Questionable Pictures...(ghosts, or just bad lighting?)

So in my previous post I said I'd never seen a ghost, just some questionable pictures. I took some, Louise Murch took some. Here they are! By the way, the "crypt" is a storage area that was used to store bodies from mining accidents during the winter when the ground was frozen...These have pretty much been debunked by our "ghost hunter" friend Fred, but I still think they're interesting....the night we got home and saw these, I was very creeped out, but later I decided that wasn't enough "evidence" and if ghosts really do exists we're better off ignoring each other.

This was taken with my cell phone, towards the doors of the "crypt." The image I was looking at is in the lower left corner on the door.

Orbs, or dust? There is a picture of a man with an orb on the wall....Louise took this one. The "orbs" I meant are below the chairs, to the right.

This one was....interesting....also taken by Louise Murch.

Still, I don't know if I'd pay another $2 to go back in there!

Old Washoe Club...and our own little ghost story!

This place is creepy! Whether it's haunted or not...it's definitely cold and sooooo creepy in there! Louise and I are not real believers in ghosts, or easily "creeped out," but we both admitted to each other that we were scared in there and it was totally time to leave!

Back in the day, the Old Washoe Club used to be the Millionaire's Club. The upstairs was for an elite group of the few rich people in Virginia City. They were gamblers...and there was a lot of violence at the time. Murders were so common that only two people were ever hung for committing the crime. There was a secret staircase for club members to leave and come back without being seen...or for women to come and go without being seen! One of the most common ghost stories I've read is that the ghost of a woman (in a blue dress?) stands at the top of the stairs and pushes people back down. I can't help wondering if that's why the public isn't allowed upstairs anymore! (But logic says that it's an old run-down building...and the one staircase I did get to see looked so flimsy I don't know if I would dare climb it if I had the chance!)

Ghost Adventures (TV show) has been there twice and I think they're about to air a new episode of a 3rd visit. We just re-watched the 2nd visit--I've never seen the first and don't even know if it's an episode they had on the air. Anyway, if you go into the Old Washoe Club, you have to either buy a drink or pay $2. Inside there is a whole display case dedicated to the Ghost Adventures crew. Of course, they have Zach's shirt (the cute one), some of their equipment used and pictures taken. They play GA episodes on the TV and the other screens show other investigations where they've gotten things on camera.

The Spiral Staircase is the highlight (or it was for me). Like I said it looks totally flimsy and I would be scared to climb it! ...even if there weren't someone waiting at the top to push me back down! I didn't take this picture, couldn't find the one I did take, so I just did a google image search for the Old Washoe Club Spiral Staircase.

We were walking around in the museum area and Louise kept going back into the "crypt" for more pictures--she was curious because her camera kept being weird on her....I would have preferred to go back out into the bar section and look around...I went in with her because I wouldn't have wanted to go in there alone, curiousity or not!

As we walked back through the museum into the bar area, she stopped in front of the women's restroom and grabbed my arm--hard. "Kim! Look!" I looked into the bathroom and one of the curtains pulled in front of the toilet was moving--shaking and I kept hearing whistling. I asked Louise if she heard it and she said no, but later she told me she'd been lying and heard it, but wanted me to think she didn't!

Anyway, we were both standing there, staring at the curtain....staring....staring....I said, "It's got to be a draft." The curtain stopped moving. We looked at each other, then back at the curtain, and all this time the whistling's continuing. I'm thinking, "I hope she moves the curtain, because it's not gonna be me!" She was hoping I'd do it, when suddenly the curtain jerks back and a guy, about my age, jumps out, "booo!" I'm like, "YOU JERK!" We all burst out laughing--he and his girlfriend had come in with us and we thought they left while we were in the "crypt." The woman went back to the bar and the guy came back to hide in the bathroom. He had to have been there a while, because we kept going back for pictures...and he said he was about ready to leave--he was getting really scared in there waiting for us! (The women's room is also supposed to be haunted...along with the rest of the place.)

As we were all walking out, I looked at the guy and said, "There's no way I'd ever use that bathroom!" He said, "No way! Can you imagine...."

Virginia City Cemetary

This is one of the prettiest cemetaries I've seen! (The one in Logan is my favorite because of the view, but this is close!)

Virginia City is one of America's largest historical landmarks and is supposedly the most haunted. While I've never seen any ghosts (except for a few questionable pictures), I love Virginia City's history. It was a mining town, full of people wanting to get wealthy from the "Comstock Lode," a rich vein of some of the purest silver discovered after California's gold rush died out. There were rich people (only a few...although tons of people tried), poor people (working in the mines, making a living on $4/day), gamblers, prostitutes, servants...and there was even a "Chinatown" for Chinese immigrants working in the mines. Opium was big in those days too.

Anyway, my friend Louise Murch from Vernal visited me and we decided to visit Virginia City for a few hours, then head to Carson City to see some museums and historic sites. We only made it as far as Virginia City....and still didn't get to see everything we wanted to! There's way more there than either of us thought and of course, there's never enough time to see everything. She was on her way to California to visit her brother and called me. I only had one day off with her and she needed to get going so she decided she'll just have to come back!

Here are a few pictures from the cemetary. Of course I didn't pay close enough attention to what "sections" we were in but....you get the idea. The view and history make up for it!

This one is at the very top of the hill. The man's last name is Storey (he was an important man...unfortunately I'll have to look up his history again) and his name is now the name of Storey County and Virginia City is the county seat. This one is in the Masonic section of the cemetary. There was a Firefighters section, Chinese section, Irish, etc.

Louise Murch, exploring the grave yard. Some of these graves date back into the 1860s, when the Comstock Lode was disovered....and it also matches the time period of Fort Churchill, where I work. In school I was never a history fan, but now that I'm living in the middle of all this history I'm lovin' it!

View of the city from the cemetary. If you blow up the picture you can see St. Mary's in the Mountains, the 1st Catholic churchh in the area. I've visited the church twice and still didn't see everything I wanted to! This church, along with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, is supposed to be haunted as well....both from prior leaders of the churches. I think they're old buildings that settle and make lots of noise....but then again, I don't live there so I don't know! I've heard and read that pretty much every building in the city is haunted in some form. If it is, it's because of the violent history--mining accidents, murders, suicides...you can't read anything about VC without encountering ghost stories!

Another pretty view of the cemetary. This is the last thing we got to see, as it was getting dark and we wanted to get back for dinner! We got "home" to the Wildlife Refuge and went through our pictures...comparing "ghost" pictures from the Old Washoe Club. I'll post about that one soon...but for the most part both of our ghost pictures were debunked. Sad and relieved at the same time!