Belly up to these bars for several rounds of ardent ‘spirits’.
Armed only with a camera and his wits, fearless writer-photographer Bob Stinson likes to venture into Western places designated as haunted. For a portfolio in the October 2011 Wild West he photographed old hotels with ghostly guests. These three Octobers later Stinson focuses on a handful of the many historic Western saloons that serve up white ghosts in black hats and other specters that sometimes make spectacles of themselves —though apparently not for Stinson’s camera.
Silver Dollar Saloon
315 Harrison Ave., Leadville, Colorado, 719-486-9914
At a Glance: Prospectors found gold in the area as early as 1860, but rich silver-lead deposits discovered in the 1870s led to the birth of Leadville. In 1879 a saloon opened across the street from the Tabor Opera House, built by mining millionaire Horace Tabor. The saloon, once known as the Board of Trade Saloon, has gone by the name Silver Dollar since 1935 and is now on Facebook. Tabor reportedly hid cash in the saloon to keep it out of the hands of ex-wife Augusta, whom he divorced in 1883 to marry young beauty Elizabeth “Baby Doe” McCourt.
Paranormal Barflies: The top ghost here is reportedly anything but camera shy, but digital cameras don’t seem to work for him (that is, they don’t work in capturing his image). The back room includes photos of gambler ghosts. A noose (see photo at right) dangles from the rafters in the main bar, and while it was no doubt put up for show, patrons swear to have seen it swinging violently on its own in the early morning hours. Legend has it that vigilantes in the 1880s hanged a man inside the saloon and that the body dangled there as the centerpiece of an after-necktie party. Present-day patrons and employees have reported seeing Horace and Baby Doe, forever about half her husband’s age, snuggling in a corner of the bar. Most of these sightings seem to occur in the midst of blizzard conditions outside, which is interesting, as in 1935 a destitute Baby Doe froze to death in her remote cabin after running out of firewood.
Hotel Colorado Saloon
526 Pine St., Glenwood Springs, Colorado, 970-945-6511 www.hotelcolorado.com
At a Glance: Established in 1883, Glenwood Springs, at the confluence of the Colorado and Roaring Fork rivers, was originally known as Defiance. Gambler John Henry “Doc” Holliday died with his boots off (of tuberculosis) at Hotel Glenwood on November 8, 1887. Six years later Walter Devereux and his brothers founded the Hotel Colorado a few blocks away. Famous sometime guests include Theodore Roosevelt and Titanic survivor Molly Brown.
Paranormal Barflies: Hotel employees and guests have reported seeing a robust and well-dressed (complete with fancy big hat) female ghost walking through the bar in the early morning hours. And apparently Molly Brown has proved not only unsinkable but also unwilling to leave this world. Roosevelt, too, is said to haunt the saloon, where he drank between Colorado hunting expeditions. A painting of him graces one wall mirror. But the ghostly face of Hervey Lyle, who died when his appendix burst during a party in the ballroom (off the main bar), appears regularly in the saloon mirror. Sightings are so common that employees apparently just say, “Hi, Hervey!” and go about their business.
The Buckhorn Exchange
1000 Osage St., Denver, Colorado 303-534-9505 www.buckhorn.com
At a Glance: Henry H. “Shorty Scout” Zietz (1865–1949), who was the youngest “scout” in William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West and reportedly got his nickname from Lakota leader Sitting Bull, opened the Buckhorn Exchange on November 17, 1893, to serve steaks to miners and railroad men. Five presidents have dined at the Buckhorn, whose walls are decorated with 125 firearms and a 575-piece taxidermy collection featuring everything from a buffalo to a two-headed calf. The Buckhorn Exchange claims liquor license No. 1 in Colorado. The ornate white oak bar and back bar, brought from Germany by the Zietz family, now serves customers on the second floor.
Paranormal Barflies: Patrons spot plenty of spirits, the most popular being Shorty Scout Zietz in cowboy attire, while chairs reportedly slide by themselves across the second-story floor. Employees on the ground floor have heard loud music, voices and footsteps from above and believed a party to be in full swing, only to find on reaching the top of the stairs nothing but a dark, silent bar. Most of the ghosts besides Zietz remain anonymous; apparently no presidential phantoms or four-legged ghosts have made their presence felt.
Pioneer Saloon
310 W. Spring St., Goodsprings, Nevada 702-874-9362 www.pioneersaloon.info
At a Glance: At the turn of the 20th century mining was the mainstay, but this town near the foothills of the Spring Mountains was named for cattleman Joseph Good. The Pioneer Saloon has been around for more than 100 years, making it one of the oldest watering holes in Nevada. In 1915, two years after it opened, luckless miner Paul Coski was caught cheating (he held a hand with five aces) at the poker table and shot multiple times by gambler Joe Armstrong. In early 1942 actor Clark Gable waited here to hear news about his wife, Carole Lombard, who died in a plane crash on nearby Potosi Mountain that January 16.
Paranormal Barflies: Customers and employees insist that several angry spirits, the most prominent being the ghost of Coski, haunt the saloon. Three bullet holes (perhaps shots that missed Coski) are visible in a wall, and a nearby plaque contains a newspaper account of the shooting. Another prominent unhappy ghost is that of a prostitute named Ruby, whose throat was slit in the ladies room by a nasty customer. In August 2013 the Travel Channel show Ghost Adventures featured the Pioneer.
St. James Hotel Saloon
617 S. Collison Ave., Cimarron, New Mexico 888-376-2664 www.exstjames.com
At a Glance: French-born chef Henri Lambert built the saloon in 1872 and added rooms eight years later to establish what became the St. James Hotel (see more in the October 2011 issue). The historic building remains a highly spirited place, especially among the dozen second-story rooms. An ill-tempered spirit in Room 18 does not want to be disturbed, so management keeps the door locked and directs guests elsewhere. Psychics have identified at least a half-dozen other resident ghosts. For those seeking apparition-free sleep, there is now a modern 10-room annex.
Paranormal Barflies: Hotel ghosts sometimes stroll into the bar. Contemporaries counted as many as 400 bullet holes in the ceiling over the old downstairs bar, originally called Lambert’s Saloon (now a dining room with a 22-hole tin ceiling, as well as the original antique bar). In one of the more notable confrontations shootist Clay Allison shared a drink with pistolero Francisco “Pancho” Griego one day in November 1875 and then shot him down. Pancho, though, is not among the present-day phantoms. Despite all the violence on the premises (26 men reportedly shot and killed), the ghostly big-hatted cowboy who appears (and then disappears) in the mirror behind the bar is said to be pleasant in nature. The hotel was featured in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that aired on October 30, 1991.
Originally published in the October 2014 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
