Come Visit The Old Faithful Inn, If You Dare by Sarah J. McNeal

Oh yeah, it looks like a lovely old inn located in the Yellowstone National Park with a grand view of Old Faithful, the famous geyser located in the lower Geyser Basin just off Highway 20, but beware—it’s haunted.

Before I tell you about how the old inn is haunted, allow me to tell you a bit about the inn. The inn is built from materials found in the local natural resources of lodge pole pine and rhyolite stone. With its dramatic touches of metalwork, it is not only beautiful, but the largest of its kind in the world. It is actually two hotels. The original lodge is known as “the old house”. The Old Faithful Inn was constructed from the winter of 1903 to 1904. Architect Robert Reamer designed the inn in a grand rustic style.  When the Old Faithful Inn with its original 120 rooms opened in 1904, it had both electric lights and steamed heat! Over the years the inn has undergone improvements and renovations to keep it up to date with current codes and to make it even more beautiful.

Several American Presidents have visited or stayed at The Old Faithful Inn: Theodore Roosevelt;(1903), Warren Harding;(1923), Calvin Coolidge;(1927) and Franklin D. Roosevelt;(fall of 1937).

Upon entering the 85 foot lobby with its massive stone fireplace, a person can also view two more open floors above the common area. There are staircases that go all the way up to the place called the Crow’s Nest which is situated above the floors where musicians often play for the guests. The stairs continue up to the roof where there is a platform from which the inn’s guests and tourists are able to view Old Faithful.

Old Faithful can be seen from the front porch and from the huge, third floor porch, but the best place to view Old Faithful is from the second floor porch.

A wing of guest rooms may be found off the common areas of each floor. The third floor is the quietest. The bathrooms on the first floor are available to guests and tourists alike. With both guests and tourists enjoying the inn, who would guess there were others who also enjoyed the inn.

The spirit people.

Perhaps you have seen the movie “Poltergeist” in which a housing development was built on top of a grave site. Well, you know then the kind of chaos and dangers that can ensue such a sacrilege.  The West Wing of the Old Faithful Inn was unintentionally built over some unmarked graves. Uh-oh, here comes trouble.

We know now that children and adults who die from accidents or illness like to hang out in places they knew and where they felt comfortable while they were alive. Well, it just so happens quite a few people drowned while boating and swimming in accidents in Yellowstone Lake.

If spirits bond with the land itself, they often decide to stay in any new buildings that are built on their land.

Women who have been murdered by someone they thought loved them, often can't get over this betrayal and remain restless in this world.

People who have died because of beheading, and are buried without their heads, sometimes are restless because of this, either still looking for their head, or carry it around with them.

Here are a couple “accidents” that have occurred around The Old Faithful Inn:

In 1927 a park ranger named Charles Phillips accidently ate poisonous hemlock believing it to be wild parsnip and died. You would think a park ranger would know the dang difference.

Another story tells the tale of the newly weds enjoying the sights of Yellowstone Park, and the Old Faithful Inn. When cleaning the room for the next guest, they found the bride's headless body on the bed. The head was found later in the crow's nest. The husband did flee, suggesting that he killed her.

Old newspaper records verify it is true that there was a murder, and the housekeeping staff did indeed find the headless body of the bride, and eventually her head was found up in the crow's nest as well. The husband did kill his new bride for ulterior motives, and he disappeared; never paying for his crime. Now we all know, if a person does something this awful, they WILL pay, one way or another.

Here are some of the ghostly sightings:

A male entity dressed as a Frontiersman. He may be one of the people whose unmarked grave was one that the West Wing was built upon. His presence is probably seen in the West Wing hallways and rooms, and perhaps the main lodge. A detailed description of this spirit means that guests and staff have seen him enjoying the lodge.


One of the unseen presence enjoys playing pranks by picking up and turning the fire extinguisher around in a 90 degree circle before putting it back in the holder. This particular incident happened right in front of an official inspector. Also, doors open and close by themselves as well on the West Wing.

A male entity, perhaps the spirit of L.R. Piper, was seen by a child, trying to climb out of a steam hole. His ghostly hand and arm was trying to pull the rest of the body up. He might have actually come all the way out, but the child ran away before he could do so.

A female entity in Room 2 appears in an 1890s' outfit, and seems to enjoy floating at the end of the bed, watching people sleep until startled guests wake up to see her.

Sadly, there is a little entity of an unhappy boy. He appears as a solid person, runs up to guests and staff in tears, and asks where his parents are before he disappears.

The spirit of the headless bride wears a white, frilly wedding dress. She has been seen coming down the widow's walk staircase, carrying her head, looking very forlorn. Perhaps she is still waiting and hoping that her husband will come back and be the person she thought he was. Maybe she even blames herself for arguing with him. She is probably full of regret, for not listening to her father's advice, and very sad that her family forgot about her. She also makes her presence felt in her old honeymoon room.

An older man dressed in a merchant marine uniform is thought to be the bride's killer husband. He is seen looking into windows, into rooms, trying to find his bride. He too visits the old honeymoon room, the crow's nest perhaps trying to find the woman that he so cruelly murdered.

There is a recent eye-witness account by a staff member who saw the bride dressed in a white, flowing bridal gown, coming down the stairway from the catwalk, with her head under her arm. She made her way down the hallway to her room in the early hours of the morning, most likely not wanting to disturb the other guests. She has also been spotted, looking down from the second floor common area over the railing to see the grand old lobby.

The National Paranormal Society lists the Old Faithful Inn as a haunted location, but hasn't made any public display of any of their findings as an investigation group, or linked any other hard evidence gathered by other groups. This is probably because the people who run this wonderful inn don't want to attract ghost hunters, and want their guests, both alive and in spirit form to not be scared or bothered.

The Old Faithful Inn is most likely haunted even though, despite the claims of some inn personnel that the Old Faithful Inn is not haunted, many guests and staff members have experienced sightings and other paranormal activity.

SOURCES INCLUDE:

Yellowstone Ghost Stories: Spooky tales from the world's first national park
by Shellie Larios
Riverbend Publishing
2006

The Ghost Hunter's Field Guide
by Rich Newman
Llewellyn Publications
2011

"The Ghosts Of Yellowstone National Park," by Kurt Repanshek, for National Parks Traveler.

Old Faithful Inn page on Wikipedia

Old Faithful Inn page on Ghost In My Suitcase

Ghost Stories Give the Old Faithful Inn a Haunted Reputation, Deseret News, Published: Thursday, July 4 1991.

"Yellowstone Ghost Stories" on American Folklore web site

"Ghosts of Yellowstone" at yellowstonepark.com

In my time travel western, HARMONICA JOE’S RELUCTANT BRIDE, I did include a ghost who plays a pivotal role in the story.

Harmonica Joe’s Reluctant Bride

Blurb:

A haunted plantation…A mysterious trunk…And a date with destiny

When Lola Barton inherits a rundown plantation, she believes her life has finally taken a positive turn. But, when she finds a mysterious trunk in the attic, it takes her into the past and to a man with dark secrets—and she’s married to him. What comes next only time can tell.

Excerpt:

Harmonica music floated down from the attic—the last place in this tumble down wreck of a house Lola Barton wanted to go.  Had someone or something taken up residence there?  Lola made her way up the darkened attic stairs measuring each step as the ancient boards creaked in protest under her feet.  Her flashlight beamed a narrow circle of light illuminating the cobweb-covered door at the top of the landing.  Her heart raced and pulsed in her ears.  Hands trembled with the surge of adrenaline as she pressed forward.  She ignored her inner voice that warned, “Don’t go!”

Her cynical mind told her the rumors that Misty Oaks Plantation had ghosts weren’t true.  The tales of murder and betrayal had to be the overactive imagination of the local townspeople.  A homeless vagrant had to be the most logical explanation for the disturbance. 

Once she gained the landing, she blew the cobwebs from the door and leaned her ear against it to listen for any movement on the other side.  Wisps of harmonica music lifted in the air.  Perhaps someone left a harmonica lying around and the wind blew hard enough through the cracks in the walls to make it sound as though someone played the instrument.  Just the wind.  No ghost.

With her courage bolstered by her logical conclusion, she grabbed the doorknob and turned it. 

Available as Kindle Unlimited 

AMAZON

Also included in a western collection of 5 novels by 5 western writers titled A COWBOY’S BRAND

A Cowboy’s Brand

Sarah J. McNeal is a multi-published author of several genres including time travel, paranormal, western and historical fiction. She is a retired ER and Critical Care nurse who lives in North Carolina with her four-legged children, Lily, the Golden Retriever and Liberty, the cat. Besides her devotion to writing, she also has a great love of music and plays several instruments including violin, bagpipes, guitar and harmonica. Her books and short stories may be found at Prairie Rose Publications and its imprints Painted Pony Books, and Fire Star Press. Some of her fantasy and paranormal books may also be found at Publishing by Rebecca Vickery and Victory Tales Press. She welcomes you to her website and social media:

Website 

My Amazon Author’s Page

Facebook

Twitter

The Wildings

Fantasy and Dreams Blog

Sweethearts of the West

Prairie Rose Publications Blog

My Pinterest Boards

THE HAUNTED FORT WORTH TX STOCKYARDS!

Do you believe in ghosts? I do. This time of year, tales of hauntings appear to thrill or frighten us. Here is a replay of a guest post from last year about ghosts in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Fort Worth Stockyards on Exchange Street off Main Street

Cowtown Winery Haunted Stockyards Tour

By Bea Smith

The Stockyards actually have a branch of the Trinity River flowing under Exchange, the main street. Many people believe that water holds spiritual activity and heightens paranormal activity.

The Stockyards Hotel was built in 1910 and was a crown jewel of a hotel, attracting rich oil tycoons. Bonnie and Clyde reportedly stayed in room 305, which overlooked Merrick Fine Western Wear, then a jewelry store, and the bank nearby.  Two stories are told about their stay. One is that they rented the room to stake out the two businesses, but they liked Fort Worth so much they decided not to rob it. The other is that they told the owners of the bank and the jewelry store that they weren’t there to rob them or cause any trouble; Bonnie and Clyde were just hiding out from the law until things cooled down a bit.

The Stockyards Hotel has a full-bodied apparition named Jesse. He’s a cowboy who couldn’t have afforded to stay in the Stockyards at the time. People speculate that he just wanted to stay there in the afterlife.  Visitors hear his spurs jingling as he walks through the hall or see him but he never interacts with anyone.

People feel the presence of a former employee, Jake. He was a messenger from the 1900’s and he loved his job of 30 -40 years. Visitors feel hot and cold spots and some of his physical duties are still taken care of: if guests leave their room unlocked, it will be locked when they return. For the last 30 years, the phone rings after hours. No one is there and the call cannot be traced, put on hold, or transferred. 

Stockyard Hotel

Love Shack, owned by Tim Love. Ten years ago or so, an Australian couple was vacationing in the Stockyards and staying in the hotel.  They had been having a wonderful time and seemed to be very happy. One early morning the man woke up his fiancée, very energized and agitated, and said he had something to show her. She followed him across the street to the closed restaurant, where he climbed to the second floor and threw himself off the balcony headfirst, dying instantly. She later said she felt some evil force had inhabited her lover.

Exchange Building: Rodeo Arena: Had a rodeo since 1908. Hotbed of paranormal activity. There is a phantom black horse that runs around the arena.

Apparitions are of a deceased cowboys in old-time clothing.  The rodeo was very dangerous and many lost their lives during the performance.  EVP’s (electronic voice phenomenon; conversation not heard by the human ear) record hearing a voice saying, “Cow, cow, cow.” And “Pig, pig, pig.”

People have also recorded seeing the spirit of Quanah Parker, who was the first Native American to ride in a rodeo.

Exchange Rodeo Arena

Exchange Building: A man’s small child followed him to work in the early 1900’s. He wasn’t sure what to do with her, so he let her wander around. She went to play in the vault and an employee inadvertently locked her in. She wasn’t discovered in the airtight building until the next morning, where she had suffocated.  Employees say they get an eerie feeling upstairs. They see a little girl running around playing and trying to get their attention. She looks out windows at dawn. One early morning, there were hand prints on the inside of the door. The paranormal team from the stockyards found two prints.

The body of a prostitute was found inside years ago when prostitution was a licensed profession. She was probably murdered offsite and then dumped there. Her rose-scented perfume, for which she was known, can still be smelled on tours.

Exchange Building

Armour Swift Corporate Building: 1900’s-1970’s. Arson destroyed the building and, with all the residual animal fat, it took 1 month to put out completely. The Spaghetti Warehouse was there after the building was rebuilt, but they couldn’t keep staff. Silverware would fly, things would be moved, strange noises, and creepy feelings.  It’s a power company now.

Former Spaghetti Warehouse, now offices.

Riscky’s Steakhouse: A Brothel was above--a high class brothel; more expensive. The last member of the Riscky family is very embarrassed about the brothel and won’t let people go up there. She threw everything away—but one red rocker, owned by the Madam, mysteriously reappeared in the building.  The bells that signaled the men that their time was up are still there and working. The windows where the women would stand to attract customers have been boarded up because people kept seeing apparitions of working women standing and posing in them.

Saunders Park: When it was Hell’s Half Acre, people would take care of disputes by shooting at each other. Dead or dying were dumped into the river by the park. Sometimes the water was red with blood. Divers report that there are too many human bones to count remaining on the bottom of that part of the river.

Saunders Park

Miss Molly’s B and B: Molly is actually the name of the lead cow in the simulated cattle drive and the mascot of FW. The actual Madam was Miss Josie. It was a speakeasy until the 1930’s, then became a low end brothel. 

The girls were actually 11-15 years old. Most of the girls were orphans or runaways.  Miss Josie was abusive. She didn’t take any guff from the male customers and was known to throw them out on the street. She was very obese and ill-tempered. The girls had huge quotas and, if they didn’t meet them or they talked back, Josie would lock them in the closet without food, water, or facilities as long as she felt they needed. Girls were very competitive and would poison each other’s food and lotion, resulting in some violent illnesses and deaths.  

Miss Josie had a daughter, father unknown, who she abused terribly. When the little girl was 8 years old, she disappeared.  Everyone thought Josie had killed her but it was never investigated.  One time a little girl on the ghost tour had her hair pulled and said that “Mary was messing with her.” No one had told the little girl that Josie’s daughter was named Mary. The owner keeps toys for Mary that no one else is allowed to play with, and the playthings move around.

Josie’s room and the Cowboy’s room are the most haunted. Men have their shoulders rubbed or their heads patted, but women report feeling very unwelcome and watched.

The real Miss Molly leading the herd

Longhorn Saloon:  Three cowboys stopped to drink, boys between 15 and 17. They got drunk and got back on what they thought were their horses. The men whose horses they stole confronted them and the boys were hanged in the saloon.  Now women in the Ladies bathroom report having their legs tugged and feeling like they are being watched.

Cowtown Winery: The paranormal team that works the Stockyards swept the building and found just as much activity as Miss Molly’s.  It used to be a Chinese Laundromat with the family living above.  People feel the presence of a young boy. A medium said he was killed by an abusive parent, who kept him in a cupboard behind the bar. There is an old-fashioned sock monkey doll no one admits to having brought in.  It will disappear for days, then reappear in odd places.

Another presence is also felt. Wine is spilled during the night, crackers are spilled, and cases topple over. The motion detector is never tripped.  People hear glass break and rush in, but nothing is broken.

Cowtown Winery, start and end of ghost the tour

While the guide was talking about the little boy, the street light in the alley was flickering. When she got to the story of the other presence, it went out with a “Pop!” Everyone jumped, watched, and then laughed at themselves. As the tour dispersed and the guide went back in, one of the remaining tourists said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the light came back on?”

And it did.

The Ghosts of Galveston

By Kathleen Rice Adams

At only twenty-seven miles long and three miles across at the widest point, Galveston, Texas, is not a big place. Located about two miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico an hour south of Houston, the barrier island and tourist Mecca is home to 48,000 year-round residents.

At least, that’s the number of residents the most recent U.S. Census counted. Those who call Galveston home know the population is much larger. A goodly number of the island’s dearly departed…well, never departed.

Bettie Brown

1859 Ashton Villa, courtesy Galveston Historical Foundation

Built in 1859 by a wealthy hardware merchant, Ashton Villa is one of Galveston’s most striking museum houses. Miss Bettie Brown, the merchant’s eldest daughter, was quite the character during her lifetime. She never married, drove her own carriage, and smoked in public, scandalizing the community. She lived to a ripe old age and died in 1920…but that doesn’t mean she left the property. Today, she reportedly scandalizes tour groups by appearing in the Gold Room and her private dayroom, roaming the grand staircase, locking and unlocking one of her lavish trunks, stopping clocks, and playing the piano.

Clara Menard

1838 Michel B. Menard House
courtesy Galveston Historical Foundation

Also called “the Mardi Gras ghost,” the spirit that inhabits Texas Declaration of Independence signatory Michel B. Menard’s 1838 mansion is thought to be that of his daughter Clara, who died in her teens. According to legend, within the first few years after it was built, the house was the site of one of the first Mardi Gras balls in the country. During the festivities, a young woman slipped on the staircase, fell, and broke her neck. Ever since, the hazy figure of a young woman dressed in party regalia of the era has been seen standing at the foot of the stairs during Mardi Gras season.

Daniel Brister

1877 Smith Brothers Hardware Store

In 1920, twenty-five-year-old police officer Daniel Brister attempted to stop a robbery outside the 1877 Smith Brothers Hardware Store. He had just handcuffed one of the perpetrators when the second one shot him in the chest. Though bleeding, Brister chased down and cuffed the second robber, too…only to die of his wound moments later. Brister seems to have become less upstanding in the Afterlife. These days, he pinches women’s posteriors and breathes down their necks in the restaurant now located at the spot of his death. He also throws pots and pans in the kitchen.

Jean Lafitte

Jean Lafitte, artist unknown
courtesy Rosenberg Library, Galveston

The pirate Jean Lafitte built the first permanent structure on the island. All that remains of the 1816 smuggler’s refuge Maison Rouge, originally painted red and surrounded by a moat, is a crumbling foundation. The U.S. Navy chased the privateer off the island in May 1821, but Lafitte reportedly loved Galveston so much, he returned in 1823…after he was killed during a sea battle off the coast of Honduras. Legend holds the pirate buried a treasure beneath three oaks on the western end of the island. Treasure hunters never have found the loot, but several have reported encountering Lafitte—right about the time he chokes them.

Lovelorn Lady

1911 Hotel Galvez, courtesy Hotel Galvez

Because of its location overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, the 1911 Hotel Galvez once was a favorite getaway for Frank Sinatra and several U.S. Presidents. The most famous guest of the “Queen of the Gulf” never checked out of Room 501. According to generations of hotel staff members, the Lovelorn Lady awaited her fiancé in the room. When his ship went down off the coast of Florida and he was not listed among the survivors, she hanged herself. Sadly, the fiancé showed up about a week later. These days the Lovelorn lady doesn’t confine herself to Room 501, although that seems to be her favorite haunt. She has been seen or felt throughout the hotel, wandering the halls, breaking dishes, turning on water faucets, slamming doors, and blowing out candles.

Capt. Marcus Fulton Mott

After serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Marcus Fulton Mott became a prominent lawyer. He built a grand Victorian Mansion in Galveston’s East End in 1884. Although the existence of a cistern on the property has never been confirmed, Mott’s son may have murdered three women and thrown their bodies into the well—or at least that’s what Mott’s ghost has told people. Reports of supernatural activity at the house have died down in the past two decades, but prior to the mid-1990s, the ghost at the Witwer-Mott House reportedly ordered people out of the home, threatened them, and threw mattresses across the room…while people were on them.

Point Boliver Lighthouse Ghost

1872 Point Boliver Lighthouse, courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The original Point Boliver lighthouse, built in 1850, was pulled down during the Civil War so the Yankees couldn’t capture the light and use it as a navigational aid. The new lighthouse, built in 1872, still stands, though it was decommissioned in 1933 and sold to a private individual in 1947. No one has been inside the 116-foot-tall structure for years, yet people—including Patty Duke and Al Freeman Jr., who filmed a movie there in 1970—have reported seeing a figure on the light deck at the very top. Some say the ghost may be that of a lighthouse keeper’s son who killed his parents at the scene. Others believe Harry C. Claiborne, who began a twenty-four-year, two-hurricane tenure as lighthouse keeper in 1894, was so devoted to duty that he still mans his post.

Samuel May Williams

1838 Samuel May Williams House
courtesy Galveston Historical Foundation

Samuel May Williams served as Stephen F. Austin’s secretary, became the first banker in Texas, and founded the Texas Navy. The home he built on Galveston in 1838 is the oldest standing residence on the island. Known as “the most hated man in Texas,” Williams had a habit of pinching pennies and ruthlessly foreclosing on mortgages. Few are surprised he apparently hung around to terrorize the living. Fires have been lit in fireplaces when no one was in or near the home, there’s a “cold spot” outside the children’s rooms on the second floor, and a misty figure appears in the windows of the cupola atop the roof.

Tremont House Ghosts

Tremont House, courtesy Wyndham Grand Hotels

The Tremont House opened with great fanfare on April 19, 1839, in commemoration of the Battle of San Jacinto. By the 1860s, the Tremont had fallen on hard times—in more ways than one. In 1862, the Union Army commandeered the hotel to quarter soldiers. In 1865, the Tremont burned to the ground. Seven years later, the phoenix rose from the ashes even bigger and grander than before. The Tremont hosted guests including Buffalo Bill Cody, Clara Barton, Stephen Crane, and five U.S. Presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant. More hard times and several hurricanes later, the Tremont was demolished in the 1920s…only to be rebuilt once more in the 1980s. Somewhere along the line, a whole passel of ghosts moved in. A Confederate soldier marches up and down the lobby, where a little boy the staff calls Jimmy plays with bottles and glasses at the bar. Jimmy is thought to be the child who was run over in front of the hotel in the late 1880s. “Sam” was murdered on the fourth floor by a thief who wanted the haul Sam had made at one of the city’s storied casinos. The spirit in Room 219, assumed to be a disgruntled former employee, scatters the contents of guests’ luggage.

Unknown Schoolteacher

1895 Hutchings-Sealy Building
courtesy Mitchell Historic Properties

Among the many acts of bravery and selflessness recorded during the Great Storm of 1900, one stands out as especially poignant: That of a young schoolteacher who had taken refuge on the third floor of the Hutchings, Sealy and Company Bank on the Strand. As the seventeen-foot-storm surge submerged the island, sweeping property and lives from the face of the earth, the schoolteacher climbed through a window, perched on a ledge, and dragged people out of the flood and inside the building. She cared for the living for several days, until she succumbed to a fatal fever. To this day, no one knows her name, but she has a familiar face. Ever since the disaster, residents and visitors alike have seen a young woman dressed in the fashion of the day in various parts of the historic bank building. Before the restaurant that occupied the building for many years closed in 2008, some employees reported hearing her call their names.

William Watson

(May disturb some readers.)

Galveston Railroad Museum, courtesy Nsaum75

Of all the ghost stories on Galveston, William Watson’s may be the most gruesome. A bit of a daredevil, the thirty-two-year-old engineer was standing on the cowcatcher of a locomotive as it left the Santa Fe Union Train Station September 1, 1900—one week before the Great Storm destroyed the city. According to reports at the time of his death, Watson frequently pulled the stunt. Something went horribly wrong that day, though. He slipped from his perch, went under the train, and immediately was decapitated. His body stayed put; his head ended up one-quarter mile down the track, where the engine stopped. Watson reportedly haunts the former station (now the Galveston Railroad Museum), though not usually in visual form, thank goodness. Most of the time he merely makes strange noises and redecorates.

A second spirit hangs out at the museum, as well. For a time, part of the building served as a residential psychiatric treatment facility. In the 1980s, a female patient jumped to her death from a fourth-floor window. Since then, the gauzy form of a woman has been seen sitting on windowsills, one leg outside, before disappearing.


These are only a handful of the non-corporeal residents of Galveston. Sometimes called “a cemetery with a beach attached,” the island is second only to New Orleans in the number of reported hauntings. In addition to the celebrity ghosts, other spirits with unknown names and less spectacular stories remain on the island, partly because of Galveston’s dramatic history.

The island switched back and forth between Union and Confederate hands several times early in the Civil War (the Rebs finally managed to hang onto it from January 1863 on), and both sides left bodies behind in buildings along the Strand. After the Great Storm, the surviving buildings along the Strand became temporary hospitals and morgues. The Strand fell into disrepair for a number of years until Galveston philanthropist George Mitchell stepped in to renew and revitalize the area. During renovations, a number of skeletons were discovered in the walls, left there by war or storm victims who literally “slipped through the cracks,” evidently. That may explain why Galvestonians and visitors frequently notice vague forms in uniforms or period clothing floating near ceilings in some of the historic buildings.

Other reported hauntings include:

• Orphans who drowned during the Great Storm have been spotted at the Walmart built on the site of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word’s doomed orphanage.
• The Flying Dutchman was reported in Galveston Bay twice in 1892.
• Bishop’s Palace may be haunted by the spirit of a former owner, who checks the building’s structural integrity when hurricanes threaten.
• An unknown man, possibly a Great Storm victim, sometimes runs along the sand at Stewart Beach.

Though Galveston plays no role in my latest story, ghosts do. “Family Tradition” is one of six stories in Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico, Vol. 2, from Prairie Rose Publications.

Family Tradition
Haunted by his kin’s tradition of spectacular failure, bank robber Tombstone Hawkins is honor-bound to prove his family tree produced at least one bad apple. Carnival fortuneteller Pansy Gilchrist has masqueraded as a gypsy spiritualist for so long she’s started to believe her own spiel. When she accidentally summons a pair of real ghosts, dishonesty may not be the best policy…but it’s all they’ve got.

Paperback  •  Kindle  •  Nook  •  Smashwords

Hauntings at Geiser Grand Hotel by Paty Jager

In 1889 along the Oregon Trail in Baker City, merchants Jake and Harry Warshauer opened the Warshauer Hotel. It was designed by Czechoslovakian architect, John Bennes who incorporated the Italianate Victorian architecture style to the building.  An early Oregon journalist, Edward Gardner Jones described the hotel as “one of the most imposing structures in Eastern Oregon.”

The building was three stories tall with 70-80 rooms( not all sources say the same) and a large dining room with a stained glass ceiling that seated two hundred. It had the third elevator ever installed west of the Mississippi, electrical lights, and was extolled as one of the most opulent, modern hotels along the Oregon Trail. The cost of the hotel ranged from $65,000-70,000 depending on the source.

In 1895 the hotel was bought by John Geiser and his son Albert. They renamed it the Geiser Grand Hotel. The two had made money in the mining industry and Albert found his calling running the opulent hotel.

After the Depression the hotel slowly began losing business and falling into disrepair. The cast of Paint Your Wagon stayed in the Geiser Grand during the shooting of the movie which took place outside of Baker City in 1968. After the crew left the Hotel closed down.  The exterior cracked, inside walls and ceilings fell, the roof collapsed and water caused massive damage.

In 1978 the Baker Historic District was added to the National Register of Historical Places and soon after there were several attempts to bring the hotel back to its original state.

However, it wasn’t until 1993 when Dwight and Barbara Sidway purchased the Geiser Grand Hotel that it came back to life in both its looks and its history.

There had been multiple ghost sightings at the Geiser Grand before it closed its doors in 1968.  IN fact the local citizens take pride in their ghosts and have a Ghost tour in the hotel on Halloween.

Most of the ghostly activity is on the hotel’s top floor. Staff and guests have reported hearing the sounds of a loud crowd laughing, drinking, and having a good time on the third floor. The sightings come mostly from guests on the second and third floor who call down to the desk in the middle of the night to complain of obnoxious guests. When someone is sent to investigate the party breaks up and there are no more calls of noise. Other times guest dining in the Geiser Grill will report seeing people dressed in turn-of-the-century clothing looking over the balcony. The guests usually say the gawkers were wearing flapper-style dresses but their legs were missing.

The most famous ghost in the hotel is the Lady in Blue. She walks up and down the grand staircase in a long, lavender dress looking like a Gibson Girl of the 1900s. Many have watched her climb the staircase only to disappear into a wall. Her identity is unknown. Some say she was a former owner of the hotel and others say she is a woman who hung herself after her cowboy boyfriend was shot.

There have been other occurrences such as items moving and missing in the kitchen and workers, while restoring the hotel, reported that their tools and equipment would move when they looked away. All this activity didn’t shock the Sidways. They had similar experiences while doing restoration on the famously haunted Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida.  They did however, say that the Geiser Grand’s ghosts were more joyful and playful than the ones at the Biltmore. 

www.patyjager.net

www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Sources: Wikipedia, Baker City Historical Society,