On location: Miners, Ghosts, and Growing Up in #BisbeeArizona
Join me every day for our daily theme:
Mondays On Location
Tuesday Teasers
Wednesday “What the %$!! is next?”
Thursday Reader/Writer Fun
Friday Freebies
Saturday is Sexy
Sunday Guest Stars
Today is Mondays on Location!
Bisbee is a fantastic small town in Arizona and is the setting for my latest romantic suspense series: Lawmen
Cheyenne’s “Lawmen” romantic suspense series
I’m an Arizona native and grew up in Bisbee and on a ranch about 15 miles outside the Bisbee town limits–it’s a fascinating former copper mining town with amazing history.
In the late 1800’s/early 1900’s, with over 20,000 people, Bisbee was the largest and most cultured city between St. Louis and San Francisco! Those days are long gone and Bisbee is a sleepy town and artists’ community of about 5,500 resident.
A shot of Bisbee, Arizona and the Bisbee Historical Museum and Copper Queen Hotel
My Grandfather was born in Panna Maria, Texas in 1900. He and my grandmother moved to Bisbee where my grandfather worked in the copper mines. Their children, including my mother, were all raised in Bisbee.
Of course, many years later I came along. I grew up mostly on the ranch outside of Bisbee with my parents and two brothers. My father was a firefighter in Bisbee for 20 years.
Chey with brothers and Dad in Bisbee
Most likely, you’ve seen the wild west side of Bisbee in movies featuring sexy cowboys accompanied by virtuous (and not so virtuous) women in Brewery Gulch, but there are other, lesser known sides of Bisbee that are begging to be explored. Located in the heart of the Mule Mountains, Bisbee offers some of the most beautiful country in all of Arizona, but it’s not just the alluring ranch hands and pretty scenery that gives Bisbee its romantic feel; it’s the ghosts.
Yes. The ghosts.
And there are plenty of well known haunts in Bisbee.
Mining was a dangerous job, and although no one has reported any ghosts in the Queen Mine, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Even without the ghosts, you can explore the depths of the mine for precious metals and live the dangerous life of a miner for a little while. Just be careful not to slip in the dark; you might get dirty….
Bisbee’s Ghostly Oliver House…
While the darkness of the mine is a bit scary, your hotel room is the place to really get your heart racing-especially if you are staying at the Oliver House. Since its completion in 1909, over 27 people have died in the House, but don’t worry-no one has met their end there in quite a while. Of course, this doesn’t stop those who did from making regular appearances; guests have reported hearing footsteps in the hallway and feeling cold spots in the Plum Room.
If you really want to be scared out of your skin (or clothes), stay in the infamous room 13, where Nat Anderson was murdered in 1920. Anderson, a mine worker, was having an affair with the wife of “The Money Man,” a local to whom Nat owed money. When “The Money Man” discovered the affair, he supposedly made his way to the Oliver House and shot Nat in the back of the head. Despite the obvious motive, the murder remains officially unsolved-meaning that Nat Anderson’s ghost can’t rest easy.
Nat wasn’t the only one to be caught up in a dangerous tryst at the Oliver House, and many of the ghosts that haunt the hallways are victims of their own passions. Among these are the ghosts of a local police officer, his wife, and her lover; after discovering the affair, the police officer rushed to the Oliver House and murdered the couple. After driving a short distance, the jilted husband then turned the gun on himself. It’s reported that all three of these ghosts are tied to the Oliver House forever.
All this sex and violence means that the Oliver House practically vibrates with paranormal energy. Curl up with your own lover for protection and have your own romantic affair-after all, nothing is sexier than a good ghost story.
And just in time, you might be able to slip in on the Oliver House’s Haunted Weekend the end of this month. :)
The Oliver House’s Haunted Weekend
Douglas is around 25 miles from Bisbee, and is the setting for my Armed and Dangerous series. Part of the A & D series takes place in Bisbee, too. I don’t know if there are ghosts in Douglas, but there are plenty to go around in Bisbee!
Bisbee’s Home page
The Armed and Dangerous series
