Washoe Club / Virginia City Trip
- Paul Welch
- Mar 10, 2016
- 8 min read
As we pulled into Virginia City we immediately headed over to the Silver Terrace Cemetery that sits on top a hill overlooking Virginia City. It really is a breathtaking view and a constant reminder to the history that took place between the wooden sidewalks and down in the mines for those residence and visitors to Virginia City. We get out of the van and immediately split up as we walk up the hill and see history unfolding in front of our eyes. The tombstones are carved with great care and for the lower part of the cemetery the iron work on the gates surrounding these plots are amazing.
Out of all the tombstones I take a particular interest in this wooden one down in the section that housed the volunteer firemen and public workers. It was a completely wooden tombstone with coins stuck in it. I had a lot of feelings flood over me when coming across this particular grave. I did not see any marking on the wood on either side. I later found out that it is a military custom to leave coins on graves like that to let them know you miss them or came and paid your respects. Each coin depicts a different meaning. I am sure over time those who come and visit have just placed coins there with the others without knowing it's true meaning at the time. In a city where for awhile they saw one funeral a day I find this blank piece of wood welcoming to me.
After some time and a lot of pictures we all make the hike back to the van that we came in. It is time to tour the town. We spent awhile driving around looking for parking for the 15 passenger beast. The City has come alive and was fuller then we expected for late February. We got lucky and got to park the monstrosity at the parking lot on C street right in front of the Delta Saloon. We hand over our $5 parking fee and begin to split up. We headed North to the nearby saloon called BUCKET OF BLOOD. Immediately you are flooded with thoughts of seeing all these old pictures, lights and antiques hanging on the ceilings and walls. You can easily get lost trying to put a dollar value on some of these items. If you love history this is a place for you. Having opened it's doors after the great fire in 1876 they have been serving up alcohol and good times ever since. You can find a full list of people buried there here: http://comstockcemetery.com/images/silver_full_list.pdf
After some of us pick up some neat items they had for sale we head down to the museum in town. The Way It Was Museum has the largest collection of Comstock mining artifacts ever collected. We pay our $3.00 entry and proceed to look thru the wonderful items on display. We get totally lost in what we are seeing and quickly find ourselves separated from each other in a not very big place. It is as if we all opened a big book that fascinated us and we just lost ourselves in it. There was so much to look at you can easily lose oneself for a hour or so.
After getting our feel for Comstock history we head across the street and walk into the Red Dog Saloon. Once known as the Comstock House this saloon serves up Chicago style pizza and spirits. Some of us fall under the trance of pizza and talk of lunch quickly consumes us.
After we all meet up back at the van we decide to just head across the street to the Delta Saloon for lunch. The Delta Saloon is home of the Suicide Table. A gambling table that reportedly caused it's owners to commit suicide after they had lost large sums of money. We waited a long time for our table but finally sat down to have a bite to eat and look at the characters sitting at the bar. A couple guys in period clothing were having a chat up at the bar while drinking some spirits. With food in our belly we regroup and make plans to see the south side of town.
We spend another couple hours visiting the stores in Virginia City before we head over to the Washoe Club for the nights walk with the afterlife.
Things in the bar seemed normal as locals sitting at the bar proceed to warn us about the activity at this historical place. A bunch of us order some hot chocolate and try to stay warm as temperatures drop outside. We are all prepared and waiting for the bar to close and the tours to end to take our gear in. I walk outside to grab something from the van and take a quick pic on how quiet the town has gotten. Can you believe this is 7 PM?
With the night getting late we go to the back of the bar to the museum to get ready for the investigation. They ran in another tour or two thru there and was informing those people that we were there to spend the night. I think some where interested while most thought we were crazy. The museum is full of some artifacts and some items donated by television ghost hunting teams like Ghost Adventures. They have a large screen TV that plays Ghost Adventures episodes from the Washoe Club in loops. This is where we are going to make base camp.
Just beyond the museum room to the west is The Crypt. This is where they kept up to 70 bodies during the winter because they could not bury them in the frozen ground. Since The Crypt sits underground it would stay very cool in there over the winter and when the grounds thawed out they would move the bodies up to the cemetery. Could you imagine the smell. Once all the tours were done we finally got to start setting up our DVR cameras. During this setup Fred heard a male voice ask him "What are you doing?". He is the only one that heard this and we did not capture it on our audio devices. I also set a voice recorder on the spiral staircase on the east side of the museum. The spiral staircase used to take club members to the 2nd floor but has been closed off for fire safety reasons. It is said to be the longest spiral staircase without any support.
The blue lady is said to have been caught in photos on this staircase. Prior to this moment myself and Fred ventured up alone to do an initial walk thru of the location with only a voice recorder and ghost pro meter in hand. During this initial walk thru with just the two of us I felt the most sensations around me. When walking into room 12 on the 3rd floor I immediately lose my breath. This is the room they report people being scratched and doors slamming. Some of the windows did have plastic covering them and you can hear them wrestling in the wind. I also heard footsteps during this initial walk thru that seemed to be keeping pace with me but going parallel to me and Fred.
Once cameras were set up we all went into the 2nd floor ballroom to investigate while Jen watched the DVR cameras from the museum. We did not get much response on our devices but the Ghost Meter Pro's held by Tracy and Fred where communicating with us. After some time we split up and me, Zach and Eva stay in the ballroom to do an Echovox session. We did get some very good responses via the Echovox including it calling out our names and telling us how much it cost for a prostitute at this once brothel location. We even had the Echovox suddenly shut off and when we asked the spirits if they were responsible they owned up to it using the geophone.
After a good session with the Echovox we decide to take Eva on a tour of the 2nd floor before we set up elsewhere. Before we get more then a couple of rooms into the tour we get contacted by Jen over the walkie-talkie. Jen informs us the door leading to the stairs and deck to the south opened on it's own. This door is somewhat stubborn to open due to a rubber piece that runs along the bottom so we don't believe it opened due to a gust of wind. She requested someone to come sit with her so Eva volunteered to go down. Myself and Zach then continue to move thru the 2nd floor rooms and run into the group heading up the 3rd flight stairs. At this exact moment the rem-pod on the floors going down to C street starts to alarm even though nobody is on that flight of stairs. We make our way over to the east side of the building that sits up against C street and we can hear the bar next door so we decide to head up to the 3rd floor where we are more separated from the noise. We join Fred, Tracy, Shayla and Benee in the room with the toys (Scott's Room). This is where they say toys move on their own. We do stay for awhile conducting a session but only the Ghost Meter Pro and geophone are going off at this time. We are not getting any hits on our K2 Meters or Flashlights.
Not feeling much going on in Scott's room we head to Room 12 where the tour guide says is the darkest part of the building. Again we don't get any activity on basic devices like the K2 meters or the flashlights. Even the Eddie Meter never detects EMF. The Ghost Meter Pro and geophone seem to be the communication objects of choice. I proceed to ask (once I set up the geophone on a chair outside the room) if they can tap on the blue screen and we get an instant tap in response to my request.
We continue to get some responses on both devices for some time during our session in that room. Losing track of how long we have been up there and noticing some of the investigators were getting a little cold we make the decision to go down to the museum to take a break from the action. When I leave this room I place my voice recorder on the chair with the geophone to remain running while we are on the 1st floor in a separated part of the building. Upon playback we can hear footsteps, doors opening, thumps, knocks and geophone taps for several minutes of the audio. During our break we come to the realization we have to drive back Fernley soon for some sleep before we hit the road back home to Salt Lake City so we make a cut off time of 2:30 AM so we have time to pack up and drive the 45 minutes back to Fernley for some sleep. So half of us go back up to the 3rd floor to continue our investigation in the Piano room. This room houses the Annabelle doll on a rocking chair that they state will rock on it's own.
We sit in the quiet tossing out questions every once and awhile and both myself and Zach hear faint female voices. Zach is doing the live listening on his audio device and I can hear it with my own ears. We also get some responses on the geophone that is placed on the stairs about 25 feet from us outside of the room. With 15 minutes left until our set deadline we decide to use the Echovox again to see what responses we get. We do get them to mention the whiskey we brought up with us and to say the name "Paul" and even "Beth" (a little girl spirit that follows me). During this session the only device coming to life was a single flashlight I had standing up on the floor. After our time was up we gathered up the gear and proceeded down to the museum to put stuff away. It was an awesome night and we take a picture of us all together before we leave.
We get down the canyon and back to Fernley at 5 AM exhausted and ready for some sleep. We crash out and wake about 4 hours later and start packing up for the long trip home. After we all get in we venture over to Black Bear Diner to fill our bellies before the 8-9 hour trip back home. Though we were very tired we had a lot of fun. We for sure need to go back. Paul Welch
P.S. To see more pictures from this trip go here: https://goo.gl/photos/XmAZvGzdTY8fNKkH6
