On Leroux St., the historic Weatherford Hotel has been featured in numerous news stories and television programs for its storied past.
“Flagstaff has two very vague types of hauntings, nothing malicious, nothing’s out to hurt you,” said Expansion Director Andrew Luciano. “The residual haunting is like a recording, playing over and over. They [the spirits] don’t acknowledge you, they don’t see you. For example, every morning at 3 a.m., you hear footsteps down a corridor.”
The city’s other kind of common paranormal activity is the active haunting, he says. “They can interact. They might tug on a shoulder, answer you back, or turn a light on and off.”
Both types of hauntings have been reported repeatedly from guests and workers at the historic Monte Vista Hotel through the years. Luciano says he experienced a “creepy and genuinely unusual” event while visiting the hotel, built in 1927.
“I was talking to the staff member well before I was involved in this company. We get to a hallway and every lightbulb from fixtures in the ceiling was on the floor. Some were broken. The staff member was the only one on duty and the hotel was not busy at all. This would have required someone to unscrew every lightbulb!”
There’s also the story of the bellboy from the 1940s, who is still on duty. Tour guide Spencer Phillips says he is dressed in a red suit with brass buttons. The ghostly bellboy appears in room 210, which continues to be used by guests, and also in the hallway. As legend has it, actor John Wayne reported seeing this ghost. “He didn’t feel threatened. He didn’t want to alarm anyone. He just wanted to report it.”
Phillips says if you want to know what happens in old buildings, talk to the custodians who are there when all is quiet. “They know when a locked door has been unlocked, when things are out of place or the room temperature changes.”
On Leroux St., the historic Weatherford Hotel has been featured in numerous news stories and television programs for its storied past. “There are reports of guests hearing whispers or a woman crying,” said Phillips.
Room 54 is said to have been so haunted that it is no longer available for guests, explains Weatherford Hotel Events Coordinator Kim Ward. Now, it serves as the hotel laundry room. Phillips shares the story on his tours.
“For years, guests reported that they’d wake up in the night and see a bride and groom sitting at the edge of the bed. Then the couple would stand up and disappear through the wall. This story has two versions,” he said. “Sadly, both end in heartbreak and death.”
Two doors down from the hotel, a keystone marks the Raymond Building, built in 1911, and the office of one of Flagstaff’s first doctors, Dr. Ralph Oliver Raymond. He is remembered as a quiet, deeply caring family doctor who had a great love for the land and wanted people to succeed in life. Dr. Raymond founded the Raymond Education Foundation in 1952, which continues to carry on his dream of assisting as many people as possible in obtaining a quality education.
“When it was snowing, Dr. Raymond would take beans and rice to neighborhoods where people needed food,” said retired South Beaver School teacher and foundation member Mike Cromer, in an FBN interview last July.
Sarah Cromer, a retired schoolteacher who taught at South Beaver and the Church of The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said Dr. Raymond quietly went about his business and helped people where he could. “He wanted them to eat properly, take care of their bodies, and he stressed education. He was just a unique and wonderful human being who understood that education levels the playing field.”
Through the years, the doctor acquired a great deal of property. He donated the land on North Beaver Street for Flagstaff’s hospital, gave land for the armory on West Clay and was the force behind building South Beaver School. He donated land around Lake Mary for Flagstaff’s water supply. His land in Kachina Village is now a county park.
Dr. Raymond also was known for tossing dandelion seeds on open ground around Flagstaff. “He wanted to make sure there were plenty of dandelions so that those who didn’t have a lot of money could pick them and receive nutrients from the tea they could make from the stems,” said foundation member Billy Cordasco of Babbitt Ranches.
In the last 70 years, the Raymond Education Foundation has donated more than $5 million for scholarships, providing funding for students to attend Northern Arizona University and Coconino Community College.
Today, Dr. Raymond also is remembered in Ghost Adventures. Phillips says the tall, lean, well-dressed family doctor, whose profound impact on Flagstaff continues today, is reportedly seen wearing his suit and hat outside his office on Leroux St., looking out at the town and community he cared so deeply about.
The 60- and 90-minute outdoor walking tours begin at the Flagstaff Train Depot. Tickets start at $25 per person and are popular among history buffs, tourists, students and bachelorette parties. For tour information, visit https://usghostadventures.com/. FBN
By Bonnie Stevens, FBN
For more about Flagstaff’s haunted past from U.S. Ghost Adventures and tour guide Spencer Phillips, visit Zonie Living at www.StarWorldwideNetworks.com/shows/bonnie-stevens.
Photo by Bonnie Stevens: With the “haunted” Weatherford Hotel in the background, tour guide Spencer Phillips says ghost tours, starting at $25 a person, are popular for history buffs, bachelorette parties and tourists.
