THE AMAZING CEMETERY CRAWL 2
JANUARY 20 & 21 2007
Debe Branning and Sharon Clauss developed the cemetery crawl in OCT 2005 as a way to see and learn the history of the various cemeteries in Arizona. The teams for the Amazing Cemetery Crawl 2 gathered Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Pioneer Cemetery in Phoenix, AZ at 10:00am. The weather reports were not in their favor, but they decided the cloudy skies would only add a bit more of a challenge to the adventure awaiting them.
Debe Branning and her crew of paranormal investigators from the MVD Ghostchasers were on hand to greet the Crawlers. Kenton, Mark, Shiela & Chris and Maddie & Ben handed out the info travel packets. Everyone also received their very own lucky travel gnome to carry with along in the cars at all times.
The teams and crew gathered for a group picture with some of Phoenix’s by gone residents looking on from the historic cemetery. The Amazing Cemetery Crawl 2 was about to begin!
As the 10:30 starting time approached, the MVD team spread the first clue envelopes on the ground in the parking lot for the Crawlers to grab at the call of “GO! They scrambled for an envelope and ran back to their cars where the other teammate was awaiting with motors running!
THE TEAMS
Team 1---Withdrew
Team 2---Susan & Nancy “The Ladies”
Team 3---Judy & Deb “The Vendome Ladies”
Team 4---Shawn & Kelli “The Jeep People”
Team 5---Karla & Dan “The Army”
Team 6---Robin & Dale “The Twins”
Team 7---Withdrew
Team 8---Andrea & Charity “The Mustang Girls”
Team 9---Withdrew
Team 10—Stephen & Angelica “AZ Central”
The first envelope instructed the Crawlers to drive to the city of Morristown and to the Morristown Cemetery. One team member waited at the flagpole while their partner searched the cemetery for a certain tombstone describe in a poetic clue that was placed in their envelope. After finding the tombstone noted in the clue, the team member was instructed to photograph it and show it to the “cemetery attendant” for verification. Each envelope contained a different clue. Points were given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at each cemetery.
This small cemetery is on Castle Hot Springs Road. The earliest recorded burial was in 1909. Most graves are surrounded with quartz and white rocks.
The Crawlers next envelope directed the teams to travel into the town of Wickenburg and stop at the Wickenburg Municipal Cemetery. This cemetery was a little larger which made the teams have to search for their tombstone clues in a much broader range. It is the resting place of many Wickenburg pioneers and is still in use today.
By now, the Crawlers were feeling pretty confident and comfortable with the process of the Crawl, so it was time for them to venture more freely on the road. They quickly grabbed the next envelope from Maddie and were ready to head to the next cemetery—only this time there was a twist. They had a Roadblock to complete before they were allowed to travel to the next graveyard! Roadblocks and detours were a way to earn extra points in the Crawl.
With the roadblock the Crawlers were instructed to complete one of two tasks. They were to drive to the Circle K at the main intersection in Wickenburg and park near the Jail Tree. Legend says at one time Wickenburg did not have a city jail so they would handcuff their prisoners to this mesquite tree as they awaited trial. There were no escapes! Crawlers were instructed to find someone in the Circle K parking lot to pose under the tree and take a picture. They could then proceed to the next cemetery and show the picture to the “cemetery attendant “ waiting.
OR
Crawlers could drive through a residential neighborhood searching for the gravesite of Henry Wickenburg, one of the founders of this fine city. Mr. Wickenburg committed suicide with a bullet wound to his head by his own hand. Crawlers needed to walk to the gravesite high on a hill off of a path and photograph their partner at his tomb. Once this task was completed, they could drive on to the next cemetery with their photo.
After completing the Roadblock, the next envelope instructed the Crawlers to drive to Ghost Town Road that would lead them to the Pioneer Congress Cemetery. A bumpy, dirt road winded its way to the cemetery where burials took place from 1887 to 1954. It is the final resting place to pioneer miners who worked the gold and silver mines in and around Congress. There has been a lot of EVP and orbs photographed in this graveyard and it is considered to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in AZ. There are at least 100 graves—mostly unmarked. Highly decorative wrought iron fences surround 8 graves and wooden fences that are seriously weathered guard another two.
As it started to rain, Debe decided to stop the Crawlers in their vehicles at a flat open spot and make them walk the remaining short distance to the cemetery to avoid being stuck in the mud—especially Team 8—the Mustang girls! As she watched for the groups to arrive she couldn’t help notice two light figures walking through the other cemetery on the hill up the road. Kenton thought he saw it too—so he and Mark drove up to investigate. There were no tire tracks or signs of anyone in the cemetery. Were they ghosts? Or were they hunters?
Muddy and wet, the Crawlers received their next envelopes. Another detour was in order! As the Crawlers returned to the main highway, they were instructed to look to the left and find the BIG GREEN FROG rock formation. They were to get out of their car and take a picture of their teammate in the foreground with the frog in the background and bring that photo to the next pit stop---the gazebo in Courthouse Park in Prescott.
The drive up to Prescott proved to be breath taking—not only because of the awesome scenery, but also because of the weather conditions. The Crawlers faced drizzling rain sprinkles, fog, slushy rain, sunshine, and snow slurries all the way up the mountainside! Luckily, the roads were free of snow and ice so it made the journey less hazardous! Impromptu snowball fights; building snowmen, and making snow angels were enjoyed by many of the Crawlers who stopped to enjoy a moment in the snow.
A sprint to the gazebo at Courthouse Park put Karla and Dan in the lead! MVD Ghostchasers member, Chris, greeted each team at the gazebo with “Welcome to snowy Prescottt, Arizona!”
The Crawlers finished at the pit stop/rest stop in this order:
The Crawlers then dashed off to their various hotels, motels, and B & B’s to check in their rooms and soak in the hot tubs! The MVD Ghostchasers made their headquarters’ at the St. Michael Hotel on Whiskey Row. Debe, Maddie and Shiela stopped in at the Palace and made a group dinner reservation for 21 at 6:00PM. They then called each team and invited the Crawlers to join the group for dinner. Everyone was quick to say they’d be dining with the teams and was anxious to discuss the day’s events.
Everyone was there promptly at 6:00 and we were seated in two long tables side by side. It was a good chance to meet each other and learn why the teams decided to take the challenge and enter the Crawl. A little ghost hunting was done in the Palace. This saloon/restaurant had been the scene of many a gunfight in its day. New friends were made during dinner and lots of pictures of the group were taken. With no other “ghostly” activities on the official agenda for the night, some of the Crawlers had investigating plans of their own!
Some went to the Pioneer Cemetery to take some ghostly photos, while others had rooms at haunted Hotel Vendome. In fact, Deb and Judy were lucky to book the haunted Abby Room—room 16—at the Vendome. They were kind enough to invite the Crawlers to stop by and get a peek at this lovely haunted room. They had cameras set up to capture anything that may show up during the night. The MVD Ghostchasers stopped by and told them stories of encounters they had faced when staying at the hotel. Debe did a quick autograph session of her book “Sleeping With Ghosts” and then the team was off on an adventure of their own.
Debe had been trying to find the location of Angeline’s Grave for several years but nobody she talked to could ever remember the directions. Information on the Internet was misleading and many attempts to find the grave were in vain. But only the night before she was emailed directions from a member of the Yavapai Cemetery Association, and this time she was determined!
The team drove down the dark lonely mountain road looking off to the left in search of the gravesite of Angeline Hoagland who had died January 15, 1889. She was only 2 years old. Legend says her tombstone glows in the dark and the ground shakes if anyone steps over the wrought iron fencing around it. The MVD Ghostchasers were ready to face the challenge! After driving 2 or 3 miles passed the place where they should have found the grave they turned the truck around and headed back stopping at every turn off on the road. Finally, Chris spotted the grave! They pulled off the road to take a couple of pictures. Chris climbed over the iron fencing to test the ground shaking theory—but there was no earthquake. They plan to locate the tombstone in the daylight at another time.
Sunday morning everyone woke up to a winter wonderland of snow. About 2 inches of snow had fallen over Prescott. It was beautiful and they rushed outside to take pictures.
Charity and Andrea had called from their motel to let the MVD Ghostchasers know their little red Mustang was stuck in the snow so Kenton and Ben went to help set them free. The group took a quick vote and it was decided they would resume the Crawl at 11:00am when the snow could be cleared from the streets. Meanwhile, some of the members of the MVD Ghostchasers—Chris, Shiela and Maddie—had taken an air mattress from their truck and went snow sledding with the other children on Prescott down the steep hill on Gurley Street.
At 11:00 the Crawlers were handed their next envelope. They were instructed to drive to Arizona Pioneers’ Home Cemetery right there in Prescott. The cemetery was established on the hill in the 1880’s. A plaque at the cemetery reads “Arizona Pioneers’ Home Cemetery in grateful memory of Arizona Pioneers who lie sleeping on this mountainside”. The cemeteries most famous occupant is Mary K Cummings---better known as Katie Elder or Big Nose Kate.
After taking the photograph of the tombstone assigned in the envelope, the “cemetery attendants” Shiela and Maddie threw out another challenge to the Crawlers. They would give them extra points if the Teams would stop and make a snowman and take a picture of it. Miniature snowmen began to appear among the graves of the pioneers, which I am sure made them smile under their blanket of snow!
And then, another detour! The Crawlers were now asked to take a picture of Thumb Butte—a well-known landmark in Prescott. But in this photo, one teammate had to be in the foreground giving the “thumb’s up” sign. They were to bring these two photos to the locations of the next cemetery.
Crawlers headed south to the Mayer and the Mayer Cemetery. 3 Teams fearing icy roads ahead opted out of the competition leaving 4 teams to continue to fight for the finish line! The stormy looking skies were misleading and once we were on the main streets and roads, the highways were clear and dry. The 3 resigning teams were secretly given the site of the finish line so that they could greet and cheer home the winners!
From the Mayer Cemetery they had a wonderful view of the snowy mountains and valleys below. The Mayer Cemetery has been in use in this former mining town since 1907 and was the place where Debe had her first grave-dowsing lesson. The Crawlers arrived with their poetic clues and soon located the tombstone described. They presented their photos to Debe and was handed the next clue.
Their next envelope directed the remaining teams south to Black Canyon City and the Black Canyon City Cemetery. The cemetery is nestled in trees at about 2000 ft and has been in use since 1965. Teams quickly found the tombstones on their clue sheet and Shiela handed out the next envelope with once last detour task to complete.
They were starting to see a pattern now and knew the race to the finish line was going to be a close match! But with one detour to go—the order of the finishers could quickly change. The Crawlers were now instructed to take the American flag they found in their envelope and head for the National Memorial Cemetery of AZ located off Cave Creek Road in Phoenix. They were to place the flag on any undecorated gravesite of one of our fallen soldiers and take a picture to bring to the finish line.
By now everyone participating in the Amazing Crawl was heading to the last site—the finish line—Hunt’s Tomb at Papago Park in Phoenix. Entombed there is Governor George Wiley Paul Hunt, who set a national record by being elected to the first, second, third, sixth, seventh, eighth and tenth term as Arizona’s governor. Hunt’s tomb is a large white pyramid that is visible from almost any point in the park—except from the eyes of MVD Ghostchaser Chris—who we sent on ahead to greet the winning teams. He made it just as the scramble up the hill towards the tomb began between the first two finishing teams!
In a true “Amazing Race” finale—the teams of Karla and Dan barely squeezed out the win from under Shawn and Kelli who were all left breathless at the top of the hill! The rest of the Crawlers were on hand to see the third place team drive into the parking lot and race up the hill as they clapped and cheered them home. The fourth place team followed shortly after!
The winning teams finished as follows:
1. Karla and Dan Winners of a 63 Horror/Ghost movie collection
2. Shawn and Kelli Winners of a collection of 1970’s made for TV Horror movies
3. Stephen and Angelica Winners of a misc. horror movie collection
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The collections were donated by Sharon Clauss and tucked away in their very own coffins!
There were also lots of door prizes given for the most points collected along the Crawl and there was a prize for one of the lucky gnomes. They shared refreshments provided by the MVD Ghostchasers and everyone laughed about some of the great adventures we encountered on the Amazing Crawl 2 route. By the end of the Crawl they had all made new friends and were looking forward to another such adventure in the future. The lucky traveling gnomes guided everyone safely back home through all sorts of adverse weather. And, now—the little gnomes, who have all been given new names and new homes—are standing by to lead their team when it is time for the next Amazing Crawl!
