Believed to have died in a trolley accident outside the theater in 1921, Mary has been haunting it ever since. She has been glimpsed dancing in the lobby to the music of the pipe organ, running up the aisles, and playing hide-and-go-seek. Performers have reported seeing a girl wearing a white, old-fashioned dress with black stockings and no shoes sitting in seat C-5 on the mezzanine level. This is Mary’s favorite seat. People sitting near C-5 often find themselves shivering in her cold presence.

  Mary seems to be friendly, although a little mischievous. In the musical Annie, Daddy Warbucks gives Annie a giant dollhouse. The dollhouse used on stage at the Orpheum was extremely heavy, needing two crew members to move it. Then one night it disappeared. The crew looked everywhere, until they finally found it . . . all the way up in the mezzanine, next to Mary’s favorite seat!

  Mary seems to be friendly, although a little mischievous.

  TEXAS

  THE FOREVER FIRE FIGHTER

  The big bay door opened all on its own. The lights randomly flicked on then off. The firefighters at Fire Station No. 9 in El Paso didn’t freak out. They knew what this meant—it was a supernatural head start! They quickly pulled on their gear, stepping into protective pants, zipping up heavy jackets, securing hard hats, boots, and gloves. When the fire alarm finally blared, their oxygen tanks were already on and they were climbing onto the trucks. It sure does help to have a long-dead fire captain haunting your fire station when there is a blaze to battle.

  The fire forecaster is believed to be the ghost of Captain W. F. Bloxom. Bloxom loved fighting fires and hanging out with his crew at the station. One February day in 1934, when Bloxom was captain, an alarm sounded. A furniture warehouse across the street from the station had ignited.

  The crew raced over and unfurled the hoses, training powerful streams of water on the fire. Even so, the scorching heat spread quickly. Black smoke billowed, making it hard to see. More crews were called in to help. Wasting no time, Captain Bloxom led a squad into the huge blazing building to double-check that no one was inside. The all-clear was given, but then suddenly the captain and two other firefighters found themselves trapped by a frightening wall of flames. They managed to rush through to safety but later, in the hospital, Captain Bloxom passed away from inhaling too much smoke.

  Ever since then, the captain has haunted the fire station. Some firefighters have reported feeling his presence behind them as they climb the stairs. Others have felt a cold sensation, as if his ghost were passing through their bodies. Furniture has been found scattered about, perhaps being rearranged by the captain. One firefighter said he witnessed the water fountain go on, with the knob turning on its own.

  Although he can be a bit of a prankster, the firefighters credit Captain Bloxom for acting as the station’s guardian angel. Most times the unexplainable spookiness has occurred right before a call comes in. Speed is key when putting out fires, and because of his ghostly warnings, they can often reach the flames faster. It seems some first responders never stop protecting us!

  The firefighters credit Captain Bloxom as the station’s guardian angel.

  UTAH

  THE WEEPING STATUE

  Have you ever seen a marble statue cry? In the Logan City Cemetery next to the Utah State University campus, there’s a haunted statue that’s said to weep real human tears! She’s perched atop a tall stone, clutching a ring of flowers with one hand and resting her forehead in the other hand. Her shoulders slump with the incredible weight of her sadness. Why is this statue weeping?

  Have you ever seen a marble statue cry?

  The statue was carved in memory of a grieving woman named Julia Cronquist. Julia and her dairy-farmer husband Olif came to Utah from Denmark. They had eight children, but five of them tragically died in childhood between 1889 and 1901—all but one from outbreaks of scarlet fever. Losing her beloved children, one by one, was too much for Julia. Every single day, she would walk to the cemetery and sob over their graves. It seemed as if she would never stop crying. Julia had also had a bout of scarlet fever and was left with a weakened heart. This, combined with her emotional heartbreak, took its toll, and Julia died in 1914.

  Her husband ordered a statue showing her overcome by grief and had it placed above her grave in the cemetery. The university surrounds the graveyard, so students often walk through on their way to and from classes. Over the years, there have been many stories about the statue and the tears it’s said to shed. Some students say that if you stand in front of it at midnight and say, “Weep woman, weep,” it will cry. Others say it must be at midnight during a full moon. Another legend says you must first make a circle around the statue with your friends, hold hands, and then chant “Weep woman, weep” for her to cry. And yet another version says she will only cry on the anniversaries of each of her children’s deaths. Either way, students claim they have touched the Weeping Woman statue and felt wet tears rolling down her cheeks!

  VERMONT

  THE TAP-DANCING GHOST

  All was quiet the night winter rolled into Vermont, blanketing the pine trees and roads with heavy snow. At the Green Mountain Inn in Stowe, the family in Room 302 opened the frosted window and reached out to touch the swirling flakes. Tomorrow was looking like a great ski day. Tap, tap, tap. The sound came from above. They gazed up at the ceiling. Was an animal on the roof? Tap, tap, tap. Tap, slap, shuffle, tap. The tapping seemed to have a rhythm. As if someone were tap dancing across the roof—in a snowstorm! Was that possible? Maybe so. The inn claims to have their own resident ghost—a tap dancer named Boots Berry. His story goes like this . . .

  Tap, slap, shuffle, tap.

  Boots Berry was born in the 1840s, possibly in what’s now Room 302. Boots’ parents both worked at the inn. His mom was a chambermaid and his dad tended the horses. Boots loved horses and became an accomplished rider. When he was a young man, a group of stagecoach horses got spooked and bolted down the main street of their mountain village. Boots heroically hopped onto his horse and gave chase, single-handedly halting the runaway horses.

  Boots eventually left Vermont and traveled south. Along the way, he got into trouble with the law. While in jail in New Orleans, a fellow prisoner taught Boots how to tap dance. Clickety-clack. Boots’ fancy footwork became legendary and may be how he got the nickname “Boots.” (No one remembers his real name.) After his release from jail, Boots returned to Vermont and the inn. He was there in 1902, when a fierce snowstorm blew in.

  As the blizzard gusted, someone on the ground looked up and noticed a small girl stranded on the roof. She sat huddled, shivering from fright and cold. Boots raced to the attic and climbed out a window. He inched carefully across the roof’s icy shingles until he reached the girl. He lowered her down to safety. Then his foot slipped and . . . he fell to his death. Ever since, it’s been said that Boots’ tap dancing can be heard on the inn’s roof during snowstorms. And where do you think he was standing when he slipped? Right above Room 302!

  VIRGINIA

  THE TUNNEL VAMPIRE

  According to local lore, a vampire slumbers in one of the crypts in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. When the sun goes down, the fanged creature emerges to search for fresh blood to drink!

  This story gets its spooky start on a cool, rainy afternoon in 1925. The nearby Church Hill train tunnel was undergoing repairs, and as a steam locomotive pulling ten flat cars passed through, the tunnel collapsed. The dirt walls caved in. Bricks tumbled down. The train was trapped under mounds of debris and rescuing the passengers and workers took many days. Fearing the tunnel would collapse even more, the state decided it was safest to seal it up for good.

  Very soon after, a vampire is said to have appeared at the cemetery. He seems to live in a mausoleum belonging to a bookkeeper named William Wortham Pool. Pool was not on the train or part of the disaster. He’d died three years earlier of pneumonia. So why did the vampire choose his grave? Instead of his full name, Pool had just his initials “W. W.” carved onto the stone mausoleum. What do the initials look like? Vampire fangs!

  Some say the vampire may be Pool himself. Others believe he was one of the trapped workers. And there’s a version of the legend that goes like this: the rescue team were digging the rubble out of the tunnel when they spotted a creature crouching over one of the victims. It was dressed in black and had pointed teeth. They watched in horror, as it leaned ever closer to the victim’s neck. The rescuers cried out and the creature took off in a flash. The rescuers gave chase, but it was supernaturally fast. After crossing the James River, the creature darted into the hilly cemetery and disappeared into W. W. Pool’s mausoleum, without ever prying open the sealed door. And that’s where it still resides.

  They watched in horror, as it leaned ever closer to the victim’s neck.

  Of course, some people suggest that what the workers really saw was an injured person with broken teeth, who had staggered away from the tunnel, wandered into the cemetery, and been mistaken in the shadowy darkness for a vampire. What do you think? Is there a vampire in Richmond?

  WASHINGTON

  A SPECTRAL SHOPPING TRIP

  Every day, thousands of visitors come to Pikes Place Market in downtown Seattle to eat delicious food, shop for farm-fresh fruits and flowers, watch fishmongers fling fish—and glimpse a ghost, or two, or fifty! This enormous market is said to be the most haunted place in the northwestern United States. There are too many ghosts lingering about to tell all their tales, so we’ll introduce you to a few of our favorites.

  It is said to be the most haunted place in the northwestern United States.

  Let’s start at the magic shop. Several decades ago, an old woman wrapped in a purple shawl entered. She silently shuffled to the counter and handed a crystal ball to the owner. Then, without a word, she turned and disappeared into the market’s crowded hallways. The owner placed the crystal ball on a shelf, and immediately strange things began to happen. Every time someone walked by it, a whoosh of icy air swept over them. Objects in the shop moved in the night. A medium who was visiting peered into the crystal ball and saw the spirit of Madame Nora trapped inside. She explained that Madame Nora used to work as a fortune-teller in the market’s early days. When she described Madame Nora, the shop owner gasped. She sounded exactly like the old woman who’d dropped off the crystal ball!

  Our next ghost haunted a toy store. He was a mischievous four-year-old boy who liked to move toys around and knock them over. He also thought it was funny to change the time on the clocks. Despite this, the store’s manager wanted Jacob—that’s the name she gave the ghost—to feel welcome, so she made up a bed for him in the back room and piled it with stuffed animals. Children often left behind toys or notes for Jacob. Some mornings, their gifts would be discovered in a different part of the store, as if Jacob had spent the night playing with them!

  Then there are the ghostly stable boys. When the market opened in 1907, farmers brought their produce in by horse-pulled wagon. The animals were cared for by young boys, many who lived in a nearby orphanage. The ghosts, who now hang out by an old wooden ramp, are thought to be those long-ago boys. We’re out of room but not out of ghosts, so we’ll leave it to you to hunt down the rest!

  WEST VIRGINIA

  THE MOTHMAN MYSTERY

  If you live in West Virginia, you’ve likely heard the creepy urban legend of the Mothman. The story supposedly starts in November 1966, in a cemetery along the Elk River near Clendenin. Five men were digging a grave. One man paused, glanced up, and was startled to see a large human-like figure with wings in place of arms. He gasped in terror. It flew out from the surrounding woods, gliding silently over their heads then disappearing from sight. What was that? None of the men could come up with a logical explanation.

  Several days later, two young couples—Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette—were driving in a car together through what is now the McClintic Wildlife Management Area near Point Pleasant. Suddenly, in front of them stood a six or seven-foot tall man-like creature with wings. Its muscular body was covered in dark grayish fur. In the car’s headlights, its menacing eyes glowed red.

  In the car’s headlights, its menacing eyes glowed red.

  Roger was behind the wheel and now he sped in the direction of town. But the Mothman followed! With wings that spanned ten feet, it glided effortlessly above their car. Roger floored the gas. The speedometer passed seventy miles per hour. Then eighty. The Mothman kept pace, even when the car reached one hundred miles per hour! They reached Point Pleasant and screeched into the police station. But when they looked up and around, the Mothman had vanished.

  The next day, the headline of the local newspaper read: “Couples See Man-Sized Bird . . . Creature . . . Something!” The story spread like wildfire. Over the next few weeks, the police received almost one hundred additional accounts from residents. Upon seeing the creature, many claimed to have felt a deep sense of dread. Some locals wondered if the Mothman was living in the nearby vacant nuclear power plant, but police found no evidence of the creature or anyone there.

  Then, in December 1967, the Silver Bridge which spanned the icy Ohio River in Point Pleasant, collapsed. Forty-six motorists lost their lives. Some witnesses claimed they had seen the Mothman standing on the bridge the day before. They speculated that the creature had been an omen, arriving to warn the town about the deadly disaster. And immediately after the collapse, Mothman sightings stopped altogether.

  WISCONSIN

  HOMERUN OF HAUNTINGS

  The team bus rumbled to a stop in front of the big, fancy Pfister Hotel, and the athletes stepped off. Tomorrow was their game against the Milwaukee Brewers. As they filed into the lobby, one player looked around and let out a gasp of fear. He remembered the last time the team had stayed in this hotel—and the ghosts that had kept him up all night.

  He’s not alone. Many Major League Baseball players have had supernatural encounters at the Pfister Hotel. Outfielder Carlos Gómez stayed here in 2008, while playing for the Minnesota Twins. He was in the shower when he heard voices in his room. Wrapping himself in a towel, he went to investigate. No one was there. Suddenly his MP3 player, which he’d left on a table across the room, switched on! Static blared out. The device began to shake and move toward the edge of the table all on its own. Gómez lunged, as if diving for a fly ball, and caught it before it fell. He turned it off then placed it back on the table. As he walked away, the device mysteriously flicked on again. He ran for the lobby, holding his pants and shoes!

  Many MLB players have had supernatural encounters at the Pfister Hotel.

  Pitcher C. J. Wilson said his lamp began to flash wildly on and off when he stayed here while playing for the Texas Rangers. His teammate, infielder Michael Young, claimed he heard phantom footsteps. When he was with the Los Angeles Angels, first baseman Ji-Man Choi reported a misty spirit hovering over his bed as he was trying to fall asleep. Some players have gotten so freaked out they’ve requested to share a room with another teammate. Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, who said he isn’t afraid of ghosts, found another place to stay when his team checked in.

  But one baseball team has never been bothered by ghosts at the historic hotel: the home team! Brewers players report having peaceful, quiet nights. Some wonder if the mischievous ghost is Charles Pfister himself, who founded the hotel with his father in 1893. Back in the early days of baseball, fans would sometimes rap on the windows and knock on the opposing players’ doors throughout the night, so they’d show up to the game exhausted and sluggish. Could it be that Charles’ spirit is not a good sport?

  WYOMING

  THE GHOST SHIP

  In the early morning hours, dense fog pushed its way across the Wyoming plains. It settled heavily above a stretch of the North Platte River between the towns of Torrington and Alcova at the base of the Snowy Range Mountains. The fog lingered well into the afternoon, and the air grew chillier. All day, a fisherman in waders had stood in the river’s shallows, casting out his line. He dropped his rod and stared in disbelief as the fog began to swirl strangely. Picking up speed, it formed an enormous ball of thick mist. Then, like a curtain on opening night, it started to rise, revealing a ghostly ship.

  Despite the lack of wind, the old-fashioned wooden ship floated downstream toward the fisherman. Long icicles hung from its towering masts. Its large sails were encrusted with a shimmery blue-white frost. Upon its deck, a crew of haggard sailors in threadbare, frost-covered clothes huddled in a semi-circle. They stared down at a corpse draped in a canvas sheet. As one of them began to pull back the edge, the fisherman howled. He turned, forcing himself to look away. The ghost ship was an omen of death!

  This spine-tingling ship was supposedly first spotted on the North Platte River in 1862 by a trapper. The story goes that when the canvas was pulled back, he saw his fiancée. Then the ship vanished. A month later, he returned home from the wilderness, but his beloved was not waiting for him. He learned she had died—on the exact date he had seen her apparition! About twenty years later, a cattle rancher was the next to encounter the ship of spirits. He saw his wife’s body on the deck. He rushed home and breathed a sigh of relief when he found her alive. But later that day, she dropped dead for no apparent reason. About twenty years after that, a farmer splitting wood by the riverbank spied the ship. This time, the corpse on board was his close friend, and the friend passed away that same day.

  According to lore, the spectral sailing ship may appear on the river during afternoons of thick fog. Once the one fated to perish is revealed, the boat vanishes. So if the ghostly galley ever shows up, close your eyes tight and run far, far away!

  The spectral sailing ship may appear on the river during afternoons of thick fog.

 

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