Yahoo Finance Guests Are Frightened and Intrigued By What They've Seen at This 1889 Hotel
When the Geiser Grand Hotel opened in 1889, Baker City, Oregon, was known as the "Queen City of the Mines," a nod to the Gold Rush happening in the region. An Italianate building of mined volcanic tuff, the building contained technology that was practically unheard of for the day: an elevator, the third one ever built west of the Mississippi River. There was a four-story clock tower and a 200-foot corner cupola. A second-floor balcony overlooked the dining room's marble floors, crystal chandeliers, and Honduran mahogany paneling. High overhead light filtered through a stained glass ceiling.
Mining investor Albert Geiser bought the property around the turn of the century, and reopened it under its current moniker in 1902. During its early days, the Grand was a place for wealthy ladies and gents to see and be seen, and Maybelle Geiser made sure she had her rightful place in the crowd. She presided over the hotel from her permanently reserved chair in the bar. One can imagine the elegant lady of the house making a grand entrance on her way down from her residence in room 302, the cupola beneath the clock tower. In fact, modern guests claim to have seen just that: a beautiful Victorian woman dressed in a blue gown, descending the staircase and disappearing into the wall. It seems Maybelle doesn't intend to leave the spot deemed "the most fortunate place in the country" by a 1906 newspaper article.
A beautiful Victorian woman in an elegant blue gown descends the staircase and disappears into the wall.
The Lady in Blue isn't the only eerie presence at the Grand. There are reports of a saloon girl laced into a red bustier who leans over the balcony railing, a long-gone cowboy who chats up patrons in the bar, a little girl who wanders the third floor, and flappers from the 1920s. Maybelle is suspected of moving guests' jewelry and nibbling on their snacks while they sleep, but her presence is most often felt in the bar-as a pinch on the fanny of anyone who dares sit in her chair.
In the hotel's basement, subterranean windows open to underground tunnels dating back to the gold frenzy of the 1880s, when Baker City was flush with newcomers with new money looking for places to spend it.
"The tunnels led to brothels," says Denny Grosse, who leads daily ghost tours at the hotel. (Her daughter is the owner.) "They gave passage to Chinese immigrants who weren't allowed on the streets at night. They were handy during heavy snow and good for stashing booze during Prohibition. Mostly, they connected men with the brothels." Baker City was once the brothel capitol of the west and even had a 'whore tax' that paid for its streetlights, Grosse adds.
Such a storied past gives the the Atlantic Paranormal Group (TAPS), hosts of the television show Ghost Hunters, plenty to go on. Investigator and TAPS member Marie Cuff heads a team that regularly investigates at the Grand. Their mission is to gather evidence of the paranormal using scientific methods: They conduct double-blind studies to curtail bias and use equipment such as video cameras and recording devices. "Never any gadgetry such as ghost boxes or boo bears to entice spirits," says Cuff. Their investigations are always free and upon request.
"We capture evidence at the Geiser Grand. That's why we return," she says.
The hotel's underground tunnels once hid illegal alcohol and led to the city's brothels.
"I'm new and a skeptic," a team member volunteered during a recent interview, "Maybe this is coincidence, but…" the name "Wayne" came to him during an investigation at the Grand, again and again for three hours, "Wayne." Three days later he found Wayne in a news story: A rising country music star, named Nashville "performer of the year" in 1998, 18-year-old Presley Wayne died of a mysterious gunshot to the head the morning after his show at the Geiser Grand. "Probably a coincidence, but I can't forget it," says the team member, who asked to remain unnamed.
Owner Barbara Sidway, who bought the property in 1993 with her husband, Dwight, and spent four years and $7 million renovating it, admits she hasn't yet seen a ghost, mostly likely because "most sightings are around midnight and I'm sound asleep by then," she explains, adding that the Grand's ghosts are "playful, not scary."
Amy Venezia has a different opinion. An Oregon resident, Venezia travels the country as a professional medium, someone who communicates with spirits. During a Christmas Eve stay at the Geiser Grand, she experienced what she describes as a dark mass floating by her bed. "I'm very accustomed to spirits and not scared of much, but this was a very old, strong spirit, a different type of entity, not a typical connection," she says. "I was frightened."
Now, reflecting on her encounter, Venezia says, "The spirit was like a big dog that doesn't know its size when it pounces on you. It was too much for me then. With time though, I see it's taken me to a deeper level, and that is good. There's no doubt that hotel is haunted."
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