 |
| Stacey Coverstone, author |
by Stacey Coverstone
Copyright © 2012 Stacey Coverstone
There’s just no talking about the American Old West without mentioning the saloons and the ghosts that continue to haunt them. The very term "saloon” conjures up a picture within our minds of a wooden false front, a wide boardwalk flanking the dusty street, a couple of hitching posts, dance hall girls, and swinging doors brushing against a cowboy as he made his way to the long polished bar in search of a whiskey to wet his parched throat. Many people believe those same cowboys and saloon girls haven’t given up their rowdy ways simply because they died.
Birdcage Theatre
The famous Birdcage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona, has reported 31 different spirits haunting it. That’s no surprise, since at least 26 deaths have occurred in the bullet-ridden building since 1881. One such death included a woman who was flirting with another woman’s husband only to have her heart cut out by the wife’s stiletto heel.
The famous Birdcage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona, has reported 31 different spirits haunting it. That’s no surprise, since at least 26 deaths have occurred in the bullet-ridden building since 1881. One such death included a woman who was flirting with another woman’s husband only to have her heart cut out by the wife’s stiletto heel.
The Skinner Saloon next to the Meade Hotel in the ghost town of Bannack, Montana, is the home of ghost, Dorothy Dunn. Dorothy was a young teen when she drowned in the pond along Grasshopper Creek in 1916. She first appeared to her best friend, who witnessed Dorothy’s drowning. Today she is seen wearing a blue dress and looking out one of the second story windows. Sometimes she tries to talk to children.
A little girl wanders the upper floors of the Long Branch Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada. Strange blue light emanates from the top floors with no light source, and a doll’s clothes are changed from one day to the next. A woman wails from inside the saloon, supposedly the little girl’s mother. Legend is that the child was run over by a wagon in front of the saloon.
The Red Dog Saloon in The Lodge in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, holds claim to a ghost named Rebecca, who worked as a chambermaid in the 1930s and was murdered by her jealous lumberjack lover. Workers cleaning up have seen Rebecca’s twirling apparition on the dance floor at night. The bartender has often seen a reflection of the redheaded beauty in a long dress in the bar mirror. Ashtrays move by themselves, flames appear in the fireplace without logs or another source of fuel, and loud music comes from the saloon, even when it’s not open.
My husband and I lived in an old drafty house once, where a male spirit played pranks on us. Have you experienced a ghost? Or felt a presence in an old building? I’d love to hear your story.
If you like ghost stories and own a Kindle, you can read my book, Haunt-A Collection of Short Ghost Stories.
My next release, Big Sky, also features a ghost. Look for it February 10 from The Wild Rose Press.
Stacey
Get Lucky!
Leave a comment if you’d like to be entered to win a
hardback edition of A Haunted Twist of Fate
The winner will be drawn at random. USA mailing only.
Drawing is Saturday, January 14, 10pm Pacific Time
Be sure to leave your email address so you can be contacted if you are the lucky winner.
