Speaker 1: Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky listener. Discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: The following is a news report that appeared on October fourth,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, in the Territorial Enterprise, the leading newspaper
Speaker 1: in Virginia City, Nevada at the time. A petrified man
Speaker 1: was found some time ago in the mountains south of
Speaker 1: gravelly Ford. Every limb and feature of the stony mummy
Speaker 1: was perfect, not even excepting the left leg, which has
Speaker 1: evidently been a wooden one during the lifetime of the owner,
Speaker 1: which lifetime, by the way, came to a close about
Speaker 1: a century ago. In the opinion of a savant who
Speaker 1: has examined the defunct the body was in a sitting
Speaker 1: posture and leaning against a huge mass of croppings. The
Speaker 1: attitude was pensive, the right thumb resting against the side
Speaker 1: of the nose, The left thumb partially supported the chin,
Speaker 1: the forefinger pressing the inner corner of the left eye
Speaker 1: and drawing it partly open. The right eye was closed,
Speaker 1: and the fingers of the right hand spread apart. This
Speaker 1: strange freak of nature created a profound sensation in the
Speaker 1: vicinity and our informants states that by request, just As
Speaker 1: Sewell or Soul of Humboldt City at once proceeded to
Speaker 1: the spot and held an inquest on the body. The
Speaker 1: verdict of the jury was that deceased came to his
Speaker 1: death from protracted exposure. The people of the neighborhood volunteered
Speaker 1: to bury the poor unfortunate, and were even anxious to
Speaker 1: do so, But it was discovered when they attempted to
Speaker 1: remove him, that the water which had dripped upon him
Speaker 1: for ages from the crag above, had coursed down his
Speaker 1: back and deposited a limestone ediment under him, which had
Speaker 1: glued him to the bedrock upon which he sat. And
Speaker 1: Judge s refused to allow the charitable citizens to blast
Speaker 1: him from his position. The opinion expressed by his honor
Speaker 1: that such a course would be little less than sacrilege,
Speaker 1: was eminently just and proper. Everybody goes to see the Stoneman,
Speaker 1: as many as three hundred having visited the hardened creature
Speaker 1: during the past five or six weeks. A remarkable story. Yes, however,
Speaker 1: not a word of it was true. But in the
Speaker 1: eighteen sixties version of going viral, the story was reprinted
Speaker 1: in multiple newspapers across the country and eventually around the
Speaker 1: world before its author and Mr. Samuel Clemens later known
Speaker 1: as Mark Twain, owned up to his hoax. Clemmens, pursuing
Speaker 1: a career in mining, had settled in Virginia City, but
Speaker 1: has turned his efforts to journalism, and Virginia City is
Speaker 1: where he got his start. According to Hoaxes dot Org.
Speaker 1: Twain later admitted that he was surprised at how many
Speaker 1: people were fooled by his story. It was his first
Speaker 1: attempt at a hoax, and when he penned it he
Speaker 1: had considered it a string of roaring absurdities. But once
Speaker 1: he realized how well his deception had succeeded, he admitted
Speaker 1: feeling a soothing secret satisfaction, especially since his goal was
Speaker 1: to mock Judge Sewell. Seems though, that if Mark Twain
Speaker 1: had stuck around those dusty streets in the hills a
Speaker 1: little bit longer, he may not have had to resort
Speaker 1: to his famous satire, because even today, one hundred sixty
Speaker 1: years later, the ghost stories coming out of Nevada's most
Speaker 1: famous boom town are prevalent, captivating, and downright terrifying. I'm
Speaker 1: amy Brunei and this is Haunted Road. Virginia City is
Speaker 1: near the western border of Nevada. It is the seat
Speaker 1: of Story County. The town steeply set on the side
Speaker 1: of a mountain purchased precariously over miles of tunnels and
Speaker 1: shafts remaining from the mining glory days. C Street is
Speaker 1: the main thoroughfare, while streets lettered B and a home
Speaker 1: of the town's wealthy, are up the hill. D Street
Speaker 1: to our Street continued down the hill, originally home to
Speaker 1: the Red Light District, V and T railroad depot, the
Speaker 1: Chinese quarter pay You Wicki Ups that's one of the
Speaker 1: local tribes in the area, and or stamp mills. The
Speaker 1: remnants of the mines are scattered throughout the entire town.
Speaker 1: It's one of many communities that began as a boom town,
Speaker 1: but it's not just any boom town. Virginia City was
Speaker 1: established in eighteen fifty nine with the discovery of the
Speaker 1: comstock Load, the first major silver deposit discovery in the
Speaker 1: United States. After this discovery was made public, it sparked
Speaker 1: a silver rush of prospectors to the area, scrambling to
Speaker 1: stake their claims. The discovery caused considerable excitement in California
Speaker 1: and throughout the United States, the greatest since the gold
Speaker 1: Rush in eighteen forty nine. Mining camp soon thrived in
Speaker 1: the Vicinity, which became bustling commercial centers, including Virginia City
Speaker 1: and Gold Hill. While the quest for gold may have
Speaker 1: been the sirens song that brought many men out west,
Speaker 1: it was silver that made men's fortunes in Nevada. The
Speaker 1: Comstock load is one of the most important mining discoveries
Speaker 1: in American history, yielding both silver and gold, being the
Speaker 1: first major silver discovery in United States history. Of the
Speaker 1: total ore taken out from the area, approximately fifty seven
Speaker 1: percent was silver and forty two was gold. It is
Speaker 1: the most dramatic event in Nevada's nineteenth century history, with
Speaker 1: men making and losing fortunes within a short span of years,
Speaker 1: and just under twenty years between eighteen fifty nine and
Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight, about four hundred million dollars in silver
Speaker 1: and gold was taken out of the comstock, a staggering
Speaker 1: number for the times. How did Virginia's city get its name,
Speaker 1: you know, being nowhere near Virginia, Well, it was thanks
Speaker 1: to a series of discoveries and thanks to a man
Speaker 1: named Henry Old Pancake Comstock. Why did we stop giving
Speaker 1: people nicknames like this in the wake of the gold rush?
Speaker 1: James Old Virginie Finney, I'm sensing a theme here and
Speaker 1: friends initially had luck panning for gold and what they
Speaker 1: dubbed Gold Hill, But as the months passed and the
Speaker 1: miners dug deeper, they eventually hit a deposit of difficult
Speaker 1: to work clay that had very little gold in it.
Speaker 1: Most deposits of gold are small, so when the miners
Speaker 1: ran out of the easy diggings, they assumed they found
Speaker 1: all there was. That's what happened to Old Virginie. The
Speaker 1: gold ran out, so he moved on regardless. His name
Speaker 1: was forever associated with the area and stuck instantly. That June,
Speaker 1: just a mile down the hill to miners named Peter
Speaker 1: O'Reilly and Pat McLoughlin struggled to make a off it
Speaker 1: on a nine foot long claim they had staked for themselves.
Speaker 1: The claim was yielding only one or two dollars worth
Speaker 1: of gold a day, and the men had learned about
Speaker 1: richer claims near the West Walker River, about twenty five
Speaker 1: miles away, but they decided to stick around a little longer,
Speaker 1: probably until they made enough money to pay for the move.
Speaker 1: It takes water to sift gold out of sand and dirt,
Speaker 1: and the closest water source was a tiny spring that
Speaker 1: the men decided to dam up with some strange bluish
Speaker 1: sand they'd uncovered nearby. Almost on a whim, they tossed
Speaker 1: some of the odd sand into the rocker to see
Speaker 1: if it contained any gold. It was heavy and difficult
Speaker 1: to work with, but when they cleared it away, they
Speaker 1: were stunned to see that the entire bottom of the
Speaker 1: rocker was covered in a layer of shimmering gold. Where
Speaker 1: Old Virginny had recovered gold by the ounce. O'Reilly and
Speaker 1: McLoughlin were mining it by the pound. As O'Reilly and
Speaker 1: McLoughlin celebrated their whimsical find, Old Pancake happened to come
Speaker 1: around when Comstock saw the goal. He hopped off his
Speaker 1: pony and told the two men that they were prospecting
Speaker 1: on land that he and a partner had already claimed
Speaker 1: for a ranch. In those days, you could claim unoccupied
Speaker 1: land for a ranch just as easily as you could
Speaker 1: stake a mining claim. Comstock told the trespassers that if
Speaker 1: they would let him and his partner, Emmanuel Penrod become
Speaker 1: equal partners in the claim, he wouldn't take them to court. Furthermore,
Speaker 1: if he and Penrod were given on fet of the
Speaker 1: claim to work by themselves, he'd even let them use
Speaker 1: the water from his stream. The claim that Old Pancake
Speaker 1: mentioned that one has yet to be uncovered, if it
Speaker 1: existed at all, but the credit he's been given is very,
Speaker 1: very real. Thankfully they stuck with the name Comstock Load
Speaker 1: and not Old Pancake Load. I will see myself out.
Speaker 1: In text from the eighteen seventies, it was reported that
Speaker 1: people began to speak of the vein as Comstock's mine
Speaker 1: Comstock's load, While the names of O'Reilly and McLoughlin, the
Speaker 1: first real discoverers, are seldom heard. The Comstock load discovery
Speaker 1: and subsequent growth of Virginia City is unequaled in the
Speaker 1: history of the American West. More money was produced by
Speaker 1: the Comstock Load than the entire California Gold Rush a
Speaker 1: decade before. By eighteen seventy six, Nevada produced over half
Speaker 1: of all the precious metals in the United States, over
Speaker 1: four hundred million in the coinage of the day. Coming
Speaker 1: from Virginia Cities mines. The wealth supported the Northern Pause
Speaker 1: during the Civil War and flooded the world monetary markets,
Speaker 1: compelling significant economic change. With wealth came a population boom.
Speaker 1: Virginia Cities population grew from eighteen fifty nine through the
Speaker 1: eighteen seventies, with a peak estimated twenty five thousand residents.
Speaker 1: Between eighteen sixty two and eighteen sixty three alone, Virginia
Speaker 1: Cities population increased from four thousand to fifteen thousand residents,
Speaker 1: making it one of the largest cities in America's Southwest. Predictably,
Speaker 1: as four rose power struggles emerged through time, the ownership
Speaker 1: of comstock minds changed from numerous independent minds to large monopolies.
Speaker 1: The Bank of California Bank crowd dominated by William Sharon
Speaker 1: in Virginia City and William Ralston and San Francisco, financed
Speaker 1: the mines and mills of the comstock until they had
Speaker 1: a virtual monopoly. By manipulating stock through rumors and false
Speaker 1: reports of mining wealth, fortunes could be made in the
Speaker 1: stocks of Virginia Cities mines. Miners were actually locked in
Speaker 1: the mines forbidden to leave until false reports of new
Speaker 1: leads spread far and fast, and stock prizes rose precipitously.
Speaker 1: By the late eighteen sixties, a group of Irish investors
Speaker 1: threatened the bank crowd's control. John Mackey and partner James
Speaker 1: Fair began as common miners, working their way up to
Speaker 1: management positions in the mines. By purchasing mining stocks, they
Speaker 1: realized financial independence. Their partners, James Flood and William O'Brien,
Speaker 1: stayed in San Francisco and speculated in stock. The Irish
Speaker 1: Big Four, as the men were called, eventually controlled the
Speaker 1: consolidated Virginia mine, where the Big Bonanza or Chamber was
Speaker 1: discovered in eighteen seventy three. The next few years saw
Speaker 1: the greatest profits on the comstock. As the bank crowd
Speaker 1: lost control to the Irish Big Four. John Mackie became
Speaker 1: the richest man in the world, establishing the company that
Speaker 1: became A T and T and laying the first transatlantic
Speaker 1: communications cable. Mackie's mansion still stands and welcomes visitors to
Speaker 1: this day. Originally built in eighteen fifty nine by George Hurst,
Speaker 1: Mackie purchased the lavish home in eighteen seventy one. Thereafter,
Speaker 1: he used it as a mining office and as a
Speaker 1: main residence for the miners who did the bulk of
Speaker 1: the work. The work was plentiful, but very dangerous and
Speaker 1: often fatal. Mining operations were hindered by the extreme temperatures
Speaker 1: in the minds caused by natural hot springs in the winter.
Speaker 1: Miners with snow you to the mines and then have
Speaker 1: to descend to work in high temperatures. These harsh conditions
Speaker 1: contributed to a low life expectancy and earned miners the
Speaker 1: nickname of hot water plugs. By the time of solution
Speaker 1: to this problem was devised, the load had dwindled significantly
Speaker 1: and population dropped off by eighteen eighty. When Virginia City
Speaker 1: was at its highest point in the mid eighteen seventies,
Speaker 1: it experienced a tragic blow, the Great Fire of eighteen seventy.
Speaker 1: This infamous event caused twelve million dollars in damage, and
Speaker 1: according to an onlooker, the world was on fire, a
Speaker 1: square mile of roaring flames. The main mine shafts were
Speaker 1: largely spared, while much of the town burned and two
Speaker 1: thousand people were left homeless. In the years after the
Speaker 1: Great Fire, Virginia City did rebuild, but most of the
Speaker 1: original structures were gone, as were its inhabitants. The timing
Speaker 1: of the fire seems like a nail in the coffin
Speaker 1: of Virginia Cities success and its people left just as
Speaker 1: the load was scraped dry. By eighteen seventy nine, the
Speaker 1: population fell to just under eleven thousand. While Virginia City
Speaker 1: never quite saw the action it did in its heyday,
Speaker 1: it's still quite the booming little town in the hills.
Speaker 1: There's a few notable and very haunted structures, So let's
Speaker 1: get into their history and then we'll get into their ghosts.
Speaker 1: A place I visited and investigated many times is called
Speaker 1: the wash Show Club. The wash Show Club, also known
Speaker 1: as the Millionaires Club, was a social group established in
Speaker 1: February of eighteen seventy five by sixty elite charter members
Speaker 1: who paid in one hundred fifty dollars each, making nine
Speaker 1: thousand dollars with which to start after attendance was capped
Speaker 1: at two hundred people. Within two months, the club had
Speaker 1: purchased the Reynolds Building at eight and ten B Street
Speaker 1: and promptly began renovating the structure to the organization's luxurious requirements.
Speaker 1: On June one, eight seventy five, five the renovated club
Speaker 1: space on B Street was opened. However, within less than
Speaker 1: five months, the palatial club rooms were consumed by the
Speaker 1: flames from that fire of eighteen seventy five. At some point,
Speaker 1: members defaulted on payments, and in general the club was interrupted.
Speaker 1: In March of eighteen seventy six, the members agreed to
Speaker 1: sell the lot on B Street and rent and renovate
Speaker 1: rooms elsewhere. This was accomplished by September third, eighteen seventy six,
Speaker 1: when new quarters opened up on Douglas Street. These were
Speaker 1: apparently even more elegant and convenient than the previous rooms
Speaker 1: on B Street. In its heyday, the Washoe Club housed
Speaker 1: one of the finest libraries east of San Francisco, an
Speaker 1: elegant billiard room, a parlor adorned with Italian marble and
Speaker 1: bronze statuettes, and a wine room that boasted an elaborately
Speaker 1: carved black walnut sideboard. The club's membership roster read like
Speaker 1: a who's who of the Comstock and Pacific host history,
Speaker 1: and the pages of the club's register were filled with
Speaker 1: the signatures of people like General Ulysses S. Grant, General
Speaker 1: Robert Sherman, actor, lecturer Artemis Ward, actor Edwin Booth, and
Speaker 1: railroad magnate Darius Ogden Mills, and as many as fifty
Speaker 1: other millionaires of international reputation. By the time wash Show
Speaker 1: Club was back to its renewed glory, the production of
Speaker 1: the miners had fallen drastically. Bonanza dividends for the first
Speaker 1: three months of eighteen seventy six average ten dollars per
Speaker 1: share and then skidded to two dollars per share by
Speaker 1: year's end. By the end of the decade, dividends on
Speaker 1: the comstock were down to fifty cents per share. A
Speaker 1: disastrous underground fire in eighteen eighty one reaked further havoc
Speaker 1: on the production of mines and on the ability of
Speaker 1: the wash Show Club members to continue to indulge in luxury.
Speaker 1: Membership continued to drop off, and monthly dues were reduced
Speaker 1: to two dollars fifty cents. By eighteen ninety seven, the
Speaker 1: wash Show Clubs ceased to exist, and the Territorial Enterprise
Speaker 1: of September nineteen seven said the wash Show Club is
Speaker 1: no more. Piper's Opera House was another entertainment destination in
Speaker 1: town from the eighteen sixties all the way to the
Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, Piper's Opera House attracted famous stars from Europe
Speaker 1: and the United States. Today it attracts ghost hunters and
Speaker 1: lovers of history as one of the most significant vintage
Speaker 1: theaters on the West Coast. Throughout its many iterations, the
Speaker 1: Opera House remained a family owned and operated establishment, whether
Speaker 1: it housed musical acts or museum goers until nineteen It
Speaker 1: was originally constructed by John Piper, one of the numerous
Speaker 1: businessmen drawn by the promise of mining. John Piper arrived
Speaker 1: in Virginia City in eighteen sixty. Shortly afterwards, he was
Speaker 1: involved in several businesses, including a brick business office on
Speaker 1: B and Union Street and the theater on D Street,
Speaker 1: which he renamed Piper Opera House. Inside, Piper operated a
Speaker 1: saloon and kept his personal office on site. The saloon
Speaker 1: was a gateway drug of sorts, leading Piper to encourage
Speaker 1: and invest in the arts. The theater was one of
Speaker 1: three that he maintained and successfully used to lure performers
Speaker 1: to tour the region. The theater on D Street appealed
Speaker 1: to a broad selection of professional performers, including the Booth family, Houdini, W. C. Fields,
Speaker 1: and John Philip SUSA, to name a few. However, the
Speaker 1: first structure on D Street was unfortunately one of the
Speaker 1: many structural victims of the Great Fire of eighteen seventy five.
Speaker 1: Though his first Piper Opera House was burned to a
Speaker 1: crisp on D Street, his brick saloon on Northby and
Speaker 1: Union Street survived. He rebuilt his new theater right behind
Speaker 1: his break office building and saloon. The brick front building
Speaker 1: was divided into three sections. Far left was the saloon,
Speaker 1: the middle section acted as the entry hall, and the
Speaker 1: room on the right was his business office. Hyper opera
Speaker 1: house and saloon once again opened in eighteen seventy eight,
Speaker 1: much to the joy of its fans. Unfortunately, fire damaged
Speaker 1: the theater five years after it was rebuilt. Like the
Speaker 1: Great Fire, the brick facade was spared. John Piper was
Speaker 1: momentarily discouraged and didn't plan to rebuild it again because
Speaker 1: the mines were playing out and he could see the
Speaker 1: writing on the wall. However, the people of Virginia City
Speaker 1: and his family convinced him otherwise to get back up
Speaker 1: on the horse. So using wood from old mines and
Speaker 1: collecting the unburned wood from his second destroyed Piper Opera House.
Speaker 1: John Piper once again rebuilt the barn like auditorium right
Speaker 1: behind his brick saloon in office. The third iteration, constructed
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty five, was unscathed by fire and operated
Speaker 1: until nineteen twenty four, when the mines were once in
Speaker 1: for all played out. The late Victorian construction still stands.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen forties, Pipers was reopened as a museum.
Speaker 1: Then Louise Driggs, great granddaughter of the original John Piper,
Speaker 1: began restoration efforts in the nineteen sixties. Driggs also opened
Speaker 1: the opera House for summertime chamber music concerts through nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy two. Stage actors were once again welcome to Pipers
Speaker 1: between the nineteen seventies and mid nineteen eighties. However, family
Speaker 1: finances and wear and tear on the building forced them
Speaker 1: to finally close the house in the eighties. Serious financial
Speaker 1: support for the undertaking didn't come through until the late
Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, when the property was purchased by a nonprofit.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety nine, the opera House reopened to the
Speaker 1: public as a museum, and in the following years Thanks
Speaker 1: to further renovations, Piper's Opera House is a fully functioning
Speaker 1: and sought after performing arts center. Theatrical performances, concerts, nonprofit events,
Speaker 1: and more continued to keep that historic house alive. All
Speaker 1: the parts of the theater aren't the same age, though
Speaker 1: according to some sources, the theater itself is over one
Speaker 1: hundred twenty years old and the brick facade is over
Speaker 1: one hundred forty years old. So after all this history,
Speaker 1: it no wonder Virginia City seems to be teeming with
Speaker 1: the paranormal, so let's talk about some of the hauntings.
Speaker 1: The Mackie Mansion, which we mentioned briefly earlier, is one
Speaker 1: of the first structures to greet you in town and
Speaker 1: also run reported to be the most haunted. Some paranormal
Speaker 1: activity you might experience during your visit includes two little
Speaker 1: girls running on the staircase, a maid supposedly named Harriet
Speaker 1: in the parlor, or a shadow man upstairs. Some stories
Speaker 1: point to John Mackie having a large safe installed in
Speaker 1: the home, and it didn't take long before two bandits
Speaker 1: got word of this and decided to rob it, but
Speaker 1: they failed miserably when confronted by armed guards who shot
Speaker 1: them point blank in the chest. There, ghosts are said
Speaker 1: to haunt the lower floor, just outside the safe. There's
Speaker 1: also the apparition of a woman dressed in Victorian clothing
Speaker 1: who has been seen in the living room and who
Speaker 1: appears on the third floor as well. Many people believe
Speaker 1: this to be the spirit of John Mackie's wife, also
Speaker 1: on the third floor, many tour participants have claimed to
Speaker 1: see the figures of two little girls. Staff of the
Speaker 1: mansion referred to them as Emma and Lily, though their
Speaker 1: role in the mansion is unclear, as they were not
Speaker 1: Mackie's children. Some who participate in the tour claimed to
Speaker 1: feel a tugging at their clothes, and they attribute that
Speaker 1: to the girls wanting to play now. In addition to
Speaker 1: this cast of characters, a servant ghost has been seen
Speaker 1: pacing up and down the stairs hurrying to finish chores,
Speaker 1: and a former army colonel who once lived in the
Speaker 1: house has been spotted in the kitchen. The shadow man,
Speaker 1: who has been seen throughout the home is believed to
Speaker 1: be the ghost of John Mackie himself. The Wash Show Club,
Speaker 1: long thought to be one of the most haunted locations,
Speaker 1: in town is surprisingly low on dark history. I've investigated
Speaker 1: it many times myself, though, and have definitely had experiences there.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure who was responsible for the activity, but
Speaker 1: many believe there to be a resident spirit named Lena.
Speaker 1: Others have spotted what they describe as a scared little girl.
Speaker 1: They all so claimed to have a spirit of an
Speaker 1: old time prospector who causes a ruckus by snatching drinks
Speaker 1: off the bar. Some bartenders leave a nightly shot of
Speaker 1: bourbon out for this particular ghost and claim it is
Speaker 1: always empty in the morning. This bourbon loving ghosts also
Speaker 1: has been known to hold the door open for some
Speaker 1: women as they enter the bar, so more manners than
Speaker 1: some living men I know. Hyper's Opera House didn't really
Speaker 1: start experiencing paranormal activity until renovations began in the nineteen
Speaker 1: nineties and performances returned to the hall. There are no
Speaker 1: known deaths or incidents there, though that certainly has not
Speaker 1: prevented theaters from being haunted in the past, but it
Speaker 1: is speculated that the entities there are connected somehow to
Speaker 1: the building or the land on which it stands. Paranormal
Speaker 1: activity ranges from general manifestations to particularly recognizable and frequently
Speaker 1: seen entities. Many witnesses have reported and seen free floating lights,
Speaker 1: experienced cold spots, apparitions, and mists. Many feel uncomfortable or
Speaker 1: anxious in the building. Others have heard a voice singing. Specifically,
Speaker 1: people have seen a young twentysomething year old woman who
Speaker 1: is seen wearing a blue evening dress. They also witness
Speaker 1: a male entity in a gray suit and top hat
Speaker 1: wearing a handlebar mustache. Now, before we get to the
Speaker 1: interview portion of the show, I just wanted to bring
Speaker 1: up one character in Virginia City who I found particularly fascinating.
Speaker 1: I had not heard of this woman until we started
Speaker 1: researching for this podcast. Julia Blett is quite the striking
Speaker 1: character and probably the most loved sex worker in Virginia City,
Speaker 1: but she was also a significant community member. According to
Speaker 1: some sources, Julia was the only woman, or one of
Speaker 1: the few for a while in Virginia City, so she
Speaker 1: became greatly sought after by the miners. Juel or Julia
Speaker 1: as she became known, was described as a beautiful, tall
Speaker 1: and slim brunett with dark eyes and refined in manner,
Speaker 1: with a humorous, witty personality. A more realistic view of
Speaker 1: Julia was presented by Marian Goldman. She was actually a
Speaker 1: rather plain englishwoman in her mid thirties who came from
Speaker 1: New Orleans to the load in eighteen sixty one or
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, when there were very few respectable women.
Speaker 1: As more sex work institutions popped up, Julia remained an
Speaker 1: independent agent. She operated out of a small cottage that
Speaker 1: she rented near the corner of D and Union Streets
Speaker 1: in Virginia City's Entertainment District. An independent operator, she competed
Speaker 1: with the fancy brothels and seems to have come out
Speaker 1: on top. Julia's home in place of business was a
Speaker 1: two room cottage without a kitchen or indoor plumbing. In
Speaker 1: return for her many kindnesses, Julia was inducted as an
Speaker 1: honorary member of Virginia Engine Number one On July four,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty one. The fireman elected her the queen of
Speaker 1: the Independence Day Parade, and she rode Engine Company Number
Speaker 1: one's firetruck through the town wearing a fireman's hat and
Speaker 1: carrying a brass fire trumpet filled with fresh roses, the
Speaker 1: fireman marching behind. It wasn't all show, though, Julia donated
Speaker 1: hard earned money and physical labor to the firefighting effort,
Speaker 1: even working the water pump herself. On January nineteenth, eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty seven, Julia Bilette dressed and went to see a
Speaker 1: performance at Piper's Opera House. As the story goes, when
Speaker 1: Miss Bilette refused to sit in the section reserved for
Speaker 1: women of the Red Light district, she was escorted out
Speaker 1: of the theater and returned home to enjoy a late dinner.
Speaker 1: The next morning, Julia's made Some sources claim that it
Speaker 1: was a neighbor, possibly named Gertrude, found Julia Bilette murdered
Speaker 1: in her bedroom. She had been strangled and bludgeoned to death.
Speaker 1: Most of her costume, jewelry, and belongings were missing. The
Speaker 1: autopsy determined that strangulation was the cause of death. Although
Speaker 1: several heavy blows were evidently received on her forehead, there
Speaker 1: was no fracture of the skull. Her body bore no
Speaker 1: marks of violence except upon the left hip, where a
Speaker 1: slight puncture of the cuticle was visible. On the day
Speaker 1: of burial, Julia's body was taken to the fire station,
Speaker 1: of which she was an honorary member. Then her body
Speaker 1: was taken from there to the grave at three o'clock
Speaker 1: that afternoon. The story goes that although a funeral occurred,
Speaker 1: the decent populace could not let a woman of easy
Speaker 1: virtue be buried in consecrated ground. She was entombed in
Speaker 1: a lonely grave half a mile east of town. A
Speaker 1: simple wooden plank with the name Julia painted on it
Speaker 1: was all that marked her final resting place. Her gruesome
Speaker 1: and sudden death impacted the community. Virginia City went into
Speaker 1: mourning for her, with the mines, mills and saloons being
Speaker 1: closed down as a mark of respect. On the day
Speaker 1: of her funeral, January one, thousands formed a procession of
Speaker 1: honor behind her black plumed glass walled hurst, first the fireman,
Speaker 1: who were followed by the Nevada militia who played funeral dirges.
Speaker 1: The thousands may or may not be inflated, but a
Speaker 1: contemporary paper explained that the extreme inclemency of the weather
Speaker 1: prevented many from attending the funeral, although there was quite
Speaker 1: a large number, notwithstanding the rain and snow that followed
Speaker 1: her to the grave. Let her faults be buried with
Speaker 1: her and her virtues live, they said. Now The conviction
Speaker 1: of the supposed murderer of Julia could be an entire
Speaker 1: episode itself, but I will say it was quite controversial
Speaker 1: and involved. Eventually, her killer was determined to be John Millen,
Speaker 1: a Frenchman who, according to the gold Hill Daily News
Speaker 1: at the time, was aged about thirty five years, a large,
Speaker 1: heavy built man with a coarse, sonorous voice. He apparently
Speaker 1: followed the business of washing for a living, and it
Speaker 1: is supposed had been doing the clothes washing for his
Speaker 1: victim and thereby became acquainted with the premises where she
Speaker 1: lived and also acquired a knowledge of her effects. On
Speaker 1: the day of his hanging, roughly three to four thousand
Speaker 1: onlookers arrived to watch the site in hooting women with
Speaker 1: children in their arms before he was hanged. In his
Speaker 1: last words, John declared he was not afraid to die
Speaker 1: and cared only for the disgrace the manner of his
Speaker 1: death would bring upon his family and France. So with
Speaker 1: all of that being said, there is still even more
Speaker 1: to talk about regarding Virginia City, and I have Debbie Bender,
Speaker 1: a paranormal investigator and owner of Bats in the Belfry
Speaker 1: Ghost Tours, coming up next to give us all the
Speaker 1: Ghost Lea for one one in town. Now, before I
Speaker 1: bring on our guests for today, I just wanted to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about my history with Virginia City
Speaker 1: because it actually goes back quite a ways. When I
Speaker 1: was a child, I grew up in northern California. I
Speaker 1: was part of a big family, and so we did
Speaker 1: not take trips to Disneyland. We took trips to Lake
Speaker 1: Tahoe to camp, or if we were feeling particularly extravagant,
Speaker 1: my parents might treat us to a trip to Circus
Speaker 1: Circus and Reno. And you know, whenever we took these trips,
Speaker 1: we would always take a little sidebar trip to places
Speaker 1: like Virginia City. And I'll never forget the first time
Speaker 1: I was approaching Virginia City. When you get to Virginia City,
Speaker 1: you literally leave Reno and you just kind of start
Speaker 1: driving and you're basically it feels like in the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere. You're in the high desert. You're traversing these
Speaker 1: very windy roads, and occasionally there's a sign to kind
Speaker 1: of remind you of where you're going, you know, something
Speaker 1: that says like you're approaching the Bucket of Blood Saloon,
Speaker 1: or come see the suicide table. You know, so me
Speaker 1: as a child, I was like, where are my parents
Speaker 1: taking me? And once you get there, it really is
Speaker 1: kind of like stepping back in time. It's just kind
Speaker 1: of nestled up in the hills. Everything looks very much
Speaker 1: like the Old West. I mean, it really is. And
Speaker 1: even then as a child, I was just quite enamored
Speaker 1: by this place, even though, you know, once I got
Speaker 1: to like the suicide table, for example, it was just
Speaker 1: a table in the back of a casino that looked
Speaker 1: very old. So, you know that being said, later on
Speaker 1: in life, I did a lot of investigating in Virginia City.
Speaker 1: It was in pretty close proximity to where I lived,
Speaker 1: and I had a lot of friends in that area,
Speaker 1: and before it was ever really on ghost shows or
Speaker 1: anything like that, we would investigate a number of buildings
Speaker 1: in town and got really great results. But I always
Speaker 1: kind of look back on it, you know, as a
Speaker 1: child being completely obsessed with what seemed to be a
Speaker 1: very morbid history, and then later kind of ending up
Speaker 1: there in the dark looking for ghosts. So many years
Speaker 1: later and now here are again, and like many episodes
Speaker 1: of this podcast that I record, it kind of just
Speaker 1: makes me want to get back there. So that being said,
Speaker 1: I want to bring on my guest for the day.
Speaker 1: So today my guest is Debbie Bender. She is the
Speaker 1: owner of Bats in the Belfree Ghost Tours. She's a
Speaker 1: paranormal investigator herself. She has been leading ghost tours and
Speaker 1: investigations in Virginia City for the last thirteen years, so
Speaker 1: she definitely knows a thing or two about the hauntings there.
Speaker 1: I would say, so, Debbie, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us. Thank you for having me. Of course, you
Speaker 1: came very highly recommended by a mutual friend of ours.
Speaker 1: I was surprised I hadn't met you, but I know
Speaker 1: you and I did chat on the phone many years
Speaker 1: ago about some of the hauntings in town. So can
Speaker 1: you just kind of quickly give us the rundown on
Speaker 1: how you got involved in Virginia City and kind of
Speaker 1: what you're doing there on the day to day. Well,
Speaker 1: I was born in Reno and have been going up
Speaker 1: to Virginia City ever since I was little, and history
Speaker 1: has always been my first love, even before ghost hunting.
Speaker 1: And there's so much history in Virginia City and combining
Speaker 1: the to the history with the ghost and everything the
Speaker 1: more I got into it, the more fascinated I was,
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, this needs to be shared
Speaker 1: with people, and started doing the ghost tours up there,
Speaker 1: and we've been doing it ever since, almost thirteen years. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, what I love about it is that there
Speaker 1: are so many different kind of haunted locations, but they're
Speaker 1: all in very close proximity, Like a lot of them
Speaker 1: are within walking distance of each other, and it's just
Speaker 1: kind of all just nestled in one little place. But
Speaker 1: they all have very different stories and very different hauntings
Speaker 1: and very different bits of history. And you know, one
Speaker 1: of the things I find really interesting in some of
Speaker 1: these older like mining towns, is there's so much folklore
Speaker 1: and lore that you have to sort of sort through, um,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean a Virginia city is famous for that.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I love about
Speaker 1: the town is there's so many legends, and I'm a
Speaker 1: firm believer that within every legend there's that kernel of truth.
Speaker 1: You just have to dig a little bit to find it.
Speaker 1: But it's just this wonderful, like colorful quilt of stories.
Speaker 1: It's funny because I do remember just having visited so
Speaker 1: much and unfortunately haven't been there. I don't think i've
Speaker 1: been back in over ten years, but I do remember
Speaker 1: even the locals today just being kind of very colorful people,
Speaker 1: filled with stories, and I just kind of almost felt
Speaker 1: like they were like directly connected to or like somehow
Speaker 1: just part of the heart of that town. Like everyone
Speaker 1: who lives their year round just seems very vested in
Speaker 1: keeping Virginia City the way that it is. Would you
Speaker 1: say that's true? Oh? Absolutely. I mean some of the
Speaker 1: most interesting people I've ever met in my life have
Speaker 1: been in Virginia City. And you'll be talking to someone
Speaker 1: and else sudden they'll tell you a story about themselves
Speaker 1: and you're just like, oh my god, that's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I do think it takes a special kind of character
Speaker 1: to kind of take up residence in an old mining
Speaker 1: town and just be completely dedicated to kind of keeping
Speaker 1: it alive, because you know, there are many towns, not
Speaker 1: necessarily on the scale of Virginia City that really never
Speaker 1: survived once the gold or silver ran out, the town
Speaker 1: kind of expired with it. So I think that's one
Speaker 1: of the things I do love about Virginia City, But
Speaker 1: it's also super haunted. I've had some crazy experiences there
Speaker 1: over the years. To me, the three major haunts are
Speaker 1: obviously the wash Shoe Club, Pipers, and the Mackay Mansion.
Speaker 1: So can you kind of run through like what people
Speaker 1: can expect to encounter at these locations. This is the
Speaker 1: great thing about the buildings up there. Everyone always has
Speaker 1: their favorite which is different than the next person's favorite building,
Speaker 1: and every building can run the absolute I'm at a
Speaker 1: paranormal activity. I mean everything from full bodied apparitions to
Speaker 1: getting touched to seeing objects move. I mean e vps
Speaker 1: that just knock your socks off, incredible pictures, And it's
Speaker 1: in each building, you know, and people that come up
Speaker 1: there on a regular basis get attached to the building,
Speaker 1: but then also to certain spirits that are in there.
Speaker 1: The Macki Mansion has the spirit of a little girl
Speaker 1: who's extremely playful, and whenever her spirits there, you just
Speaker 1: feel happy. It's like this happiness just kind of comes
Speaker 1: over you. The Washoe Club, you know, have some spirits
Speaker 1: in there that are not always very nice, and if
Speaker 1: they don't want you around, they definitely let you know.
Speaker 1: And Hyper's Opera House. I remember being in there one
Speaker 1: time and a friend of mine named John said that
Speaker 1: the piano started playing old ragtime music and all of
Speaker 1: our equipment just went crazy. It was like they were
Speaker 1: so happy and just like the spirit came out in
Speaker 1: droves to hear it. How often would you say that
Speaker 1: these places are being investigated? You know, Virginia City is
Speaker 1: probably one of the most popular ghost honey locations around here.
Speaker 1: I would say definitely, at least on the West coast,
Speaker 1: and it's almost every weekend. We get people that have
Speaker 1: never done it anything like that before coming up, and
Speaker 1: people who are very season long term paranormal investigators who
Speaker 1: are just always up there. Yeah, exactly. You really don't
Speaker 1: know what you're gonna get in. And again, like I
Speaker 1: said before, it's just it is nice to have such
Speaker 1: a concentration of different locations and a place that's really
Speaker 1: open to its hauntings. You know, some places or tourist
Speaker 1: attractions and really want nothing to do with their ghosts
Speaker 1: and they don't encourage it. So now that Macki Mansion,
Speaker 1: I know you mentioned little Girl. The little Girl, I
Speaker 1: had heard that Johnny Depp actually witnessed this ghost. Is
Speaker 1: that true? That's what we hear. It's never been officially
Speaker 1: officially confirmed. But he was up there filming the movie
Speaker 1: called dead Man. I don't know if you've ever seen.
Speaker 1: It's like this eclectic cowboy cotting movie. It's I do remember,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's a really odd movie. And um, he
Speaker 1: was talking to locals and they told him about the
Speaker 1: Maggie Mansion and how haunted it was, and they let
Speaker 1: him spend the night in the room, and supposedly he
Speaker 1: woke up to seeing the little girl sitting on his bed. Interesting.
Speaker 1: There was something that I remember distinctly, So this was
Speaker 1: this was way back when I first started investigating. I
Speaker 1: don't even know if you'll remember this, but do you
Speaker 1: remember there being this like notorious pair of boots in
Speaker 1: the wash Show Club? I do not, Okay, perfect, So
Speaker 1: this is this is probably a prime example of being
Speaker 1: a very naive paranormal investigator and just believing everything anyone
Speaker 1: told me back then. And I think we're all so
Speaker 1: guilty of this. And so I'll never forget going up
Speaker 1: into this room in the Washhow Club and there's this
Speaker 1: pair of boots sitting in this room. I don't even
Speaker 1: think we could go into the room because it wasn't
Speaker 1: particularly safe, but the boots were there, and they were
Speaker 1: very old boots, and everyone with me was like, years ago,
Speaker 1: a man was shot in this room and they took
Speaker 1: off his boots and they left them there, and those
Speaker 1: are his boots, and you know, me just looked at
Speaker 1: those and obviously were like all investigating around these boots.
Speaker 1: But then like the reality never really set in for me.
Speaker 1: How like outrageous acclaim that was like that that this
Speaker 1: building is falling apart, all the furniture is gone, the
Speaker 1: walls are falling down, and yet they chose to leave
Speaker 1: this dead man's boots sitting there. So you know, this
Speaker 1: is a perfect story that shows that there's a kernel
Speaker 1: of truth in a legend. Right, So there was a
Speaker 1: person who was shot upstairs in a wash up club.
Speaker 1: His name was Scottie Um and he shot himself, and
Speaker 1: he was very well known and very liked by the
Speaker 1: locals and everything. So there is that possibility that they
Speaker 1: did put a pair of boots in a room up
Speaker 1: there to like honor his memory. Potentially, yes, for sure,
Speaker 1: And I could see that. But I do remember just
Speaker 1: thinking years later, like why would I just believe that?
Speaker 1: And I just remember in the dark talking to these boots,
Speaker 1: which if anyone watches my show Kindred Spirits. It's not
Speaker 1: far fetched to talk to shoes, but but it was.
Speaker 1: It was really funny, and I just I'll never forget that,
Speaker 1: and so like, you know, not investigator Amy, you know,
Speaker 1: twenty years later, really wants to go back to that spot,
Speaker 1: and so hopefully I'll be able to at some point.
Speaker 1: But that also means that at some point someone took
Speaker 1: those boots. Those boots are somewhere, yeah, yeah, because I've
Speaker 1: never seen a pair of boots up there. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean it's been so long, I could be completely misremembering
Speaker 1: the direction. I remember going up a set of stairs
Speaker 1: and then on the direct left was a room and
Speaker 1: I feel like that's where the boots were. So was
Speaker 1: it a really big room, probably the ballroom? Maybe it
Speaker 1: was not. It was like a small room, kind of
Speaker 1: off to the side. And that's kind of all I remember.
Speaker 1: But you know how like you think of these things
Speaker 1: and you actually go back and you're like, that's not
Speaker 1: what the setup was at all. I just completely you know,
Speaker 1: we do have that selective memory, which you know, you
Speaker 1: do have to really come to terms with as a
Speaker 1: paranormal investigator. It's you can misremember and you do misremember,
Speaker 1: so it could be completely off base. Okay, so the
Speaker 1: wash Show Club, like you said, it does seem to
Speaker 1: have this kind of reputation for people being not so nice.
Speaker 1: What happens there that makes people believe that? Well, I
Speaker 1: witness people get scratched. I was with someone one time
Speaker 1: and they were taking pictures and the camera that they
Speaker 1: were using just got flung out of their hands and
Speaker 1: smashed against the wall. E v P. S up there
Speaker 1: can call you names, tell you to get out. I
Speaker 1: think we need to remember we go into these places
Speaker 1: that we're kind of going into someone's home in a way, right,
Speaker 1: and when the spirits up there don't want to be bothered,
Speaker 1: you physically feel that milwash Show. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think that makes sense because you kind of feel that
Speaker 1: with a living person in front of you, you know,
Speaker 1: if they're putting off that vibe that they want nothing
Speaker 1: to do with you. I do get that same feeling
Speaker 1: sometimes when no one is there, or when I think
Speaker 1: maybe a spirit is present. I mean the Washaw Club historically,
Speaker 1: obviously it started as this very kind of fancy boogie place,
Speaker 1: and then as the silver ran out and the gold
Speaker 1: ran out, obviously it kind of seemed like the price
Speaker 1: to join was a lot less at that point. Do
Speaker 1: you think that kind of affected the clientele and like
Speaker 1: what went on there? I think so. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think they tried to sort of keep the glory days
Speaker 1: of the com stock for as long as they could,
Speaker 1: and when it just kind of passed away, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that they weren't getting the millionaires up there, you know,
Speaker 1: the big players. They all had moved on at that point.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember specifically, but I feel like at
Speaker 1: that point, by the time it closed, I think the
Speaker 1: monthly membership view was only like two dollars and seventy
Speaker 1: five cents or something, down from a much more substantial
Speaker 1: amount than that. Now, Piper's Opera House I always find
Speaker 1: or Piper Pipers or Piper Piper's. So Piper's Opera House,
Speaker 1: I feel like that, you know, like you think about Tombstone,
Speaker 1: for example, and their Birdcage theater kind of became this
Speaker 1: like really debaucherous theater, but Pipers didn't. It never really
Speaker 1: became that way, did. I mean, I did have a
Speaker 1: bar attached to it, you know, it didn't. Piper's was
Speaker 1: always really classy with the plays they put up me
Speaker 1: and they had some of the biggest actors in the
Speaker 1: world at that time that we're performing on that stage.
Speaker 1: And you know our twin when he came back to
Speaker 1: Virginia City, he gave his lecture on that stage. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was it was not like a dance hall or
Speaker 1: anything like that. It was much higher class than that.
Speaker 1: So who do you think is haunting Pipers? Supposedly John
Speaker 1: Piper himself haunts the place. People have seen him staring
Speaker 1: out the windows and also have seen him up in
Speaker 1: the balconies. There's also a spirit of a lady who's
Speaker 1: usually seen when a performance is going on. We figured
Speaker 1: she was probably one of the actresses that came out
Speaker 1: that way. And then supposedly there's also the spirit of
Speaker 1: a of a child that's only seen backstage and usually
Speaker 1: only seen by other kids. Okay, I mean that's interesting.
Speaker 1: It's it's hard always to figure out, you know, the
Speaker 1: ghosts of children who they could be, just because they
Speaker 1: didn't really document the deaths of kids as often, but
Speaker 1: unfortunately they passed away quite often back then. Oh yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: And have you have been able to find any like
Speaker 1: documented deaths and Pipers or anything or any other like
Speaker 1: kind of I mean, I was looking through the history
Speaker 1: and there's no town legends about murders or deaths and
Speaker 1: fires connected to the opera house. But have you found
Speaker 1: anything I haven't. I know, there's one story going around
Speaker 1: that someone was hung from the rafters by the six
Speaker 1: oh one, which was a vigilante group, and I've never
Speaker 1: found any historical document to back that up. One of
Speaker 1: the biggest problems with Virginia City is after eighteen seventy five,
Speaker 1: when with the Great Fire happened, a lot of the
Speaker 1: documents were destroyed, right. I could see that as I
Speaker 1: was kind of going through the history. It was really
Speaker 1: interesting to see how many places, you know, as they
Speaker 1: kind of dug or started to renovate a lot later,
Speaker 1: would find evidence of the original buildings, even especially like
Speaker 1: underground I think Pipers there is something kind of like
Speaker 1: that there as well. Is there anything that you can
Speaker 1: investigate that's kind of near to some of the more
Speaker 1: original parts of that structure. Not really. There's an area
Speaker 1: downstairs in the back where the bar is where they
Speaker 1: had at one point. We're kind of digging things out
Speaker 1: a little bit and finding some interesting stuff from the
Speaker 1: original building that was there, but there's nothing left of
Speaker 1: the original original you know, it was burned down, you know,
Speaker 1: and then Pipers I think this is what his third
Speaker 1: or fourth opera house he had built in Virginia City
Speaker 1: by that time. Yes, so the current one dates eighty five,
Speaker 1: which that's still pretty old. Yeah, definitely, especially for Califor
Speaker 1: and I don't want to say California, but for the
Speaker 1: West coast. Now. I have read somewhere that the facade
Speaker 1: the front though, was older than that. Is that accurate
Speaker 1: or not that I know of? Um, I think it
Speaker 1: was in the nineteen oh I'm probably gonna get this
Speaker 1: date wrong. I don't even work the forties, maybe fifties.
Speaker 1: Hyper's great granddaughter tried to restore it and bring it
Speaker 1: back and then it kind of sat pretty vacant for
Speaker 1: a while and they did a mass renovation on it
Speaker 1: and really brought it back to life. And it's I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just so beautiful inside there where you go up
Speaker 1: to where the theater is and you just really feel
Speaker 1: like you're standing in history. Yeah. I think that is
Speaker 1: kind of the case with the entire town, and I
Speaker 1: think that's probably why it's haunted or a big part
Speaker 1: of it. I think that when you have these spots
Speaker 1: that don't necessarily change, it stays familiar to these ghosts
Speaker 1: and comfortable. And again that's complete speculation on my part,
Speaker 1: but I just I kind of feel that sometimes. And
Speaker 1: I know we've gone through those kind of three key hauntings,
Speaker 1: But are there any other areas in town that you
Speaker 1: think are either kind of underrated when it comes to
Speaker 1: ghosts or areas people just might want to check out
Speaker 1: if they're able to investigate. One of my favorite buildings
Speaker 1: up there is the Night's Epatheist Building. It's not open
Speaker 1: to the general public, but during certain conventions and stuff,
Speaker 1: they're able to get that location to do investing nations in.
Speaker 1: And that's probably between the Washoe Club and the Knights
Speaker 1: of Patheist as far as hauntings go, that's those are
Speaker 1: my favorite places. I think you get the most out
Speaker 1: of them. And so what is the history of that
Speaker 1: building and what do people experience there? With the Knights
Speaker 1: of Patheis you get personal stuff happening. You don't really
Speaker 1: get like a lot of the e v p s
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. But there's an area on the
Speaker 1: second floor where there used to be a kitchen, and
Speaker 1: we would have people stand in a certain area in
Speaker 1: a line and just have them stand as still as possible,
Speaker 1: and without even realized they were doing it, they would
Speaker 1: start swaying back and forth. Oh strange, and it would
Speaker 1: affect people. I was up there one time and I
Speaker 1: was standing at the entrance to the kitchen and my
Speaker 1: daughter was back there having people, you know, do the
Speaker 1: swaying thing. We call it the vortex for lack of
Speaker 1: a better word. And this guy comes out. He was
Speaker 1: over six ft tall, he was a marine. He stops
Speaker 1: in front of me and he looks at me and
Speaker 1: then just drops to the ground. Oh no, And we
Speaker 1: had to help him out of the building. As soon
Speaker 1: as he got out of the building, he was perfectly fine.
Speaker 1: I know seasoned investigators who have been doing ghost hunting
Speaker 1: for years and years and years who don't like going
Speaker 1: upstairs because of how the building will can physically affect you.
Speaker 1: That's straight. Is it like uneven or anything? Is the
Speaker 1: floor of you know, sometimes you go into those places,
Speaker 1: especially older buildings, and it kind of catches you off guard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like that fun house effect. Yeah it's not. And
Speaker 1: you know, I've delled into the history with the Knights Epitheist,
Speaker 1: and I can't find anything. You know, no murders up there,
Speaker 1: nobody died up there, nothing like that. But for some reason,
Speaker 1: there is something up there in that building, and when
Speaker 1: it decides to make its presence, no, it gets to you,
Speaker 1: gets to you big time. I'll to check that out
Speaker 1: on my next visit. I don't know that I've ever
Speaker 1: been there, but I have been in a lot of
Speaker 1: buildings there though that I don't know, are regularly and
Speaker 1: to the public, so maybe it's a place I'll recognize.
Speaker 1: So what about mines, Are there any minds people can
Speaker 1: go into that are rumored to be haunted or are
Speaker 1: they mostly all closed off? There's still the Collar mine
Speaker 1: that you can go into, and that one has its hauntings.
Speaker 1: It's not one I like going into because I'm very
Speaker 1: claused bobic me too. I feel you do not want
Speaker 1: to go in there now. It's the worst, yeah, but
Speaker 1: it gives you a feel of what it was like
Speaker 1: for those miners back in the day that had to
Speaker 1: do that all the time. And it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: not pleasant, no it It honestly sounds like the absolute
Speaker 1: worst line of work to me, like I read the
Speaker 1: stories of miners and I get like a tightness in
Speaker 1: my chest, like saying, the idea of that is so terrifying.
Speaker 1: And then some of the things they went through, even
Speaker 1: in Virginia City, just like the working conditions, and I
Speaker 1: was reading that, you know, sometimes they would get caught
Speaker 1: up in legal matters and they would literally lock miners
Speaker 1: into the mine until it was settled. And I mean,
Speaker 1: just just full to think about. To me, that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons I think Virginia City is also really haunted,
Speaker 1: is you know, these miners when they died in the
Speaker 1: minds it was a horrible depth and to be trapped
Speaker 1: three thousand feet below ground knowing that you're not going
Speaker 1: to get out or there's no way out, and basically
Speaker 1: they died in terror and in darkness and alone and
Speaker 1: knowing there's no way that anyone could save them, and
Speaker 1: probably not really feeling like much of a priority to
Speaker 1: save you know, they didn't really have OSHA back then.
Speaker 1: They didn't really take care of them as they should have.
Speaker 1: And whenever I read about the history of not just
Speaker 1: Virginia City mines, but any mining town, the actual miners
Speaker 1: while many of them did well. A lot of them
Speaker 1: were just very overlooked and treated terribly well. Yes and no.
Speaker 1: I mean we did have the highest paid miners in
Speaker 1: the world at that time, and we did have the
Speaker 1: most state of the art equipment for mining at that time,
Speaker 1: so that was really good. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: money was always going to be the them Lyne, right,
Speaker 1: and you're right that the lives of the miners were
Speaker 1: a second thought when it came down to, you know,
Speaker 1: what are we going to make out of this mine?
Speaker 1: Now unrelated and not a source of any hauntings that
Speaker 1: I have seen, but I just was kind of fascinated
Speaker 1: by her story. Are you familiar with Julia Billett at all?
Speaker 1: I am. I just find her story to be, like
Speaker 1: I said, very just fascinating. And I was not aware
Speaker 1: of her until I started really digging into the history
Speaker 1: of Virginia City. And have you ever encountered any hauntings
Speaker 1: that you think maybe associated with her? Because if there
Speaker 1: was ever someone who was going to haunt a place,
Speaker 1: I feel like she would be a per the person. Yep.
Speaker 1: We do stop at the sight of Julia's cabin on
Speaker 1: our ghost tour, and she doesn't always come out to
Speaker 1: interact with us. But there are times when she does
Speaker 1: and we'll have the kids. You meet her out and
Speaker 1: we'll usually have a gentleman and that's all to her.
Speaker 1: Hold it because she likes talking to the men, and
Speaker 1: she'll make that meter light up in response to questions
Speaker 1: that we're asking her. We've had people get some really
Speaker 1: odd photos on that spot during the tour, So I
Speaker 1: believe that she is there definitely. And her history. You
Speaker 1: gotta be careful with Julie because of the stuff you
Speaker 1: read about her on the internet. It's not true. Oh
Speaker 1: that's good to know, but her her history is still
Speaker 1: a fascinating one. So what would you say, is like
Speaker 1: maybe the biggest bit of misinformation about her that's out there,
Speaker 1: She was not rich. She did not own a brothel
Speaker 1: or a house. Julius Palace, I think is what they
Speaker 1: called it. That's not true. She was a middle class prostitute.
Speaker 1: She actually did die in Debt, but she was very
Speaker 1: well loved in that town. And I think the person
Speaker 1: they hung for her murder was not the person who
Speaker 1: killed her. Oh okay, well these are good things to know,
Speaker 1: so you know, if if there's anything like I always say,
Speaker 1: it got a very hard to prove, but we can
Speaker 1: at least work our best to get history accurate. And
Speaker 1: she's just such an interesting character. I wanted to bring
Speaker 1: her up. Are there any other hauntings in town that
Speaker 1: you think we need to mention? I mean, I feel
Speaker 1: like there's so many, and so there is a Probably
Speaker 1: my favorite spirit in Virginia City is Peter Larkin. He's
Speaker 1: the most interactive, at least for us. We stopped behind
Speaker 1: the courthouse to talk to him, and he usually comes
Speaker 1: out and speaks to us through e VPS or through
Speaker 1: the sp seven probably eight out of ten times. And
Speaker 1: we've heard him on many many occasions make really clear sentences.
Speaker 1: And he was hung back there, and I've also he
Speaker 1: was another one I believe was innocent. But he's my
Speaker 1: favorite spirit just because he interacts with us so often.
Speaker 1: And so what was his story? How did who was he?
Speaker 1: He owned like a bar and a brothel in Virginia City,
Speaker 1: and his girlfriend owned want to Saint a saloon right
Speaker 1: next door to his, And he ended up breaking up
Speaker 1: with his girlfriend and she got a new boyfriend, and
Speaker 1: his bedroom window looked right into their bedroom window, and
Speaker 1: she accused him of shooting and killing her new boyfriend.
Speaker 1: And even though Peter was very popular in town, he
Speaker 1: was very well respected. This was right after the Great
Speaker 1: Fire had happened, and the people, the powers that be
Speaker 1: in Virginia City really wanted to clean the town up,
Speaker 1: and so unfortunately, they decided to make Peter an example.
Speaker 1: And so even though all the evidence was circumstantial, they
Speaker 1: still hung him. Wow, scandalous, So real quick, because I
Speaker 1: have to revisit these moments from my childhood. So what
Speaker 1: is the suicide table and is it still there? And
Speaker 1: how much truth is there to it? The suicide table
Speaker 1: is still there. It's in the delta. It's a Pharaoh table,
Speaker 1: and Pharaoh was like the big card gambling game of
Speaker 1: the day back then. And the story is that there
Speaker 1: have been a couple of men who have lost all
Speaker 1: their fortune on that table and then took their own
Speaker 1: lives after that happened. Is there truth to it? There?
Speaker 1: Probably is that Colonel of truth somewhere in there about that.
Speaker 1: It's been up there for as long as I can remember. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remembered um just being completely fascinated with it as
Speaker 1: a child. I mean, I mean, there is a lot
Speaker 1: of build up, like you drive up and you know,
Speaker 1: there's like I feel like twenty signs. Yes, it was
Speaker 1: a table. Uh. And then of course there's the Bucket
Speaker 1: of Blood Saloon. So what is the Bucket of Blood Saloon?
Speaker 1: And how did it get that name. It's a great
Speaker 1: saloon to go into. It's a lot of fun in there.
Speaker 1: The name supposedly comes from back in the day that
Speaker 1: there were so many gunfights in Virginia City that they
Speaker 1: had to mop up a buckets worth blood every day.
Speaker 1: Oh see, I didn't know that. I just accepted that
Speaker 1: name with no explanation. So it's nice to know. Tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about how people can find you
Speaker 1: and what you're up to, and if they want to
Speaker 1: visit where they need to go, they can find us
Speaker 1: through our website, Virginia City Ghost Tours dot com. And
Speaker 1: we are currently down for the wintertime because it's too
Speaker 1: much snow and it's really cool to be walking around
Speaker 1: there at night right now, but we hope to be
Speaker 1: back up and running March. You're April, depending on the weather,
Speaker 1: and we'll be running tours every Friday and Saturday for sure.
Speaker 1: And they can go to our website and make reservations
Speaker 1: and or send us an email if they have questions,
Speaker 1: and it's about an hour outdoor walking tour. We'll tell
Speaker 1: you all about the great history up there, and then
Speaker 1: also about all the ghostly legends. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you, know, your dedication to history and
Speaker 1: keeping it real, but also just finding the kind of
Speaker 1: magic in a place like Virginia City and respecting that.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking the time
Speaker 1: to talk with me today. And I'm going to be
Speaker 1: visiting very soon, at least by this summer. I've definitely
Speaker 1: got to pop in. So well, we hope you come
Speaker 1: back up to Virginia City. Will be more than happy
Speaker 1: to show you around. Alright, fabulous, Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Thank you. Of course, Virginia City is
Speaker 1: a gem of a mining town, just waiting for you
Speaker 1: to pay it a visit. I have to tell you, though,
Speaker 1: as a child, so many many years ago, I remember
Speaker 1: paying a dollar to pan for gold in an old
Speaker 1: sluice mining operations someone had set up off the main street.
Speaker 1: As I looked at the weathered older gentleman who helped
Speaker 1: me sift through sand and water to find little specks
Speaker 1: of fool's gold that he would later put in a
Speaker 1: tiny vial of water for me to take home. My
Speaker 1: mind just assumed he was a miner who had been
Speaker 1: there for a hundred years or more. He seemed such
Speaker 1: a part of the town, and wearing a be draggled
Speaker 1: leather hat, lo t shirt and brown canvas overalls, he
Speaker 1: looked the part of the town. It didn't even cross
Speaker 1: my mind that he hadn't been there since well forever.
Speaker 1: Except now when I think back to that moment, I
Speaker 1: can't help but wonder if, maybe, just maybe I was right.
Speaker 1: I'm Amy Rooney and this was Haunted Road. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for listening to our season two premiere of Haunted Road.
Speaker 1: Remember you can catch all new episodes of my show
Speaker 1: Kindred Spirits airing now on Travel Channel on Saturday nights
Speaker 1: at ten ninth Central, or streaming on Discovery Plus. And
Speaker 1: if you want to take a weird vacation of a lifetime,
Speaker 1: visit Strange dash Escapes dot com to join me and
Speaker 1: some of my paranormal friends on ghostly vacations all over
Speaker 1: the world. Haunted Road is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The podcast
Speaker 1: is written and hosted by Amy Bruney. Executive producers include
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is
Speaker 1: produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Research by
Speaker 1: Taylor Haggerdorn, Amy Bruney, and Robin Miniter. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.