WINSLOW, AZ
LA POSADA HOTEL
WORKSHOP
JULY 2006
The Winslow Workshop group met in the main lobby of the La Posada about 1pm on Saturday, July 22, 2006. We had ghost hunters from Mesa, Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Phoenix, Peoria, Gilbert, Show Low, Chandler, Sedona, Wickenburg, Flagstaff and as far away as Indiana!
Glenn--who is the head of maintenance at the La Posada and manager of the Winslow theater came in on his day off to be our guide at these two facilities. He started our day by escorting us to the tunnels under the La Posada and the basement or storage area for the historic hotel. A reporter from the Winslow newspaper tagged along with the group for an article he was writing for the paper.
Jim, a ghost hunter from Flagstaff felt energy in one of the basement rooms. Mark and Yvonne also felt a presence in one of the basement rooms. Terri felt the presence of a janitor or former maintenance man still going about his job in the basement. Lots of photos were snapped in this area, which showed an usual amount of orbs.
Next, we did a daytime walk through of the Winslow Theatre--formerly the Rialto Theatre. There are stories of a man who sits in the 2nd seat of the second row from the front on the left hand side as you enter the theater. There are also stories of an actress named "Rose" that hung herself off the balcony late one night after a show. Rose had a dressing room below the stage and sometimes you can detect the floral smell of the perfume she wore. We were able to scout the seating section of the remodeled theatre---go backstage---down in the basement dressing rooms---up stairs to the old balcony---the projection room---and the basement under the lobby. On this initial run, Debe filmed moving orbs in one of the dressing rooms in the basement. We set up a time of 10pm to meet back at the theatre to do more extensive filming.
We checked into our rooms and a little siesta was in order. Debe made the rounds giving the group an updated agenda...and we were all heading to BoJo's Grill and Sports Club for dinner about 5:30pm. The cafe was once Bruchman's Trading Post where folks could purchase Indian blankets and other goods. It was open from 1914 to 1995 and served the travelers on Route 66 for many years. Now a grandfatherly ghost---perhaps Mr. Bruchman, haunts the cafe. They smell his cigar smoke and things move around the cafe from time to time. It turned out that Sean knew the owner's from another friend and they let him venture down in the basement of the building and into the remains of the Chinese tunnels that wind under the streets of Winslow—a feature in many railroad towns! Sean reported that it was pretty creepy down there and the tunnels went on in many directions.
Back at the hotel we prepared for our impromptu renewing of wedding vows for Shiela and Chris & Lisa and Jim. We all came dressed in funny attire. We met near the spiral staircase in the hotel and did our workshop group picture.
We then gathered in the Ballroom, which we have nicknamed the "Suicide Room" because of the large painting called "Suicide” which hangs there. This is where we had decided to perform the wedding vow renewal ceremony. Rev. Yvonne graciously volunteered to perform the ceremony---and it turned out that Terri was a remarkable piano player and agreed to play a few love songs to add to the ceremony. The brides entered the ballroom from a staircase at the end of the room while the grooms waited near the fireplace. Lisa wore a lovely black gothic dress with hood and her groom wore a monk like hooded outfit as well. Both were barefoot. Shiela was dress as ghost hunting dog Scooby Doo while Chris was dressed as Shaggy. The ceremony began with a clap of thunder that shook the room! When asked if anyone in the room objected to these couples reuniting their vows...Mary stood and presented a comic routine on the pitfalls of being married and mother in law jokes, which kept us all laughing hysterically. The wedding vows were sealed again and another clap of thunder closed the ceremony. All enjoyed a wedding cake topped with ghost brides and grooms.
We changed back into our ghost hunting duds and headed out to the old railroad station. It is still used today by Amtrack. We sat inside on benches hoping a ghost train would stop and let off a group of ghostly passengers as we waited. Several others waited along the tracks watching the real trains go by.
At 10pm a smaller group of investigators headed back down to the theatre. The movie was over--the popped corn was swept away and we had the place all to our selves...and the ghosts. This was a lights off----no talking investigation. Some chose to stay upstairs in the seating portion of the theater whiles others ventured down to the dressing rooms. Debe filmed in night vision near the seat of the ghost in row two---while Mark filmed in night vision down in the dressing rooms of the basement. Those tapes are still being analyzed.
Here are some of the impressions at the theatre. A lot of folks experienced the rose fragrance that would come and go in the dressing room of Rose the actress. I know Samantha, Shiela, Lisa, Yvonne, Terri, Kenton, Kathy and Kris all reported back smelling the rose perfume.
Lisa: "I smelled a sweet, floral type smell in the afternoon, but in the evening it was STRONG and clear ROSE. It stayed quite a while too."
Kathy: "You heard about the rose smell at the theater, right? Kris and I were a party to it, along with Terry, and some guy...I think Glenn also caught a whiff."
Yvonne: I got the impression that the actress, Rose, was murdered as opposed to committing suicide in the theatre. Women usually don't kill themselves so gruesomely. (Hanging) I believe someone else voiced the same impression.
A lot of the photos in the theater seating area showed large orbs near the chair of the man in the second row. We filmed for over an hour in total silence.
Back at the La Posada, some of the folks called it a night--but had experiences in their rooms that we will report in a moment. Several of us sat in the serene cinder block court and discussed our findings of the day. Some folks thought they heard footsteps of someone walking in the area.
The next morning at breakfast in the La Posada dining room--we had ghost stories of our own to share.
Debe: My room 110 was the scene of a suicide about a year ago. Nothing menacing happened in the room---just a sensation of always being watched.
Wendall: It felt like our door Room 229 was trying to open by some unseen presence.
Karen: Talked to the tall La Posada night watchman. She said she learned he saw a lady in a white dress in the cinder block court where we all sat talking. Her room 101 once had a guest come to the front desk asking if it was double booked, as there was an old lady that kept wandering through. She also felt a presence that called himself Duffy.
Jim: He and his wife share room 211. He felt the room had a rough, negative vibration to it. He and his wife had a restless and rough night. He suffered a string of very negative dreams--enough to wake himself up several times in an effort to stop them. He left the room at 3am to take pictures on the grounds. From 3 to 5am he took several pictures--one showing some nice ectoplasm and he recorded some EVP, which he is still analyzing. He felt the EVP was not responding to his questions---but more like residue conversations he was over hearing.
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The majority of the workshop group was on their way home about 11am. Everyone agreed the hotel and theater are definitely haunted. This was a interesting investigation as we went into it "cold"--not knowing the ghostly history--so we had to experience it ourselves! Even though hotel personnel say over 300 ghosts were cleared from the hotel about a year ago---there are still many lingering behind!