Francine Powers - Haunted Bisbee

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2020 by Francine Powers

All rights reserved

All cover images are from the authors collection.

Unless otherwise noted, all images are from the authors collection.

First published 2020

E-book edition 2020

ISBN 978.1.43967.108.5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938482

print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.561.9

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.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

My three children, Brittany, Chelsie and Grant, and my grandchildren, Andre and Oliveyou have all inspired me to write about our hometown and its history with love and reverence. My husband, RandyI thank you for gifting me the time to take on this project and encouraging me to do so.

To the generations of my family who have worked in the Bisbee copper mines: my grandfather Alfred Quen; my dad, Matias V. Rojas; and two of my mothers brothers.

To all who have had the privilege of living in Bisbee and are interested in its past, I wholeheartedly dedicate these writings to you and all other generations that pass through or are lucky enough to live there.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

What better way to explore the ghosts of Bisbee than through the eyes of a true native of this historic and all-so-spooky town! Francine grew up learning the legends of the mighty mining town from her mother and family, who were also born and raised there. The ghosts of Bisbee know Francine as well as she knows them.

As a reporter for the local newspapers, she learned that credibility is the key attribute of a reputable journalist. Researching every story for truth and accuracy is a must for a great read. I first met Francine sometime in February 2000, when my paranormal team, MVD Ghostchasers, came down to research stories for my first book, Sleeping with Ghosts. The Bisbee newspaper sent Francine along to write a story about the adventure. While the ghost hunters documented their paranormal experiences with tools of the trade, little did I know that Francine was seeing and observing these encounters in real time. I did not know early on that she could see the spirits! A gifted medium, Francine has communicated with the dead most of her life, the ghosts of Bisbee being near and dear to her.

We did not see each other for a few years but kept in touch via email and the internet. She published her book Mi Reina: Dont Be Afraid; my book had finally been published close to the same time. We arranged to meet again down in Bisbee. Remarkably, we learned that we had experienced a similar encounter (in completely different decades) with the spirit of a young boy in the city parksite of the first cemetery in Bisbee.

I have dabbled on an unfinished manuscript about a young girl growing up in the early 1900s in Bisbee, during its most prosperous days. If I had a question on a time or location for the book, it was like Francine was one step ahead of me with an answer. Had we known each other in a previous lifetime and were simply recalling some of our early years?

When I was asked to be a part of an internet series, Streets of Fear, covering Tombstone Canyon Road, which flows through the city, I immediately contacted Francine. Together, we covered the Inn at Castle Rock, Fire Station No. 2 and the scary tale of her being chased by some unseen entity down Tombstone Canyon Road on the way to elementary school. Francine was also asked to talk about Bisbee spirits on TVs Ghost Hunters and I have appeared on Ghost Adventures. Thankfully, we have been the go-to people in our localities and have enjoyed it over the years.

After purchasing my weekend home in Bisbee in April 2007, Francine became a member of MVD Ghostchasers to help cover the Bisbee area. We were able to investigate some of the old, historical buildings and explore the deserted Camp Naco nearby. Francine also started her own online magazine, Spirits of Cochise Country, for which I was a part-time contributing author. Again, every detail in her work was researched and accurate in both Cochise County and Bisbee history.

Recently, she owned and hosted Bisbee Historical Tours and Bisbee Historical Haunted Cart Tours for several years, offering real ghost stories, and she was featured on many local newscasts promoting the informative tours. The haunted tour operated in golf carts and escorted guests to locations with original spooky tales.

It is important to remember that anyone can tell a ghost storybut it takes someone special like Francine Powers to live a ghost story and bring it to life. Sit tight! Haunted Bisbee is that sort of book! It will soon become your second eyes to the ghosts of old Bisbee.

Debe Branning

MVD Ghostchasers

Paranormal investigator/author

PREFACE

I am a married mother of three, a grandmother and an Arizona Foundation Newspaper award-winning reporter. Im also a Mexican American and a several-generation Bisbee native. Writing Haunted Bisbee has been a long time coming, as this is not my first book about ghosts in Bisbee. Mi Reina: Dont Be Afraid, published in 2004, is an original journal about growing up with the paranormal in the small town. It is also the first book of its kind covering haunted sites in Bisbee.

I penned explicit details about the paranormal activity that surrounded me at six years of age in my childhood home and how the Tucson Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church became involved. I wrote of how I used to hide under my blankets in terror when ghosts surrounded my bedside and how I testified to becoming a medium from early adolescence.

I wrote about my older twin sisters playing with the Ouija boarda spirit board gameand the ensuing explosion of terrifying paranormal activity that was unleashed, setting a precedent for the rest of the book.

In recent years, I owned Bisbee Historical Tours and gave walking tours in the day and in the evening. I also operated Bisbee Historical Haunted Cart Tours. I leased gas-powered golf carts from another tour company in town. We put LED lights in the roofs and ran the carts over the steep, hilly roads at night. I based that tour on my book and on additional intensely researched sites, such as Bisbee Fire Station No. 2. I was allowed to conduct the first ghost hunt there and broke that ghost story in 2009. My husband, Randy, and I ran the tour business for a few years, then relocated to Tucson, Arizona.

I wrote editorials for the Bisbee Observer regarding haunted Bisbee sites. I wrote about Bisbee Fire Station No. 2 in the paper in 2013; in 2015, I wrote about the Bisbee Oliver House. I included substantial information about the mysterious death of Nat Anderson and other resident ghosts there.

I also owned an online magazine, Spirits of Cochise County