Published by Haunted America
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.net
Copyright 2016 by Ellen Baumler
All rights reserved
First published 2016
e-book edition 2016
ISBN 978.1.43965.821.5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016939302
print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.615.0
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No book is a product of its author alone. Without the enthusiasm and help of many, this book would not have come together. I thank those whose names appear on the following pages for allowing me to interview them and write about their experiences. It is not easy to come forward with personal experiences of a paranormal nature. The stories on these pages are important not only for the personal experiences they interpret but also for the historical backgrounds that set the scenes. In addition to those named in the chapters, I am especially indebted to the generous contributors who helped facilitate interviews, introduced me to key players and offered assistance in myriad ways. These included Donna McDonald of Upper Canyon Outfitters, Cheryl Hughes of Sentinel High School, Phil Aaberg, Nellie Israel, Trudy Skari and members of the Laas family, Janet Stellmon, Debbie Hronek of the Joliet Public Library and Betsy Kirkeby of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. These folks helped enrich the stories by adding voices and photographs I would likely never have discovered without their help. I greatly appreciate it.
I thank my daughter, Katie Baumler-Morales, who read and critiqued many of the stories in the first drafts, and my husband, Mark, who always offers valuable insights and critical reviews.
INTRODUCTION
VIRGINIA CITY HAUNTINGS
This is a journey across the Last Best Place, to some of Montanas spiritually charged spaces where surprising things sometimes happen. Virginia City is a great beginning. My own experiences seem to concentrate there perhaps because its past is so familiar to me. The gold rush drew a varied population of high emotion and intense energy. That is what I believe fuels the paranormal events that many experience there.
Idaho Street in Virginia City is not where tourists usually go exploring. But it is one of my favorite Montana places. I often marvel at the traffic this historic street has seen and wonder how many souls have walked in its dust. Idaho Street has its secrets. Humble ruins and high-style homes sit amicably side by side on the unpaved street. Here locals tell their stories, and I have my own to add.
The Daems House was the modest home of early day physician Levinus Daems. Its timeworn rooms, dating back to the 1860s, have been beautifully restored. The house sometimes serves as a temporary residence for state employees and other guests. I love the house and stayed there with colleagues during history camps in previous years, but this was the first time I stayed there alone.
On this summer night in 2009, I was exhausted after a long day working with middle school campers. The period-furnished house was quiet and peaceful after a day of noisy preteen chaos. But then I heard the front door open and a voice called, Im home! I went to check. No one was there, but the air suddenly felt strangely heavy, like something was off kilter. I was a little uncomfortable because I had written about a Daems family scandal and the article had just been published. I wondered if there were spirits in the house aware of what I had written.
The Daems House is one of Idaho Streets spirited places. Author photo.
I heard no more voices. The house was quiet and orderly, not like other times when multiple guests and all their stuff filled the six rooms. I thought it would be a great opportunity to take some photos, so I made a sweep of the rooms with my digital camera. Then scrolling through the photos, I noticed orbs in almost all of the frames. Some believe that orbs, bubbles of light that sometimes show up in photographs, are evidence of the supernatural. How odd, I thought.
I remember struggling to shut and lock the back door, swollen from summer moisture. The lock was especially difficult. When I was sure the door was secure, I went through the rooms pulling down the shades, turned out the lights and fumbled my way to the adjoining room in the dark. I sank into bed.
I awoke with a start around 1:00 a.m. The house was utterly silent, but something wasnt right. What was it? Then I realized that the room was no longer dark, and I did not need my flashlight when I looked at my watch. I crept out of bed and stepped into the back room. A scream stuck in my throat. The back door I had so carefully shut and locked stood wide open. Silver moonlight flooded into the house, touching everything with an eerie metallic glimmer. I instantly knew that the heavinesswhatever it washad gone out the door. How the door opened was a mystery.
Later that same week, I again stayed alone at the Daems House. Again I took photographs of every room, but none included orbs.
The Bonanza Inn is among the haunted places I have written about on Idaho Street, but I think its energy is the most intriguing. Built in the mid-1860s as the Madison County courthouse, it served up justice until 1875. In 1876, three Catholic Sisters of Charity arrived from Leavenworth, Kansas, to convert it to St. Marys Hospital for miners. The sisters battled cholera, typhoid, consumption, gunshots wounds, saloon fights and mining accidents. Then mining waned, and the sisters moved on in 1879.
After it was converted to a dormitory for seasonal employees in the mid-twentieth century, short-term residents began to report a female spirit at their bedsides. Over several generations of overnight guests, she soothed the sick and comforted the depressed. Some claim to have seen a shadowy nun along Idaho Street or sitting in a pew in the Episcopal Church. No one bothered to find out who she was. So I set out to discover her identity.
Many overnight guests at the Bonanza Inn report ghostly encounters. State Historic Preservation Office (hereafter referred to as SHPO).
One of the three Sisters of Charity was an eighteen-year-old novice who endeared herself to Virginia City. Community women, concerned about Sister Irenes safety among the rough miners, promised one another that whenever pretty Sister Irene left the hospital, one of the women would secretly follow close behind, making sure she was safe. Years later, as mother superior at St. James Hospital in Butte, Mother Irene McGrath cared for a patient who had known her at Virginia City. She told Mother Irene of the womens service. The seasoned mother superior was overwhelmed to discover this kindness. It seems logical that she would come back to Virginia City to repay the kindness.
