A true story about my visit to Gold Hill Hotel in Gold Hill, NV. Yes, it's haunted. It was fun!

The Ghosts of Gold Hill Hotel

The little town of Gold Hill lies about a mile south of Virginia City, Nevada.  From Virginia City the road makes a serious “S” turn as it goes down the hill.  Just across the railroad tracks on the right is the Gold Hill Hotel, a place where a traveler can get a room complete with previous occupants, the ghosts.

The photo was sent to me by someone who staied in that same room at Gold Hill. There's an image in the window that was not seen when the picture was taken but only after it was developed. What is it?  Could it be a ghost?

On our first trip last year (2002), we pulled into the parking lot of the Gold Hill Hotel and the first thing Laura said when she got out of the car was, “Cigarette Smoke!”  The smell was very distinct.

“That’s not cigarette smoke, it’s blended pipe tobacco,” I responded.

We made our way over to the door and could smell that smell distinctly until we went up the stairs and into the building.  We introduced ourselves and a lady name Vicky began telling us about the ghosts of the Gold Hill Hotel.

She took us into a room that she said was Rosie’s room.  They call her that because when she’s near she gives off a smell like rose water perfume.  She said that people who have seen her describe her as a small redheaded woman wearing an 1800 style dress.  She showed us a photo that someone had taken that had a strange mask like face in the mirror, yet nothing of the kind existed on the opposite wall.

Vicky told us about William and how when he was near he gave off the smell of blended pipe tobacco.  I described it as cherry blend pipe tobacco.  Those who have seen William describe him as a small, well-dressed man with a derby hat.  Later that day we smelled this smell on the staircase leading down into the Great Room.  Later on Laura captured some interesting video of a distortion going up those stairs and then transforming into a bright orb before vanishing behind one of the vertical columns.

Vicky told us about how the spirits seemed to vanish at the staircase that leads upstairs.  One year later I returned to the Gold Hill Hotel with my friend from LA to do another paranormal investigation.  Only this time we were spending the night in the Miner’s Cabin.

Sonya made her way into the Gold Hill Hotel hosting a segment of the show “Spooky Places” for us.  She took pictures searching for orbs and attempting to get EVP on a small hand held digital recorder.  After having no luck getting an EVP, she began to take pictures once again.  As she took a picture over the stairs she saw an orb.  Quickly she took another.  “It’s there,” she said, pointing toward the location where the orb had been.  Quickly she took another then another and finally she said, “It’s gone.  It vanished right here.”  She waved her hand over the area between the stairs were a year previous Vicky had said the spirits would vanish as if there were a portal there.

We examined the pictures and watched as the orb moved over the stairs, behind the handrail, between the stairs and then it was gone.

Later that night we returned to the Miner’s cabin.  This building is one of the original buildings used by the miners.  I believe they called it their changing room, a place where the ghosts of miners are said to have appeared to certain unsuspecting visitors.

Night fell.  Sonya and I were talking on an old wooden bench on the south side of the cabin.  In a few minutes I sensed we were not alone.  To our right was one of the original mine shafts.  The mine had been filled in but the tower hoist was still standing.  Someone was there.  They had gathered there like an audience.  They were watching us.  I could feel them without question.  We tried to communicate with them attempting to get an EVP but we were not successful.  We moved inside the cabin and tried again without success until I gave the recorder to Sonya.  She asked, “How many spirits are in this cabin.”  The voice answered, “Twenty five.”

We played the audio over and over.  The voice was surprisingly clear.  Without a doubt it was an answer to her question.  My feelings of sensing a group of spirits was correct and this was their only real confirmation of that.  The EVP files are posted on the Unofficial Spooky Places website within dream-link.org domain on the EVP page.

Early in the morning we decided to give up trying to speak with the ghosts of Gold Hill and the Yellow Jacket Mine.  We were all extremely tired.  Sonya and her friend went to room 18 adjoining my room 19 through the hallway.  Sometime between 4 and 5am I was awakened by a loud clanging sound like someone pounding on metal with a huge hammer.  The sound echoed through the building.  I rolled over and sat up expecting to see what was making the noise.  The sound came from the kitchen area.  Yet it was dark, no one was in there.  Then the sound stopped.  I heard a door open and close then footsteps on the floor coming toward me.  I fully expected to see someone by now but there was no one there.  Then I heard a very loud “Shush!” sound followed by a whispered, “Don’t wake him.”  I watched but saw no one.  I began to think my friends from room 18 may have come to the kitchen for something yet the sounds appeared so close I should have been able to see something.  I watched for a few more moments but did not hear another sound.  I went back to sleep.

The next thing I knew I was seeing as if through the eyes of someone else walking through that cabin.  I was following a miner dressed in work clothes.  I could see only his back clearly.  He was a big man.  As we came to the bed where I lay sleeping I looked to the left toward the bed and the next thing I knew I was waking again.  I sat up fully expecting to see the ghosts of at least two miners at the foot of my bed, but I saw nothing.  Perhaps I had a night vision viewpoint with a ghost.  Perhaps these were the ones I heard a few minutes before, the ones who woke me.

I asked Sonya and her friend if they had been up in the night and in the kitchen but they said they fell asleep and did not wake until I woke them around 7am.  It had not been them.  I told the lady at the front desk what had happened during the night and she smile and responded. “That’s interesting.  That’s nearly word for word the same story the last people told who stayed in the Miner’s Cabin.

So if you ever visit Gold Hill, Nevada you might like to pay a visit to the Gold Hill Hotel.  The ghosts are friendly, sometimes playful but always entertaining.  And be sure to tell them that Bryon Smith of Loose Canon Productions sent you.  If that doesn’t ring a bell with them mention “Spooky Places.”

Until next time remember, some things exist whether we believe in them or not.  You may not believe in ghosts, but they believe in you.


...Bryon Smith