A few years ago, Laureen and I drove through Tonopah, Nevada on the way to see one of our daughters in Idaho. The town was founded around 1900 when a rich silver deposit was located in the nearby hills.
And that silver was founded by nothing more than serendipitous luck.
Turns out that a miner, Jim Butler, was looking for a lost burro and had to spend the night hunkered below a rock outcropping. The next morning he located the burro, and picked up a large rock to heave it out of frustration.
“Wait,” he is rumored to have said to himself. “This rock is plenty heavy. I think I will have it assayed instead of just chucking it.”
In fact, that certain rock started the second richest silver strike in the state’s history, only behind the Comstock Lode near Virginia City.
Tonopah is the county seat of Nye County and is about midway between Las Vegas and Reno at the junction of U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 95. It’s a small town of just over two thousand folks, according to a 2019 statistic from the US Census Bureau.
We could only stay a couple of hours but learned a few things about this little berg during that time.
Wyatt Earp arrived in 1902 and opened the Northern Saloon. Hugh Bradner, the physicist, invented the neoprene wetsuit had lived there. Tasker Oddie, the 12th governor of Nevada and United States Senator lived there. And, Dennis Avner, also known as the Stalking Cat died in Tonopah in 2012 – he was the guy who had fourteen facial surgeries (body modifications) to make his face look like an actual feline.
So, there was a lot to this town – and, it is haunted.
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| Words can not explain this - really! |
According to tonopahnevada.com, the whole town has ghosts and goblins hanging around.
There’s the prank loving ghost, George ‘Devil’ Davis, who plays gags on people at the Tonopah Liquor Company.
Then there is Bina Verrault, who left New York City under nefarious reasons, and ended up dying in Tonopah – she loves to stare out the windows of the Tonopah Historic Mining Park’s visitor’s center.
Then there is the cemetery which is haunted right next door to the infamous Clown Motel. Strange lights, full body apparitions, and weird noises can be heard coming from the cemetery.
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| Tonopah cemetery, next to the Clown Motel |
But, isn’t a clown motel creepy enough without worrying about supernatural goings-on in the grave yard?
“Dad, I think that clown opening our door has a machete in his hand.”
“Not to worry, son, I’m only concerned about white orbs floating menacingly about the Old Tonopah Cemetery.”
And, according to USA Today 10Best Reader’s Choice Award in 2018, the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah, Nevada was voted the most haunted hotel in America.
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| Hotel Mizpah, Tonopah |
So haunted, that many paranormal professionals have visited this town in the south-western part of Nevada to investigate the numerous sightings of things with no explanations.
This hotel really has tales to tell.
Three of the most famous other-worldly residents at the hotel is the Lady in Red, who was stabbed and strangled between rooms 502 and 504 on the fifth floor. Then there are some children who are heard and seen running around the third floor and then just disappear into thin air. And finally, a murdered miner or robber hanging around in the basement – not really hanging there, more like, just hanging out.
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| Lady in Red suite at the Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah |
“We’ve got to come back and book a room on the fifth floor,” I stated to Laureen, as we sauntered through the lobby of the gorgeous hotel.
The Mizpah Hotel was started in 1907, and was going to be the center-piece for the entire region. Architect, Morrill J. Curtis designed the large hotel and for a cost of over two hundred thousand dollars when completed in 1908, the town had their grand hotel.
It had fifty rooms, two restaurants, a bar and other rooms for meeting and social functions. Everything went well for the town and hotel, but like most mining communities, there is always an end to the gold and silver ore bonanza. By 1920 the population had dwindled, with miners looking for the next big strike.
Tonopah hung on with the induction of dollars from the military from the Tonopah Test Range, which was also used for the development of the F-117 Nighthawk. In 2014, a solar energy company dumped millions into the economy by constructing a solar plant nearby.
But, there wasn’t quite enough business to keep the Mizpah Hotel from closing, which it did in 1999 and fell into disrepair. An enterprising couple, Fred and Nancy Cline bought the vacant hotel for two hundred thousand dollars and retrofitted it to its former glory.
They did a marvelous job.
As we walked around the hotel, it felt as though we had stepped back more than a hundred years in time. The lobby, the reception desk, the wide stairways, and every other area in the hotel is painstakingly stunning.
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| Lobby at the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah |
We had to stay – but we didn’t. Time was not on our side that trip, but we made a vow to spend the night in this haunted place the following year.
Nope, Covid-19 struck and that idea floated away like a paper boat in the gutter.
Well, on a recent trip through Nevada, sans Laureen – her schedule is a lot busier than mine – our friend, Paul Bakas, and I decided to see if the hotel is really haunted.
I contacted one guy, who I knew could give me the information I needed for this venture, and I got more than I needed to book a room at the hotel.
According to Cody Dare, from the paranormal investigating team of New Reality 11, they had a lot of action while filming a television episode at the Mizpah Hotel in the spring of 2021.
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| Cody Dare and his partner Shawn Warren on an investigation |
“The basement is no joke. There is an old miner down there, very tall and very territorial. Lots of activity there. Lady in red, we didn’t catch much, but we did feel her presence there.”
I nodded at Paul. “I’m booking room 504.”
He was silent for a moment. “That’s kind of creepy. Trying to sleep in a room where there may be a ghost wandering around.”
“It is cool,” I returned.
Unfortunately, the room wasn’t available, and had a waiting list of about a year, according to the front desk clerk, Brittany.
“Everyone wants that room,” she said. “Weird, how people would want to sleep in a room a woman may have been killed in or near.”
“Yeah, that is weird,” I replied. We got a suite on the second floor and I put Laureen’s name on the waiting list.
All this ghost talk got me thirsty, so we stopped at the long dark polished wood bar on the first floor of the hotel for an adult libation.
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| Gorgeous bar in Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah |
Alex, the bartender then shared some ghostly history of the hotel. There was plenty for at least two rounds of libations, we weren’t driving.
“I don’t believe in that stuff,” she stated. “But, I’ll tell you, I don’t like going into the basement.”
“I know, all those stairs going down that you have to come back up again,” I replied.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Alex said. “There’s just this strange feeling I get down there. As if someone is watching me. I usually ask someone else to get whatever I need, so I don’t have to experience those feelings.”
Cody Dare was correct, there was a lot of activity in the basement.
My plans were solid – stay up and be on the watch for anything out of the ordinary.
I spent the evening sitting in the large and wide hallway outside of the room, but no ghosts or paranormal activity greeted me. After midnight, I called the investigation over – I was tired.
In the morning, just prior to our leaving, we headed upstairs to the fifth floor, to snap some photos of room 504. I brought my phone, since it took excellent photos. Just being past six, no one was stirring, not even a mouse.
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| Stairwell at the Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah |
I shot a few photos – looked at them – and felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
“Look at this,” I stated to Paul.
As I ran wiped back through the five shots I had taken of the door, there was nothing but a tenth-of-second view of the door and then the screen went blue. Each and every one of the photos.
“I think you may have shot a video too,” Paul said.
So happened I had, a short one by accident. The hair went even higher on the back of my neck.
There was the door, with a greenish hue plainly seen at the bottom of the door, and then a loud crashing sound.
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| No one in the hall, but a loud crash and light below door |
There was no one else in the hallway but Paul and me.
“Did you hear anything when I took those photos?” I asked.
“No, but I think it’s time to go,” Paul replied.
It was and we did.
Did I witness a paranormal activity? I don’t know, but just before heading downstairs, I took another couple of photos of the hallway away from the door, and not an issue. Each one came out clear and bright.
Is the hotel haunted? Again, I don’t know but when Laureen’s reservation comes up next year – perhaps we’ll find out.
