Andy Weeks - Haunted Utah: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Beehive State

Andy Weeks

Illustrations by Marc Radle

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

This one is for my mom, Vivian
Thank you

Copyright 2012 by Andy Weeks

Published by
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Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

Cover design by Tessa Sweigert

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weeks, Andy.

Haunted Utah : ghosts and strange phenomena of the beehive state / Andy Weeks ; Illustrations by Marc Radle. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8117-0052-8 (pbk.)

1. GhostsUtah. 2. Haunted placesUtah. I. Title.

BF1472.U6W436 2012
133.109792dc23

2012004049

eBook ISBN: 978-0-8117-4875-9

The Old Mill

Southern Utah

W HEN B RIGHAM Y OUNG LED A BAND OF M ORMONS TO THE S ALT L AKE Valley in the summer of 1847, he spoke words that have been immortalized by Utahans ever since: This is the right place. Since that hot July day more than a century and a half ago, Utah has become known as the place of rugged mountains, pristine rivers, awesome lakes, desert landscapes, wide streets, neat communities, and a number of ghosts and haunted hot spots.

Its true that you dont have to search far to find stories about ghosts and strange phenomena in the Beehive State. Though one of the unions younger members, the state is rich in folklore, urban legend, and people who claim they personally have experienced things that can only be described in the context of the paranormal. The areas religious heritage might explain, at least in part, Utahs haunted history.

Utah was admitted to the union on January 4, 1896, as the forty-fifth state. For at least two thousand years before statehood, however, the Ute Indians had spread across the Colorado Plateau, many of them living in the shade of the Rocky Mountains. Some bands lived in the bulbous mountains in the northeast portion of what is now Utah, thriving off the rich sources of game and fish, while other bands eked out a living in the arid deserts to the west and south. Pristine landscapes, developed only by the campfire or wigwam, stretched far and wide until the pioneers arrived in 1847 and Mormon communities began to rise.

The Mormons, fleeing persecution in the Midwest, had left the United States and sought sanctuary in Mexican Territory (later Utah Territory). Years before they entered the Great Salt Lake Valley, church founder Joseph Smith claimed to have seen in a vision the great migration of the Latter-day Saints and their arrival in the Rocky Mountains. Smith, however, never saw in person their new Zion. In 1844, three years before the Mormons entered the valley, Smith was struck down by a mobs bullets in Carthage, Illinois. It was his successor, Brigham Young, who fulfilled Smiths prediction, leading thousands of Latter-day Saints to their promised land.

Young and his company arrived on July 24, 1847. Stopping at the mouth of what today is known as Emigration Canyon, Young, who lay in the back of a wagon because of an illness, looked over the fertile valley and proclaimed, It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on.

Once here, Young directed church members to spread out, sending some north and south to colonize and establish communities rich in agriculture and faith. Their efforts didnt sit well with the Ute Indians and other tribes, who had lived here for centuries unmolested. Their only contact with the white man before the pioneers arrived was with the occasional fur trapper or explorer. Relations with Mormons and Indians often were contentious, as were the relations between the Mormons and federal government.

The Latter-day Saints, nicknamed the Mormons because of their belief in the Book of Mormon, called their home Deseret, a name taken from their sacred book that means honeybee and symbolizes industry. But others, years later when statehood was imminent, petitioned for the name Utah, which in the Ute vernacular means Top of the Mountains. In a show of goodwill, it was nicknamed the Beehive State.

The Mormons proved to be industrious indeed, for here they built businesses, welfare centers, wide streets, thriving communities, churches, and a magnificent temple that Mormons believe, in part, fulfills a prophecy by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. (Isaiah 2:2.)

For many people the words Mormon and Utah are synonymous terms, but that need not be the case. Utah is a state that over the years has become more diverse in both its population and its religions. According to 2010 population estimates, nearly three million people, both Mormon and non-Mormon alike, called Utah their home. Its true, however, that you cannot understand Utah history without knowing something of the Mormons, because of the religions influence in the states settlement, growth, and development. Much of Utahs population today resides along the Wasatch Front, in urban sprawl that stretches from Ogden to Provos Utah Valley. The mix of big cities, small townships, farming communities, open space, and outdoor venues attracts a number of new residents every year, both the religious and secular. In 2002, Utah attracted the worlds attention when it played host to the winter Olympics and Paralympics. And in early 2009, Utah was voted as one of the countrys best places to live. Here residents reported a high level of satisfaction in several areas, including work environment, emotional health and their local communities, reads a March 2009 article in Forbes magazine.

And what of Utahs ghosts? There are plenty of them, according to the stories, some that have circulated for decades. And not only stories of ghosts, but monsters that allegedly inhabit lakes, strange creatures that have been seen wandering in residential communities, and unexplained lights in the skies. Some of these tales have survived since the Indians roamed the foothills, others have sprung up in more modern times. All of them are interesting and tell another part of Utah historyits colorful, haunted heritage.

Do you believe in ghosts? According to at least one public survey, the number of people who believe in some kind of paranormal activity is on the rise. Three in every four people believe in paranormal, according to a June 16, 2005, Gallup poll. Thirty-seven percent of responders say they believe houses can be haunted. (This number was slightly higher, forty percent, for Britons and lower, twenty-eight percent, for Canadians.) An interesting number, since thirty-two percent say they believe a dead person can come back from the Great Beyond to certain places and situations. The poll also found that thirty-one percent believe in telepathy, twenty-six percent in clairvoyance, twenty-one percent believe that people can communicate mentally with someone who has died, and twenty-one percent believe in witches. Extra-sensory perception or ESP received the most support at forty-one percent.

Five months later, in November of the same year, Gallup published a follow-up piece with additional information about its previous findings. Women [forty-two percent] are more likely than men [thirty-one percent] to believe in haunted houses, communicating with the dead, and astrology, the poll reads. Men, on the other hand, show a slightly greater proclivity than women to believe in extraterrestrial beings. Theres even a group among the younger crowd who say they are believers in the paranormal. In a nationally representative survey of more than three thousand teenagers, for instance, many said they were open to believing in astrology, psychics, and communicating with the dead, according to the National Study of Youth and Religion.