The Spooky Haunts of Virginia City
By: Imani Davis
What happens after you die? Do you go to heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Or are you forced to walk the earth as a spirit for all eternity? No one can answer these questions definitively, but there are some who believe people walk the earth after death. Those who continue to walk the earth are often called ghosts, apparitions, or phantoms, and they all like to make their presence felt to the living. To no end, people claim that there are spirits that haunt the places they live, work, and enjoy their free time, resulting in the battle between those who believe in paranormal activity and those who do not. Those who believe in ghosts do so because of personal experiences and paranormal investigators, while those who disbelieve do so because ghosts cannot be scientifically proven. The sources throughout my paper are taken from blogs and personal websites because a lot of the information is folklore passed from person to person in Reno. Because of this, their stories cannot be proven, but all the same it is the myths that connect a community. Although the existence of ghosts is not easily confirmed, there are some places where there is activity that can only be explained as supernatural. Whether a person believes in ghosts or not, it is hard to ignore locations where people have similar experiences; forcing people to take into account that something worth noting is taking place. Virginia City is rich with paranormal activity because of its history with the wild west and is specifically well-known for the ghosts that haunt its saloons, hotels, and cemeteries.
To fully understand the city’s supernatural aspects it is important to understand the history of Virginia City, Nevada. Virginia City was a 19th century mining town that turned destitute hopefuls into thriving millionaires. In 1859, the discovery of the Comstock Lode was the first major silver deposit found in the United States, allowing many mines to open. The town quickly boomed in size and mansions, hospitals, and opera houses were constructed to meet the needs of the people. The Virginia Truckee Railroad was created and allowed the town to flourish to 25,000 people in the 1870s, which is the most people the town has ever been home to (Anonymous). In 1875, the mining output died down and as a result the population declined as well (“History: A City in Silver and Gold”). The rise of Virginia City was during the formation of the “frontier west” and the murder rate was higher in the western part of the country than anywhere else in the United States, including New York City (Dixon). The spirits of the people who once lived in the thriving mine town still haunt places around the city and affect those who still call it home.
Sinister Saloons
Saloons have a reputation for being haunted.The first saloon appeared in the 1800s and serviced a variety of people, from cowboys, outlaws, and lawmen. Because saloons were created to service people in the wild west there were few laws that governed the people who patronized the saloons. Many people went into these establishments, and not everyone came out alive. The Old Washoe Club, Delta, and Longbranch Saloons are located in Virginia City and have reputations for their paranormal activity (Rowe).
One of the most haunted saloons is the Old Washoe Club in Virginia City. This club is so well-known for being haunted that it has been featured on Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” and SyFy’s “Ghost Hunters” because it is considered one of the most haunted locations in “The West”(“Washoe Club’s Haunted History”). The Washoe Club is a three story brick building located in the Historic District of Virginia City. The saloon is located on the bottom floor, the millionaires club is on the second, and the brothel is on the third (“The History of the Washoe Club”). The club was a place where rich men came to get away from their lives, they drank their fill, talked about business, and engaged in acts of debauchery. Due to this fact, there are several ghosts that haunt the club. According to Travel Channel, “But not all of the people coming and going were so feisty -- or, for that matter, alive.” In the club there was a room that held the bodies of townspeople that had passed away, while the gravediggers waited for the ground to thaw during the winter (“The History of the Washoe Club”). Hundreds of bodies were stacked and stored in the club until the spring when they could be buried. Many of these ghosts still called the Washoe home, but three stand out more than any others.
There is a blond woman in blue who was murdered on the third floor of the hotel, while she was working as a call girl. The man responsible for murdering her walked to the second floor and committed suicide. The female ghost has been nicknamed Lena and can be seen by many people who frequent the establishment. Another ghost frequently seen is a timid, scared, little girl who was supposedly executed in the basement of the building (Horan). It is assumed that she is the daughter one of the ladies who worked in the brothel. The third most popularly seen ghost is an old gruff prospector dressed in black who filches drinks from patrons and is blamed when tricks occur in the club. A few pranks that have been recorded include bar stools tipping, people getting kicked, and the ladies room door being locked and unlocked. The ghost hunting crew on Travel Channel was able to capture a full moving ghost on camera.
Another haunted saloon is the Delta, which is said to be one of the oldest bars, founded in 1876. It is one of the largest saloons and is bustling with life from the gambling machines to the card tables. The Delta Saloon is famous for its suicide table, a nineteenth century faro table, that caused the death of a few of the saloon’s owners. The first victim of the faro table was Black Jake, he lost $70,000 playing cards, causing him to commit suicide; since then gamblers have reported seeing a ghost put a gun to his head (“The Suicide Table, Virginia City, Nevada”). The second victim was also an owner of the club and could not repay his debt; however, it is unclear if he committed suicide or his creditors collected their debt with his life. For a while the table was put in storage because employees refused to deal on the table. Later in the 1890s, the table was repurposed as a blackjack table and its cursed history seemed to be lost in the past, until one stormy night. A drunken miner entered the bar and had a great streak of luck, winning $86,000, horses, and interest in a gold mine. This was a life altering moment for both the miner and the owner; the miner won big and the owner committed suicide because he lost everything. Shortly after these incidences people refused to sit at the table and it was retired from use.
Equally as haunted is The Longbranch Saloon, which has two ghosts whose presence are commonly felt by patrons. One of the ghosts is an Indian named Two Feathers who was killed in a bar fight. He fought with another patron and they both drew pistols, but Two Feathers had the short end of the stick. Some say his apparition can be seen near a slot machine that sometimes operates by itself. The most active ghost is a little girl who was playing outside of the saloon in 1870, when she was tragically trampled by a wagon. She was brought into the saloon in hopes of saving her, but unfortunately she died in the saloon. Ever since then people have seen her on the upper levels of the bar and can hear her muffled cries ("Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada."). Legend says that there is a doll on the upper floors that if you change its clothes, by morning it will return to wearing the clothes it was the day before because the ghost of the little girl used to own the doll. The reports of the haunted activity at the Longbranch are supported by the patrons who visit the saloon and continuously spread the legend of the establishment.
Haunted Hotels
Millions of people visit hotels a year; that is an unfathomable amount of traffic entering and leaving various establishments. With the amount of people that frequent hotels, there is bound to be a few deaths here and there, and often where there is death there is supernatural activity. The Silver Queen in Virginia City Hotel is no exception to ghostly activity.
Built in 1876 The Silver Queen Hotel is well-known for its ghosts, especially from room eleven and its hallway. There are two female ghosts that haunt The Silver Queen is named Annie and the other is Rosie, both actively make their presence felt. Annie does not have as clear of a story as Rosie, and it is only said that you can hear her voice, tapping sounds and footsteps. The other ghost, Rosie, was a prostitute in 1876, and rumor has it that she was a pregnant prostitute whose boyfriend abandoned her and their child. She was devastated by his abandonment and slit her wrists in room eleven. Since her death, door knobs jiggle and it seems as if she has a preference for harassing men. Her death was never catalogued, so it cannot be proven that Rosie’s ghost is causing the strange occurrences in room eleven. Guests on TripAdvisor who spend the night at the hotel report hearing knocking on their hotel doors, door knobs jiggling, banging, voices in unoccupied rooms and footsteps in the hallways (“Haunted Travels USA”). The footsteps in the hallway are an especially odd occurrence in the hotel because the entire hotel is carpeted, but the footsteps sound as if they are on hardwood floors. A few of the stories on Tripadvisor are worth noting, such as a married couple who traveled from Las Vegas to Virginia City to stay at The Silver Queen Hotel for their twentieth anniversary. The couple fell asleep, but were awoken by the sound of footsteps clunking down the hallway on what sounded like hardwood floors. They stayed awake for hours, until the couple finally fell asleep. However, the wife stayed awake longer than the husband and recalls her last memory before sleep took her was the sound of heavy boot steps and door knob jiggling. The couple left the next morning. Another story on Tripadvisor involves a mother and a daughter who were grabbing drinks in Virginia City and decided to spend the night at The Silver Queen. The pair were having a great time at the hotel until it was late at night, and the daughter began to hear a man and a woman arguing, then the sound of boots walking up and down the hall. She checked the hallway to see why there was so much noise, oddly there was no one in the hall. The noise happened once again and she checked the hallway, the occupants in room eleven (right across the hall) were also outside checking the hall, but both women agreed the noise was right outside their doors, yet there was no one there. Yet both rooms continued to hear noise throughout the night. These are just two stories by guests who stayed at the hotel and experienced paranormal activity.
Creepy Cemeteries
No catalog of a city’s haunted history would be complete without looking into its cemeteries. Bodies of the dead are all gathered in one location, and the odds of finding a spirit not at a peace is overwhelmingly likely. Virginia City is home to fifteen cemeteries all clustered in the North end of town and there is a plethora of paranormal activity to report. There are a few paranormal stories that are commonly shared among those that travel to the cemeteries.
In the cemeteries there are few minor things that happen that are worth noting. People who travel to the cemetery are often greeted by the ghost of a mule named Mary Jane Simpson, who died in the great fire of 1875 (“Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada”). The inscription on her gravestone states, “Within Was Only a Mule; Still She Was Nobody’s Fule” (Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada). Another ghostly activity is the glowing headstone sometimes seen by observers in town, but when people arrive at the graveyard it is dim once again. Investigators who try to identify the glowing headstone often have to use walkie-talkies so an investigator in town can guide the other investigator in the cemetery to try and identify the glowing headstone. Additionally, there are reports among workers at the cemetery that a man’s gravestone is constantly moving from its location, even though the guards verify that no one has entered the graveyard. The gravestone is not a light item and usually takes three men to move it back into place. Moreover, there are reports that a famous Virginia City prostitute named Julia Bulette is supposedly buried in the graveyard. She moved to Virginia City in 1859, right when the mining town began to expand, she was one of the few women in town; which caused men to seek out her company. Julia was murdered in 1867 after she serviced her killer John Millain. However, many believe that it is not her remains within the graveyard because the apparition of the ghost that is often seen rising from her grave is a thin young woman that looks nothing like Julia Bulette. The ghost of a young child is also seen playing at the feet of the apparition, yet Julia did not have any children (“Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada”).
Paranormal Investigators Versus Ghost Hunters
After the ghost stories have been shared and passed along, there are two groups that investigate paranormal activity: ghost hunters and paranormal investigators. As people become more open to the idea that ghosts may be an actual possibility, groups are sprouting up to find hard evidence of paranormal creatures. There are paranormal investigators, who understand how to investigate the paranormal, and ghost hunters, who blindly follow trends in hopes of finding something otherworldly.
A paranormal investigation is defined as “an investigation and study of events that mainstream culture would define as paranormal” (Southall). According to “The Difference Between Ghost Hunting and Paranormal Investigations,” most of a paranormal investigation takes place not at the haunted location, but outside, doing research on names of the people, important dates, significant events, and any information that might serve helpful to the investigation (Southall). After factual research is found, then research is conducted on the legends and myths of the location to try and uncover what could be haunting the building. After all the research is collected, then eyewitnesses to the paranormal activity are located, so the investigators have some idea of what to expect when they enter the building. Once the research and eyewitness testimonies are gathered, the investigators travel to the location and try to stay realistic and rational. Investigators do not travel to the location assuming they are going to find paranormal activity, and they try to not allow the legends and myths of the location to affect how they investigate the location. Technology such as EVPs (digital/analog recorders that pick up voices and sounds) are used to support the hypothesis that there is paranormal activity, but tech is only on part of the puzzle in investigating (Southall).
In comparison, ghost hunting is a less thorough examination of paranormal activity. Ghost hunting does require the hunters to research the location, but the research is not as thorough as a paranormal investigation. Southall believes that most ghost hunts are a quick way for people to gain a fun and scary experience in an area that is considered haunted (Southall). Ghost hunters rely too heavily on technology, and that often causes them to miss the big picture, thus making them imagine paranormal activity that may not be there. The imagining of paranormal activity in an EVP audio or photograph is known as “pareidolia or finding a familiar visual or auditory pattern in some stimulus that is not really present” (Southall). However, Southall does admit that many ghost hunters have found convincing evidence of ghosts. Moreover ghost hunting differs from a paranormal investigation because ghost hunting is considered more of a social event, and there is a lot of publicity when one takes place, while paranormal investigations are more “low-key.”
Researching the topic of ghosts made me wonder about the people who investigate spirits and why they choose to investigate such an offbeat subject. I was able to interview two paranormal investigators from two different paranormal investigator groups. I interviewed Jason Nelms from Sinister Sightings Paranormal Society and Suzanne Shoemaker from The Mystery Gang each offered a unique twist on what it means to be a paranormal investigator.
Jason Nelms offers his take on a paranormal investigator, “We investigate people’s claims of the paranormal to prove, or more importantly, disprove their claims of a ghost or investigate places his team feels are haunted.” His team not only spends ten hours in the dark hoping they can find evidence of ghosts, but they also consider themselves historians because they spend weeks or months researching the location. The team spends so much time researching the location because they believe that somewhere in the past is an explanation of why the place may be haunted, increasing the team’s awareness of the situation. Nelms became a paranormal investigator because he grew up in a home that was filled with paranormal activity. As he adjusted to the strange activity, his fear turned into curiosity and he researched as much as he could on ghosts. Nelms realized he had the ability to help other people who were experiencing similar situations and either prove there was not any paranormal activity or ease their minds by proving that the ghost would not harm them (Nelms).
Similarly, Suzanne Shoemaker defines being a paranormal investigator as finding pieces of a story and “constructing these stories, so that we might help to put the resident and the paranormal at ease with each other” (Shoemaker). She became interested in the paranormal because of her fear of death. Seven years ago Shoemaker investigated Robb’s Canyon with a few friends and was able to hear voices on their EVP equipment, solidifying her passion for the paranormal. When Suzanne investigates a location with The Mystery Gang, they set up their equipment and ask questions to the spirits in hopes that they catch something on the equipment.
Both paranormal groups are different in their approach to the investigation, but they both have the same mission of putting their clients at ease and figuring out what is happening at a location.
Conclusion
Everywhere on the planet there are people who believe in ghosts and tales of the spirits that haunt them. People believe in the spirits for a variety of reasons: because it solves questions with unclear answers, to seek answers for the afterlife, and others for the thrill of something dangerous. Or maybe it is because the paranormal has become a part of mainstream culture as proven in a study where people were shown a show on astral projection and it led the participants to believe in the phenomena (Tearle). Ghosts, spirits, apparitions or whatever name they are given can never be proven or disproven and maybe that is why people gravitate to the myths and the legends.
Works Cited
Anonymous. “When Virginia City Was a Mining Town; Many residents of Virginia City -- the
birthplace of Nevada mining -- make a living capitalizing on the town's rich history.”
Wall Street Journal (Online), 4 June 2011.
http://search.proquest.com.unr.idm.oclc.org/docview/870107783?pq-origsite=summon.
Accessed 17 November 2016.
Dixon, Kelly J. Boomtown Saloon: Archaeology And History In Virginia City.
University of Nevada Press, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Accessed 15 November 2016.
Ghostghoul. “Silver Queen Is Haunted! - Review of Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City, NV -
TripAdvisor.” Silver Queen Is Haunted! - Review of Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City,
NV - TripAdvisor, 18 July 2014, www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g46010-d252919-r46594743-Silver_Queen_Hotel-Virginia_City_Nevada.html. Accessed 17 November 2016.
“Haunted Travels USA.” Silver Queen Hotel | Virginia City Nevada | Haunted Travels USA,
www.hauntedtravelsusa.com/me/haunted-travels-usa/silver-queen-hotel-9649.html. Accessed 17 November 2016.
“History: A City in Silver and Gold.” Step Back in Time Virginia City Nevada.
http://www.visitvirginiacitynv.com/about-virginia-city/history.html. Accessed 17 November 2016.
"The History of the Washoe Club." The Washoe Club.
http://www.thewashoeclub.com/history/. Accessed 17 November. 2016.
Horan, Kelly. "The Washoe Club,.....the Most Haunted Building in Virginia City, Nevada." The
Washoe Club,.....the Most Haunted Building in Virginia City, Nevada, 10 Dec. 2010,
www.kellyskrazynews.blogspot.com/2009/12/washoe-clubthe-most-haunted-building-in.html. Accessed 17 November. 2016.
Jason Nelms. “RE: Interview For an English Project.” Received by Imani Davis, 8 Nov. 2016.
"Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada." Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada,
Jan. 2010, theshadowlands.net/places/nevada.htm. Accessed 31 October. 2016.
Rowe, Rick. “The Most Haunted City in Nevada.” Paranormal & Ghost Society.
http://paranormalghostsociety.org/VirginiaCityNevadaGhostStories.htm. Accessed 17
November 2016.
Shoemaker, Suzanne. “RE: Interview For an English Project.” Received by Imani Davis, 22
November 2016.
“Silver Queen Is Haunted! - Review of Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City, NV - TripAdvisor.”
Silver Queen Is Haunted! - Review of Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City, NV - TripAdvisor,www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g46010-d252919-r46594743-Silver_Queen_Hotel-Virginia_City_Nevada.html. Accessed 17 November 2016.
Southall, Richard. “The Difference Between Ghost Hunting and Paranormal Investigations.”
Supernatural Magazine, 5 August 2015.
supernaturalmagazine.com/articles/the-difference-between-ghost-hunting-and-paranormal-investigations. Accessed 17 November 2016.
"The Suicide Table, Virginia City, Nevada." RoadsideAmerica.com,
www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12540. Accessed 17 November. 2016.
Tearle, Oliver. “Aylmer Vance and the Paradox of the Paranormal.” Clues, vol. 30, no 2, 2012,
pp. 40-48. http://search.proquest.com.unr.idm.oclc.org/docview/1284085280?pq-origsite=summon. Accessed 17 November 2016.
“Washoe Club’s Haunted History.” Travel Channel,
http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/ghost-adventures/articles/washoe-clubs-haunted-history. Accessed 11 November. 2016
To fully understand the city’s supernatural aspects it is important to understand the history of Virginia City, Nevada. Virginia City was a 19th century mining town that turned destitute hopefuls into thriving millionaires. In 1859, the discovery of the Comstock Lode was the first major silver deposit found in the United States, allowing many mines to open. The town quickly boomed in size and mansions, hospitals, and opera houses were constructed to meet the needs of the people. The Virginia Truckee Railroad was created and allowed the town to flourish to 25,000 people in the 1870s, which is the most people the town has ever been home to (Anonymous). In 1875, the mining output died down and as a result the population declined as well (“History: A City in Silver and Gold”). The rise of Virginia City was during the formation of the “frontier west” and the murder rate was higher in the western part of the country than anywhere else in the United States, including New York City (Dixon). The spirits of the people who once lived in the thriving mine town still haunt places around the city and affect those who still call it home.
Sinister Saloons
Saloons have a reputation for being haunted.The first saloon appeared in the 1800s and serviced a variety of people, from cowboys, outlaws, and lawmen. Because saloons were created to service people in the wild west there were few laws that governed the people who patronized the saloons. Many people went into these establishments, and not everyone came out alive. The Old Washoe Club, Delta, and Longbranch Saloons are located in Virginia City and have reputations for their paranormal activity (Rowe).
One of the most haunted saloons is the Old Washoe Club in Virginia City. This club is so well-known for being haunted that it has been featured on Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” and SyFy’s “Ghost Hunters” because it is considered one of the most haunted locations in “The West”(“Washoe Club’s Haunted History”). The Washoe Club is a three story brick building located in the Historic District of Virginia City. The saloon is located on the bottom floor, the millionaires club is on the second, and the brothel is on the third (“The History of the Washoe Club”). The club was a place where rich men came to get away from their lives, they drank their fill, talked about business, and engaged in acts of debauchery. Due to this fact, there are several ghosts that haunt the club. According to Travel Channel, “But not all of the people coming and going were so feisty -- or, for that matter, alive.” In the club there was a room that held the bodies of townspeople that had passed away, while the gravediggers waited for the ground to thaw during the winter (“The History of the Washoe Club”). Hundreds of bodies were stacked and stored in the club until the spring when they could be buried. Many of these ghosts still called the Washoe home, but three stand out more than any others.
There is a blond woman in blue who was murdered on the third floor of the hotel, while she was working as a call girl. The man responsible for murdering her walked to the second floor and committed suicide. The female ghost has been nicknamed Lena and can be seen by many people who frequent the establishment. Another ghost frequently seen is a timid, scared, little girl who was supposedly executed in the basement of the building (Horan). It is assumed that she is the daughter one of the ladies who worked in the brothel. The third most popularly seen ghost is an old gruff prospector dressed in black who filches drinks from patrons and is blamed when tricks occur in the club. A few pranks that have been recorded include bar stools tipping, people getting kicked, and the ladies room door being locked and unlocked. The ghost hunting crew on Travel Channel was able to capture a full moving ghost on camera.
Another haunted saloon is the Delta, which is said to be one of the oldest bars, founded in 1876. It is one of the largest saloons and is bustling with life from the gambling machines to the card tables. The Delta Saloon is famous for its suicide table, a nineteenth century faro table, that caused the death of a few of the saloon’s owners. The first victim of the faro table was Black Jake, he lost $70,000 playing cards, causing him to commit suicide; since then gamblers have reported seeing a ghost put a gun to his head (“The Suicide Table, Virginia City, Nevada”). The second victim was also an owner of the club and could not repay his debt; however, it is unclear if he committed suicide or his creditors collected their debt with his life. For a while the table was put in storage because employees refused to deal on the table. Later in the 1890s, the table was repurposed as a blackjack table and its cursed history seemed to be lost in the past, until one stormy night. A drunken miner entered the bar and had a great streak of luck, winning $86,000, horses, and interest in a gold mine. This was a life altering moment for both the miner and the owner; the miner won big and the owner committed suicide because he lost everything. Shortly after these incidences people refused to sit at the table and it was retired from use.
Equally as haunted is The Longbranch Saloon, which has two ghosts whose presence are commonly felt by patrons. One of the ghosts is an Indian named Two Feathers who was killed in a bar fight. He fought with another patron and they both drew pistols, but Two Feathers had the short end of the stick. Some say his apparition can be seen near a slot machine that sometimes operates by itself. The most active ghost is a little girl who was playing outside of the saloon in 1870, when she was tragically trampled by a wagon. She was brought into the saloon in hopes of saving her, but unfortunately she died in the saloon. Ever since then people have seen her on the upper levels of the bar and can hear her muffled cries ("Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada."). Legend says that there is a doll on the upper floors that if you change its clothes, by morning it will return to wearing the clothes it was the day before because the ghost of the little girl used to own the doll. The reports of the haunted activity at the Longbranch are supported by the patrons who visit the saloon and continuously spread the legend of the establishment.
Haunted Hotels
Millions of people visit hotels a year; that is an unfathomable amount of traffic entering and leaving various establishments. With the amount of people that frequent hotels, there is bound to be a few deaths here and there, and often where there is death there is supernatural activity. The Silver Queen in Virginia City Hotel is no exception to ghostly activity.
Built in 1876 The Silver Queen Hotel is well-known for its ghosts, especially from room eleven and its hallway. There are two female ghosts that haunt The Silver Queen is named Annie and the other is Rosie, both actively make their presence felt. Annie does not have as clear of a story as Rosie, and it is only said that you can hear her voice, tapping sounds and footsteps. The other ghost, Rosie, was a prostitute in 1876, and rumor has it that she was a pregnant prostitute whose boyfriend abandoned her and their child. She was devastated by his abandonment and slit her wrists in room eleven. Since her death, door knobs jiggle and it seems as if she has a preference for harassing men. Her death was never catalogued, so it cannot be proven that Rosie’s ghost is causing the strange occurrences in room eleven. Guests on TripAdvisor who spend the night at the hotel report hearing knocking on their hotel doors, door knobs jiggling, banging, voices in unoccupied rooms and footsteps in the hallways (“Haunted Travels USA”). The footsteps in the hallway are an especially odd occurrence in the hotel because the entire hotel is carpeted, but the footsteps sound as if they are on hardwood floors. A few of the stories on Tripadvisor are worth noting, such as a married couple who traveled from Las Vegas to Virginia City to stay at The Silver Queen Hotel for their twentieth anniversary. The couple fell asleep, but were awoken by the sound of footsteps clunking down the hallway on what sounded like hardwood floors. They stayed awake for hours, until the couple finally fell asleep. However, the wife stayed awake longer than the husband and recalls her last memory before sleep took her was the sound of heavy boot steps and door knob jiggling. The couple left the next morning. Another story on Tripadvisor involves a mother and a daughter who were grabbing drinks in Virginia City and decided to spend the night at The Silver Queen. The pair were having a great time at the hotel until it was late at night, and the daughter began to hear a man and a woman arguing, then the sound of boots walking up and down the hall. She checked the hallway to see why there was so much noise, oddly there was no one in the hall. The noise happened once again and she checked the hallway, the occupants in room eleven (right across the hall) were also outside checking the hall, but both women agreed the noise was right outside their doors, yet there was no one there. Yet both rooms continued to hear noise throughout the night. These are just two stories by guests who stayed at the hotel and experienced paranormal activity.
Creepy Cemeteries
No catalog of a city’s haunted history would be complete without looking into its cemeteries. Bodies of the dead are all gathered in one location, and the odds of finding a spirit not at a peace is overwhelmingly likely. Virginia City is home to fifteen cemeteries all clustered in the North end of town and there is a plethora of paranormal activity to report. There are a few paranormal stories that are commonly shared among those that travel to the cemeteries.
In the cemeteries there are few minor things that happen that are worth noting. People who travel to the cemetery are often greeted by the ghost of a mule named Mary Jane Simpson, who died in the great fire of 1875 (“Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada”). The inscription on her gravestone states, “Within Was Only a Mule; Still She Was Nobody’s Fule” (Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada). Another ghostly activity is the glowing headstone sometimes seen by observers in town, but when people arrive at the graveyard it is dim once again. Investigators who try to identify the glowing headstone often have to use walkie-talkies so an investigator in town can guide the other investigator in the cemetery to try and identify the glowing headstone. Additionally, there are reports among workers at the cemetery that a man’s gravestone is constantly moving from its location, even though the guards verify that no one has entered the graveyard. The gravestone is not a light item and usually takes three men to move it back into place. Moreover, there are reports that a famous Virginia City prostitute named Julia Bulette is supposedly buried in the graveyard. She moved to Virginia City in 1859, right when the mining town began to expand, she was one of the few women in town; which caused men to seek out her company. Julia was murdered in 1867 after she serviced her killer John Millain. However, many believe that it is not her remains within the graveyard because the apparition of the ghost that is often seen rising from her grave is a thin young woman that looks nothing like Julia Bulette. The ghost of a young child is also seen playing at the feet of the apparition, yet Julia did not have any children (“Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - Nevada”).
Paranormal Investigators Versus Ghost Hunters
After the ghost stories have been shared and passed along, there are two groups that investigate paranormal activity: ghost hunters and paranormal investigators. As people become more open to the idea that ghosts may be an actual possibility, groups are sprouting up to find hard evidence of paranormal creatures. There are paranormal investigators, who understand how to investigate the paranormal, and ghost hunters, who blindly follow trends in hopes of finding something otherworldly.
A paranormal investigation is defined as “an investigation and study of events that mainstream culture would define as paranormal” (Southall). According to “The Difference Between Ghost Hunting and Paranormal Investigations,” most of a paranormal investigation takes place not at the haunted location, but outside, doing research on names of the people, important dates, significant events, and any information that might serve helpful to the investigation (Southall). After factual research is found, then research is conducted on the legends and myths of the location to try and uncover what could be haunting the building. After all the research is collected, then eyewitnesses to the paranormal activity are located, so the investigators have some idea of what to expect when they enter the building. Once the research and eyewitness testimonies are gathered, the investigators travel to the location and try to stay realistic and rational. Investigators do not travel to the location assuming they are going to find paranormal activity, and they try to not allow the legends and myths of the location to affect how they investigate the location. Technology such as EVPs (digital/analog recorders that pick up voices and sounds) are used to support the hypothesis that there is paranormal activity, but tech is only on part of the puzzle in investigating (Southall).
In comparison, ghost hunting is a less thorough examination of paranormal activity. Ghost hunting does require the hunters to research the location, but the research is not as thorough as a paranormal investigation. Southall believes that most ghost hunts are a quick way for people to gain a fun and scary experience in an area that is considered haunted (Southall). Ghost hunters rely too heavily on technology, and that often causes them to miss the big picture, thus making them imagine paranormal activity that may not be there. The imagining of paranormal activity in an EVP audio or photograph is known as “pareidolia or finding a familiar visual or auditory pattern in some stimulus that is not really present” (Southall). However, Southall does admit that many ghost hunters have found convincing evidence of ghosts. Moreover ghost hunting differs from a paranormal investigation because ghost hunting is considered more of a social event, and there is a lot of publicity when one takes place, while paranormal investigations are more “low-key.”
Researching the topic of ghosts made me wonder about the people who investigate spirits and why they choose to investigate such an offbeat subject. I was able to interview two paranormal investigators from two different paranormal investigator groups. I interviewed Jason Nelms from Sinister Sightings Paranormal Society and Suzanne Shoemaker from The Mystery Gang each offered a unique twist on what it means to be a paranormal investigator.
Jason Nelms offers his take on a paranormal investigator, “We investigate people’s claims of the paranormal to prove, or more importantly, disprove their claims of a ghost or investigate places his team feels are haunted.” His team not only spends ten hours in the dark hoping they can find evidence of ghosts, but they also consider themselves historians because they spend weeks or months researching the location. The team spends so much time researching the location because they believe that somewhere in the past is an explanation of why the place may be haunted, increasing the team’s awareness of the situation. Nelms became a paranormal investigator because he grew up in a home that was filled with paranormal activity. As he adjusted to the strange activity, his fear turned into curiosity and he researched as much as he could on ghosts. Nelms realized he had the ability to help other people who were experiencing similar situations and either prove there was not any paranormal activity or ease their minds by proving that the ghost would not harm them (Nelms).
Similarly, Suzanne Shoemaker defines being a paranormal investigator as finding pieces of a story and “constructing these stories, so that we might help to put the resident and the paranormal at ease with each other” (Shoemaker). She became interested in the paranormal because of her fear of death. Seven years ago Shoemaker investigated Robb’s Canyon with a few friends and was able to hear voices on their EVP equipment, solidifying her passion for the paranormal. When Suzanne investigates a location with The Mystery Gang, they set up their equipment and ask questions to the spirits in hopes that they catch something on the equipment.
Both paranormal groups are different in their approach to the investigation, but they both have the same mission of putting their clients at ease and figuring out what is happening at a location.
Conclusion
Everywhere on the planet there are people who believe in ghosts and tales of the spirits that haunt them. People believe in the spirits for a variety of reasons: because it solves questions with unclear answers, to seek answers for the afterlife, and others for the thrill of something dangerous. Or maybe it is because the paranormal has become a part of mainstream culture as proven in a study where people were shown a show on astral projection and it led the participants to believe in the phenomena (Tearle). Ghosts, spirits, apparitions or whatever name they are given can never be proven or disproven and maybe that is why people gravitate to the myths and the legends.
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