Speaker 1: Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion is advised. Hey friends,
Speaker 1: my Fall speaking tour has officially been announced, So head
Speaker 1: to Amybrunie dot com. That's amybruni dot com to see
Speaker 1: if I will be appearing near you, either for my
Speaker 1: ghost story filled lecture series or any of the numerous
Speaker 1: conventions and strange escapes trips I have coming up. Hope
Speaker 1: to see you in person soon. In eighteen seventy seven,
Speaker 1: prospectors made a discovery and a canyon in Arizona's Mule Mountains,
Speaker 1: just eight miles from the Mexican border. The ground underneath
Speaker 1: the area, known as Mule Gulch, was rife with copper.
Speaker 1: Just three years later, a town was formed. By nineteen ten,
Speaker 1: more than twenty five thousand people had arrived in Bisbee
Speaker 1: seeking out their fortunes. Throughout the two thousand miles of
Speaker 1: mining tunnels under the town, people mined copper, silver, and gold,
Speaker 1: and a rare and precious kind of turquoise price today
Speaker 1: called Bisbee blue that was discarded as mining by product.
Speaker 1: In the early days, the copper Queen mine was Bisbee's
Speaker 1: most productive mine, producing an unusually high grade of copper ore.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't just the town's most productive mine. It
Speaker 1: was bringing in the highest yields in all of Arizona.
Speaker 1: In the midst of the mining boom and all the
Speaker 1: wealth coming from it, the town needed a luxury hotel.
Speaker 1: The Phelps Dodge Corporation, which owned the Copper Queen mine,
Speaker 1: built the Copper Queen Hotel as a place to host
Speaker 1: its investors and visiting dignitaries. It opened in nineteen o
Speaker 1: two to rave reviews. The Bisbee Daily Review called it
Speaker 1: a magnificent hostelry unsurpassed in the territory. With every equipment
Speaker 1: and excellent management, Bisbee was prosperous for the mine owners,
Speaker 1: but for the miners themselves things were different. They worked difficult,
Speaker 1: dangerous jobs for minimal pay. The unrest grew so pervasive
Speaker 1: that in nineteen seventeen, two thousand men gathered in protest,
Speaker 1: only to have most of them rounded up by strike
Speaker 1: breakers and hired guns from the mining company and deported
Speaker 1: to New Mexico. The mining companies were so rich and
Speaker 1: had so much control over the town that they owned
Speaker 1: the newspapers and were able to squash any news of
Speaker 1: the strike of the miner's treatment. About one thousand men
Speaker 1: were detained for several months by the government for questioning.
Speaker 1: It was one event in a series of conflicts over
Speaker 1: Bisbee's affluent, but very dangerous years. The Copper Queen still
Speaker 1: stands in Bisbee today, and the hotel remembers the town's
Speaker 1: dark history, at least the ghosts inside it. To I'm
Speaker 1: Amy Bruney, and this is haunted road. The newspaper went
Speaker 1: on to describe the newly opened hotel by saying, we
Speaker 1: entered the office after passing an easy flight of stairs,
Speaker 1: to find it beautifully furnished with California redwood and attractively paneled.
Speaker 1: A large mantle over the fireplace is one of the
Speaker 1: finest obtainable. The lady's parlor to the right, occupying a
Speaker 1: very sightly position, is exceptionally fine and tastily arranged in mahogany,
Speaker 1: with rich green silk, plush and satins. Beyond the parlor
Speaker 1: and leading into the office, is a large and commodious
Speaker 1: billiard parlor, substantially arranged with tables and chairs and other equipments.
Speaker 1: Beyond this is a buffet, a barber shop, washroom, bathrooms,
Speaker 1: et cetera, all thoroughly furnished and up to date. It's
Speaker 1: worth noting that the newspaper was owned by a close
Speaker 1: friend of an executive of the Phelps Dodge Corporation, but
Speaker 1: the description does sound enticing, especially of the dining room.
Speaker 1: The article continued, saying, the dining room is one of
Speaker 1: the most cheerful and attractive to be seen anywhere. China
Speaker 1: and silverware is all of special design, having a monogram
Speaker 1: of the hotel on every piece. The glassware in the
Speaker 1: buffet is composed of a selection of some very rare
Speaker 1: in some of unusual design. Every piece is cut glass
Speaker 1: with the monogram c Q etched upon it, and many
Speaker 1: designs have never been used in any hotel before. The
Speaker 1: silver wine coolers are of unique design as well. The
Speaker 1: Italianate style hotel costs more than seventy five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to build, twenty five thousand dollars of that on furnishings alone,
Speaker 1: which would have totaled close to two point five million
Speaker 1: dollars today. The hotel originally had seventy two guest rooms,
Speaker 1: with each floor sharing a single bathroom, but was eventually
Speaker 1: remodeled to have private bathrooms and only forty eight rooms
Speaker 1: in the smaller rooms on the higher floors. Some people
Speaker 1: lived in them long term. Despite all of these success
Speaker 1: and prosperity in the town, things were not peace and
Speaker 1: Bisbee miners especially were discontent with their working conditions in
Speaker 1: pay from the mining companies. During World War One, the
Speaker 1: price of copper soared, yet the mine owners did little
Speaker 1: to improve quality of life for their employees. Although union
Speaker 1: activity had been suppressed in the area for years, several
Speaker 1: local mines successfully organized during the war. Sheila Bonnard wrote
Speaker 1: a history of the ensuing events. On June twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen, the Industrial Workers of the World presented the
Speaker 1: Bisbee mining companies with a list of demands. These demands
Speaker 1: included improvements to safety and working conditions, such as requiring
Speaker 1: two men on each machine and an end to blasting
Speaker 1: in the mines during shifts. Demands were also made to
Speaker 1: end discrimination against members of labor organizations and the unequal
Speaker 1: treatment of foreign and minority workers. Furthermore, the unions wanted
Speaker 1: a flatweight system to replace sliding scales tied to the
Speaker 1: market price of copper. The mining companies refused, and about
Speaker 1: half of all the miners in Bisbee went on strike
Speaker 1: on July twelfth, nineteen seventeen. The town was rocked by
Speaker 1: what came to be known as the Bisbee Deportation. Early
Speaker 1: that morning, in an effort to quash the strike, roughly
Speaker 1: two thousand sheriffs vigilantes rounded up about two thousand men
Speaker 1: and brought them to Bisbee's baseball field. The majority of
Speaker 1: them were striking miners, but some had nothing at all
Speaker 1: to do with mining in the town. Two men, one
Speaker 1: striker and one mine supervisor, were shot and killed. The
Speaker 1: Phelps Dodge Corporation censored local telegraph lines so no news
Speaker 1: of the action could reach the outside world. In fact,
Speaker 1: by nineteen twenty five, the company owned every daily newspaper
Speaker 1: in the mining districts of southeastern Arizona in an effort
Speaker 1: to censor any negative press about the company. Nearly twelve
Speaker 1: hundred men refused to denounce the strike. They were her
Speaker 1: into box cars with floors covered in cattle manure and
Speaker 1: transported across the border into New Mexico and left there
Speaker 1: for several days. Two days later, US troops arrived and
Speaker 1: detained many of them for several months. As Sheila Bonnard wrote, Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Bisbee authorities mounted guards on all roads into town to
Speaker 1: ensure that no deportees returned and to prevent new troublemakers
Speaker 1: from entering. A kangaroo court was also established to try
Speaker 1: other people deemed disloyal to mining interests. These people also
Speaker 1: faced deportation. President Woodrow Wilson eventually set up a commission
Speaker 1: to investigate the Bisbee deportation, but it was found that
Speaker 1: no federal laws applied, and the state of Arizona refused
Speaker 1: to prosecute the copper companies. Responsible Mining declined in the
Speaker 1: nineteen thirties and forties across the state, but the Copper
Speaker 1: Queen continued to produce for decades longer, until the yields
Speaker 1: came so low that the company finally closed operations in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five. Today, the once thriving mining town has
Speaker 1: only about five thousand residents, and the town is primarily
Speaker 1: a bohemian haven for artists and creatives. The Copper Queen
Speaker 1: is still hosting guests, though in fact it's the longest
Speaker 1: continuously operating hotel in Arizona. When the mines closed, the
Speaker 1: Phelps Dodge Corporation attempted to sell the hotel, only to
Speaker 1: come up short on offers, so the company offered the
Speaker 1: hotel for one dollar to any local who wanted to
Speaker 1: purchase and restore it. An artist named Stephen Hutchinson and
Speaker 1: his wife Marcia purchased the Copper Queen. According to a
Speaker 1: former employee interviewed for an oral history project, it was
Speaker 1: this shift in ownership that changed Bisbee from a dwindling
Speaker 1: mining town to one attracting the more nonconformist elements the
Speaker 1: town has today. By nineteen eighty four, the New York
Speaker 1: Times was reporting on Bisbee's newer residence. A handful of
Speaker 1: artists and writers sprinkled among waves, but one part time
Speaker 1: resident describes as a ragtag collection of terminal sixties hippies,
Speaker 1: new ageists, experimental environmentalists, burned out Vietnam vets, overdone drug cases,
Speaker 1: and others. Many celebrities have stayed at the Copper Queen
Speaker 1: over the years, including Harry Houdini, John Wayne, Michelle Pfeiffer,
Speaker 1: and Julia Roberts. According to legend, John Wayne wance through
Speaker 1: fellow actor Lee Marvin through a window of the hotel.
Speaker 1: While today the hotel has modern amenities, it still feels
Speaker 1: true to its Victorian roots. The lobby has an antique
Speaker 1: reception desk and lush, old fashioned furniture. According to Heather
Speaker 1: McMahon from the Society of Architectural Historians, much of the
Speaker 1: original glazing, interior woodwork, and Italian imported mosaic tile flooring
Speaker 1: in the lobby is intact, and the original tiffany stained
Speaker 1: glass ceiling still remains today. The hotel rooms are also
Speaker 1: decorated with historical details like vintage style wallpaper three five fifteen.
Speaker 1: The Julia Lowell Room has a vintage prostitution license framed
Speaker 1: on the wall, as well as red carpeting, a fringed lampshade,
Speaker 1: and opulent floral headboard. Other specialty themed rooms include those
Speaker 1: dedicated to famous former guests like Harry Houdini and John Wayne,
Speaker 1: said by the hotel to be his favorite specialty suite,
Speaker 1: chosen for its close proximity to the saloon. In addition
Speaker 1: to hotel rooms, it now contains a restaurant, the nineteen
Speaker 1: o two Spirit Room, that still has its original tin
Speaker 1: ceiling and a saloon. Is it any surprise at all
Speaker 1: that this hotel is rumored to be extremely haunted? I
Speaker 1: didn't think so. In fact, the Copper Queen keeps a
Speaker 1: ghost log at the reception desk for guests to record
Speaker 1: any activity they witness during their stay. Over the fifty
Speaker 1: years the log has been available, guests have filled more
Speaker 1: than ten entire books with their accounts. But it's not
Speaker 1: just the hotel. All of Bisbee is said to be
Speaker 1: charged with supernatural energy, which some attribute to large limestone
Speaker 1: deposits under the city believed to fuel paranormal activity. Hotel
Speaker 1: employees report seeing doors and windows open on their own,
Speaker 1: feeling mysterious cold spots, having electronics malfunction for no reason,
Speaker 1: hearing phantom footfalls or people calling their name when no
Speaker 1: one is there, and even seeing full body apparitions. Laurie Doland,
Speaker 1: a front desk clerk working in overnight shift, described an
Speaker 1: experience she had at two a m. As I entered
Speaker 1: the dining room, I saw a strange woman standing against
Speaker 1: one of the columns. I clearly saw that she had
Speaker 1: reddish brown hair, which she wore up in a bun,
Speaker 1: brown eyes, and a healthy pink complexion. She also wore
Speaker 1: a high collared blouse and was about, I guess in
Speaker 1: her mid twenties. Immediately I knew this woman was a ghost.
Speaker 1: I could only see her body from the waist up.
Speaker 1: Since then, Doland says she has heard footstock and the
Speaker 1: sound of a skirt swishing when she's alone in the
Speaker 1: dining room. The spirit of a former front desk clerk
Speaker 1: named Howard is also said to linger behind, watching over
Speaker 1: employees to make sure they're doing their jobs. Rose, another
Speaker 1: employee who passed on, is seen sitting in the lobby
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on the front door. While there is
Speaker 1: activity all over the hotel. There are some rooms that
Speaker 1: are especially haunted, like Room three fifteen, the Julia Lowell Room,
Speaker 1: named after a woman who is rumored to have taken
Speaker 1: her own life in that room. According to the legend,
Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties and thirties, Julia was a beautiful
Speaker 1: courtesan who fell in love with one of her regular
Speaker 1: clients who would not leave his wife to be with her.
Speaker 1: There are no records of any suicides in the local papers,
Speaker 1: so it's entirely possible the story is fabricated. But keep
Speaker 1: in mind that during the time frame in question, the
Speaker 1: Phelps Dodge Corporation owned both the hotel and the newspaper,
Speaker 1: so it would have been very easy to keep secret
Speaker 1: any news that cast their holdings in a negative light,
Speaker 1: fabricated or not. Julia's spirit lingers in the hotel today,
Speaker 1: most often appearing to men. She is said to sit
Speaker 1: on the foot of their beds, touching their feet or
Speaker 1: whispering in their ear. When women are sleeping. In Room
Speaker 1: three fifteen, she's also said to pull the covers off
Speaker 1: the bed. According to the Haunted Places, Former chambermaids have
Speaker 1: also reported hearing a soft female voice whispering don't trust
Speaker 1: men while cleaning the vacant guest rooms. In addition to
Speaker 1: her presence in Room three fifteen, she can also be
Speaker 1: seen walking up and down the hotel's main staircase dressed
Speaker 1: in a long black gown. An unnamed spirit is said
Speaker 1: to linger in Room four oh one, whose appearances go
Speaker 1: hand in hand with a phantom smell of cigar smoke.
Speaker 1: He's described as a distinguished looking older man with a
Speaker 1: white beard who wears a black top hat. Some have
Speaker 1: said that when they've spotted him, he's been holding a
Speaker 1: revolver in his hand. Room four twelve is also called
Speaker 1: Billy's Room in honor of the ghost boy believed to
Speaker 1: haunt the room. A portrait of Billy hangs in the
Speaker 1: room today. He's said to be between five and nine
Speaker 1: years old and is believed to have died by drowning,
Speaker 1: though various accounts say it happened either in a hotel
Speaker 1: bathtub or in the San Pedro River nearby, with suspected
Speaker 1: foul play involved and his parents covering up what really happened.
Speaker 1: According to accounts from hotel staff and guests, adults can
Speaker 1: hear him, but he appears wearing nineteen twenty style nickers
Speaker 1: to children. Adults have said they've heard Billy running through
Speaker 1: the hallways, giggling, jumping on furniture, or playing with doorknobs.
Speaker 1: A bartender at the Copper Queen said that whenever running
Speaker 1: water is present, Billy can be heard crying. According to
Speaker 1: America's Most Haunted Hotels, a little girl having dinner at
Speaker 1: the hotel claimed to be playing with a little boy
Speaker 1: under the table, though no one was there. Guests are
Speaker 1: encouraged to leave candy out for Billy to prevent him
Speaker 1: from playing pranks like moving or hiding their belongings. He's
Speaker 1: said to take the candy and leave the wrappers behind.
Speaker 1: Up next, we will be chatting with Jenna Lampanham. Her
Speaker 1: family owns and operates the hotel, and she has stayed
Speaker 1: in virtually every room there. She's had some wild experiences
Speaker 1: and we're going to chat with her all about them.
Speaker 1: That is coming up after the break. I am currently
Speaker 1: joined by Jenna Lampinin, who it sounds like, just kind
Speaker 1: of does everything at the Copper Queen at the moment.
Speaker 1: Is that correct, Jenna?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I go where I'm needed. I help out with
Speaker 2: whatever the other managers might need from me HR stuff,
Speaker 2: groups and event planning.
Speaker 1: Now your mom owns the hotel, correct, yes, ma'am. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you've had probably years and years of experience visiting there,
Speaker 1: and now you've recently actually made the move to Bisbee.
Speaker 1: I love that. So I actually have only been to
Speaker 1: Bisbee one time, and I want to say it was
Speaker 1: in like two thousand and seven or eight, and it
Speaker 1: was specifically to visit the Copper Queen. I stayed there
Speaker 1: for one night before I was doing an event in
Speaker 1: Tombstone and it was beautiful and I honestly cannot believe
Speaker 1: I haven't been back yet.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Well, anytime you're welcome to come on out.
Speaker 1: It's got a really great history. We covered that in
Speaker 1: the first half, but we love to talk about the ghosts,
Speaker 1: and so just someone who has spent a long time
Speaker 1: there or you know, and probably had many experiences there,
Speaker 1: what would you say is the most prevalent type of
Speaker 1: paranormal activity that people can experience.
Speaker 2: Yes, So, in my opinion, there's many, many, many spirits here.
Speaker 2: When I was just visiting here, I've obviously spent a
Speaker 2: lot of time in almost every single room in the
Speaker 2: hotel I've stayed in overnight, and every room it's so interesting.
Speaker 2: Every room you go in has a completely different feel,
Speaker 2: a completely different energy, and you can just feel that
Speaker 2: it's different, different spirits, different energies kind of in every
Speaker 2: room and throughout every floor. As you go up throughout
Speaker 2: the Copper Queen, it sort of feels like you get
Speaker 2: more and more disoriented, Like I still sometimes am like, wait,
Speaker 2: which room is that side on? And it's almost like
Speaker 2: being on a ship. You kind of get up there
Speaker 2: and the energy gets thick with them, I mean, in
Speaker 2: my opinion's spirits. So I mean, people, it really depends
Speaker 2: on what room you're in, what how open you are
Speaker 2: to sensing the energies around you. You know, particularly I
Speaker 2: like Billy's room because I think he's a pretty active
Speaker 2: ghost in our hotel.
Speaker 1: And now, which room is Billy's Room.
Speaker 2: Four twelve, so top floor.
Speaker 1: Okay, And what happens in there? What can people expect
Speaker 1: to experience?
Speaker 2: Well, my personal experience when I was in there was
Speaker 2: that I kept waking up in the middle of the
Speaker 2: night hearing what sounded like a little kid running back
Speaker 2: and forth like and it sounded to me like it
Speaker 2: was just at the foot of the bed, so he
Speaker 2: would just it didn't sound like it was coming from
Speaker 2: the hallway or ups or you know, there is no
Speaker 2: upstairs right above me, so downstairs or anywhere else. It
Speaker 2: sounded like it was just like you know how kids
Speaker 2: will do that, They'll run back and forth and back
Speaker 2: and forth. And it kept waking me up in the
Speaker 2: middle of the night. And on the third night, I
Speaker 2: whipped out of bed and I went out the door
Speaker 2: because I'm like, this has got to be a kid
Speaker 2: running in the hallway, even though it sounded like it
Speaker 2: was in the room. And yeah, there was no kid there.
Speaker 2: There was no one staying on that floor at all.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that could catch some people off guard.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think he's harmless. What I started
Speaker 2: doing is leaving candy on There's two beds in that room,
Speaker 2: so I would leave candy all the way on the
Speaker 2: other side of the room, kind of on the other
Speaker 2: side of the other bed over there, and the running
Speaker 2: noise is stopped, but the candies would be slightly pulled
Speaker 2: under the bed.
Speaker 1: I always wonder what happens when we do that, because
Speaker 1: I've done that before, and I'm like, is the ghosts
Speaker 1: upset with me because I'm giving it candy and it
Speaker 1: can't have the candy? Or can it have the candy?
Speaker 1: Or is it like ghosts cbs where like they can
Speaker 1: smell the candy. I have so many questions.
Speaker 2: I guess it probably depends on the spirit, would be
Speaker 2: my opinion on that, you know, because maybe, yeah, I
Speaker 2: think it would depend on the spirit. Were they all
Speaker 2: already angry in the first place? Are they more just
Speaker 2: a playful spirit like I think Billy is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. I love that I see. I feel
Speaker 1: like sometimes hotels, just because having investigated so many of
Speaker 1: them at this point, I sometimes I feel like, and
Speaker 1: I think we've talked about this on the show before,
Speaker 1: how they kind of become a place not just for
Speaker 1: people who died there, but people who really enjoyed visiting
Speaker 1: it in life for whatever reason. Absolutely, And I kind
Speaker 1: of get that vibe from the Copper Queen. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like those are thereist those kind Absolutely?
Speaker 2: Most recently I was talking about that with we had
Speaker 2: Patty Nagrie come up to the hotel. We had her
Speaker 2: here just a few weeks ago, and me and her
Speaker 2: got to do some ghost hunting and we were talking
Speaker 2: about one of the rooms. There was a very strange
Speaker 2: energy in and we were communicating with the spirit in
Speaker 2: that room. This was on the third floor, and it
Speaker 2: wasn't a that died there, It was just a spirit
Speaker 2: that had good times there. I mean, this hotel is
Speaker 2: so old. I think a lot of people have come
Speaker 2: through and enjoyed themselves here and maybe even if they
Speaker 2: didn't pass on the premise, have come back from a
Speaker 2: more permanent stay.
Speaker 1: Right, And I do feel like I think, just coming
Speaker 1: from the human perspective, you know, why wouldn't we want
Speaker 1: to revisit places where we had wonderful memories? And I mean,
Speaker 1: if we had that ability, if I could close my
Speaker 1: eyes right now and fly off somewhere and relive or
Speaker 1: be somewhere that made me really happy. I would absolutely
Speaker 1: do that, So it makes sense. How do your guests feel.
Speaker 1: Do most people that come do they know that they're
Speaker 1: staying at a haunted hotel? Or does this ever catch
Speaker 1: people off guard?
Speaker 2: I think most people know. I think what catches people
Speaker 2: off guard sometimes sometimes it excites them. Sometimes it catches
Speaker 2: them a little bit off guard is when they ask, so,
Speaker 2: is it haunted? And I tell them absolutely yes. Sometimes
Speaker 2: they're a little unsure or or oh no, or you know,
Speaker 2: or they don't want to really be in a haunted room,
Speaker 2: or they ask me, well, which room is not the
Speaker 2: least haunted, and I'm like, I can't really help you.
Speaker 2: The whole hotel is a little haunted, you know, but
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean in a bad way. That doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that spirits are going to hurt or scare you or
Speaker 2: anything like that, you know.
Speaker 1: Right, But some people are just very scared of the
Speaker 1: idea of ghosts. And I don't you know, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, like you were saying that hotel, I think
Speaker 1: that it is kind of an energy throughout the entire building.
Speaker 1: I think I'm sure you know, there's probably certain rooms
Speaker 1: that might be more haunted for whatever reasons. But like
Speaker 1: you were just saying, I don't think that necessarily gets
Speaker 1: you out of having an experience for sure.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, there's no promises with that, because I think
Speaker 2: that a lot of the ghosts, the spirits and energies,
Speaker 2: you know, travel around through halls in different rooms. But
Speaker 2: there are definitely a few rooms that i'd say are
Speaker 2: like occupied.
Speaker 1: You know, well, let's talk about those. What would you like?
Speaker 1: What rooms do you think are maybe the most active
Speaker 1: in what happens in them?
Speaker 2: So I'd say, again, Billy's is probably the most active
Speaker 2: in my own experience. I always sends him whenever I'm
Speaker 2: in that room. And when we also did a seance
Speaker 2: recently with Patty and Agree, and we were communicating with
Speaker 2: the spirits of the hotel, and we found out that
Speaker 2: Billy doesn't really come downstairs. You know, they say that
Speaker 2: only children can really see Billy. So a lot of
Speaker 2: children say they see him jumping on the couch and
Speaker 2: the lobby. But my guess at that would be because
Speaker 2: I don't think Billy comes downstairs. I only ever sends
Speaker 2: him right outside of that room or in that room upstairs,
Speaker 2: And I think that there's actually two children ghosts in
Speaker 2: our dining room downstairs, and I think they run around
Speaker 2: the lobby and jump on the couch. And these two
Speaker 2: have actually been captured on camera. And it's the reason
Speaker 2: that our dining room is named nineteen oh two the
Speaker 2: Spirit Room.
Speaker 1: Oh, how interesting? And so what's the connection that they
Speaker 1: just they call it nineteen oh two the Spirit room
Speaker 1: because it's haunted or was there something specific?
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, because the spirits are haunting that the two
Speaker 2: that we have on in that picture there, and it's
Speaker 2: really clear. You can see it really looks clearly looks
Speaker 2: like two children ghost ghosts in the background of the picture.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's fascinating. I'll have to see if I can
Speaker 1: find it online and link it to people so they
Speaker 1: can check it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll see if I can send it to you too.
Speaker 1: I think that's great that you name your restaurant after
Speaker 1: your ghosts.
Speaker 2: It's I mean, they were probably here first.
Speaker 1: So absolutely. Okay, So what are some other rooms? I
Speaker 1: feel like I thought two eighteen or something, but I
Speaker 1: could be misremembering. Are there other rooms?
Speaker 2: There's Julia Loll which is three point fifteen.
Speaker 1: Oh, okay, that might be it.
Speaker 2: Jually A Lull was a prostitute in sometime in the
Speaker 2: early nineteen hundreds, and her father was actually the first
Speaker 2: manager here and he knew she was running her business
Speaker 2: as an escort, and he just wanted her to be
Speaker 2: close by him. So he had her setup in a
Speaker 2: room which was which is still near a back exit
Speaker 2: of the hotel, so that her johns could come and go.
Speaker 2: And the story goes that she fell in love with
Speaker 2: one of them who was married, and he didn't reciprocate
Speaker 2: that love and didn't want to leave his wife, and
Speaker 2: she hung herself in the rafters right outside of the room.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, And so I can imagine that room has
Speaker 1: some stories to tell. What happens when people stay in
Speaker 1: that room.
Speaker 2: Well, people will say, men will say they feel very
Speaker 2: very easy in that room. Women sleep just fine. Men
Speaker 2: will say that their feet are tickled or scratched or
Speaker 2: pulled in the middle of the night. I know people
Speaker 2: have had a lot of experiences in that room. I've
Speaker 2: only been slept in that room one time, and I
Speaker 2: felt very safe and protected. And then again when Patty
Speaker 2: was here, she was saying that Julia Lull had taken
Speaker 2: some kind of liking to me and follows me around
Speaker 2: here at the hotel when I'm working.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's great, she's seeing another child of the proprietor. Now,
Speaker 1: would you say that most of the spirits there are
Speaker 1: intelligent or do you think there are some that are
Speaker 1: just kind of more residual in nature, just kind of
Speaker 1: going about their business.
Speaker 2: Oh, I think it definitely varies from both of the
Speaker 2: things you just said, Like it depends like there's some
Speaker 2: that are more just like residual energies, and it's really
Speaker 2: it's really wild to walk throughout the floors and kind
Speaker 2: of sense that, like that's that same disorienting feeling because
Speaker 2: there's just so many energies and so many memories and
Speaker 2: kind of dollar spirits. But then there's also the stronger
Speaker 2: ones like Billy, like Julia, and then there's another spirit
Speaker 2: two that people don't talk about as much too. One
Speaker 2: is a They call him the no Name Man, or
Speaker 2: he might also be the smoking Man. We're not really sure,
Speaker 2: but it's it's the unnamed room, which is four oh one,
Speaker 2: which almost might be more haunted than Billy's room.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like a more ominous type haunting. Is
Speaker 1: that is that true? Like what happens. Is it just
Speaker 1: a little more I don't want to say negative, but
Speaker 1: just maybe a little more dark or heavy.
Speaker 2: It's kind of creepy feeling. Like most recently people have
Speaker 2: told me they've had they had the same exact experience
Speaker 2: that I had when I was in that room, And
Speaker 2: it kind of felt validating to me because they told
Speaker 2: me right away that they felt uncomfortable sometimes using the shower.
Speaker 2: They felt a little watched over, nothing like evil or harmful,
Speaker 2: but just like there was something keeping an eye on them,
Speaker 2: and the door was creaking open and unlocking and opening
Speaker 2: by itself, not the bathroom door, but the main door.
Speaker 1: I meant those times that you don't want to feel
Speaker 1: like spirits are watching you, it's when you're like in
Speaker 1: the bathroom right, showering and whatnot. I remember, I think,
Speaker 1: I there are years ago. I don't remember that psychic
Speaker 1: Sylvia Brown, she was the next level back in the
Speaker 1: eighties or whatever. Again, my mom was well if you
Speaker 1: google her, she had very big fingernails. She's very famous.
Speaker 1: She did a lot of stuff on like Montell Williams
Speaker 1: and whatnot. But she used to always say that spirits
Speaker 1: were incapable of watching you shower or do your business
Speaker 1: in the bathroom. And I believed her because I was
Speaker 1: like nine. But now I'm thinking, why is there just
Speaker 1: some sort of like spiritual entery, Like I mean, there
Speaker 1: might be you.
Speaker 2: Can kind of try to like block that out, like
Speaker 2: exactly energy away, but I don't know about that being
Speaker 2: from their side, them not being able to I'm not
Speaker 2: sure why that would be possible.
Speaker 1: No, I don't think so. I just thought it was
Speaker 1: so funny later on in life, how I just took
Speaker 1: her word for gospel. I was like, yeah, they can't
Speaker 1: they can't see you.
Speaker 2: They're like, wait a minute, let me think about this.
Speaker 1: They can't watch you. That's too funny. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that's when you feel very vulnerable. So I could
Speaker 1: see why that would be creepy to people. So note
Speaker 1: that folks wanting to stay in room four oh one,
Speaker 1: the no Name room, Peeping Tom ghost potentially yes. And
Speaker 1: now do people ever witness apparitions in the hotel?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I've seen the more out of the
Speaker 2: corner of my eye. I know other people have seen things.
Speaker 2: I know children see spirits a lot around here, and
Speaker 2: then their parents will come and write it down. We
Speaker 2: have ghost logs behind the front desk that anyone at
Speaker 2: all can either look at before their stay or also
Speaker 2: after their stay, right down their own experiences in And
Speaker 2: it's just like a bunch of worn old books with
Speaker 2: just thousands of stories in it of people what they've seen,
Speaker 2: what they've experienced.
Speaker 1: I love that now. I think I've read somewhere those
Speaker 1: went back decades? Is that true? Yes, that's amazing. A
Speaker 1: lot of hotels weren't really doing that type of thing
Speaker 1: that far back, so I mean that must be just
Speaker 1: really valuable information to go through. Like I mean, I
Speaker 1: can't imagine like reading experiences that are happening now, but
Speaker 1: then flipping back in books from like the sixties and
Speaker 1: seventies and seeing that people were reporting the same thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm saying, yeah exactly, and then seeing
Speaker 2: that people are seeing or sensing or experiencing such similar
Speaker 2: things in sometimes like the same room or in the
Speaker 2: same way. And it's so interesting. And I always recommend
Speaker 2: the books to people if they're just waiting in the
Speaker 2: lobby or want to check them out. I mean, I
Speaker 2: find them so interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I would love to flip through those. Now,
Speaker 1: what about shadow figures. Are they something that people see
Speaker 1: regularly in the hotel.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I'm sure they have, and I'm sure
Speaker 2: they're in the logs. I know that I have. I
Speaker 2: know that there's I don't know if we could consider
Speaker 2: him a shadow figure or really what it is. But
Speaker 2: there is a back part of the hotel that is
Speaker 2: kind of like a small alleyway, and one side of
Speaker 2: it is like the back of the building, and then
Speaker 2: there's like a narrow alleyway along there that has kind
Speaker 2: of a cave wall, and it's very, very, very creepy,
Speaker 2: and I always got so creeped out anytime I went
Speaker 2: back there, and I kind of pushed myself to walk
Speaker 2: through that cave alleyway. It goes back pretty far and
Speaker 2: then rounds the corner a little bit, so you can't
Speaker 2: even see the exit, and it's very narrow and cobwebby
Speaker 2: and dimly lit and creepy all around, and I always
Speaker 2: got maybe I just got really spooped and so I
Speaker 2: was kind of hyping it up to myself, But I
Speaker 2: always got an evil feeling back there, And that's the
Speaker 2: only time I've sensed any type of evil or anything
Speaker 2: like that around the hotel at all is that back area,
Speaker 2: and I also saw it looked like I also would
Speaker 2: get that same feeling in the back of the kitchen area,
Speaker 2: and I would go down there sometimes to get some
Speaker 2: waters something, and there would be no one around, you know,
Speaker 2: middle of the night kind of thing, when I was
Speaker 2: staying in the hotel years ago, and I would always
Speaker 2: get that feeling from the very back of the kitchen,
Speaker 2: and it always I saw twice actually what seemed like
Speaker 2: a dark figure darting, but I only saw his back
Speaker 2: leg and it was very clearly like a back leg
Speaker 2: like you know when you just look up and you
Speaker 2: see like the back legs like of someone that just
Speaker 2: ran into the back part of the kitchen. And then
Speaker 2: I did discover after walking through that back alley that
Speaker 2: the back of the kitchen is actually connected to that
Speaker 2: back alley through like a large vent, So it might
Speaker 2: be the same energy that I That would make sense
Speaker 2: why I was sensing it in the back of the
Speaker 2: kitchen and also sensing it in that back alley because
Speaker 2: they're actually connected in the very back that's interesting.
Speaker 1: I was actually going to ask you if they were
Speaker 1: connected in some way, like if there was a door
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't realize it first, and then I went
Speaker 2: that all the way all the way back there because
Speaker 2: I was always too scared to go all the way back.
Speaker 2: And there's a big vent there connecting them. Hmmm.
Speaker 1: Interesting. I mean, who knows what happened in that alley
Speaker 1: right back in the day. It probably saw some things,
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so we actually communicated with that spirit at
Speaker 2: the seance, and his name is sal He says that
Speaker 2: he was poisoned and that he's he's not an evil spirit,
Speaker 2: he's just he's upset and you know, rightfully, so he
Speaker 2: was poisoned. I'm not sure if he knows who or what,
Speaker 2: but he's kind of eternally lurking back there looking for
Speaker 2: the poison that killed him, or you know, looking for answers,
Speaker 2: and and that's what we discovered when we communicated with
Speaker 2: him at the seance.
Speaker 1: Well, that's great that you're like having full communication with them,
Speaker 1: you know, that's really valuable. That was gonna be my
Speaker 1: next question, like who were your most chatty ghosts and
Speaker 1: what do they seem to to want to let you
Speaker 1: know about?
Speaker 2: So, yeah, Saal was actually probably one of the most
Speaker 2: chatty ghosts during that because the sales was held in
Speaker 2: the dining room, which is, you know, right next to
Speaker 2: the kitchen and all that. And I was trying to
Speaker 2: express that like I sent something evil back there and
Speaker 2: it's not Maybe it's not sal Maybe it's not that spirit.
Speaker 2: And Patty suggested that she felt like there might be
Speaker 2: a presence of a portal back there and maybe and
Speaker 2: with a portal, sometimes more evil things slipped through or
Speaker 2: show themselves in that area. And I'm like, Okay, that
Speaker 2: would make a lot of sense why that area feels
Speaker 2: so heavy and disorienting. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I also find that some of these you know,
Speaker 1: locations that become you know, sort of investigated a lot
Speaker 1: or talked about a lot as far as ghosts and hauntings,
Speaker 1: they almost act as a bit of a beacon to
Speaker 1: spirits in the area because they know people are there
Speaker 1: actively look to talk to them. It's almost, you know,
Speaker 1: they're just kind of like, I mean, I imagine anyway, this
Speaker 1: is just me and my but I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: I've just yeah, especially with the hotel, but I've met
Speaker 1: so many spirits over the years and my investigations that
Speaker 1: aren't from anywhere near where I'm investigating, but they kind
Speaker 1: of expressed this. You know, no one was paying attention
Speaker 1: to us, but we could we could see ghosts getting
Speaker 1: interaction here, and so that could be it too. Now
Speaker 1: have there been Are there any ghosts there you feel
Speaker 1: like might have any sort of unfinished business other than
Speaker 1: poisoned sou that might need something or want help? Or
Speaker 1: do you feel like they're all pretty at ease and
Speaker 1: okay with being there?
Speaker 2: Well? I did wonder about that, but I think they're
Speaker 2: here by choice. I mean we did communicate with them
Speaker 2: throughout the ghost hunt. I would ask every room we
Speaker 2: went into and every spirit that reached out to us,
Speaker 2: I would say, can I ask a question? And I
Speaker 2: would ask, are you trapped here? Is there anything I
Speaker 2: can do for you? Like? I love this hotel, This
Speaker 2: is my family's hotel. I love the spirits here, I
Speaker 2: love the people here. You know, this hotel is my life,
Speaker 2: And so I would ask them, what is there anything
Speaker 2: I can do for you? And they all said that
Speaker 2: they're here by choice, and we didn't sense any type
Speaker 2: of you know, struggle with that. I think some of
Speaker 2: them are pained by what was going on in their
Speaker 2: previous lives or their deaths, but I don't think there's
Speaker 2: any spirits that are trapped here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, are there any any rumors about the hotel
Speaker 1: or supposed ghost stories or history that many people believe
Speaker 1: to be true? But you know it's not or like
Speaker 1: anything false out there that you would love to correct,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's a lot like.
Speaker 1: Sometimes those urban legends go around and you're like, nah,
Speaker 1: it's not true.
Speaker 2: Especially in a yes. Yeah, I mean the one that
Speaker 2: I hear like a lot is that Billy is downstairs
Speaker 2: jumping on the couch. But I already said, like, I
Speaker 2: think that. I don't think Billy comes down here at all.
Speaker 2: I think that's the children ghost in the in the
Speaker 2: dining room. Maybe the smoking Man. I'm not sure if
Speaker 2: the smoking I don't think I've really seen the smoking man.
Speaker 2: A lot of people say they see him around the
Speaker 2: third floor wearing a top hat and that it smells
Speaker 2: like cigars. I think they say the third floor, but
Speaker 2: I haven't really had any run ins with him, although
Speaker 2: he may be the same ghost that haunts for a
Speaker 2: one so I'm not sure. I'm not sure about that one.
Speaker 1: Now, So if people do want to come visit the
Speaker 1: Copper queen. I mean, I don't. Do you guys offer
Speaker 1: ghost tours investigations? Do they just stay? Do they eat
Speaker 1: an the Delicious restaurant? Like what do you recommend?
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I yeah, we have our dining room, we
Speaker 2: have our saloon. Anyone is welcome to come in and
Speaker 2: take a look on all the floors and go on
Speaker 2: our second floor landing. We have a beautiful piano you
Speaker 2: can sit down and play. We have some game tables
Speaker 2: up there. We also have Lavender jeep tours in town.
Speaker 2: We have ghost tours that are available. You can ask
Speaker 2: about them at the front desk, not through us particularly,
Speaker 2: although I will say I'm actually working on something right
Speaker 2: now to bring back ghost tours within the hotel. We
Speaker 2: used to do it a long time ago, and I'm
Speaker 2: working on bringing that back. So pretty soon here we'll
Speaker 2: probably be having more like insider ghost tours, you know
Speaker 2: where I have a lot of stories. I'm sure if
Speaker 2: you really get me going, I would just go on
Speaker 2: and on about because, like I said, I've stayed in
Speaker 2: almost every room, you know, so I realized that through
Speaker 2: the last ghost hunt with Patty Nagree that I'm like,
Speaker 2: I have endless stories about this place. I think we
Speaker 2: should bring this back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would love to. I love that town. It's
Speaker 1: so fun. It seems kind of artsy and quirky, and
Speaker 1: I love that about it. And the hotel's beautiful and haunted,
Speaker 1: which is what we all love. So I highly recommend
Speaker 1: a visit to anyone out there listening. And Jenna, you've
Speaker 1: been lovely. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and I just wanted to say one more
Speaker 2: thing too. We are also doing a lot of events
Speaker 2: coming up. Stay tuned on Instagram and on our website
Speaker 2: and Facebook, and keep an eye out for all the
Speaker 2: cool events coming up that we're going to be having.
Speaker 1: I love that well, thank you again, super appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and hopefully I will it won't be fifteen years before
Speaker 1: I visit next time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, please come out anytime, and maybe I'll take you
Speaker 2: on on a little ghost hunt and I'll probably remember
Speaker 2: a lot more stories than too.
Speaker 1: The Copper Queen is one of the most famous haunts
Speaker 1: in Arizona, and I think it's the perfect example of
Speaker 1: a hotel that continues to be a beacon for guests,
Speaker 1: living and otherwise. So many stories have emerged from this
Speaker 1: ornate beauty in the middle of a mountain mining town.
Speaker 1: Some beautiful, some terrifying, but it certainly sounds like something
Speaker 1: you should experience for yourself. Who knows, maybe you'll become
Speaker 1: part of its story too. I'm Amy Bruney and this
Speaker 1: was Haunted Road. Haunted Road is hosted and written by
Speaker 1: me Amy Bruney, with additional research by Taylor Haggerdorn and
Speaker 1: Cassandra de Alba. This show is edited and produced by
Speaker 1: rema El Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. Haunted Road
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from
Speaker 1: Aaron Manke. Learn more about this show over at Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild, and for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.