Location Description and History

Squeezed into Mule Pass Gulch of the Mule Mountains, the old mining town Bisbee has a lot of character. A tiny mining camp in 1877, Bisbee grew into a solid and wealthy town by 1910. The side canyon Brewery Gulch held more than 50 saloons in the early 1900s, earning a reputation as the best drinking and entertainment venue in the territory. Many of the fine commercial buildings and Victorian houses built in the boom years still stand. Many of these historic places have lingering spirits from the town's past within their walls. The famous old "Queen" was built by the Copper Queen Mining Company (later Phelps Dodge Corporation) shortly after the turn of the century, when Bisbee was the largest mining town in the world... a bustling metropolis of over 20,000 population with two opera houses and many permanent brick buildings. The hotel played host to mining executives, traveling men, territorial governors and the flamboyant types of the Old West. The Arizona territory was still a decade from statehood and Apache raiding parties were a menace to stagecoach travelers. While the Copper Queen Saloon was the gathering place for "officials and politicos" around the corner "Brewery Gulch," named after Muheim's Brewery, provided diversion for the miners with a number of bars and a vast number of shady ladies. While the town of Bisbee has "grown up," it has not lost its charm. Soon after Bisbee became a town, the Copper Queen Hotel came about as a place for dignitaries and weary miners to rest their hats.

The Town of Bisbee in 1905. The Copper Queen is in the middle of the photo at the end of the street (left). Though Bisbee was founded in 1880, it’s history reaches back for centuries. In 1534, Spanish conquistadors came through looking for gold. Over the next 300 years, Spanish and Mexican settlers, pioneers, cowboys, and Native Americans, including the great Apache warriors, Geronimo and Cochise, walked this land. Not unlike its rowdy neighbor, Tombstone, Bisbee’s character and legend can be traced back to Western vigilantes, rowdy saloons, brawling miners, gunfights and a colorful cast of characters people are still talking about. Bisbee’s waltz with copper thrived throughout the 1920s and even hung on through the 1970s when the mines closed down.

There are three resident ghosts at the Copper Queen Hotel. The first, an older gentleman, tall with long hair and a beard, is usually seen wearing a black cape and a tophat. Some claim they smell the aroma of a good cigar either before or after seeing him. He appears in the doorways or as a shadow in some of the rooms in the southeast corner of the fourth floor (near Teddy Roosevelt's room).

The second, and perhaps most famous, is a female in her early thirties by the name of Julia Lowell. The story goes that she was a lady of the evening on Brewery Gulch and used the rooms at the hotel for her clients. She supposedly fell madly in love with one gentleman and upon telling him, he no longer wanted anything to do with her. She then took her own life at the hotel. Her presence is felt on the west side of the building on the second and third floors. Some men have reported that they hear a female voice whispering in their ear. Other claim that she appears in the shape of a bright, white smoke. We pay tribute to her here at the Copper Queen Hotel by naming a room (in the area where she practiced her profession) "The Julia Lowell Room".

Our third and youngest ghost is a small boy, age eight or nine, who drowned in the San Pedro river. It's believed that his spirit found its way to the hotel because a relative, perhaps mother or father, was employed here at the time. He's the most mischievous of the three, as guests, on the west side, also on the second and third floors, have reported objects in their rooms moved to different locations than they were last seen. Eyeglasses, cups with beverages, seem to mysteriously move from one table to the next! A few have reported that you can hear his footsteps running through the halls and sometimes his intoxicating giggle. Others claim that when they run bath water, they hear him cry. He is never seen, just heard!

The 3rd floor is the most active part of the hotel. Guests and staff have reported doors opening and closing by themselves and electrical appliances operating on their own accord. Cold spots in the rooms and hallways often accompany this activity.

Room 412 - Windows open and close
Room 308 - Bathroom door opens and closes at night
Room 304 - Doorknob to room jiggles and locks itself
Room 210 - Stomping noises are heard and toothpaste has shot across the room by itself. The sounds of a lady singing have been reported and lights flicker.
Room 303 - Bags of chips were spread out across the floor and chairs were moved against the door. Cigar smells is also detected on occasion.
Elevator jams and voices are sometimes heard inside.
The apparition of a little boy crying has been sighted on the 4th floor.
A apparition called "Billy" is associated with Room 312. He is described has having a long nose

This was a ghost hunt performed with DJs from 93.7 KRQ, a Tuscon radio station, that was prerecorded for their Halloween show. We were primarily interested in locating unusual DC electromagnetic fields on the third floor that were observed on previous ghost hunts of this location.

The search for DC electromagnetic fields was impeded by a geomagnetic storm which played havoc with our Trifield meter. This made it quite impossible to determine if the readings that we were getting were of a natural origin or not. The meter was constantly going off during the ghost hunt, in all parts of the building. The highest sustained reading that we recorded was 5 nanotelsa, which was recorded in the west wing of the third floor for approximately fifty seconds.

Searches of the building with AC electromagnetic field meters revealed reading well within normal standards that are consistent with electrical wiring and associated secondary fields. No unusual phenomena was observed during the ghost hunt.

Photographs

 Click on the thumbnails to view the larger image