ghost stories Archives - RVing with Rex (2024)

Wait…did you hear something? That creak? That rattle? That ghastly groan?!
In Arizona, you’ll find plenty of creepy noises—not to mention hauntings and paranormal activities—guaranteed to give you goosebumps.

Travel the state north to south to uncover everything from haunted hotels to ghost walks and ghost towns. Then see if you can still sleep with the lights off.

Jerome

Today,Jeromeis known more for its liquid spirits, in particular, itsaward-winning wine; however, it remains one of Arizona’s most famous ghost towns and hauntings come with the territory. After all, it didn’t earn its reputation as the “Wickedest Town in the West” without reason.

During the annualOctober Jerome Ghost Walk, you can wander the narrow passageways and steep streets to find costumed performers reenacting the shootings, mysteries, and love triangles that marked this former mining town.
Can’t make it? Book a night at theJerome Grand Hotel. Originally opened as the town’s hospital in 1927, the 25-room hotel has had reports of strange occurrences and occasional sightings including those of a bearded miner and a specter since dubbed “Claude” who met his demise in the elevator shaft.

Want dinner and drinks with more of the Jerome ghost town flavor? Enjoy a meal at theHaunted Hamburger followed by a nightcap and live music at theSpirit Room, a favorite watering hole where all the spirits are friendly.

Daytime delight: Steel your nerves for a night in a haunted hotel with an afternoon wine tasting atCaduceus Cellars where the pours all come from Arizona. Stop in earlier when the tasting room operates as a cafe for Italian espresso and lattes.

Prescott

Ghosts talk as you walk inPrescottwhile you learn about this town’s ghoulish past. Before Phoenix, Prescott reigned as the capital of Arizona (more specifically, the Territorial Capital) and it still retains much of its New World meets Old West charm as evident in its Victorian architecture and Whiskey Row saloons.

The Palacesaloon—often said to be Arizona’s oldest bar—is one such Whiskey Row establishment and Prescott’s most haunted spot. Multiple ghosts have been spotted here including one Frank Nevin who lost his business in a poker game and still haunts the bar and maybe hoping for a chance at a better hand. The Palace’s basement briefly even served as a temporary jail and those who have visited have reported feeling a “heavy presence” making it difficult to breathe.

Related article: Ghostly Experiences

DuringA Haunting Experience, a weekend walking tour of historic downtown Prescott, you’re likely to visit The Palace while you explore the town’s spiritual side. The Trost & Trost-designedHassayampa Innis another. Here, it’s said a young bride—abandoned by her husband on their honeymoon in 1928—hanged herself from her balcony room. Perhaps she remains, waiting for his return.

Daytime delight: Just four miles from town,Watson Lakeis a serene landscape that beckons hikers, kayakers, and rock climbers. Or fill up on the town’s history before hunting its ghostly residents at theSharlot Hall Museum housed in the former Governor’s Mansion.

Bisee

Halloween is one roving street party in eccentric, artsy Bisbee. Throw on a costume and you’ll fit right into this southern Arizona town, once a copper mining center. (You’d probably be the other 364 days of the year, too, if we’re being honest.)

Related article: A Haunting Good Time: Your Guide to 5 Ghostly Cities Across America

Not sure where to start your ghostly hunt? Acquaint yourself with Bisbee’s past as a mining boomtown with a stop atQueen Mine Tours. You’ll head deep underground into the former Copper Queen Mine with former miners as they navigate the abandoned equipment and explain how turn-of-the-century mines operated. This is one tour best avoided by anyone with claustrophobia.

In the evening, join one ofOld Bisbee Ghost Tour’s numerous offerings including a walking tour of haunted spots and a haunted pub crawl during which “spirits” are guaranteed. Along with your share of ghosts, you’ll hear tales from Bisbee’s wild history and learn why so many of its former residents still haunt this mountain town.

After all the walking, spend the night at a Bisbee haunted hotel such as the landmark 1902Copper Queen Hotel. Guests and ghost hunters often try to prowl the upper floors in search of the hotel’s resident spirits—a tall caped gentleman, an ethereal dancing woman, and a young giggling boy.

Daytime delight: Main Street in Old Bisbee is peppered with charming stores and boutiques, perfect for art collecting and thrift shopping.

Tombstone

Among the stories guests on the one-hour Tombstone Ghost & Murder, Tour will hear is that of 1888 ill-fated lovers George Daves and Petra Edmunds. One night, Daves spied Edmunds walking down Third Street with another guy. He shot at her and thinking he had killed her fatally shot himself (Edmunds survived). In death, Daves’s ghost is said to hang out on Third Street perhaps hoping for a reunion. Traveling aboard the original Tombstone Trolley Car, this tour shows there’s a lot more to Tombstone than the 1881 shootout at the O.K. Corral.

Ghost City Tours offers two options in Tombstone: one for all ages and another just for adults. The Bullets and Bordellos Ghost Tour delves into Tombstone’s seedier past with tales of murder, suicide, and its infamous “houses of ill repute.”

Related article: 5 Haunted Places around America Perfect for a Halloween Road Trip (If You Dare)

Daytime delight: The two-story Cochise County Courthouse designed in the Victorian style was constructed of red brick in 1882. The courthouse, a splendid example of territorial architecture, continued to serve as a county facility until 1931 when the county seat was moved to Bisbee. Today, visitors can enjoya museumfull of authentic interpretive exhibits on the history of Tombstone and Cochise County.

Douglas and Tucsom

Want more southern Arizona ghosts? Have a drink to calm your nerves at the tavern ofThe Gadsden Hotel in Douglas. The hotel, built in 1907, features a magnificent lobby and Italian marble staircase not to mention a few live-in ghosts including the members of a love triangle.

In downtown Tucson,Hotel Congress built in 1919 is best known for the capture of the notorious Dillinger gang. Although the gangster John Dillinger isn’t one of them, ghosts do seem to roam the hotel including a woman who smells of roses and a gentleman who peers out the windows of the second floor.

Perhaps ghosts are to be expected here—the hotel offers plenty of reasons to linger from live music at Club Congress to drinks in The Tap Room to a meal atCup Café.

Daytime delight: A trip to southern Arizona isn’t complete withoutvisiting Saguaro National Park where vast forests of the region’s iconic cactus stretch as far as the eye can see.

Globe

In 1910, by the time the Gila County Jail and Sherriff’s Office in Globe was completed vigilante violence was more likely to claim the lives of inmates than the hangman’s noose. In one case, an unknown assailant shot and killed a suspect awaiting trial by hiding in a second-floor window in the courthouse across the alley.

Though closed in 1981, the old jail remains a haunting place. Guides with AZ Ghost Tours take guests on a 3-hour tour through the jail’s sordid past and its history of infamous inmates. The jail is one of four locations tour guests can choose from with each one hosting up to 12 people for three hours.

Related article: Celebrate Halloween RV Style

One final note of caution before you head out searching for Arizona’s ghosts:Many events and activities are unsuitable for young children or have age restrictions.

Worth Pondering…

I’m just a ghost in this house
I’m shadow upon these walls,
As quietly as a mouse
I haunt these halls.

—Allison Krauss, Ghost in This House

We know America as the land of spacious skies and amber waves of grain but it also happens to be the land of a million ghost stories. Take a coast-to-coast tour of the most haunted cities in the U.S. where lingering spirits roam through the halls of mansions, authentically haunted hotels, a haunted theater, a retired battleship, and more of the scariest places scattered across the country. Haunted? Quite possibly. Storied history? Absolutely!

And if ghosts aren’t your go-to travel companions, fear not—these sites offer enough culture, history, and beautiful scenery and architecture to keep you firmly planted in this realm.

Related:

Texas: Galveston

Since Galveston has been the scene of much death and many tragic events, it is no wonder that Galveston is as haunted as it is.

Ashton Villa was built by James Moreau Brown in 1859. The ghost of Brown’s daughter Bettie is said to reside there today. In life, she was reportedly an eccentric, free-spirit, and her ghost seems to be the same. Her spirit has been reported to be seen in various areas of the house. Odd happenings have frequently been reported including Bettie’s bed refusing to stay made. Bettie is not the only haunt in the house. Visitors and caretakers also claim to hear piano music playing at times. It is thought to be Bettie’s sister Tilly since Bettie never learned to play the piano in life.

The Bishop’s Palace, a beautiful Victorian home was built in 1892 by Walter and Josephine Gresham. It is widely regarded as one of the most prominent Victorian architecture examples in the United States today. Perhaps this is why Walter’s ghost roams around inside and outside the home, according to legend. Visitors widely suspect that Walter is protecting the property. On stormy nights Walter’s spirit seems to be more active, pacing the front porch. Perhaps he remembers the fright of the Great Storm?

Georgia: Jekyll Island

Jekyll Island is a stunningly beautiful stretch of sun-soaked sand, trees, and grass on the Georgia coast. Rich in history, it is one of the crown jewels of the Golden Isles. In addition, some say it may be one of the most haunted islands in the world!

A vacation resort populated by some of the most powerful men and women of its day, the Jekyll Island Club thrived from 1886 until World War II. Its members included the Morgans, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts. The magnificent “cottages” of the club’s wealthy members still stand in the Jekyll Island Historic District as does the Jekyll Island Club itself.

It is so well known for its amenities and service that stories prevail of guests who checked in—but never checked out! Among the ghosts said to haunt the hotel is railroad magnate Samuel Spencer. Killed in a 1906 train collision, Spencer still returns to enjoy his coffee and morning newspaper. Room 3101 of the Annex is said to be haunted by the benevolent spirit of Charlotte Maurice. She has encouraged guests to enjoy their lives.

Related: Celebrate Halloween RV Style

One of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel’s most famous ghost stories involves the son of club member and railway magnate Edwin Gould who was shot and died in a hunting accident in 1917. The hotel is also said to be haunted by a bellman mostly seen on the second floor.

Suite 2416 on the second floor of the main Club House has been the subject of much talk of supernatural events. During a visit by one couple, they were stunned when a balcony door suddenly burst open and an explosion of light illuminated their room. Just as quickly, the light went out and the door closed with a slam.

Arizona: Tombstone

On a trip to southeastern Arizona, you just might want to bring your infrared film, an open mind, and plan to spend a night or two in Tombstone. Tombstone is home to many ghosts and haunted places.

In its day, one of the wildest places in the west with its saloon, casino, dance hall, prostitutes, and theater; the famous Birdcage Theater has had hundreds of visitors recount hearing people singing and talking in the box seats above the stage. There are dozens of testimonies by both tourists and employees of the theatre of seeing people wearing clothing from the 1800s and numerous sightings of a man wearing a visor walking across the stage.

A number of other buildings in Tombstone are also haunted. There have been sightings of ghosts in the Aztec House Antique Shop, Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, Nellie Cashman’s Restaurant, the Wells Fargo Bank Building, Shieffelin Hall, and Boot Hill Cemetery to name a few.

This graveyard, filled with colorful characters who lost their lives under less than peaceful circumstances, boasts a number of spirits that just couldn’t take death as the final word. Perhaps this is how Tombstone became known as “The Town Too Tough To Die.”

Related:

Alabama: Mobile

Mobile has over 300 years of hauntings that are just waiting to be explored by those brave enough to dare! From ghost hunts to the dark secrets woven into Mobile’s history, the Azalea City hasno shortage of spine-tingling experiences for those looking to get spooked.

Hear tales of darkness, death, and dismemberment on Mobile’s Dark Secrets History Tour that explores pre-Civil War mansions, overgrown gardens, and an old church with a mysterious past. Or, book an evening tour exploring Mobile’s mysterious spirits and strange happenings on Mobile’s Own Ghost Stories tour.Your guide will share stories of Mobile’s ghostly residents, folklore, and other strange events from our city’s past!

Don’t forget to pay a visit to the USS ALABAMA where aboard this historic battleship several people have reported hearing ghostly footsteps, strange voices, and the slamming of hatches.

Arizona: Bisbee

Fifteen miles north of the Mexico border, Bisbee was at one time one of the world’s most productive gold, copper, zinc, and lead mines. For thrills and chills in the “Most Haunted Town in America” check out the Bisbee Seance Room set in Magic Kenny Bang Bang’s Victorian Parlor where you’ll hear about the historic haunted history of Bisbee.

Celebrating over14years of bringing you haunted and macabre stories, the Old Bisbee Ghost Tour is a great way to experience the town after dark. Or, be spirited away on a haunted walking tour of Bisbee’s most spooky bars.Before you entereach of the five locationsyour Spirit Guide will regale you with tales of the haunted history of the location.As you sip at your drinkof choiceyour host will recount tales of Bisbee and its unique and interesting characters.The tour is estimated to last approximately 3 hours with 35 minutes spent at each location. Don’t forget that your spirits will not materialize unless you tip your bartender and Spirit Guide!!

Worth Pondering…

I’m just a ghost in this house
I’m a shadow upon these walls,
As quietly as a mouse
I haunt these halls.

—Allison Krauss, Ghost in This House

As the poet Sheryl Crow once said, “Everyday is a winding road.” While it feels the world is flipped upside-down, I am trying to keep Sheryl’s words alive in these times. I’m going for daily walks, finding new things to feel paranoid about, and I think I believe in aliens now.

RVing with Rex wants to keep your day feeling like a winding road. Today, it’s Halloween and everything ghostly! Just for today, look away from the Earth and into the ghost world clad in a white nightgown, holding a candle, and dragging chains through the moors of the mind.

The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve and later Halloween and initiates the season of Allhallowtide which lasts three days and concludes with All Souls’ Day. Over time, Halloween became largely nonreligious as it evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes, and eating treats.

If you’re looking for a safe yet totally creepy way of ringing in Halloween why not try an out-of-the-box idea like a haunted road trip? Eerie drives through roads known for ghosts, apparitions, and mysterious disappearances aren’t exactly for the faint of heart but they could make for the most memorable Halloween ever. From a road that’s said to be home to a vanished Boy Scout troop to the street adjacent to Area 51 that’s known as “Extraterrestrial Highway,” America is full of winding highways and dark back roads that are spine-tingling and hair-raising.

Even if you’re not so sure about actually hitting the road and getting close to a few spirits, you can keep reading and live vicariously through three of the most haunted haunts in America. And if you do venture to any of these spots, just know it’s a surefire way of getting in the All Hallows’ Eve spirit.

For the Halloween season, celebrate the spooky environments that make both a great location for a ghost story and an excellent place to go camping. Nearly every horror film or scary book depends highly on a spooky environment. Pick out your favorite scary story and it likely takes place on a foggy coast, a dark lake, a swamp, a territorial prison, a ghost town, or in the dense woods.

While there are reasons why these places fill us with fear or dread, they can actually be pretty cool locations to camp. In addition, the folklore and spooky mythology surrounding these locations make for even better campfire stories.

Georgia: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Swamp folklore runs the gamut from voodoo practices to the Swamp Thing. This type of landscape is so difficult to maneuver through and contains creatures such as owls and alligators, so there is no wonder that they make great spooky stories. The Okefenokee Swamp between Georgia and Florida has inspired stories such as The Creature from the Black Lagoon and is said to be a hotbed for UFOs and ghosts. What some people may not realize is that these swamplands are really beautiful.

You can see the beauty at the Okefenokee Pastimes Cabins, RV Park & Campground in Folkston, Georgia. The park offers historic-style cabins for rent, pull-through sites with full hookups, private tent sites, and a day-use dog kennel. The campground even has a Starfield for their Saturday night stargazing events.

Arizona: Yuma Territorial Prison

Arizona’s Wild West past and haunted history gives us reason to go hide under the covers. Ask yourself if you’d want to be locked up in anything called a “territorial prison” and then jump ahead a hundred years to haunting the hell out of the place—like 100+ inmates, you died inside those walls. Not one to shy from a locking people into hot, dark places, Arizona has designated Yuma Territorial Prison a state historical park—easily one of the creepiest in the nation, and one of the most haunted spots in Arizona.

Guides report feeling chills when they pass Cell 14, where an inmate doing time for “crimes against nature” killed himself. In the so-called dark cell, prisoners in pitch-black solitary went mad chained to ring-bolts in the walls.

Kentucky: Buffalo Trace Distillery

Its whiskey spirits with a side of ghostly spirits at Buffalo Trace Distillery’s ghost tours. One of the biggest and best-known distilleries in Kentucky bourbon country, most visitors are unaware that Buffalo Trace has ghostly ties, let alone nighttime tours through the Stony Point Mansion.

Ghost tours are an hour long and take place at 7 p.m., led by guides who wax poetic on supernatural spirits said to frequent the grounds. The most notable is Colonel Blanton who died in the on-site Stony Point Mansion which feels like a real life version of the Clue board game. At the end of the ghostly portion of the tour, guests will get to taste a series of Buffalo Trace’s potable spirits.

Stay strong, be brave, and listen to Sheryl Crow, who also said, “I’m gonna soak up the sun/I got my 45 on/So I can rock on…” Is this relevant?

Have a great weekend!!

Worth Pondering…

Werewolves howl. Phantoms prowl. Halloween’s upon us now

—Richelle E. Goodrich

Most everywhere has its spooky spots, whether an annual haunted attraction, a legitimately haunted place, or just an uncomfortably eerie spot.

And now, RIGHT NOW, it’s the season to go and find ‘em! Oldmental hospitals, valleys filled by ghostly sounds, theme park fright houses,historic hotels and mansions—no matter how you scare, there are places to freakyou out.

Here are a few of the most haunted places and best spots tolive the scary story you’ve waited all year to experience.

Yuma TerritorialPrison, Yuma, Arizona

Yuma Territorial Prison’s population was made up of thieves, murderers, and the occasional polygamist, and over 111 inmates died here, making it one of the more ghoulish state parks in Arizona. To this day, guides at the park report feeling a “cold chill” when passing by Cell 14—where John Ryan, imprisoned for “crimes against nature,” committed suicide.

Even more unnerving is The Dark Cell, which is exactly whatit sounds like: a dark crypt where rowdy convicts were sent for acting up.Accounts cite that two inmates, who were literally chained to ring-bolts uphere, had to be urgently transferred an insane asylum upon their release from isolation.

More recently, one reporter tried to spend two days in theDark Cell. She didn’t make it past 37 hours, and cited she felt she wasn’t theonly one in the chamber.

Galveston, Texas

Galveston Island’s ghostly history makes it one of the top destinations in the country for spooky travel, from a haunted historic hotel to the island’s storied harbor, cemeteries, and Victorian mansions. Here, visitors can get spooked by the numerous ghost stories that stem from the country’s deadliest natural disaster and other tragedies.

Visitors to 1895 Moody Mansion have reported disembodiedfootsteps and apparitions which have shown up in photographs.

Miss Bettie, daughter of the historic Ashton Villa’s firstowner James Moreau Brown, is rumored to have haunted the house since its 1975restoration. Her apparition has been seen in a long turquoise dress on thesecond-floor landing. Her pianist sister may be here too, some say, because thepiano in the Gold Room has been known to play by itself.

Bisbee, Arizona

Delve deep into Arizona’s mining past in Bisbee, a town of colorful architecture and equally colorful characters, and a ghost or two—many of the town’s locales are rumored to be haunted.

There are reportedly three resident ghosts in the CopperQueen Hotel.

One ghost, and perhaps the most famous, is that of a womanin her thirties by the name of Julia Lowell. It is said that she was aprostitute and she used the hotel for her and her clients. She fell madly inlove with one of her clients and when she told him this he no longer wanted tosee her. She took her own life at the hotel.

Guests and staff at the hotel say that they feel herpresence on the second and third floors of the west side of the building. Malestaff and guests have reported hearing a female voice whispering in their ear.Others have also reported seeing her dancing provocatively at the foot of thestairs. She likes to play with men’s feet. As a tribute to her, one of therooms in the hotel is named the Julia Lowell room.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is one of the few cities that offer a full schedule of “ghost tours” and “ghost walks” year around, with as many as five operators conducting tours from Santa Fe’s historic plaza. These tours primarily focus on the ten block historic area of Santa Fe, featuring such places as the Grant Corner Inn, Palace of Governors, historic buildings including the oldest house in the nation, and the La Posada and La Fonda Hotels.

Some tours also include area superstitions, as well as SantaFe’s history of vigilantes, gunfights, murders, and hangings.

Worth Pondering…

I’m just a ghost in this house
I’m shadow upon these walls,
As quietly as a mouse
I haunt these halls.

—Allison Krauss, Ghost in This House

If you like bone-chilling, shriek-producing,history-inspired horrors, there are plenty of (allegedly) haunted places acrossthe US that could provide the fright you seek on Halloween night.

National Geographic,Travel Channel, and others havedocumented haunted happenings with just the right mix of awe and terror,convincing even disbelievers that ghosts just might be real.

If you’re looking for a scare that goes a little deeper thanyour local haunted house, there are dozens of spots from coast to coast you canvisit. Think you’re brave enough?

Pack up your RV and head for one of these super-spookydestinations:

• Salem, Massachusetts, where the notorious Salem Witch Trials took place
• The Dark Cell, Yuma Territorial Prison, Yuma, Arizona
• The Shanghai Tunnels in Portland, Oregon, a series of underground passages originally used to move people and goods between storage areas
• The Stanley Hotel in Estes, Colorado, which inspired the hotel in The Shining
• The R.M.S. Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach, California
• Galveston Island’s ghostly history makes it a top destination for spooky travel, from a haunted historic hotel to the island’s storied harbor, cemeteries, and Victorian mansions
• Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana, an antebellum plantation that’s allegedly one of America’s most haunted places
• The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia

Bring back thetradition of ghost stories

You don’t have to go anywhere special in your RV to revel insome good old-fashioned horror. Turn up the terror around your next campfirewith some scary storytelling this Halloween. Head for a campsite near or far,and get ready for a night to remember.

The dark of night and a crackling fire create the classicsetting to weave a tale of Halloween fright. Tell your favorite spooky storyfrom childhood. Get a group together and challenge your friends to see who cantell the spookiest story of all. And don’t be too scared—you can always retreatto the safety of your RV after the last tale is told.

Decorate your RV withHalloween décor

Enhance your ghost stories and get into the spirit with someHalloween-inspired decorations in your motorhome or trailer. Running into somefake spider webs in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night might be justwhat your family needs to feel the spirit of Halloween.

Dressing up in costumes also adds to the atmosphere—you caneven get your pets in on the action. And don’t forget the jack-o-lanterns.

Pro tip: carvingyour pumpkins outside means less mess to clean up. Arguably the most importantpart of the perfect Halloween setup is the food.

Trick-or-treat,camping style

Campgrounds across the country offer festivities throughoutthe month of October, adding a traditional twist to the holiday for those onthe road. If you’re far away from the traditions you love about Halloween athome, seek out one of these campgrounds.

With activities for young and old alike, you can celebrateHalloween the way you always have with trick-or-treating, costume contests forkids and pets, Halloween parades, and hayrides.

Whether you celebrate with paranormal encounters, costumes,pumpkin carving, or ghost stories, we want to wish you a happyHalloween—wherever your RV travels take you.

Worth Pondering…

I’m just a ghost in this house
I’m shadow upon these walls,
As quietly as a mouse
I haunt these halls.
—Allison Krauss, Ghost in This House