Ghosts of the Old West: Desert Spirits, Haunted Cabins, Lost Trails, and Other Strange Encounters

A wonderfully-told collection of ghost stories from sites scattered across the West; it was one of the first such collections published (1988) and is considered a must-have classic. In the introduction, Murray describes some of his own experiences, such as one at an abandoned ranch on the Gallatin River, near Bozeman, Montana, in 1970, and seeing phantom Indian horsemen near Laurel, Montana. The other stories and their locations: = Old Forts and Battlefields 1 The Phantoms of Fort Laramie: Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyoming - phantom soldiers and the Lady in Green 2 Visions of Reno Crossing: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana- Reno Crossing and occurrences at the apartments and stone house by the cemetery 3 The Hill at Hat Creek: Hat Creek (Warbonnet Creek) State Historic Site, northwestern Nebraska - ghosts form the 1876 battle where Merritt defeated Cheyenne 4 The Blue Light Lady: Fort Hays State Historic Site, Kansas - legend of Elizabeth Polly who died in 1867 and haunts the site; other spirits as well = Old Hotels and Mansions 5 The Legacy of Winchester Mansion: the story of the obsession of Sarah Winchester in continually building on her San Jose, California, mansion to avoid the vindictive spirits killed by the Winchester firearms 6 The Hot Springs Phantom: Chico Hot Springs, near Pray, Montana haunted by proprieters Bill and Percie Knowles 7 The Lost Trail Hotel: a haunted hotel in the Arizona desert near the Mexican border 8 The Cries of Millie Pratt: The Old Pratt Hotel in Empire, Colorado is haunted by little Millie Pratt and others 9 The Ghost in the Sheridan Inn: This hotel in Sheridan, Wyoming is haunted by Miss Kate Arnold 10 The Gambler: The St. James Hotel in Cimarron, New Mexico has had many famous historical figures stay there, and some of their ghosts remain to this day = Old Trails and Ghost Towns 11 The Mysteries of Old Garnet: The ghost town of Garnet, Montana is full of people you cannot see 12 La Llorona--The Weeping Woman: The famous lady of the Hispanic people of Mexico and the Southwest roams many places, including this account of her sightings along the Santa Fe River, Santa Fe, New Mexico 13 Night of the Iron Horse: Sinks of Dove Creek - Kelton, Utah, near Golden Spike National Historic Site - incidents with ghost trains and the spirits of Chinese railroad workers 14 The Cabin in Brown's Park: a shadowy presence in a one-time hideaway of the outlaw Butch Cassidy along the Green River of northwestern Colorado 15 The Wolf Girl of Texas: a legend of a girl who lived among the wolves of the Devil's River, not far from Del Rio, Texas, and the seeming return of her spirit 16 The Shadows in Scapponia Park: the ghosts of a man and his dog haunt a small isolated campground on the Nehalem River in Oregon = Native American Spiritualism 17 The Mystery of the Little People: The Crow knew them well, the Little People of the Pryor Mountains of Montana...and a tiny mummy found in the Pedro Mountain

"Ghosts of the Old West" is a perennial favorite at our library. Earl's Halloween talks here always drew large crowds who listened in fascination as he described hauntings at the Little Bighorn National Monument, Chico Hot Springs Resort, and many other places in the Rockies. His book is a nice mixture of historical research and eyewitness accounts of the hauntings, including some uncanny experiences of his own. Black and white photographs add to the eerie mood.