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Investigations

Spirit Light Network

We tread where others dread...

Arizona

The Copper Queen Hotel

Date:

Spring 2006

Location:

Copper Queen Hotel -- Bisbee, AZ

Historical Background: At the time of its opening in 1902, the Copper Queen Hotel was considered the most modern hotel in the American West and hosted many dignitaries of the time, as well as rowdy cowboys and miners taking advantage of the rich lodes of copper, lead and silver located nearby. According to sightings reported over the years, there are several resident ghosts at the Copper Queen Hotel. One is a tall older gentleman with long hair and a beard, usually seen wearing a black cape and a top hat. Some claim they smell the aroma of a good cigar either before or after seeing him. Another is the spirit of a young boy, about eight or nine years old, who drowned in the nearby San Pedro River. It is believed his spirit inhabits the hotel because either his parents or a relative were employees of the hotel. He is blamed for much of the mischievous pranks that take place at the Copper Queen, including guests finding their personal objects moved to other rooms. The boy’s footsteps have been heard running down the corridors, followed by the unmistakable sound of a child’s giggle. Perhaps the most famous apparition is that of a female in her early thirties who has been identified as Julia Lowell, a prostitute who used the hotel to entertain her clients. After being spurned by a client she’d fallen deeply in love with, she committed suicide in the hotel. Allegedly appearing only to men, some men have reported hearing a female voice whispering in their ear, while others claim that she appears to them in the shape of bright white smoke. Then there is the reported sighting of a front desk clerk from the early days of the Hotel named Howard who seems to have taken his job so seriously that almost a century after his death, he still checks up on guests and on other employees to make sure they’re doing their job.

Findings: As these incidents were being told to the team, one of the team members heard a little boy's voice behind them say "Look at the keys", followed by a distinctive giggle. Immediately, on the wallboard that holds all the room keys, a set of keys from a third floor room began to move on its own. They also experienced severe drops in temperature when they visited the room where Julia was supposed to have taken her life, as well as glimpsing the shadow of a small boy in one of the upstairs corridors. One of the

members of the team, who is male, strongly felt the presence of Julia behind him to the point where he could detect the faint aroma of a woman’s perfume (which the female members of the team were not wearing). As he and the team left the Copper Queen, they all felt the spirit of Julia following them. However, the further they moved away from the hotel, the more panicked she became and they felt her leave them and return to the hotel.

Conclusion: With so many reported sightings, as well as several investigations by other paranormal groups during the years, including our own, it is safe to say that the Copper Queen is definitely haunted by several entities.

Reason for Haunting: In the case of Julia and the little boy, a tragic death will lead many times to a spirit being trapped. Burdened by feelings of rejection and self hate, the spirit of Julia cannot move on until those heavy emotions are transmuted for her. There may also be feelings of guilt because of the way she earned her living that prevent her from moving on. In the case of the little boy, it is reasonable to assume that he may not even know he is dead and continues running down the corridors and giggling as he did in life. The elder gentleman may have loved the hotel so much in life that he sees no reason to leave it in death and continues enjoying his cigar while watching guests come and go. And the clerk, who was conscientious in life, continues to feel a need to keep up the good work in death. In his case, his identity of who he was became so wrapped up in the Copper Queen Hotel and how he performed his job that he cannot break those bonds in death and continues to carry out his duties to his own exacting standards.

Case Closed.