Ghosts and History at Murphy’s Historic Hotel

We’re fans of a good ghost story, especially hauntings with history. This summer, I’m scheming a night at the Murphy’s Historic Hotel, a historic landmark that has hosted Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, Susan B. Anthony, JP Morgan, John Wayne and Charles Bolton, a.k.a. Black Bart the “Gentleman Bandit.” Providing accommodations for weary travelers since 1856, Historic Murphy’s Hotel is purported to be extremely haunted. Apparently not everyone who checked in to the hotel has successfully checked out. When I called recently to ask which rooms were haunted, a clerk casually said, “All of the historic rooms are haunted—it’s just a matter of degree.” The most haunted room? Room 9, the Thomas Lipton Room. Intrigued, I booked it for my friend’s birthday later this month.

According to local lore, the most active paranormal resident is Eleanor, a chambermaid who died in a kitchen fire in the late 19th century while waiting for her lover, a miner, to make his fortune and fetch her. Guests and staff report cutlery moving around the dining room, swaying dead locks, running faucets in locked rooms and thrown coffee beans. One visitor heard a woman sobbing upstairs, suggesting a clerk check on her. The room was empty.

In preparation for our adventure, my friend asked her Mom, an expert ghost hunter, what kind of equipment we should bring to detect paranormal activity. She just happened to be at a paranormal conference when we called, mentioning that dousing rods were popular and on sale. Apparently, dousing rods have been used for centuries to detect hidden resources and energy fields. Stay tuned. We just might try it.