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The Golden Eagle
Brewery |
In 1879 Tombstone was nothing
more than a few tents, a few more rude huts and the rugged home of
more than ten thousand citizens crammed together in the sprawling
mining camp. The Crystal Palace Saloon was first called the Golden
Eagle Brewery featuring fine bock beer, a free lunch, and a display
of wild animals. The Golden Eagle Brewery was in business until the
fire on June 22, 1881. a local saloon owner was pouring out a batch
of bad whiskey when his cigar started the fire.
May 26, 1882, Tombstone again suffered another
fire which erupted in a water closet located in the rear of the
Tivoli Saloon, destroying the original Golden Eagle Brewery building.
Frederick Wehrfritz, with visionary optimism
in the sprawling mining camp, built an imposing two-story building
on the original site of the Golden Eagle Brewery, at the corner
of the newly named streets of Fifth and Allen.
On July 23, 1882 the Crystal Palace Saloon opened its doors. |
The shining crystal ware and the affable management
soon had a monopoly on those prominent citizens from all over town who wanted
the best drink coupled with all the pertinent town news dispensed by the
fortunate office holders above. The Crystal Palace became the place most
frequented by those individuals prominent in the business and social registers
of Tombstone.
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To have an office on the second
floor of this building was tantamount to having the best address in
Tombstone. The offices upstairs were crowded with those names now
familiar to millions. The front office facing Allen Street was occupied
by Virgil W. Earp.
Virgil Earp was serving in the dual capacity
as Marshal of Tombstone and Deputy United States Marshal. The records
reveal that his address in Tombstone was listed as the Office Building
Above the Crystal Palace, Fifth and Allen, Tombstone, Arizona Territory
The adjacent office on the Allen Street side was occupied by the
famed retired army surgeon, Dr. George Goodfellow, a firm friend
of the Earp brothers, and destined to be remembered as Tombstone's
greatest doctor. |
Dr. H.M. Matthews retained his office on the Fifth
Street side with side entrance on that street. Dr. Matthews will be remembered
for his part as coroner in the decision for the cause of death that came
to Frank and Tom McLaury and William Clanton on the afternoon of October
26, 1881.
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Since business depended largely, if not entirely
on the mines, it was possible at any hour to find the owners and
managers in the Crystal Palace indulging themselves with the finest
spirits obtainable. Mine officials, gunmen, prospectors, rustlers,
lawyers, stage coach bandits, cowboys, lawmen, gamblers, homesteaders
and outlaws rubbed elbows day and night as they crowded along its
lengthy bar. Big Nose Kate, the girlfriend of Doc Holiday, was rumored
to spent a great deal of time at the saloon as well.
The proximity of the Crystal Palace to Tombstone's
leading commercial houses, coupled with its superior decor and service
along with strictly honest gambling rooms created its success as
Tombstone's finest, best-appointed bar in a town of nearly a hundred
saloons. The management in those early years wisely chose the course
of action that kept the gambling games honest and the killers of
men from making a slaughter house of the Crystal Palace. |
From the 1920's to the 1940's when the relentless,
uncontrollable underground water forced the closing of the mines, it also
killed Tombstone's boom town prosperity and cut its population to a fraction
of its heyday high. Through the years the Crystal Palace Saloon, which had
gloried in the town's prosperity, resolutely shared its despair. The Prohibition
Amendment finally closed the Crystal Palace.
With gambling and drinking outlawed, the gaming
tables, bar and back bar were removed. According to local legend, the
famous mahogany Crystal Palace bar found it's way to a Mexican Cantina
which was consumed by fire two years later. Much of the glory was gone.
The second floor had been removed, and the interior of the saloon, which
had been known from Chicago to San Francisco for its elegance, had been
altered and filled with 20th Century trappings.
The Crystal Palace has served as a Greyhound bus station, warehouse, and
as movie theater. With the repeal of prohibition and the subsequent prosperity
of the war and postwar years, the Crystal Palace was again doing business
at the same location. In 1963 the Crystal Palace still was in business
when Historic Tombstone Adventures, an organization formed to preserve
and restore many of the town's fabled landmarks, purchased the world-famous
bar. After accumulating all the old photographs and
records that were available, the organization commissioned craftsmen to
restore the Crystal Palace exactly as it had been in the turbulent days.
The massive, nearly room-length mahogany front and back bars were replicated
to inch-by-inch specifications, using old photographs. This was the only
way it could be done as the original blueprints had been destroyed years
ago.The eagle-bedecked wallpaper was custom made as
symbolic of the historic building's original "Golden Eagle Brewery"
name.
On the outside, the wooden sidewalks and wooden overhang were restored
around the building, and a false-front second story, authentic in measured
detail, was built. The original Crystal Palace was a two-story building
when it was built in 1879. It burned to the ground in the fire of 1882.
It was rebuilt with only one story. Even the names of some of the more
illustrious tenants were painted, in period style, on windows of the offices
they occupied.
The Crystal Palace today remains a symbol of the
true "Old West", by retaining its 1880's integrity. The
original copper ceiling, adobe walls, and the beautiful replica of the
massive bar make this the only authentic saloon still operating in Tombstone.
Crystal Palace Saloon in 1940
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Allen Street in the late 1800's
Crystal Palace Saloon is on the right
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Crystal Palace bar in 1938
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The Crystal Palace Saloon Today
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Activity of the paranormal variety varies, depending
on who you talk to. Typical occurrences include the unexplainable movement
of objects to different locations, abnormal functioning of electrical
mechanisms such as lights being turned on when the building is empty and
the gambling wheels functioning at random.
Late at night the sounds of footsteps and voices
can be heard throughout the building. Some claim that the ghost of Big
Nose Kate haunts the saloon as it was one of her favorite places in life.
Other apparitions include unidentified cowboys, who have been seen at
the bar and walking about various parts of the saloon.
We arrived at 1:30am after the saloon had closed
for the night. The Teams began sweeps for unusual electromagnetic fields
as other investigators started taking photographs using a coupling method.
The saloon consists of a large single room with two doors, one on each
side of the stage, that lead to the maintenance room (left door) and the
manager's Office and basement (right door). Unusual EM fields were located
in the hallway above the basement (5 nt spike @ 33Hz on Trifield) and near the
stage (7 nt spike @ 19Hz that held for 5 seconds).
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The Wheel ( left)
that moved during the first EVP recording |
After the EM sweeps of the building were
complete, Cody and Kat started taking EVP samples near the stage
at the far end of the saloon. After Kat asked her second question
("How did you die?") the gambling wheel on the wall behind
us turned on and started spinning. After making several fast revolutions,
the wheel stopped. Kat continued asking several more questions and
then the EVP session was concluded. Meanwhile Dave contacted the
manager to discover where the switch that activated the wheel was
located. He was told that it is in the maintenance room, which was
empty with the door closed. The door was in clear view of the investigators
present and we can confidently state that no one had entered the
room and that it was empty during the EVP recording session.
At this point Cody and Bob decided to try
an experiment to see if the asking of questions during the EVP session
caused the ghost to react to the investigators. The investigators
returned to their original positions and Cody and Kat recorded a
second EVP session, this time changing the questions in an attempt
to get a reaction. Nothing of interest occurred although we did
obtain EVP during this attempt. |
From here we moved to the hallway above the basement
and took EVP samples where the EM spike was recorded earlier. No EVP was
found in this recording session.
The Tam then moved to the basement. This area was
quite interesting as there were once tunnels that connected to the mines
that have been bricked up. The basement is primarily used as storage and
the items stored here are locked up in areas composed of chain link fencing.
You can also move to the end of the basement corridor and see underneath
most of the building. One small EM spike was registered on the Trifield
meter (3nt) and Kristin recorded the EVP samples here. However the results
are far too garbled to understand.
After returning from the basement, Cody and Kat
moved back to the stage and again tried to get a reaction by recording
EVP samples. For control measures, the door to the maintenance room was
opened and the light turned on. Investigators then left the room and watched
the entrance to ensure that no one entered that area. After the recording
was finished, Cody was putting the recorder back into its case when the
light in the maintenance room turned off. The room was completely empty
and the light switch was in the "off" position.
The investigation was concluded at 2:45am.
The hunt begins
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Talking to employees
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Pool table near the front door
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Steph looks for EMFs
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Unusual EM field found
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Steph and Dave
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Vince & Dave searching
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The Main Room
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A wandering Bob
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Watching the doors
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Discussing theories
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Josh listens
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View from Stage
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Bob and Dave discuss things
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First EVP Session
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Light turns off
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A good Example of 3-Dot
See the face? (lower right)
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Electronic Voice Phenomena
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Question |
Answer |
Frequency |
Listen |
| Why are you here? |
Sounds like "Three
wounds" |
300 HZ |
|
| Why won't you show yourself? |
Sounds like "Don't
want to" or "I'm cold" |
189.1 HZ |
|
| Are you scared to come out? |
Sounds like "I'm
close to you" |
287.5 HZ |
|
| Did you spin that wheel? |
Not understandable |
120.5 HZ |
|
| Did you die by this stage? |
Sounds like "I was
killed on the stage" or "yes", immediately
followed by a male saying "bullshit" |
218.2 HZ |
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| Why are you here? (2nd time asked) |
Sounds like "We
will frighten you" |
265.8 HZ |
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| Were you alone? |
Sounds like "Yes" |
210.8 HZ |
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| Did you shut off that light? |
Sounds like "Of
course" or "Could be worse" or "Yes,
I did" |
297.3 HZ |
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Photographic Analysis
EVP Analysis
EVP samples collected at
this location were very difficult to understand due to ambient background
noise. Noise reduction filters had to be applied multiple times to remove
this noise which also affected the quality of the EVP recorded. Unfortunately
this was necessary because the background noise made it impossible to
hear the EVP.
Despite this, if the samples are saying
what people hear, the answers would be consistent with what was asked.
Electromagnetic Field
Analysis
Electromagnetic fields measured
at the location consisted of many explainable AC fields, which are typical
of an old building and its wiring. The maintenance room is highly contaminated
with such fields and electrical lines are running everywhere.
The DC electromagnetic fields
appeared to be moving and we were not able
to find a logical explanation for these fields. |
