It only seems fitting that my first travel post be about one of my favorite paranormal locations in the world. Virginia City Nevada. VC is a semi ghost town located 25 miles away from Reno. But in my opinion, calling it a semi ghost town does it no justice. The place is crawling with ghosts. During the busy season, it’s also full of tourists. Virginia City was established in 1859 and became a hub during the 19th century gold rush and mining boom. People came from all over the world to mine in the hills around VC and to profit off the miners. $400 million worth of gold and silver came out of the area and helped fund the Civil War as well as helped build cities like San Francisco. But where there was gold and silver, there was also greed, betrayal, deception, prostitution, violence, danger and other shiftiness. All the makings for a good old-fashioned haunting. Death was an everyday part of life back then and many tragedies happened in Virginia City. Mining accidents were common, as were gun fights, claim disputes and murder. If you venture to Virginia City, be sure to check out the walking ghost tour and the ghost tour of the Old Washoe Club.

VC has a lot of cute little shops where you can find antiques, jewelry, clothing, candy, novelty signs, and many other things. (My favorite shops are the rock shops, Stone Age.) Along with the shopping, there are also plenty of other things to see and do. There are at least 20 different museums and attractions to experience while you’re in town. There’s also some really great restaurants in town. My absolute favorite place to eat is Cafe Del Rio. They have fantastic vegetarian options. I always get cravings for their enchiladas.

Now for the ghosties. I’m becoming a little conflicted about the stories of the ghosts of VC. Every time I go back, the stories and folklore behind the ghosts changes. Since VC and the old Washoe Club have become somewhat regular destinations on a few ghost hunting shows, the stories have changed a lot to cater to tourists. I get that these stories have brought the people of VC extra tourism and money but frankly, the ghosts are getting annoyed by it.

The first time I visited VC, it was CRAWLING with spirits. I could feel them as soon as we rounded the corner into town. It was a crazy feeling that I’d never experienced that strongly before. That first trip, my investigation team did an over night investigation of the Washoe Club. The Washoe Club used to be an exclusive club for the whose who of the west and all of the big wigs and millionaires in the area came to hang out and stay there. It later became a boarding house and even was rumored to be a brothel. Many different embodiments bring in lots of different spirits.

While doing the initial walk through, I could feel the ghosts following us around and there was always that feeling of being watched. On the second floor, I had an experience that probably would have scared the hell out of anyone else but I’m a weirdo so instead, I thought it was awesome. I was standing in a hall way and suddenly I got the sensation of being choked. Should have been scary right? Nope. Not for me. I could still breathe and swallow normally, there was just a pressure all around my throat. I told my team, “Hey guys, I think I’m getting choked…”. They immediately came over with K2 meters and started taking readings of the area around me. It was a very unique and interesting experience. I’ve never felt anything like that before or since that investigation.

I became acquainted with a couple of distinct spirits during that investigation and had a bunch of really cool things happen, including seeing a ghost monkey. Yes, you read that right, a ghost monkey. The next day, my team and I went on the Washoe’s ghost tour with a bunch of tourists and the docent’s stories completely confirmed a few of our experiences including the monkey, which none of us had prior knowledge of before the investigation. It blew our minds and we all burst into laughter when he told the story of the monkey. What are the odds of first a monkey ghost in an old mining town in Nevada and second, that of all of the spirits in town, we’d encounter that one? The paranormal world is a very strange and very fun place to inhabit.

My favorite spirit in VC is or WAS known as the very ominous Soul Collector. (Ooooooooh scary right?) His back story was that he was extremely possessive and wouldn’t let any of the other spirits leave the Washoe Club, especially the ladies. He’s been known to grab or slap ladies on the butt (I can confirm this), choke people (Confirmed), give very oppressive and intense feelings and he’s just generally a really creepy spirit. Most people who experience something frightening there were experiencing the Soul Collector. So, you may be asking yourself, why the hell would THAT guy be my favorite? Well, we have a special connection after that first visit. I wasn’t as easily scared and he viewed me as a challenge and therefore, I’ve earned his respect. I won’t reveal all of his secretes that I’ve discovered through our connection but he’s one of the most colorful spirits I’ve encountered since I’ve been investigating. I’ve always been a big fan of villains in stories which has lent to my interest in him. I have yet to find out his real identity but he comes to my house occasionally to check in with me. How do I know? Well, at the Washoe Club, he’s known to make very loud walking sounds in the building since he wears cowboy boots and there are hard wood floors. When he comes to my house, he walks up and down the halls and stairs making those same sounds. The thing is, our hall and stairs are carpeted. I don’t mind him coming to visit though. He’s more than welcome to pop in. He never stays longer than a few days at a time because he has a job to do and tourists to scare.

Earlier in this post, I said that the stories changing are annoying the spirits. Well, the Soul Collector is how I know they’re annoyed. The last time I went, the stories had changed from what was being told before and suddenly, the Soul Collector’s story had disappeared and his hauntings were being “blamed” on another spirit. Well, old SC isn’t happy about that. I could feel his impatience and annoyance while I was there, as well as some of the other spirits’ unhappiness. The way I see it is that one of two things can happen because of this. 1) The ghosts are going to get upset and the hauntings will get worse and more intense or 2) The ghosts are going to get fed up and leave. Only time will tell I guess. If they decide to leave, I may have a loud stomping, butt smacking ghost roommate moving in.

Other places in VC that my team has investigated are the Silver Queen Hotel and the Gold Hill Hotel. Both locations are very interesting to explore and offer very different experiences than the Washoe. Silver Queen is a fun place to have a drink and have a look around. There is a wedding chapel you can visit or even get hitched in and was famously the place where The Captain and Tennille were married. Each room is unique and has a claw floor bathtub. The Gold Hill Hotel is noted to be the oldest hotel in Nevada and was a frequent hang out of Mark Twain and his band of buddies. This hotel has historic rooms, modern rooms, private cabins, the Miner’s Cabin, Bouillon Lodge and the Brewery Lodge. I’ve stayed in both the Miner’s Cabin and the Brewery Lodge since they’re two of the haunted locations of the hotel. My experience of the Miner’s Cabin wasn’t much to write about. It has a strange layout, the bathrooms don’t lock and it’s pretty noisy since it’s basically a renovated tin shack right on top of an old mine shaft. The old mine shaft is literally about 20 feet from the front door of the cabin. When I stayed there, we didn’t have much paranormal activity but I’ve talked to other people who have. It seems we were there on a quiet night. It was definitely an interesting experience just for the travel factor.

The Brewery Lodge however, was incredibly active. My team and I had soooooooo many things happen! There were footsteps, odd noises, an energy blob (I don’t know how else to describe it.) dancing miners and then there were the Civil War soldiers. We somehow got a whole troop of Civil War soldiers to come down the hill from VC and come say hello to us. We used the Battle Hymn of the Republic to draw them down and they marched down to the cabin and stood outside. There were 8 of us there that night and all 8 of us saw with our eyes as the soldiers pooled their energy and moved the venetian blinds up and down. We could literally see them move like a finger was running up and down them. It was incredible and lasted about 45 minutes. We were so excited to have something happen that we all could see and that we had a camera running the whole time. Unfortunately, when the footage was reviewed, nothing showed up on the video. Such a bummer! For some reason this type of thing happens a lot during investigations which is why there’s no solid proof of ghosts. It’s just a personal experience to talk about and fuel investigators to keep trying to catch that sort of thing on video.

Another really cool thing that happened in the Brewery Lodge was with the flashlight we were using to communicate. We played the Battle Hymn of the Republic again and the spirits used the flashlight to sing. It was incredible! The spirits used the light to go along with the music. It got brighter as the music crescendos and dimmer as it decrescendos, perfectly in time with the music. So so cool! Of course at that point, we didn’t have a camera on so that also wasn’t recorded.

All of my experiences from VC are just personal and I’m sure people will dispute them and question them and that’s fine. I suggest that people go and visit these places and see for themselves if these places are haunted or not.

So, in conclusion, here are my recommendations:

Best places to visit: The Old Washoe Club, The Rock Shop and Stone Age, Gold Hill Hotel, the Virginia City Cemetery, and really, the whole town.

Best places to stay: Comstock Lodge – It’s like staying at grandma’s house. It’s small cabins, not a lot of rooms, clean, cozy and comfortable and the owners are really nice. Silverland Inn and Suits – if you’d prefer more modern lodgings. And of course the Gold Hill Hotel – if you want to stay in potentially haunted rooms and cabins.

Best places to eat: Cafe del Rio – Delicious Mexican American food with great seafood and vegetarian options. Be sure to try the cinnamon ice cream! Bonanza Cafe – Great breakfast food in the center of town. Bucket of Blood – for what’s said to be some of the best bloody Marys. Red’s Candies and Sandwich Parlor – for some great handmade fudge, candy ice cream and fresh handmade waffle cones.