Haunted Southwest

By Alan Brown

Tour the supernatural sites of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah . . . with photos included!
 
Throughout the Southwest, ghostly fiends and tragic figures creep in the shadows of some of the most popular and historic spots. Phantom battle cries ring across the wide prairie, spectral forms mark mountain passages, and the chilled desert night is made even colder by the ghostly visits of those lost on the wild and unpredictable frontier.
 
Departed inmates of Yuma’s territorial prison carry on their eternal incarceration, and the unnerving laughter of children echoes through the vacant halls of White Sanitarium in Wichita Falls. The languid spirit of a former owner wanders the winding corridors of the Albuquerque Press Club. Glasses float past waiters at the Melting Pot in Littleton, and passengers at Union Station in Ogden encounter the victims of the Bagley Train Disaster of 1944. Join author Alan Brown as he recounts these and more supernatural stories of the southwestern states.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781439658710

Alan Brown

Alan Brown grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City and graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 1973 and Avila University in 1979. Now He lives in a suburb of St. Louis, MO with my wife and three daughters. He also has four sons that are grown and living outside the home. He enjoys writing about experiences he had growing up, examining the fantastical side, the dark side of a person’s natural fears. All of his books are based on a reality in his life. He is a fan of Alfred Hitchcock. Like his stories, Alan Brown’s will conclude with a twist, something he hope will take the reader by surprise.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The American Southwest is a land of broad vistas and tall tales. Ever since the explorer Francisco Vazquez de Coronado led an expedition to the Seven Cities of Cibola in the early sixteenth century, the lure of the Southwest has attracted millions of people to this storied land. The first English trappers made their way to Arizona in 1825, paving the way for thousands of pioneers who filled their wagons with their families, their possessions and the dreams for a better life. Following the Civil War, thousands of ex-slaves, tantalized by the freedom of the Southwest’s wide-open spaces, flocked to this region. A legion of ex–Confederate soldiers headed west as well in the hope of making a fresh start. Watching this seemingly endless parade of immigrants were the Native Americans, who had occupied the Southwest since the arrival of the Clovis culture around 9000 BC. All of these different groups brought with them their own traditions. Over the years, these different groups shared their stories, producing a rich array of legends that are still told to this day.

The geography of the Southwest figures prominently in many of these tales. However, ghosts are just as likely to be found in hotels, restaurants, universities and courthouses as they are in canyons, arroyos and wide prairies. Ghost stories, it seems, can be generated in any setting where people live and work.

Of course, ghost stories are much more than accounts of paranormal incidents. In these narratives, populated by jilted lovers, lonesome cowboys, duty-bound soldiers, bold outlaws, Hispanic entrepreneurs and displaced Native Americans, one can find the same high drama that appears in more formal literature. Their hopes, dreams and disappointments connect these people to us in a very personal way. The American Southwest may seem at first glance to be a far-away place lost in time, but it is actually much closer to home than one might think.

ARIZONA

BULLHEAD CITY

Hardyville Pioneer Cemetery

Founded in March 1864, the city was originally called Hardyville after William Harrison Hardy, who was a politician and the operator of a ferryboat on the Colorado River. Steamboats traveling up the Colorado River from Port Isabel stopped at Hardyville to deliver supplies to the gold, silver and copper mines. Hardyville became the starting point for pack trains and wagons traveling to the mines between twenty and thirty miles away. As the profits from mining soared in the 1870s, Hardyville’s prominence escalated, even though the town was nearly destroyed by two devastating fires in 1872 and 1873. It even served as the county seat from 1867 to 1877. Hardyville’s decline began in the 1880s as the price of silver began dropping. The port became obsolete in 1883 when the ferry was moved to Needles, California. By the turn of the century, the ferry had been moved to Needles, California, and Hardyville was a ghost town, its glory days a distant memory. Hardyville was resurrected as Bullhead City with the construction of the Davis Dam between 1942 and 1953. Today, it is a thriving modern city with two hospitals, an international airport, a community college and, some say, a haunted cemetery.

Hardyville Pioneer Cemetery is the last important remnant of the once thriving port city. The 2.5-acre cemetery is located at 1776 Arizona State Route 95 on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River. The old cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Local historians estimate that the cemetery contains between sixteen and twenty-four graves. However, the website www.FindaGrave.com lists only ten known graves and one unknown: Adelia Amaro, Charles Atchison, Edwardo Bernol, Robert Keffin, John Killian, G.E. Mathew, A.O. Perkins, William Taylor, Samuel Todd and William J. Tuttle. All of these people were interred between 1866 and 1898.

Despite the fact that Hardyville Pioneer Cemetery is located in a residential district facing a Safeway, it has an abandoned look. Weeds grow between the cobblestone-covered graves. Rumors of paranormal activity within the cemetery began after heavy rains washed several coffins out of the ground. The remains were reinterred, but their spirits appear to be unhappy about having their eternal sleep disturbed. Paranormal investigators using dowsing rods indicated the presence of spirits by pointing in different directions. Ghost Seekers Paranormal, a paranormal group, recorded two interesting EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena): the crying of a baby and a male voice whispering, Hello, Ma’am. It is small wonder that in the late 2000s, the cemetery was featured on the Haunted Laughlin Tour.

KINGMAN

Luana’s Canyon

One of the Southwest’s most tragic tales is the story of Llorona, a Hispanic woman who took vengeance on her unfaithful lover by drowning the children she had out of wedlock. A story about another wailing woman is told in Kingman. The legend of Luana’s Canyon serves as a reminder of the travails of miners and their families in the nineteenth century. According to the standard version of the story, a miner lived in a small wooden shack in a canyon just outside Kingman with his wife and children. He provided for his loved ones by making forays into the mountains, looking for gold and other precious minerals. He returned to the shack every two weeks with enough food to last his family until he returned. The story goes that, eventually, he failed to return home at the prescribed time. Some storytellers believe that he was killed by Indians, robbers or wild beasts. Without the supplies they depended on, his wife and children began to starve. Before long, the distraught woman could no longer look into their wan faces or listen to their pathetic whimpering. One fateful night, her mind snapped. Wearing her snow-white wedding dress, she grabbed a hatchet and chopped up her sleeping children into small pieces. Within minutes, the once homey little cabin had been turned into a slaughterhouse. Splattered with blood, the woman gathered up the remains of her children and staggered out to the river. She dumped the body parts into the river and then sat on the riverside, tearing out clumps of hair and wailing pitifully. Within a couple of days, the poor madwoman succumbed to starvation, a victim of the rigors of life in the unforgiving desert.

For generations, curiosity seekers have ventured into Luana’s Canyon (also known as Slaughterhouse Canyon) in the hopes of hearing Luana’s moans and wails echoing along the canyon walls. Paranormal investigators bold enough to spend the night in the canyon have had very strange experiences. One of these groups, Ghost Hunters Busters, recorded the laughter of children, the crying of a baby and a weird clicking. One of the investigators’ cameras inexplicably stopped working as well.

The miner’s shack is long gone. However, Luana’s Canyon is located on the south end of town. Take West Beal for a quarter mile and veer right onto Andy Devine Avenue. Go a third of a mile on Andy Devine Avenue and turn left on North Second Street. Cross the railroad tracks and turn left on Topeka. Travel 1.23 miles on Topeka. When the street becomes a dirt road, you are on Slaughterhouse Road. Take a sharp right and cross the railroad tracks again. You will be on your way to Luana’s Canyon.

Brunswick Hotel

Built in 1909, the Brunswick Hotel was the first three-story building in the county. It soon gained a reputation as an upscale hotel by offering features such as brass beds and Waterford stemware. The owners, John Mulligan and J.W. Thompson, got into a dispute over a woman, Sarah Lynch from Pennsylvania, and divided the building into two hotels. Each had twenty-five rooms; one hotel had a restaurant, and the other had a bar. The wall dividing the two halves of the building remained in place until the 1960s. John married Sarah, and the couple had three children. The hotel received a facelift in 1997 and was turned into a bed and breakfast. Two years later, a French owner converted the Brunswick into a boutique hotel. The Brunswick was sold once again in 2006 and reopened with a fine-dining bistro. In its heyday, the Brunswick attracted a number of famous guests, such as Clark Gable. Rumor has it that some of the hotel’s former residents are still there.

Guests and employees have been reporting strange occurrences in the Brunswick Hotel for decades. Shadow people have passed through guests walking down the hallways on the second floor. The apparition of a little girl appears in the dining room. Supposedly, she is the spirit of a child who fell down the back stairs years ago. A male ghost has been seen climbing up the cellar stairs. Laughing children have been heard running up and down the hallway and the stairway at night. Coins inexplicably appear in a corner of the lobby. A number of guests claim to have had their sleep interrupted by unseen hands tucking them in bed or touching their head and hands.

Much of the Brunswick’s paranormal activity is attributed to the spirit of W.D. McCright. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1841 and moved to Signal, Arizona, in 1874. He became wealthy after selling his interest in the McCracken mines. In 1913, McCright took up residence at the Brunswick Hotel. He spent most of his time reading books and regaling the other guests at the hotel with tales of his adventures. McCracken died in his room on March 7, 1915, at age seventy-four. For years, his room, Room 212, was locked up because of complaints by guests of paranormal activity. Until the Brunswick opens up again, W.D. McCright is likely to be the only occupant of the old hotel for a while.

LAKE HAVASU

London Bridge

Lake Havasu is the home of one of America’s strangest tourist attractions. In 1962, authorities in Great Britain decided to sell the London Bridge, which was sinking 2.5 centimeters every eight years into the Thames River under the weight of automobiles, trucks and buses. The old bridge was purchased for $2,460,000 in 1967 by theme park developer C.V. Wood and Arizona developer and chainsaw magnate Robert P. McCulloch. The bridge was disassembled and transported to Long Beach, California. From there, the granite stones were transported by truck to Arizona. McCulloch, who founded Lake Havasu in 1964, hired forty craftsmen to reassemble the numbered stones according to a coded diagram over the Bridgewater Channel in the Arizona Desert. An English-styled theme park was built on the other side of the canal. In October 1971, the Lord Mayor of London dedicated the completed bridge.

A number of ghostly figures have been encountered strolling along London Bridge, which was dismantled and moved to Lake Havasu in 1967. Ken Lund via Flickr.

During the dedication, a woman had an experience that led the residents of Lake Havasu to believe that more than just an old bridge had been shipped over the Atlantic Ocean. As she was listening to one of the speakers, she noticed four people casually walking across the bridge. Because they were dressed in period clothing, she assumed that they were actors hired for the ceremony. She realized that she had just had a brush with the supernatural when they slowly faded away. Her sighting was confirmed by several other onlookers who also saw the spectral figures. Over the next few weeks, reports surfaced of a ghostly man and woman strolling along the bridge at night. Most recent sightings are of a woman in a black dress clutching a