeoned to death in the home by his valet and now people claim to see a spirit resembling him walking through the house. On occassion, witnesses have seen Thomas and his valet re-enacting the murder in the library. While it is argued that the following aspect of the story is embellishment, it is creepy nonetheless. Some people claim the ghost is clearly bleeding from the head.

There are the standard claims of cold spots and things moving on their own, but one apparition seems to be more terrifying than the rest and that is the ghost of the Crying Girl. This spirit is believed to belong to the servant girl who was walled up in the house. She was given a proper burial after her remains were discovered, but she does not seem to be at rest. The sounds of screams and crying can be heard coming from the basement in the evenings. Reports say it sounds like someone screaming for their life. The cries are so realistic that police have responded to calls about it and found no cause for the screams.

There is a lady in white here, but no one is sure who she is, but she is usually seen waling by the ballroom mantle. Lighting candles in the room causes her to vanish. Whenever tour guides are asked about the house, they mostly clam up not wanting to talk about the spirits there or the malevolent energy within the place.

Did the Brice boys do something unthinkable? Was there a reason why Voodoo talismans were hidden around the house or did those artifacts bring something evil to this location? Have spirits from the family decided to remain at their former home? Is the Brice House haunted? That is for you to decide!

Show Notes:
Ancestry records for James Brice: http://person.ancestry.com/tree/17517666/person/1784520376/facts 
Pictures courtesy of the Library of Congress

HGB Ep. 138 - Battle of the Somme

 
Moment in Oddity - The Legend of Crybaby Bridge
Suggested by: Listener Brittany Cox

Several cities in Oklahoma claim to be home to an urban legend known as Crybaby Bridge. The tale seems to have been almost inspired by the Mexican legend of La Llorona that we have detailed on the podcast before. People who have visited the various bridges claiming to be Crybaby Bridge, say that they hear the wails of babies when they visit the bridge at night. There are two stories related to the legend. The first is that a woman was traveling across the bridge in her car with her infant child in the backseat. She had a horrible car wreck and both she and the baby were killed. People claim to hear the cries of the baby when they park on the bridge and turn off the engine. Others report that they see the glowing figure of a female ghost walking along the creek below the bridge looking for her baby. On occasion, the car will fail to start when visitors are ready to leave the bridge. The other story dates to the late 1940s. A family that lived deep in the woods near the bridge had a horrible secret. The father had been raping the daughter and he impregnated her several times. After each of the births, the daughter would throw the babies off the bridge into the creek, which has been named as North Boggy Creek. The legend goes that if you stand on the edge of the bridge you can hear the babies crying. No one knows for sure if one of the decrepit bridges on Oklahoma's back roads or one of the newer bridges that has replaced an older bridge is the actual Crybaby Bridge or if the bridge even actually exists. But if the Crybaby Bridge does exist, it certainly is odd!


This Day in History - Hale-Bopp Comet Discovered

On this day, July 23rd, in 1995, two amateur astronomers discovered the Hale-Bopp Comet. Those two amateur astronomers were Alan Hale, who was in New Mexico, and Thomas Bopp, who was in Arizona. Both men had trained their telescopes on globular cluster M70. They noticed a fuzzy object and after observing it for a while, they realized it was moving and so had to be a comet. Both Hale and Bopp sent their observations to the International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. According to NASA, this comet was the farthest comet ever to be discovered by amateurs. The comet only got as close as 120 million miles away from the Earth, but it was so bright it could be seen by the naked eye. The comet circled behind the sun and then began moving farther and farther away. It won't return for another 2,300 years. Hale-Bopp was the most photographed comet in history. A tragic footnote to the comet's visit were the suicides of several members of a cult. That cult was Heaven's Gate and it was an end times type cult headed by Marshall Applewhite. They believed some kind of alien spacecraft was following the comet and that it was coming to rescue them from the Earth. Unfortunately, Applewhite brainwashed his followers into believing that in order to make that transition, they needed to die so their spirits could leave their bodies, pass through Heaven's Gate and board the spaceship. They drank a lethal cocktail of alcohol mixed with Phenobarbital. Applewhite and 38 of his followers died.

Battle of the Somme (Suggested by and researched by Bob Sherfield)

The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st 1916, one hundred years ago this month, and it lasted until the 18th of November. This was the defining battle of the first world war and the very first day of this clash was the bloodiest in the history of the British Army. Hundreds of thousands would lose their lives in the four months of fighting. This was a campaign fought between the German and British empires and the Battle of the Somme has been called the beginning of modern all-arms warfare. The bloodshed is similar to the Gettysburg and Antietam battles during the American Civil War and as we have found with the locations where these meetings took place, the Battle of the Somme battlefield is reputed to be incredibly haunted. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Battle of the Somme!

World War I was the first global conflict in human history and it began in 1914. The trigger that started the conflict was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. The war involved Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire on one side and Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan and the United States on the other. The tactics of this war, which included the use of war machines and trenches, led to carnage beyond belief. By the time the war ended in 1918, nine million soldiers and seven million civilians had died. When the war ended, national borders were redrawn and empires had fallen. One of the key battles of this war - and by far the bloodiest - was the Battle of the Somme. *Fun fact: Pigeons were used as a form of communication during this battle and World War I in general*

By the time of the battle, the bulk of the British Army was made up of the volunteer forces of the Territorial Force and Lord Kitchener’s New Army. This was because the majority of the forces enlisted at the beginning of the war had been lost during the battles of 1914 and 1915. This new recruitment led to a rapid expansion of the British force and a need for senior commanders and specialists, bringing many officers out of retirement as well as inexperienced newcomers. The swift increase had the effect of reducing the levels of experience within the army, as well as creating an acute shortage of equipment. On the British side, soldiers were drawn from across the Empire, including Australia, Bermuda, Canada, India, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and  the U.K. The French would join the British in this offensive. It's important to note that a sadder aspect of recruitment developed at this time. As part of the recruitment process to bolster the British forces, General Kitchener had promoted the "Pals Battalions." These battalions were groups of men all from the same town fighting together. This meant individual communities could be hit hard. The 11th East Lancashire battalion, known as the Accrington Pals, sent 720 men into action on that first day of the Battle of the Somme. 584 would be recorded as casualties.

To understand the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, we need to understand the psychology going on behind the scenes with the British commanders. General Sir Douglas Haig was the Commander in Chief of the War and Sir Henry Rawlinson was the commander of the Fourth Army, which was the main army in charge at the Somme. Rawlinson had made a major mistake in a previous battle and Haig saved him from being sacked, so Rawlinson felt trapped when it came to following Haig's plan. He knew it was unrealistic. That strategy for the opening day, was to attack both the German front and second line, which was not a typical plan. Particularly because the German line was located at a great distance from the British line. It was nearly impossible to get the artillery to hit the second line. To add to this, the German second line was hard to see because it was behind a hill. This made it so the guns were firing blind.

Another issue for the British was that the French forces were not what they should have been because they had been engaged by the Germans at the Battle of Verdun. This battle of attrition took place just prior and during the Somme and made it so that the French were in the role of support at the Somme, rather than power. This changed the thought that the Battle of the Somme would be a decisive battle. There was hope that the Germans could be kept in Verdun to help the Russians be successful with the Brusilov Offensive. Although things would not go well for Britain, enough of a blow would be dealt to Germany to make a difference. Many German officers would be lost, making it difficult for Germany to be on top again during the rest of the war.

Prior to the attack on the morning of July 1st, British artillery had spent five days using their 18-pounder field guns to bombard the German trenches, which stretched along a 15 mile front. The goal was to cut the barbed wire which covered the areas between the opposing trench positions, and neutralizing the German artillery. Over those five days, more than 1.5 million shells were fired. Another 250,000 shells would be launched July 1st and this bombardment was able to be heard in London, some 165 miles away. With the zero hour for the battle set for 07:30, at 07:28 British forces detonated a series of 19 mines along the length of the German front, with the aim that they would disrupt or destroy German defenses and provide shelter for the advancing troops. These mines ranged in size, from the smallest at 500lb, through to the mine known as Lochnagar. This mine, placed at a depth of 52ft, consisted of 60,000lb of explosive. When detonated it created a crater 450ft across and threw a column of dirt to a height of nearly 4000ft.

Lochnager Crater

Lochnager Crater

The first day of the battle was a success for the French and the British forces to the South of the battle, however the British infantry attacking in the Northern sector suffered a huge defeat. They suffered 57,000 casualties, of which 19,000 were killed. The Germans had weathered the artillery fire in deep trenches. When the 100,000 British troops started to advance on the German lines, they were mown down by rifle and machine gun fire. As the first phase of the battle continued, offensive operations continued along the length of the valley, all increasing the casualty numbers, some more notably than others. On the 4th of July, Britain suffered another 25,000 casualties as they engaged in bloody hand to hand fighting in an attempt to take Mametz woods and the surrounding forest.

South African troops took and held Delville Woods - or as it would come to be known Devil's Woods - on July 15th with 3000 soldiers of the 1st South African Brigade. German forces unleashed a series of brutal counter attacks, consisting of artillery and machine gun fire. The terrible weather turned the wood into a muddy grave yard, but despite the odds, the South Africans held their ground. By July 20th, only 143 men were left alive. The Battle of Fromelles, which took place from the 19th to 20th of July, saw the introduction of Australian forces onto the Western Front, and is know as “the worst 24 hours in Australia’s entire history.” Of the 7,000 British casualties, 5,500 were from the Australian 5th division. The battle was meant to be a subsidiary attack, but the preparations were rushed and the troops involved were inexperienced in trench warfare. The strength of the German defences was gravely underestimated, with the defending Germans having twice as many troops as the attacking British forces. This engagement marked the end of the first phase of the battle.

As we have seen, the Battle of the Somme was a series of skirmishes that were their own separate battles or confrontations. The second phase of the battle took place between July 14th and the 15th of September and saw the largest counter attack by the Germans. Other than the battle taking place at Delville Woods, there were three other battles that would occur during this second phase: Pozières Ridge, Guillemont and Ginchy The Battle of Ginchy, which saw the French forces make their biggest attack of the Battle of the Somme, helped the British side capture more ground and inflicted around 130,000 casualties on the Germans.

The third phase of the battle began in September and lasted until November. During that time, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette had Canadian and New Zealand divisions enter the fighting for the first time, and tanks were introduced at this time as well. As the fighting continued through September, into October and November, the increasingly bad weather began to delay and restrict the abilities of both sides to continue the fighting. The battles that occured during this time were: Morval, Transloy Ridges, Thiepval Ridge, Ancre Heights and Ancre. After the end of the Battle of Ancre, which took place 13-18 November, a lull occurred that lasted until Jan 1917 as the armies concentrated on enduring and surviving in the rain, snow, fog, mud fields, waterlogged trenches and shell-holes.

While the Battle of the Somme had no definitive outcome, it did have a lasting effect on the British and German armies. A German officer wrote “Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word.” Those British troops who survived the battle, went from being inexperienced volunteers to soldiers capable of conducting mass industrial warfare. The German forces, despite mostly holding their ground, suffered losses that would have a greater impact. The troops it lost were those who had been trained pre-war, and they were no longer able to replace them like for like, thus reducing their abilities on the battlefield. The German Army was exhausted by the end of 1916, with loss of morale and the cummulative effects of attrition and frequent defeats, causing it to collapse in 1918. This process began at the Somme.

There are more than 250 military cemeteries located across the battlefields of the Somme, marking the final resting places for thousands of the dead. These cemeteries range in size from a few headstones located close to where men fell, to those containing several thousand graves. There are many headstones engraved simply with “A soldier of the Great War, Known unto God,” a phrase suggest by Rudyard Kipling. French graves and ossuaries also dot the landscape, and the German dead are located beneath grey headstones, often in plots containing around four individuals or in mass graves know as “Kameradengraben.” (Comrades Grave)

The Battle of the Somme lasted 141 days. Total losses were staggering: 794,238 British and French soldiers were lost, with the German empire losing 537,918. Apart from the Battle of Stalingrad, no other battle has had more casualties than the Somme. This was also one of the first battles to be fought in the air as well as on the ground, with 782 aircraft destroyed. It also saw the first use of tanks. By the end of the battle, British and French forces had managed to advance 6 miles. Bob had said to us, "I was thinking about what you said about comparing it to Gettysburg etc, and it occurred to me that one battle lasted 3 days and changed the course of a nation, the other lasted 4 months had little positive outcome, other than loss of life."

Such bloodshed on the field of battle is tragic and this seems to lead to battlefields being haunted. The Somme Battlefield is no different. It is considered one of the most haunted battlefields in the world. Diane heard on a podcast that men who spoke of the battle shared the experience of the ground being soft because it was just a thin layer of dirt thrown over dead bodies. Arms and legs were still seen in some places. So many bodies probably did not receive proper burials and there were many mass graves.

There was an area of the battlefield called No Man's Land. During the early hours of the 5th of November in 1916, German forces were targeting their fire on trenches held by the British 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, when, as reported by Captain Newcome, something unusual occurred. He reported that as he studied the area of no-mans land that separated the trenches he saw “a brilliant, white light” appear from the muddy ground which slowly turned into the figure of a uniformed British officer.  The figure began to walk along the length of the British trench, his faced turned towards them, as if inspecting the troops and their trenches. He then reportedly turned his gaze towards the German lines, and for a moment the barrage ceased. British flares then filled the air, as a request for their own artillery to return fire. The form was then lost in the midst of smoke and dirt. This officer who walked between the trenches, was a figure whose face was well known to the British – it was reported as being that of Lord Kitchener, who had died five months earlier after the ship he was on struck a mine and sunk while traveling to Russia.

Artist William Orpen, who had been born in Dublin, had an experience on the battlefield. He was producing artwork based on scenes from the Western front about a year after the war. He found himself among the remains of several skeletons in ragged uniforms. After painting for several hours, Orpen began to feel that he wasn't quite alone and that despite the fact that the sun was still shining, the day seemed to be darkening. Overwhelmed by feelings of dread and fear Orpen sat down on a tree trunk. As he did, he was suddenly flung backwards, hitting his head heavily on the ground. Struggling panic-stricken to his feet, he realised that his canvas had been destroyed. It too had been knocked over and the skull of a soldier had ripped through the centre. Somehow, Orpen was able to start another painting and he continued on with no further ghostly interruptions, though the sense of dread went on.

It was a short time later when Orpen found himself conversing with another Great War artist named Henri Joffroy. Joffroy mentioned that he had seen an unusual skull on the battelfield that he wanted to study closer because of a cleft in the jaw-bone. Orpen said he would drive him out and pick him up later. When Orpen arrived to pick up Joffroy, he found the man lying prone in the distance. Joffroy was stricken and said that the smell of the battlefield had made him sick. He was also upset because when he was studying the skull, he saw an eye in one of the sockets. Orpen was confused by this as the stench of the dead had long since gone, and no eyes remained in any skull.
      
Paranormal tours of the Somme will always include a trip to Mametz Wood, with very good reason. It is the location of most of the battlefield's ghost stories. Many locals claim to hear the eerie sound of bugle calls on the air. Sometimes, there are the sounds of battle and the screams of men dying. The vast majority of ghostly reports from Mametz Wood concern feelings of being watched, as if a thousand eyes are watching the people who walk here. Could this be the residual energy of those German troops watching as the British ran across the battlefield? People walking from Flatiron Cemetery along the track before the trees and up to the Red Dragon monument, find themselves feeling uneasy. Locals tend to avoid the area. Delville Wood is another place with hauntings. Disembodied Allied troops are seen amongst the trees. One person claims that they were walking in the wood when the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he heard a voice say, "We're still here."

Whole communities would fight as a brigade during this battle and the result was very tragic for these communities who lost so many of their young men. One of these was the then country of Newfoundland. On July 1st 1916, the whole Newfoundland Regiment were sent over the top of the hills on the Somme, which meant almost certain death. The reason why is because the brigade would need to get under barbed wire without any cover and the trenches were full of Germans. They would then have to evade machine gun fire for 750 yards. 810 Newfoundland troops went over the hill. Only 68 returned. There was a tree near the spot where the troops squeezed under the wire that they dubbed the Danger Tree. Today, visitors near that tree claim to feel an overwhelming sense of dread and depression and a need to run away quickly.

Sergeant Thomas Hunter of New South Wales, fought for the Australian forces and he managed to survive the Battle of the Somme. But he had been injured and he succumbed to those injuries in an English hospital bed on July 31st 1916 and was buried nearby. The infirmiry were he died is now the location of Peterborough Museum. There is a staircase coming off of one of thecorridors and it is here where Sergeant Hunter is seen in his ghostly form. Curators working alone in the building often hear footsteps pacing in the rooms above their heads. When they go to investigate, they always find the rooms deserted.

Do the spirits of those that lost their lives on the field of battle still remain here? Do the sounds and scents of that horrendous war still carry over into our present day? Is the Somme Battelfield haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 137 - Stickney House

 
Moment in Oddity - Big Phil the Cannibal

Alfred Packer is one of the most famous cannibals, but he is not the only cannibal from Colorado. Charles Gardner was known as Big Phil and people knew all about his cannibal ways because he was happy to tell the whole bar his stories for a free drink. His criminal life began in 1844 when he killed a Catholic priest in Philadelphia. He escaped prison and headed west. He was a huge man who took to living with the Arapahoe tribe. They called him Big Mouth because he would eat large amounts of raw meat. Big Phil was sent to Fort Laramie one winter with dispatches and he took a Native American guide along with him, who was apparently not much use because the men ended up lost and soon they were out of food. Big Phil eventually showed up at the fort, but he was alone. When asked where his guide was, Big Phil pulled a shriveled black foot out of his pack. He told everyone that after starving for five days, he killed the guide and began eating him, raw. Some time later, Big Phil married a Native American woman and they were living in a cabin. He was trapping for Kit Carson and at the end of the winter, one of Carson's men came to resupply Big Phil. He found Big Phil alone and when he asked about his wife, Big Phil stated matter-of-factly that he had eaten her. Some claim that Big Phil actually ate two wives. And apparently a Frenchman was a victim of Big Phil's as well. Big Phil the Cannibal certainly was odd!

This Day in History - Nadia Comaneci Earns Her First Ten
by: April Rogers-Krick

On this day, July 18th, in 1976, 14-year old Nadia Comaneci earned the first ever perfect score, a ten, at the Montreal Olympics and went on to score it six more times and win three gold medals. Just a few months shy of her 15th birthday and standing only four foot eleven inches and weighing in at eighty-eight pounds Nadia Comaneci become the first person to ever score a perfect ten in Olympic gymnastic history. She scored four perfect tens in the uneven parallel bars and three perfect tens on the balance beam and the all-around competition, as well as a team silver and a bronze for her floor exercise. The Russian coach felt that the ten was wrong and criticized the judges. Russian gymnast, Olga Korbut, the darling of the 1972 Munich games, questioned Comaneci’s perfect marks. "I question the 10.0 that was given because there were two flaws in the performance," said Korbut, vying with Comaneci for popularity. Gymnastics fans were not surprised by the performance. At the 1975 European Championships, Comaneci won four gold medals and a silver. She also introduced the world to a new dismount on the uneven parallel bars which the International Gymnastics Federation officially named “The Comaneci Come Down.” It is no longer possible to compete in the Olympics at the age of 14, and following changes to the scoring system in 2008, it is no longer possible to score a perfect ten. There are very few Olympians who can say that their achievements will never be equaled, but Nadia Comaneci can with absolute certainty.

Stickney House (Suggested by listener Kelsey Hunt)

The Stickney House is one of the most unique houses in America and in the world because it was built with nearly no right angles. This was no accident and served a very specific purpose. The owners who built the home wanted to maximize the movement of spirits because they enjoyed interacting with spirits, but also wanted to prevent evil spirits from getting stuck in the corners. The same superstititions that inspired the Winchester Mansion seem to have inspired this home as well. The Stickneys were avid Spiritualists. It is no wonder that this home is reported to be haunted. Join us as explore the history and hauntings of the Stickney House!

The Stickney House is one of the oldest brick buildings located in Bull Valley, Illinois. Bull Valley is part of McHenry County and it is surrounded by some of the largest hills in the area. The village was known for trying to establish itself as a rural community and has made great efforts to retain that small town feel with nearly no government infrastructure. There is no retail business in the town and no electric street lamps. The little bit of government organized in Bull Valley keeps its offices in the Stickney House.

George Washington Stickney was born in New Hampshire in 1809. He moved from New York to the Bull Valley area in 1835. He married a woman named Sylvia Beckley in 1839. They built a log cabin in the Illinois wilderness at that time and as they prospered, they were able to begin construction on a much larger home in 1849. They liked the wilderness not only for farming, but also they wanted to avoid the typical town gossip and prying eyes. The Stickneys were Spiritualists and although they lived during a time in the 1800s when that form of spirituality was becoming more popular, they wanted to have their privacy. Stickney House was built in the style of an English country home and although today it would not necessarily be thought of as a mansion, it was at the time. This mansion was very unique for a number of reasons. The first thing that strikes us as bizarre is that the house was two stories and the entire second story was a ballroom. A huge ballroom in the middle of rural Illinois? And the other unusual characteristic of the house was that it was built with rounded corners, except for one that was a mistake.

No one knows for sure what inspired the Stickneys to get involved with Spiritualism, but the greatest pull was the desire to communicate with the spirits of dead loved ones. Specifically their children. The couple had ten children, but only three of them survived to adulthood. The large ballroom was not built for dancing. Large seances were held in the ballroom and the Stickneys invited people from the surrounding communities. It is believed that they built their house with rounded corners to facilitate the movement of spirits. The Stickneys may have believed that spirits could get trapped in a 90 degree corner. We've discussed this idea when talking about mirrors. Many cultures believe that rounded surfaces keep evil spirits away. The Shakers were building round barns in the early 1800s for this reason. The Chinese built houses with curved eaves to block evil spirits.

Many of the theories that paranormal investigators and ghost television shows espouse about ghosts come out of spiritualist beliefs. One of those is the idea that negative entities can be the spirits of people who were mean and nasty during their lifetimes and not just evil spirits. This is part of the idea that we carry our personality with us into the afterlife. The core of Spiritualism is the belief that we can communicate with the dead. And that is the essence of paranormal investigation. Sylvia Stickney was believed to be a very accomplished medium. Of course, the term accomplished is relative. Mediumship has its roots in ancient times, but it became popular during the 19th century and as Houdini helped to prove, much of the spirit communication going on was fraud. There is no information about the type of techniques used by the Stickneys, but they could have included table tipping, channeling, levitation and using talking boards.

The Stickney House served other purposes in its time. During the Civil War, the Union used the house as a headquarters. It also had the first piano to be found in McHenry County. George died in 1897. We read several websites that claimed that Sylvia outlived George, but we also found a site that claimed George was widowed and remarried. The 1880 census makes it clear that George was a widower. Sylvia's grave marker records her death in 1879. Records indicate that George remarried to a woman named Lavina Congdon. We're not sure what happened to the house directly after George's death. We know it was abandoned for certain time periods. Roderick Smith moved into the house in the 1970s and he would be the first to report hauntings in the house. Another couple bought the house in hopes of restoring it, but their money came to an end and the restoration did not happen. In 1985, the house became the property of the local government and now houses some government offices and the Bull Valley Police Department. It has been registered as a historic landmark. A 1991 article in the Chicago Tribune reported that Mary Hill and Verna Hogan were heading up efforts to restore the house back to the way it was when the Stickneys lived there and that they estimated it would cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There are some who believe that the Stickneys were not into Spiritism because the craze was before they moved into their mansion in Bull Valley, but something seems to have been conjured in their home. Most of the corners were rounded in the mansion, but not all and it was in the one 90 degree angled corner that George Stickney was found slumped over with a horrified look on his face. Was it just a coincidence that he died in the one corner that his beliefs would have led him to believe an evil spirit could have been trapped? Kelsey told us that as kids, they were told the house was built with no corners, so that the Devil couldn't kill George Stickney. It would seem that the spirit of George is trapped in his former home. His full bodied apparition has been seen walking the halls.

Roderick Smith claimed that he often heard strange noises in the house and his dogs were very restless there. They never seemed comfortable and would growl at unseen things. Smith said that he had heard that Satanists had lived in the house before him and that they tainted the house with their black magic rituals. The truth was that hippies had lived in the mansion doing drugs and spray painting graffiti on the walls. They painted the walls in dark colors and built fires right on the floors of the house. More than likely, they were just squatters rather than devil worshippers. Smith was convinced they had created the heavy atmosphere.

The strangest spirit reported at the house is that of a woman in a wedding dress who is usually seen peeking around a curtain in one of the upstairs rooms. No one knows who she is, so some wonder if this is a conjured spirit from so many years ago. She was allegedly caught in a picture when a real estate agent took pictures of the property in preparation of putting it on the market. Some doubt that there are any hauntings at the Stickney property.

The couple who moved in after Roderick Smith reported no strange happenings, but the police have had several experiences. Officer Ken Hoffman witnessed several drawers opening and closing on their own. In 2007, Officer Hoffman and Police Chief Norbert Sauers both saw a woman in white walk past a front window while they were talking to each other in an office. They went outside to see who the woman was and she had disappeared. Chief Sauers is a skeptic, but he can't deny that he has heard footsteps and pounding in the walls and seen lights turn on and off. Several officers have quit after experiencing activity in the house.

The house certainly has a strange history if we are to believe it was a type of Spiritualist headquarters. Were spirits conjured here? Does George haunt his former home? Is he trapped along with other spirits? Is Stickney House haunted? That is for you to decide.

HGB Ep. 136 - Hotel Jeffery

 
Moment in Oddity - The Graves of Charlie Silver
Suggested by Tammie McCarroll-Burroughs

The little community of Kona in North Carolina was the scene of a horrific crime in 1831. The details surrounding the murder of Charlie Silver has led to an unusual circumstance at the Kona Baptist Church Cemetery. Charlie was married to Frankie in 1830. They were young and seemed perfect for each other. But things went horribly wrong on December 2nd in 1831. Charlie had gone out to get some liquor for Christmas. When he got back home to Frankie and their 13-month-old daughter, he was a bit tipsy from imbibing while riding home. No one knows for sure exactly what happened next, but a fight ensues with Charlie grabbing a shotgun and threatening to kill Frankie and possibly their daughter. Frankie picks up an axe and uses it, killing Charlie. Now she was left with having to cover-up the murder. She hacked his body up and attempted to burn it in the cabin fireplace. A neighbor became suspicious and he visited the cabin when Frankie was away. He found greasy ashes in the fireplace, along with bone. He found a pool of blood beneath the floorboards as well. Charlie's torso and head were outside the cabin. Frankie was indicted for murder because she did not claim that she was defending herself, but rather just went with not guilty. Frankie was sentenced to death, but the community put out a lot of pressure for her to be pardoned. The execution went through in the end. Now the unusual circumstance is that people who visit the graveyard find a large granite stone with Charlie Silver's name on it, but that is not where Charlie was buried. Three natural stones rising behind the granite stone mark spots where Charlie was buried. You see, Charlie was not buried all at once. As they found bits and pieces of him, a new burial was done. Burying someone's body in separate places with individual markers certainly seems rather odd!

This Day in History - Colonists Reach Roanoke Island
by: April Rogers-Krick

On this day, July 13th, in 1584, a group of 108 English colonists reached Roanoke Island looking to settle in an unknown land. The expedition was funded by Sir Walter Raleigh and approved by Queen Elizabeth I, who had issued a charter allowing Raleigh to “discover, search, find out and view such remote heathen and barbarous lands, countries, and territories…to have, hold, occupy and enjoy.” Raleigh did not make the trip with the colonists. Under the commands of Phillip Amada and Arthur Barlowe, two ships sailed from England on April 27, 1584 and landed on the coast of North Carolina on July 13, 1584. This landing marked the first time the English flag waved in the New World. But this expedition would prove to be unsuccessful. The colonists were unable to establish a good rapport with the native peoples of the New World and lacked proper provisions for permanent settlement. The colonists would eventually return to England to prepare for another trip the following year. Sir Walter Raleigh reported the discovery of Roanoke Island to Queen Elizabeth I and the new territory was named Virginia, in honor of the Virgin Queen.

Hotel Jeffery (Suggested by listener Scott Stuller, Research Assistant Kristin Swintek)

Along the most scenic route to Yosemite National Park is the city of Coulterville, which is home to the historic Hotel Jeffery. The Magnolia Saloon that is part of the hotel is one of the only saloons in America that still has the traditional bat-wing doors and it is the oldest working saloon in California. The hotel has hosted the famous, but it also hosts some unique guests. The hotel is rumored to be haunted by 17 individual spirits and the unnerving part is that the hotel claims that most of the spirits are not malevolent, meaning that some are. Join us for the history and hauntings of Hotel Jeffery!

Coulterville, California is a very small mining town located in Mariposa County on Maxwell Creek. The town was settled by George W. Coulter in 1850 and he opened a tent store serving miners working in the Maxwell, Boneyard and Black creeks. The settlement was originally called Banderita (which is spanish for “Little Flag”) for the flag flying over the store. In 1853, a post office was established as Maxwell Creek and changed to Coulter a year later. The entire town is considered a historic landmark. During the Gold Rush, the town was a major gold mining and supply center. At that time, the town had an estimated population of 5,000 people. Coulter was very diverse with nine nationalities and it even included it’s own “Chinatown.” *Fun fact: Buffalo Bill Cody's brother Nelson was an agent at the Wells Fargo here in 1870.*

The town had its share of tragedy. In 1862, a major flood destroyed or damaged buildings along the creek. The element of fire would be the next destructive force. A large portion of the town was burned in three separate fires, each oddly occurring exactly 20 years apart starting in 1859, with the next in 1879 and the final one in 1899. In its heyday, the town boasted 25 saloons and 10 hotels. In the late 1800s, the town became a popular stop for tourists on their way to Yosemite National Park. In fact, the first paved road into Yosemite ran through Coulterville. Today, the town is not quite as bustling as it once was. The 2010 United States Census reported a population of only 200 people.

The building that would become The Hotel Jeffery was built in the 1840s by Mexicans and opened as a store. The walls were built from clay and rock and measured 30 inches thick. There was a Fandango Hall built on the upper floor. (We, of course, had no idea what Fandango was and the rabbit hole was interesting. First, you get the movie ticket selling website and then I found a ballroom dancer turned wrestler.) Fandango is a lively folk dance designed for couples that was created in Spain. It began in the 18th century. The dance is accompanied by guitar, castanets and hand clapping and can be danced by either male and female or couples or by two males who use it as a type of stand-off, mimicing each other's moves and trying to best each other. It is quite festive and the tempo increases as the songs and dancing continue. The Fandango made it into all of the Spanish colonies and each developed their own flair. *Fun fact: The Philippines being a Spanish colony had a Fandango dance that did not use castanets, but rather they carried glasses with candles in them that they occasionally swung around in the air.*

George Jeffery bought the building in 1851 and turned it into a hotel for stagecoach passengers and Gold-Rush era miners. The hotel took its name from him. Some famous guests include President Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson and even Queen Elizabeth II. It is considered a historical landmark and was voted one of the most authentic western towns in the United States. It is located 28 miles from Yosemite National Park, and for many years has attracted visitors on their way to the National Park. The Oakland Tribune reported in 1941 that an old oak tree was located across the street from the hotel and that it was called "Hangman's Tree." Leon Ruiz was hung here in 1856 for killing two Chinese miners and robbing them. The tree was advertised as the business office of the necktie party set.

Up until the 1970s, the hotel had been owned by three generations of the same family. The Santa Ana Register reported in 1976 that the Magnolia Saloon had an antique no trespassing sing that read, "Trespassers will be persecuted to the full extent of two mongrel dogs which never was sociable to strangers and my double-barrelled shotgun which ain't loaded with sofa pillars. Derned if I ain't getting tired of the hell raisin' on my place."

This is not a luxury hotel by any means. The hotel has 20 rooms, some with their own bathroom, and others share a bathroom in the hall on the 3rd floor. The rooms also do not contain as many modern amenities as most hotels such as televisions or telephones. There is a TV room on the second floor where guests can visit and phone calls can be made at the front desk. Forrest Monk and Sara Zahn bought the hotel and have been trying to return it to its former glory. The rooms have been furnished with antique lights and chairs and crank telephones have been installed that still work. The Magnolia Saloon was restored and the original 40 ft. wooden bar and bar back was refinished. There are still bullet holes in the wall of the saloon, so we would surmise that people died here in gunfights. Dining options at the hotel include The Victoria Room and the Courtyard. On Saturdays, actors stage a western-style gun battle in the saloon.

The building caught fire on November 14, 2014, from “some kind of electrical problem” according to an article in The Modesto Bee. In another article from the Modesto Bee in March of 2015, owner Sara Zahn was working to repair damage to the building while updating some of the rooms and adding bathrooms, so the saloon could be opened. We're not certain on the current state of the hotel, but it does not seem to be open for business yet since the fire damage was so extensive. The Hotel Jeffrey is the main source of commerce and entertain for the current residents of Coulterville. Scott mentioned in his email that the hotel was being rebuilt and that the recent fire in the kitchen was mysterious.

Unlike many hotels who try not to advertise their paranormal activity, the Hotel Jeffery has an entire section of their website dedicated to their ghosts. The hotel claims to be home to 17 spirits and “ghost detecting kits” are available for guests to do a little investigating of their own. According to an article in the Union Democrat, the kit contains an EMF detector, motions sensors, and recording devices.

The hotel website boasts many accounts of guests and the owners strange happenings while staying or working in the hotel:

“Several months ago I was working in the registration office and around 2:00am I got up to lock the doors to the kitchen and outside through the dining room before going to sleep. All was well. In the morning, around 6:00am I went through the registration office to go to the kitchen. This is the route I always take in the morning as it is the only way to unlock everything. When I went through the dining room...right in the middle of my path was the cello, propped up facing me. The cello normally rests off to the side next to the piano about 20 feet on the other side of the room. No one had unlocked the doors between 2-6am.”

A jilted lover hung herself in Room 22 in the late 1800s. A guest staying in that room took a picture of a shadow on the door that he claims contains the shadow of an unknown person. He claims the shadow is not his own and there was no one else on the floor at the time. A work crew staying at the hotel while working on a nearby road had some startling experiences they reported. A female member of the crew was staying in room 19 and she awoke in the middle of the night to find the door to the room wide open. She got up to close the door and upon returning to bed, the blanket and sheet were pulling away from her. She phoned her boss stating that she was too afraid to stay in the room, and asked if she could stay with her boss in room 15. On her way down the hall to her boss’ room, all the doors to the rooms began slamming shut one after another. This was recounted by the woman’s boss as the guest in room 19 was too afraid to speak of the experience and refused to stay another night in the hotel.

Activity in Room 6 had steadily increased in the months after the hotel had been renovated. A man staying in Room 6 with his dog, awoke in the night when his dog began barking. The man felt as though he had been burned on his face and indeed when he awoke the next morning, there was a mark on his face, as if he had been punched. Another guest in Room 6 heard voices “right next to him” and would not come back.

Other guests claim to have heard running down the hallways and have complained that they hear children running up and down the hallways during the night, when in fact no children had been staying at the hotel. A group of paranormal investigators set up equipment in the Cedar Room. One of the investigator felt scratches on his back, and found marks left on his skin upon lifting his shirt. The owners of the hotel have heard disembodied footsteps in the Cedar Room. The owner states that “the room gives me the creeps and I won’t go in it by myself if the lights are not on.”

HPI Paranormal Investigators paid a visit to the hotel on Saturday, April 21, 2012. They reported that camera batteries quickly drained and “dead” compasses suddenly came to life and behaved strangely. They interviewed employees and a dishwasher told them that the stove burners turn themselves off and on and the saloon doors swing on their own. Guests told the investigators that they often smell cigar smoke when no one in the bar or around the hotel is smoking any cigars or they might catch a whiff of perfume drifting by from an unseen entity. Locals recounted the legend of the “Red Eyed Roof Crawler” who is a dark figure that walks on all fours and sports red glowing eyes. This “creature” has been seen on the roof of the hotel and usually appears during a full moon. Many locals claim to have seen the Red Eyed Roof Crawler but the paranormal group did not encounter any unusual creatures during their stay.

The group conducted a seance and during that a shadow person was seen, orbs were seen floating around the room via night vision googles, an EVP of a male voice was recorded although the words are not clear and one investigator was scratched on the back. Some of the investigators also recorded EVPs in their rooms. When they asked 'Is anyone here?', they would receive a voice confirming 'Yes.'"

Our listener Scott told us, "I live in this area and once went into the hotel to take a look around.  A women greeted me upon entering and said, 'Yes this hotel is haunted and you came in to take a look for yourself.  Go ahead look, but don't go in any room with the door closed at you will disturb guests.' I didn't ask to look around and didn't know the place had a reputation for being haunted.  I guess enough people have gone in to ask to look around that she gives this greeting to everyone."

From TripAdvisor:

"The hotel is a remarkable place! Since we absolutely LOVE history, it was wonderful staying in a place over 150 years old. It was clean, upkept, and the food was delicious! However, I experienced something I've NEVER experienced before...not thinking too much that the hotel could be haunted...because I am very much a skeptic regarding those things. Yet, here is my story...

It was a Thursday evening when my family and I were eating dinner in the saloon. Thunder and lightning began while we were talking with one of the owners, so he gave us 3 little laterns just in case the electricity would be lost. Once in our room we settled to watch a movie. Our room was at the end of the hall (8 & 9) with a sitting room (tv-dvd player) between the rooms. This room is small, so I just laid across the width of my bed in room 8 watching the movie while my husband and children sat on the satee in the small sitting room. While watching the movie, I heard the door handle turn and people talking (murmering) but couldn't make out what was being said--so I looked at the door -- the handle was moving as if someone was outside the door turning it to come in. (They couldn't because our door was locked). I tiptoed to the door to see who might be outside--through the eye piece I saw a woman (over to the left) wearing an 1800's dress with a nursing cap dabbing the forehead of an older man (who looked to be bald with light hair around the edge of his head). Thinking it was a trick--I quickly and quietly got my husband to see this also. As I was quietly approaching the door eye look out again--they were still there. Moving back for my husband to see--he peeked through the door. He didn't see a thing. Again, thinking this was a joke played on us...we opened the door--no one was out in the hall. I cannot explain what I saw--but, am I still a skeptic? Not as much as I was when we first came to the hotel."

Coulterville is a very historic town holding on to its old west roots. Is it holding on to spirits from that bygone era? Do the spirits of previous guests still walk the halls of the hotel in the afterlife? Is Hotel Jeffery haunted? That is for you to decide!


Show Notes:
www.hoteljeffery.com/about-us

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulterville,_California

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/towns/california/coulterville

Grimm, M., & Grimm, T. (1990, January 21). Coulterville Streets Lined with History. Los Angeles Times.

Jardine, J. (2014, November 12). Coulterville's historic Jeffery Hotel badly damaged by fire, but owner confident it will rise once more. The Modesto Bee. Retrieved June 25, 2016, from http://www.modbee.com/

Jardine, J. (2015, March 9). Historic Hotel Jeffery making progress after fire. The Modesto Bee. Retrieved June 25, 2016, from http://www.modbee.com/

Cambell, R. (2015, August 23). Hotel Jeffery reopens in 1800s style. The Union Democrat. Retrieved July 5, 2016, from http://www.uniondemocrat.com/csp/mediapool/sites/UnionDemocrat/LocalNews/story.csp?cid=3789975&sid=753&fid=151

http://www.sierranevadageotourism.org/content/coulterville/sie313ce510b3690ddc9