Ghosts and Ghost Towns

[Sue Cauhape]

Well, the long thread about Cowboys and Aliens finally diverted to ghostlier matters. Anthony Martin found some interesting EVPs while in Tonopah, NV. I've experienced some eerie moments in places like Virginia City and Bodie. I hope Anthony will elaborate with some details. Has anyone else got a ghost story to tell?

[anthony martin]

In Tonapah I was doing a shoot with other re enactors and we settled down to an evening of dinner and drinks in the Mizpah Hotel's Dempsey Room,still dressed in our period duds.I stepped out to have a cigar in front of the Mizpah Hotel and noticed a fellow coming toward me dressed in a turn of the century suit.I nodded and said hello and he smiled and nodded as he walked by.Right away I turned to ask him who he was with and no one was in sight and I realized that I hadn't heard anything as well!The next night A couple of friends and I returned with recording equipment and we asked if the gentleman I saw the night before had anything to say as well as some other questions.He answered"I PASS BY HERE EVERY NIGHT".Nothing creepy,just a very interesting and solid looking manifestation.Some I've seen or recorded haven't been so placid or innocuous!

[Sue Cauhape]

Both my daughter, Val, and I have had our experiences, mostly feelings and sounds, but she tells some interesting things about her summer working at the Squaw Valley stables the last year it was open for business. The story is that sometime in the 1930s, one of the wranglers got drunk and committed suicide by burning down his cabin. He refused help getting out. To this day, he haunts the place. All summer, there were odd occurrences and sightings. One of the wranglers was doing paperwork in the office, which was in the main bunkhouse. She looked up and saw a cowboy standing in the doorway looking back at her. Then, he just sort of faded away. Every morning at about 3 a.m., Val heard someone running down the pathway between the line shacks where the wranglers lived. She peeked outside and saw no one. One night she was assigned to stay at the stables alone to keep and eye on the place. It was a VERY LONG night.

 

One of my experiences happened when my husband, Jeff, and I went to Bodie and explored the cemetery. Bright sunny day. Other people around. Nothing too special about any of the graves until we came upon a tall marble obilisk. The inscriptions were almost unreadable, but they told of the husband's love for his wife who was buried there. I suddenly got a very strong feeling that both their spirits were hanging around the place. It was extremely melancholy. I looked at Jeff, and he was getting teary-eyed. "Let's go," he said."This is too sad a place."

[anthony martin]

Yes,Bodie is haunted from end to end,especially the cemetery,but then most cemeterys tend to have spirits hanging near their mortal remains.I've often wondered if Eleanor(Madame Moustache)DuMont still haunts the place.Apparently after a run of bad luck gambling she started walking down the road from Bodie to Aurora and committed suicide a few miles out of town by downing a bottle of laudanum!It was a sad end for a famous courtesan and gambler.

[Sue Cauhape]

That road from Bodie to Aurora is long, windy, and out there in the high desert. I'm surprised they were able to find her. Walking out that way in the night, someone could just disappear forever. What a lonely way to go!

[Sue Cauhape]

Anthony, what kind of re-enactments do you do?

[anthony martin]

  Sue,

  The long answer or the short one?I n the past I've done Brigade of the American Revolution,American Civil War(Confederate cavalry officer),officer of horse in the English Civil War Society,fencing exhibitions and duels at renfaires and currently depict a transplanted southern gentleman/rascal in the 1880's west.I've left out some but those are the high points.I also still take the occasional acting gig.A great deal of my energies are now turned to making historically correct clothing which I mostly sell at events or do custom tailored.Stay tuned-I've a dilly of a ghost story to share with you!

[Sue Cauhape]

My gosh, you've been busy. I now wonder if you were at any of the re-enactments in Carson City or even Felton, CA. They used to fight the first Battle of Bull Run there about twenty?? years ago.

Is this transplanted southern gentleman/rascal any relation to Dr. John Holladay?

Also, looking forward to reading your ghost story.

[anthony martin]

  Sue,

     No,emphtically not Doc Holliday!I enjoy him and thoroughly understand his moral code,but go to any old west event and you will find at least 3 or 4 of em and one needs a dance card just to keep track of which one is which!I did most of my Civil War and B.A.R. stuff in Virginia,W.Va., Kentucky,So.Ohio etc. and finding little war between the states stuff here in the southwest i segued to transplanted southerner in the old west living by his wits and persuasive powers.I'll do the ghost anecdote tomorrow-it's a really disturbing one of madness and violence!

[Sue Cauhape]

Oh good. I'll be waiting with great antici.....................................................pation.

[anthony martin]

Sue,

  I'm popping in hear at a late hour as I spent a major part of the day resolving some unpleasantness.I'll start with an intriguing opening sting-Southern Ohio-1982- grad students Anthony and his German girlfriend Uta make the momentous decision to move in together and find a huge ,dilapidated 19th century country house at a strangely low rental and meet with the owner who is anxious to close the deal and clear out.......More to come when I'm not such a zombie!