S2 – 1: The World was on Fire

gravelly Ford. Every limb and feature of the stony mummy was perfect, not even excepting the left leg, which has evidently been a wooden one during the lifetime of the owner, which lifetime, by the way, came to a close about a century ago. In the opinion of a savant who has examined the defunct the body was in a sitting

posture and leaning against a huge mass of croppings. The attitude was pensive, the right thumb resting against the side of the nose, The left thumb partially supported the chin, the forefinger pressing the inner corner of the left eye and drawing it partly open. The right eye was closed,

and the fingers of the right hand spread apart. This strange freak of nature created a profound sensation in the vicinity and our informants states that by request, just As Sewell or Soul of Humboldt City at once proceeded to the spot and held an inquest on the body. The verdict of the jury was that deceased came to his

death from protracted exposure. The people of the neighborhood volunteered to bury the poor unfortunate, and were even anxious to do so, But it was discovered when they attempted to remove him, that the water which had dripped upon him for ages from the crag above, had coursed down his back and deposited a limestone ediment under him, which had glued him to the bedrock upon which he sat. And Judge s refused to allow the charitable citizens to blast

him from his position. The opinion expressed by his honor that such a course would be little less than sacrilege, was eminently just and proper. Everybody goes to see the Stoneman, as many as three hundred having visited the hardened creature during the past five or six weeks. A remarkable story. Yes, however,

not a word of it was true. But in the eighteen sixties version of going viral, the story was reprinted in multiple newspapers across the country and eventually around the world before its author and Mr. Samuel Clemens later known as Mark Twain, owned up to his hoax. Clemmens, pursuing a career in mining, had settled in Virginia City, but has turned his efforts to journalism, and Virginia City is where he got his start. According to Hoaxes dot Org.

Twain later admitted that he was surprised at how many people were fooled by his story. It was his first attempt at a hoax, and when he penned it he had considered it a string of roaring absurdities. But once he realized how well his deception had succeeded, he admitted feeling a soothing secret satisfaction, especially since his goal was

to mock Judge Sewell. Seems though, that if Mark Twain had stuck around those dusty streets in the hills a little bit longer, he may not have had to resort to his famous satire, because even today, one hundred sixty years later, the ghost stories coming out of Nevada's most famous boom town are prevalent, captivating, and downright terrifying. I'm amy Brunei and this is Haunted Road. Virginia City is near the western border of Nevada. It is the seat

of Story County. The town steeply set on the side of a mountain purchased precariously over miles of tunnels and shafts remaining from the mining glory days. C Street is the main thoroughfare, while streets lettered B and a home of the town's wealthy, are up the hill. D Street to our Street continued down the hill, originally home to the Red Light District, V and T railroad depot, the Chinese quarter pay You Wicki Ups that's one of the

local tribes in the area, and or stamp mills. The remnants of the mines are scattered throughout the entire town. It's one of many communities that began as a boom town, but it's not just any boom town. Virginia City was established in eighteen fifty nine with the discovery of the comstock Load, the first major silver deposit discovery in the United States. After this discovery was made public, it sparked a silver rush of prospectors to the area, scrambling to

stake their claims. The discovery caused considerable excitement in California and throughout the United States, the greatest since the gold Rush in eighteen forty nine. Mining camp soon thrived in the Vicinity, which became bustling commercial centers, including Virginia City and Gold Hill. While the quest for gold may have been the sirens song that brought many men out west,

it was silver that made men's fortunes in Nevada. The Comstock load is one of the most important mining discoveries in American history, yielding both silver and gold, being the first major silver discovery in United States history. Of the total ore taken out from the area, approximately fifty seven

percent was silver and forty two was gold. It is the most dramatic event in Nevada's nineteenth century history, with men making and losing fortunes within a short span of years, and just under twenty years between eighteen fifty nine and eighteen seventy eight, about four hundred million dollars in silver and gold was taken out of the comstock, a staggering

number for the times. How did Virginia's city get its name, you know, being nowhere near Virginia, Well, it was thanks to a series of discoveries and thanks to a man named Henry Old Pancake Comstock. Why did we stop giving people nicknames like this in the wake of the gold rush?

James Old Virginie Finney, I'm sensing a theme here and friends initially had luck panning for gold and what they dubbed Gold Hill, But as the months passed and the miners dug deeper, they eventually hit a deposit of difficult to work clay that had very little gold in it. Most deposits of gold are small, so when the miners ran out of the easy diggings, they assumed they found all there was. That's what happened to Old Virginie. The gold ran out, so he moved on regardless. His name

was forever associated with the area and stuck instantly. That June, just a mile down the hill to miners named Peter O'Reilly and Pat McLoughlin struggled to make a off it on a nine foot long claim they had staked for themselves.

The claim was yielding only one or two dollars worth of gold a day, and the men had learned about richer claims near the West Walker River, about twenty five miles away, but they decided to stick around a little longer, probably until they made enough money to pay for the move. It takes water to sift gold out of sand and dirt, and the closest water source was a tiny spring that the men decided to dam up with some strange bluish

sand they'd uncovered nearby. Almost on a whim, they tossed some of the odd sand into the rocker to see if it contained any gold. It was heavy and difficult to work with, but when they cleared it away, they were stunned to see that the entire bottom of the rocker was covered in a layer of shimmering gold. Where Old Virginny had recovered gold by the ounce. O'Reilly and McLoughlin were mining it by the pound. As O'Reilly and McLoughlin celebrated their whimsical find, Old Pancake happened to come

around when Comstock saw the goal. He hopped off his pony and told the two men that they were prospecting on land that he and a partner had already claimed for a ranch. In those days, you could claim unoccupied land for a ranch just as easily as you could stake a mining claim. Comstock told the trespassers that if they would let him and his partner, Emmanuel Penrod become

equal partners in the claim, he wouldn't take them to court. Furthermore, if he and Penrod were given on fet of the claim to work by themselves, he'd even let them use the water from his stream. The claim that Old Pancake mentioned that one has yet to be uncovered, if it existed at all, but the credit he's been given is very, very real. Thankfully they stuck with the name Comstock Load and not Old Pancake Load. I will see myself out.

In text from the eighteen seventies, it was reported that people began to speak of the vein as Comstock's mine Comstock's load, While the names of O'Reilly and McLoughlin, the first real discoverers, are seldom heard. The Comstock load discovery and subsequent growth of Virginia City is unequaled in the history of the American West. More money was produced by the Comstock Load than the entire California Gold Rush a

decade before. By eighteen seventy six, Nevada produced over half of all the precious metals in the United States, over four hundred million in the coinage of the day. Coming from Virginia Cities mines. The wealth supported the Northern Pause during the Civil War and flooded the world monetary markets, compelling significant economic change. With wealth came a population boom.

Virginia Cities population grew from eighteen fifty nine through the eighteen seventies, with a peak estimated twenty five thousand residents. Between eighteen sixty two and eighteen sixty three alone, Virginia Cities population increased from four thousand to fifteen thousand residents,

making it one of the largest cities in America's Southwest. Predictably, as four rose power struggles emerged through time, the ownership of comstock minds changed from numerous independent minds to large monopolies. The Bank of California Bank crowd dominated by William Sharon in Virginia City and William Ralston and San Francisco, financed the mines and mills of the comstock until they had

a virtual monopoly. By manipulating stock through rumors and false reports of mining wealth, fortunes could be made in the stocks of Virginia Cities mines. Miners were actually locked in the mines forbidden to leave until false reports of new leads spread far and fast, and stock prizes rose precipitously. By the late eighteen sixties, a group of Irish investors threatened the bank crowd's control. John Mackey and partner James Fair began as common miners, working their way up to

management positions in the mines. By purchasing mining stocks, they realized financial independence. Their partners, James Flood and William O'Brien, stayed in San Francisco and speculated in stock. The Irish Big Four, as the men were called, eventually controlled the consolidated Virginia mine, where the Big Bonanza or Chamber was discovered in eighteen seventy three. The next few years saw the greatest profits on the comstock. As the bank crowd

lost control to the Irish Big Four. John Mackie became the richest man in the world, establishing the company that became A T and T and laying the first transatlantic communications cable. Mackie's mansion still stands and welcomes visitors to this day. Originally built in eighteen fifty nine by George Hurst, Mackie purchased the lavish home in eighteen seventy one. Thereafter, he used it as a mining office and as a main residence for the miners who did the bulk of

the work. The work was plentiful, but very dangerous and often fatal. Mining operations were hindered by the extreme temperatures in the minds caused by natural hot springs in the winter. Miners with snow you to the mines and then have to descend to work in high temperatures. These harsh conditions contributed to a low life expectancy and earned miners the nickname of hot water plugs. By the time of solution to this problem was devised, the load had dwindled significantly

and population dropped off by eighteen eighty. When Virginia City was at its highest point in the mid eighteen seventies, it experienced a tragic blow, the Great Fire of eighteen seventy. This infamous event caused twelve million dollars in damage, and according to an onlooker, the world was on fire, a square mile of roaring flames. The main mine shafts were largely spared, while much of the town burned and two

thousand people were left homeless. In the years after the Great Fire, Virginia City did rebuild, but most of the original structures were gone, as were its inhabitants. The timing of the fire seems like a nail in the coffin of Virginia Cities success and its people left just as the load was scraped dry. By eighteen seventy nine, the

population fell to just under eleven thousand. While Virginia City never quite saw the action it did in its heyday, it's still quite the booming little town in the hills. There's a few notable and very haunted structures, So let's get into their history and then we'll get into their ghosts. A place I visited and investigated many times is called

the wash Show Club. The wash Show Club, also known as the Millionaires Club, was a social group established in February of eighteen seventy five by sixty elite charter members who paid in one hundred fifty dollars each, making nine thousand dollars with which to start after attendance was capped at two hundred people. Within two months, the club had purchased the Reynolds Building at eight and ten B Street and promptly began renovating the structure to the organization's luxurious requirements.

On June one, eight seventy five, five the renovated club space on B Street was opened. However, within less than five months, the palatial club rooms were consumed by the flames from that fire of eighteen seventy five. At some point, members defaulted on payments, and in general the club was interrupted. In March of eighteen seventy six, the members agreed to sell the lot on B Street and rent and renovate rooms elsewhere. This was accomplished by September third, eighteen seventy six,

when new quarters opened up on Douglas Street. These were apparently even more elegant and convenient than the previous rooms on B Street. In its heyday, the Washoe Club housed one of the finest libraries east of San Francisco, an elegant billiard room, a parlor adorned with Italian marble and bronze statuettes, and a wine room that boasted an elaborately

carved black walnut sideboard. The club's membership roster read like a who's who of the Comstock and Pacific host history, and the pages of the club's register were filled with the signatures of people like General Ulysses S. Grant, General Robert Sherman, actor, lecturer Artemis Ward, actor Edwin Booth, and railroad magnate Darius Ogden Mills, and as many as fifty other millionaires of international reputation. By the time wash Show Club was back to its renewed glory, the production of

the miners had fallen drastically. Bonanza dividends for the first three months of eighteen seventy six average ten dollars per share and then skidded to two dollars per share by year's end. By the end of the decade, dividends on the comstock were down to fifty cents per share. A disastrous underground fire in eighteen eighty one reaked further havoc on the production of mines and on the ability of the wash Show Club members to continue to indulge in luxury.

Membership continued to drop off, and monthly dues were reduced to two dollars fifty cents. By eighteen ninety seven, the wash Show Clubs ceased to exist, and the Territorial Enterprise of September nineteen seven said the wash Show Club is no more. Piper's Opera House was another entertainment destination in town from the eighteen sixties all the way to the nineteen twenties, Piper's Opera House attracted famous stars from Europe

and the United States. Today it attracts ghost hunters and lovers of history as one of the most significant vintage theaters on the West Coast. Throughout its many iterations, the Opera House remained a family owned and operated establishment, whether it housed musical acts or museum goers until nineteen It was originally constructed by John Piper, one of the numerous businessmen drawn by the promise of mining. John Piper arrived

in Virginia City in eighteen sixty. Shortly afterwards, he was involved in several businesses, including a brick business office on B and Union Street and the theater on D Street, which he renamed Piper Opera House. Inside, Piper operated a saloon and kept his personal office on site. The saloon was a gateway drug of sorts, leading Piper to encourage and invest in the arts. The theater was one of three that he maintained and successfully used to lure performers

to tour the region. The theater on D Street appealed to a broad selection of professional performers, including the Booth family, Houdini, W. C. Fields, and John Philip SUSA, to name a few. However, the first structure on D Street was unfortunately one of the many structural victims of the Great Fire of eighteen seventy five. Though his first Piper Opera House was burned to a crisp on D Street, his brick saloon on Northby and Union Street survived. He rebuilt his new theater right behind

his break office building and saloon. The brick front building was divided into three sections. Far left was the saloon, the middle section acted as the entry hall, and the room on the right was his business office. Hyper opera house and saloon once again opened in eighteen seventy eight, much to the joy of its fans. Unfortunately, fire damaged the theater five years after it was rebuilt. Like the

Great Fire, the brick facade was spared. John Piper was momentarily discouraged and didn't plan to rebuild it again because the mines were playing out and he could see the writing on the wall. However, the people of Virginia City and his family convinced him otherwise to get back up on the horse. So using wood from old mines and collecting the unburned wood from his second destroyed Piper Opera House. John Piper once again rebuilt the barn like auditorium right

behind his brick saloon in office. The third iteration, constructed in eighteen eighty five, was unscathed by fire and operated until nineteen twenty four, when the mines were once in for all played out. The late Victorian construction still stands. In the nineteen forties, Pipers was reopened as a museum. Then Louise Driggs, great granddaughter of the original John Piper,

began restoration efforts in the nineteen sixties. Driggs also opened the opera House for summertime chamber music concerts through nineteen seventy two. Stage actors were once again welcome to Pipers between the nineteen seventies and mid nineteen eighties. However, family finances and wear and tear on the building forced them

to finally close the house in the eighties. Serious financial support for the undertaking didn't come through until the late nineteen nineties, when the property was purchased by a nonprofit. In nineteen ninety nine, the opera House reopened to the public as a museum, and in the following years Thanks to further renovations, Piper's Opera House is a fully functioning and sought after performing arts center. Theatrical performances, concerts, nonprofit events,

and more continued to keep that historic house alive. All the parts of the theater aren't the same age, though according to some sources, the theater itself is over one hundred twenty years old and the brick facade is over one hundred forty years old. So after all this history, it no wonder Virginia City seems to be teeming with the paranormal, so let's talk about some of the hauntings.

The Mackie Mansion, which we mentioned briefly earlier, is one of the first structures to greet you in town and also run reported to be the most haunted. Some paranormal activity you might experience during your visit includes two little girls running on the staircase, a maid supposedly named Harriet

in the parlor, or a shadow man upstairs. Some stories point to John Mackie having a large safe installed in the home, and it didn't take long before two bandits got word of this and decided to rob it, but they failed miserably when confronted by armed guards who shot them point blank in the chest. There, ghosts are said to haunt the lower floor, just outside the safe. There's also the apparition of a woman dressed in Victorian clothing who has been seen in the living room and who

appears on the third floor as well. Many people believe this to be the spirit of John Mackie's wife, also on the third floor, many tour participants have claimed to see the figures of two little girls. Staff of the mansion referred to them as Emma and Lily, though their role in the mansion is unclear, as they were not Mackie's children. Some who participate in the tour claimed to feel a tugging at their clothes, and they attribute that

to the girls wanting to play now. In addition to this cast of characters, a servant ghost has been seen pacing up and down the stairs hurrying to finish chores, and a former army colonel who once lived in the house has been spotted in the kitchen. The shadow man, who has been seen throughout the home is believed to be the ghost of John Mackie himself. The Wash Show Club, long thought to be one of the most haunted locations,

in town is surprisingly low on dark history. I've investigated it many times myself, though, and have definitely had experiences there. I'm not sure who was responsible for the activity, but many believe there to be a resident spirit named Lena. Others have spotted what they describe as a scared little girl. They all so claimed to have a spirit of an old time prospector who causes a ruckus by snatching drinks

off the bar. Some bartenders leave a nightly shot of bourbon out for this particular ghost and claim it is always empty in the morning. This bourbon loving ghosts also has been known to hold the door open for some women as they enter the bar, so more manners than some living men I know. Hyper's Opera House didn't really start experiencing paranormal activity until renovations began in the nineteen

nineties and performances returned to the hall. There are no known deaths or incidents there, though that certainly has not prevented theaters from being haunted in the past, but it is speculated that the entities there are connected somehow to the building or the land on which it stands. Paranormal activity ranges from general manifestations to particularly recognizable and frequently seen entities. Many witnesses have reported and seen free floating lights,

experienced cold spots, apparitions, and mists. Many feel uncomfortable or anxious in the building. Others have heard a voice singing. Specifically, people have seen a young twentysomething year old woman who is seen wearing a blue evening dress. They also witness a male entity in a gray suit and top hat wearing a handlebar mustache. Now, before we get to the interview portion of the show, I just wanted to bring up one character in Virginia City who I found particularly fascinating.

I had not heard of this woman until we started researching for this podcast. Julia Blett is quite the striking character and probably the most loved sex worker in Virginia City, but she was also a significant community member. According to some sources, Julia was the only woman, or one of the few for a while in Virginia City, so she

became greatly sought after by the miners. Juel or Julia as she became known, was described as a beautiful, tall and slim brunett with dark eyes and refined in manner, with a humorous, witty personality. A more realistic view of Julia was presented by Marian Goldman. She was actually a rather plain englishwoman in her mid thirties who came from New Orleans to the load in eighteen sixty one or eighteen sixty two, when there were very few respectable women.

As more sex work institutions popped up, Julia remained an independent agent. She operated out of a small cottage that she rented near the corner of D and Union Streets in Virginia City's Entertainment District. An independent operator, she competed with the fancy brothels and seems to have come out on top. Julia's home in place of business was a

two room cottage without a kitchen or indoor plumbing. In return for her many kindnesses, Julia was inducted as an honorary member of Virginia Engine Number one On July four, eighteen sixty one. The fireman elected her the queen of the Independence Day Parade, and she rode Engine Company Number one's firetruck through the town wearing a fireman's hat and carrying a brass fire trumpet filled with fresh roses, the

fireman marching behind. It wasn't all show, though, Julia donated hard earned money and physical labor to the firefighting effort, even working the water pump herself. On January nineteenth, eighteen sixty seven, Julia Bilette dressed and went to see a performance at Piper's Opera House. As the story goes, when Miss Bilette refused to sit in the section reserved for women of the Red Light district, she was escorted out of the theater and returned home to enjoy a late dinner.

The next morning, Julia's made Some sources claim that it was a neighbor, possibly named Gertrude, found Julia Bilette murdered in her bedroom. She had been strangled and bludgeoned to death. Most of her costume, jewelry, and belongings were missing. The autopsy determined that strangulation was the cause of death. Although several heavy blows were evidently received on her forehead, there was no fracture of the skull. Her body bore no marks of violence except upon the left hip, where a

slight puncture of the cuticle was visible. On the day of burial, Julia's body was taken to the fire station, of which she was an honorary member. Then her body was taken from there to the grave at three o'clock that afternoon. The story goes that although a funeral occurred, the decent populace could not let a woman of easy virtue be buried in consecrated ground. She was entombed in a lonely grave half a mile east of town. A simple wooden plank with the name Julia painted on it

was all that marked her final resting place. Her gruesome and sudden death impacted the community. Virginia City went into mourning for her, with the mines, mills and saloons being closed down as a mark of respect. On the day of her funeral, January one, thousands formed a procession of honor behind her black plumed glass walled hurst, first the fireman, who were followed by the Nevada militia who played funeral dirges.

The thousands may or may not be inflated, but a contemporary paper explained that the extreme inclemency of the weather prevented many from attending the funeral, although there was quite a large number, notwithstanding the rain and snow that followed her to the grave. Let her faults be buried with her and her virtues live, they said. Now The conviction of the supposed murderer of Julia could be an entire episode itself, but I will say it was quite controversial

and involved. Eventually, her killer was determined to be John Millen, a Frenchman who, according to the gold Hill Daily News at the time, was aged about thirty five years, a large, heavy built man with a coarse, sonorous voice. He apparently followed the business of washing for a living, and it is supposed had been doing the clothes washing for his victim and thereby became acquainted with the premises where she

lived and also acquired a knowledge of her effects. On the day of his hanging, roughly three to four thousand onlookers arrived to watch the site in hooting women with children in their arms before he was hanged. In his last words, John declared he was not afraid to die and cared only for the disgrace the manner of his

death would bring upon his family and France. So with all of that being said, there is still even more to talk about regarding Virginia City, and I have Debbie Bender, a paranormal investigator and owner of Bats in the Belfry Ghost Tours, coming up next to give us all the Ghost Lea for one one in town. Now, before I bring on our guests for today, I just wanted to talk a little bit about my history with Virginia City because it actually goes back quite a ways. When I

was a child, I grew up in northern California. I was part of a big family, and so we did not take trips to Disneyland. We took trips to Lake Tahoe to camp, or if we were feeling particularly extravagant, my parents might treat us to a trip to Circus Circus and Reno. And you know, whenever we took these trips, we would always take a little sidebar trip to places like Virginia City. And I'll never forget the first time

I was approaching Virginia City. When you get to Virginia City, you literally leave Reno and you just kind of start driving and you're basically it feels like in the middle of nowhere. You're in the high desert. You're traversing these very windy roads, and occasionally there's a sign to kind of remind you of where you're going, you know, something that says like you're approaching the Bucket of Blood Saloon,

or come see the suicide table. You know, so me as a child, I was like, where are my parents taking me? And once you get there, it really is kind of like stepping back in time. It's just kind of nestled up in the hills. Everything looks very much like the Old West. I mean, it really is. And even then as a child, I was just quite enamored by this place, even though, you know, once I got to like the suicide table, for example, it was just a table in the back of a casino that looked

very old. So, you know that being said, later on in life, I did a lot of investigating in Virginia City. It was in pretty close proximity to where I lived, and I had a lot of friends in that area, and before it was ever really on ghost shows or anything like that, we would investigate a number of buildings

in town and got really great results. But I always kind of look back on it, you know, as a child being completely obsessed with what seemed to be a very morbid history, and then later kind of ending up there in the dark looking for ghosts. So many years later and now here are again, and like many episodes of this podcast that I record, it kind of just makes me want to get back there. So that being said, I want to bring on my guest for the day. So today my guest is Debbie Bender. She is the

owner of Bats in the Belfree Ghost Tours. She's a paranormal investigator herself. She has been leading ghost tours and investigations in Virginia City for the last thirteen years, so she definitely knows a thing or two about the hauntings there. I would say, so, Debbie, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Of course, you came very highly recommended by a mutual friend of ours. I was surprised I hadn't met you, but I know you and I did chat on the phone many years

ago about some of the hauntings in town. So can you just kind of quickly give us the rundown on how you got involved in Virginia City and kind of what you're doing there on the day to day. Well, I was born in Reno and have been going up to Virginia City ever since I was little, and history has always been my first love, even before ghost hunting.

And there's so much history in Virginia City and combining the to the history with the ghost and everything the more I got into it, the more fascinated I was, and I said, you know, this needs to be shared with people, and started doing the ghost tours up there, and we've been doing it ever since, almost thirteen years. Yeah.

You know, what I love about it is that there are so many different kind of haunted locations, but they're all in very close proximity, Like a lot of them are within walking distance of each other, and it's just kind of all just nestled in one little place. But they all have very different stories and very different hauntings

and very different bits of history. And you know, one of the things I find really interesting in some of these older like mining towns, is there's so much folklore and lore that you have to sort of sort through, um, you know. I mean a Virginia city is famous for that. I think one of the things that I love about the town is there's so many legends, and I'm a firm believer that within every legend there's that kernel of truth. You just have to dig a little bit to find it.

But it's just this wonderful, like colorful quilt of stories. It's funny because I do remember just having visited so much and unfortunately haven't been there. I don't think i've been back in over ten years, but I do remember even the locals today just being kind of very colorful people, filled with stories, and I just kind of almost felt like they were like directly connected to or like somehow

just part of the heart of that town. Like everyone who lives their year round just seems very vested in keeping Virginia City the way that it is. Would you say that's true? Oh? Absolutely. I mean some of the most interesting people I've ever met in my life have been in Virginia City. And you'll be talking to someone and else sudden they'll tell you a story about themselves and you're just like, oh my god, that's incredible. Yeah.

I do think it takes a special kind of character to kind of take up residence in an old mining town and just be completely dedicated to kind of keeping it alive, because you know, there are many towns, not necessarily on the scale of Virginia City that really never survived once the gold or silver ran out, the town kind of expired with it. So I think that's one of the things I do love about Virginia City, But it's also super haunted. I've had some crazy experiences there

over the years. To me, the three major haunts are obviously the wash Shoe Club, Pipers, and the Mackay Mansion. So can you kind of run through like what people can expect to encounter at these locations. This is the great thing about the buildings up there. Everyone always has their favorite which is different than the next person's favorite building, and every building can run the absolute I'm at a paranormal activity. I mean everything from full bodied apparitions to

getting touched to seeing objects move. I mean e vps that just knock your socks off, incredible pictures, And it's in each building, you know, and people that come up there on a regular basis get attached to the building, but then also to certain spirits that are in there. The Macki Mansion has the spirit of a little girl who's extremely playful, and whenever her spirits there, you just feel happy. It's like this happiness just kind of comes

over you. The Washoe Club, you know, have some spirits in there that are not always very nice, and if they don't want you around, they definitely let you know. And Hyper's Opera House. I remember being in there one time and a friend of mine named John said that the piano started playing old ragtime music and all of our equipment just went crazy. It was like they were so happy and just like the spirit came out in droves to hear it. How often would you say that

these places are being investigated? You know, Virginia City is probably one of the most popular ghost honey locations around here. I would say definitely, at least on the West coast, and it's almost every weekend. We get people that have never done it anything like that before coming up, and people who are very season long term paranormal investigators who are just always up there. Yeah, exactly. You really don't

know what you're gonna get in. And again, like I said before, it's just it is nice to have such a concentration of different locations and a place that's really open to its hauntings. You know, some places or tourist attractions and really want nothing to do with their ghosts and they don't encourage it. So now that Macki Mansion, I know you mentioned little Girl. The little Girl, I had heard that Johnny Depp actually witnessed this ghost. Is

that true? That's what we hear. It's never been officially officially confirmed. But he was up there filming the movie called dead Man. I don't know if you've ever seen. It's like this eclectic cowboy cotting movie. It's I do remember, but yeah, it's a really odd movie. And um, he was talking to locals and they told him about the Maggie Mansion and how haunted it was, and they let him spend the night in the room, and supposedly he

woke up to seeing the little girl sitting on his bed. Interesting. There was something that I remember distinctly, So this was this was way back when I first started investigating. I don't even know if you'll remember this, but do you remember there being this like notorious pair of boots in the wash Show Club? I do not, Okay, perfect, So this is this is probably a prime example of being a very naive paranormal investigator and just believing everything anyone

told me back then. And I think we're all so guilty of this. And so I'll never forget going up into this room in the Washhow Club and there's this

pair of boots sitting in this room. I don't even think we could go into the room because it wasn't particularly safe, but the boots were there, and they were very old boots, and everyone with me was like, years ago, a man was shot in this room and they took off his boots and they left them there, and those are his boots, and you know, me just looked at those and obviously were like all investigating around these boots. But then like the reality never really set in for me.

How like outrageous acclaim that was like that that this building is falling apart, all the furniture is gone, the walls are falling down, and yet they chose to leave this dead man's boots sitting there. So you know, this is a perfect story that shows that there's a kernel of truth in a legend. Right, So there was a person who was shot upstairs in a wash up club. His name was Scottie Um and he shot himself, and he was very well known and very liked by the

locals and everything. So there is that possibility that they did put a pair of boots in a room up there to like honor his memory. Potentially, yes, for sure, And I could see that. But I do remember just thinking years later, like why would I just believe that? And I just remember in the dark talking to these boots, which if anyone watches my show Kindred Spirits. It's not far fetched to talk to shoes, but but it was.

It was really funny, and I just I'll never forget that, and so like, you know, not investigator Amy, you know, twenty years later, really wants to go back to that spot, and so hopefully I'll be able to at some point. But that also means that at some point someone took those boots. Those boots are somewhere, yeah, yeah, because I've never seen a pair of boots up there. Yeah. I mean it's been so long, I could be completely misremembering

the direction. I remember going up a set of stairs and then on the direct left was a room and I feel like that's where the boots were. So was it a really big room, probably the ballroom? Maybe it was not. It was like a small room, kind of off to the side. And that's kind of all I remember. But you know how like you think of these things and you actually go back and you're like, that's not

what the setup was at all. I just completely you know, we do have that selective memory, which you know, you do have to really come to terms with as a paranormal investigator. It's you can misremember and you do misremember, so it could be completely off base. Okay, so the wash Show Club, like you said, it does seem to have this kind of reputation for people being not so nice. What happens there that makes people believe that? Well, I

witness people get scratched. I was with someone one time and they were taking pictures and the camera that they were using just got flung out of their hands and smashed against the wall. E v P. S up there can call you names, tell you to get out. I think we need to remember we go into these places that we're kind of going into someone's home in a way, right, and when the spirits up there don't want to be bothered,

you physically feel that milwash Show. Yeah, I mean I think that makes sense because you kind of feel that with a living person in front of you, you know, if they're putting off that vibe that they want nothing to do with you. I do get that same feeling sometimes when no one is there, or when I think

maybe a spirit is present. I mean the Washaw Club historically, obviously it started as this very kind of fancy boogie place, and then as the silver ran out and the gold ran out, obviously it kind of seemed like the price to join was a lot less at that point. Do you think that kind of affected the clientele and like

what went on there? I think so. I mean, I think they tried to sort of keep the glory days of the com stock for as long as they could, and when it just kind of passed away, Yeah, I think that they weren't getting the millionaires up there, you know, the big players. They all had moved on at that point.

I'm trying to remember specifically, but I feel like at that point, by the time it closed, I think the monthly membership view was only like two dollars and seventy five cents or something, down from a much more substantial amount than that. Now, Piper's Opera House I always find or Piper Pipers or Piper Piper's. So Piper's Opera House, I feel like that, you know, like you think about Tombstone, for example, and their Birdcage theater kind of became this

like really debaucherous theater, but Pipers didn't. It never really became that way, did. I mean, I did have a bar attached to it, you know, it didn't. Piper's was always really classy with the plays they put up me and they had some of the biggest actors in the world at that time that we're performing on that stage. And you know our twin when he came back to Virginia City, he gave his lecture on that stage. So yeah, it was it was not like a dance hall or

anything like that. It was much higher class than that. So who do you think is haunting Pipers? Supposedly John Piper himself haunts the place. People have seen him staring out the windows and also have seen him up in the balconies. There's also a spirit of a lady who's usually seen when a performance is going on. We figured she was probably one of the actresses that came out that way. And then supposedly there's also the spirit of a of a child that's only seen backstage and usually

only seen by other kids. Okay, I mean that's interesting. It's it's hard always to figure out, you know, the ghosts of children who they could be, just because they didn't really document the deaths of kids as often, but unfortunately they passed away quite often back then. Oh yeah, yeah, definitely.

And have you have been able to find any like documented deaths and Pipers or anything or any other like kind of I mean, I was looking through the history and there's no town legends about murders or deaths and fires connected to the opera house. But have you found anything I haven't. I know, there's one story going around that someone was hung from the rafters by the six oh one, which was a vigilante group, and I've never

found any historical document to back that up. One of the biggest problems with Virginia City is after eighteen seventy five, when with the Great Fire happened, a lot of the documents were destroyed, right. I could see that as I

was kind of going through the history. It was really interesting to see how many places, you know, as they kind of dug or started to renovate a lot later, would find evidence of the original buildings, even especially like underground I think Pipers there is something kind of like that there as well. Is there anything that you can investigate that's kind of near to some of the more original parts of that structure. Not really. There's an area downstairs in the back where the bar is where they

had at one point. We're kind of digging things out a little bit and finding some interesting stuff from the original building that was there, but there's nothing left of the original original you know, it was burned down, you know, and then Pipers I think this is what his third or fourth opera house he had built in Virginia City by that time. Yes, so the current one dates eighty five,

which that's still pretty old. Yeah, definitely, especially for Califor and I don't want to say California, but for the West coast. Now. I have read somewhere that the facade the front though, was older than that. Is that accurate or not that I know of? Um, I think it was in the nineteen oh I'm probably gonna get this date wrong. I don't even work the forties, maybe fifties.

Hyper's great granddaughter tried to restore it and bring it back and then it kind of sat pretty vacant for a while and they did a mass renovation on it and really brought it back to life. And it's I mean, it's just so beautiful inside there where you go up to where the theater is and you just really feel like you're standing in history. Yeah. I think that is kind of the case with the entire town, and I think that's probably why it's haunted or a big part

of it. I think that when you have these spots that don't necessarily change, it stays familiar to these ghosts and comfortable. And again that's complete speculation on my part, but I just I kind of feel that sometimes. And I know we've gone through those kind of three key hauntings, But are there any other areas in town that you think are either kind of underrated when it comes to ghosts or areas people just might want to check out if they're able to investigate. One of my favorite buildings

up there is the Night's Epatheist Building. It's not open to the general public, but during certain conventions and stuff, they're able to get that location to do investing nations in. And that's probably between the Washoe Club and the Knights of Patheist as far as hauntings go, that's those are my favorite places. I think you get the most out of them. And so what is the history of that building and what do people experience there? With the Knights

of Patheis you get personal stuff happening. You don't really get like a lot of the e v p s and stuff like that. But there's an area on the second floor where there used to be a kitchen, and we would have people stand in a certain area in a line and just have them stand as still as possible, and without even realized they were doing it, they would start swaying back and forth. Oh strange, and it would

affect people. I was up there one time and I was standing at the entrance to the kitchen and my daughter was back there having people, you know, do the swaying thing. We call it the vortex for lack of a better word. And this guy comes out. He was over six ft tall, he was a marine. He stops in front of me and he looks at me and then just drops to the ground. Oh no, And we had to help him out of the building. As soon as he got out of the building, he was perfectly fine.

I know seasoned investigators who have been doing ghost hunting for years and years and years who don't like going upstairs because of how the building will can physically affect you. That's straight. Is it like uneven or anything? Is the floor of you know, sometimes you go into those places, especially older buildings, and it kind of catches you off guard. Yeah, it's like that fun house effect. Yeah it's not. And you know, I've delled into the history with the Knights Epitheist,

and I can't find anything. You know, no murders up there, nobody died up there, nothing like that. But for some reason, there is something up there in that building, and when it decides to make its presence, no, it gets to you, gets to you big time. I'll to check that out on my next visit. I don't know that I've ever been there, but I have been in a lot of buildings there though that I don't know, are regularly and to the public, so maybe it's a place I'll recognize.

So what about mines, Are there any minds people can go into that are rumored to be haunted or are they mostly all closed off? There's still the Collar mine that you can go into, and that one has its hauntings. It's not one I like going into because I'm very claused bobic me too. I feel you do not want to go in there now. It's the worst, yeah, but it gives you a feel of what it was like for those miners back in the day that had to

do that all the time. And it's you know, it's not pleasant, no it It honestly sounds like the absolute worst line of work to me, like I read the stories of miners and I get like a tightness in my chest, like saying, the idea of that is so terrifying. And then some of the things they went through, even in Virginia City, just like the working conditions, and I was reading that, you know, sometimes they would get caught up in legal matters and they would literally lock miners

into the mine until it was settled. And I mean,

just just full to think about. To me, that's one of the reasons I think Virginia City is also really haunted, is you know, these miners when they died in the minds it was a horrible depth and to be trapped three thousand feet below ground knowing that you're not going to get out or there's no way out, and basically they died in terror and in darkness and alone and knowing there's no way that anyone could save them, and probably not really feeling like much of a priority to

save you know, they didn't really have OSHA back then. They didn't really take care of them as they should have. And whenever I read about the history of not just Virginia City mines, but any mining town, the actual miners while many of them did well. A lot of them were just very overlooked and treated terribly well. Yes and no. I mean we did have the highest paid miners in the world at that time, and we did have the most state of the art equipment for mining at that time,

so that was really good. But at the same time, money was always going to be the them Lyne, right, and you're right that the lives of the miners were a second thought when it came down to, you know, what are we going to make out of this mine? Now unrelated and not a source of any hauntings that I have seen, but I just was kind of fascinated by her story. Are you familiar with Julia Billett at all? I am. I just find her story to be, like

I said, very just fascinating. And I was not aware of her until I started really digging into the history of Virginia City. And have you ever encountered any hauntings that you think maybe associated with her? Because if there was ever someone who was going to haunt a place, I feel like she would be a per the person. Yep. We do stop at the sight of Julia's cabin on our ghost tour, and she doesn't always come out to interact with us. But there are times when she does

and we'll have the kids. You meet her out and we'll usually have a gentleman and that's all to her. Hold it because she likes talking to the men, and she'll make that meter light up in response to questions that we're asking her. We've had people get some really odd photos on that spot during the tour, So I believe that she is there definitely. And her history. You gotta be careful with Julie because of the stuff you

read about her on the internet. It's not true. Oh that's good to know, but her her history is still a fascinating one. So what would you say, is like maybe the biggest bit of misinformation about her that's out there, She was not rich. She did not own a brothel or a house. Julius Palace, I think is what they called it. That's not true. She was a middle class prostitute. She actually did die in Debt, but she was very

well loved in that town. And I think the person they hung for her murder was not the person who killed her. Oh okay, well these are good things to know, so you know, if if there's anything like I always say, it got a very hard to prove, but we can at least work our best to get history accurate. And she's just such an interesting character. I wanted to bring her up. Are there any other hauntings in town that

you think we need to mention? I mean, I feel like there's so many, and so there is a Probably my favorite spirit in Virginia City is Peter Larkin. He's the most interactive, at least for us. We stopped behind the courthouse to talk to him, and he usually comes out and speaks to us through e VPS or through the sp seven probably eight out of ten times. And we've heard him on many many occasions make really clear sentences. And he was hung back there, and I've also he

was another one I believe was innocent. But he's my favorite spirit just because he interacts with us so often. And so what was his story? How did who was he? He owned like a bar and a brothel in Virginia City, and his girlfriend owned want to Saint a saloon right next door to his, And he ended up breaking up with his girlfriend and she got a new boyfriend, and his bedroom window looked right into their bedroom window, and she accused him of shooting and killing her new boyfriend.

And even though Peter was very popular in town, he was very well respected. This was right after the Great Fire had happened, and the people, the powers that be in Virginia City really wanted to clean the town up, and so unfortunately, they decided to make Peter an example. And so even though all the evidence was circumstantial, they still hung him. Wow, scandalous, So real quick, because I have to revisit these moments from my childhood. So what is the suicide table and is it still there? And

how much truth is there to it? The suicide table is still there. It's in the delta. It's a Pharaoh table, and Pharaoh was like the big card gambling game of the day back then. And the story is that there have been a couple of men who have lost all their fortune on that table and then took their own lives after that happened. Is there truth to it? There? Probably is that Colonel of truth somewhere in there about that.

It's been up there for as long as I can remember. Yeah, I remembered um just being completely fascinated with it as a child. I mean, I mean, there is a lot of build up, like you drive up and you know, there's like I feel like twenty signs. Yes, it was a table. Uh. And then of course there's the Bucket of Blood Saloon. So what is the Bucket of Blood Saloon? And how did it get that name. It's a great saloon to go into. It's a lot of fun in there.

The name supposedly comes from back in the day that there were so many gunfights in Virginia City that they had to mop up a buckets worth blood every day. Oh see, I didn't know that. I just accepted that name with no explanation. So it's nice to know. Tell us a little bit about how people can find you and what you're up to, and if they want to visit where they need to go, they can find us

through our website, Virginia City Ghost Tours dot com. And we are currently down for the wintertime because it's too much snow and it's really cool to be walking around there at night right now, but we hope to be back up and running March. You're April, depending on the weather, and we'll be running tours every Friday and Saturday for sure. And they can go to our website and make reservations and or send us an email if they have questions,

and it's about an hour outdoor walking tour. We'll tell you all about the great history up there, and then also about all the ghostly legends. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you, know, your dedication to history and keeping it real, but also just finding the kind of magic in a place like Virginia City and respecting that. So I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. And I'm going to be visiting very soon, at least by this summer. I've definitely

got to pop in. So well, we hope you come back up to Virginia City. Will be more than happy to show you around. Alright, fabulous, Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Of course, Virginia City is a gem of a mining town, just waiting for you to pay it a visit. I have to tell you, though, as a child, so many many years ago, I remember paying a dollar to pan for gold in an old sluice mining operations someone had set up off the main street.

As I looked at the weathered older gentleman who helped me sift through sand and water to find little specks of fool's gold that he would later put in a tiny vial of water for me to take home. My mind just assumed he was a miner who had been there for a hundred years or more. He seemed such a part of the town, and wearing a be draggled leather hat, lo t shirt and brown canvas overalls, he looked the part of the town. It didn't even cross my mind that he hadn't been there since well forever.

Except now when I think back to that moment, I can't help but wonder if, maybe, just maybe I was right. I'm Amy Rooney and this was Haunted Road. Thanks so much for listening to our season two premiere of Haunted Road. Remember you can catch all new episodes of my show Kindred Spirits airing now on Travel Channel on Saturday nights

at ten ninth Central, or streaming on Discovery Plus. And if you want to take a weird vacation of a lifetime, visit Strange dash Escapes dot com to join me and some of my paranormal friends on ghostly vacations all over the world. Haunted Road is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and hosted by Amy Bruney. Executive producers include Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is

produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Research by Taylor Haggerdorn, Amy Bruney, and Robin Miniter. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.