Bisbee Arizona

Copper Queen Hotel

Men have been entertained by the spirit of a prostitute.

The third floor guests and staff experience a hotbed of activity!

Spectral Guests stay for free.

Some spectral employees are not on the payroll.

DESCRIPTION

The four story, brick, Victorian / Italian Villa style Copper Queen Hotel is described as being “One of the Last Remaining Historical Gems of the Southwest.” In fact, it is Arizona’s longest operational hotel, as it has been in continuous service since 1902.

The Copper Queen has four floors, that offer forty-five comfortable, atmospheric rooms updated with modern conveniences such as air conditioning, heat in the winter, direct-dial telephones, private baths and color TV. There are two lovely lobbies and a full service restaurant on the first floor, as well as both inside dining and an outside “misted” patio dining area. Of course, there is an “old west” saloon, and a banquet room for special events and receptions.

Tom and I visited the glorious Copper Queen Hotel one July morning (in 2006, on a cross-country trip) and enjoyed a fine breakfast out on the awning-covered patio veranda. The inside of the hotel is rich in early 1900s style and elegance, with turn of the century architecture, antiques and ambiance! We went up the grand staircase to the upper floors, exploring the hallways with their high ceilings, and enjoyed the view from the third-floor windows, with their traditional balconies. We loved the charm and feeling of this grand place, feeling at home at once.

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HISTORY

The city of Bisbee got its start when it was discovered in 1877 to be a treasure trove of copper, lead and silver veins. Army scouts on the trail of rebellious Apaches were led by civilian Jack Dunn through the Mule Mountains. He was the first to discover the signs of considerable mineral deposits, which turned out to be enormous! These rich deposits weren’t “played out” until 1974, when the mining operations closed down for good.

It wasn’t long before miners and speculators flocked to this area, staking their claims on the numerous, huge mineral deposits, and setting up a very prosperous mining settlement, called the “Queen of the Copper Camps.” By 1902, when other mines were emptying, Bisbee was still growing and in need of basic services. It became incorporated as a city that same year, and grew into a community of 25,000 people, by 1910!

The Copper Queen Hotel was built in 1902 by the wealthy Copper Queen Mining Company to provide high class “accommodations” for visiting dignitaries, politicians and other travelers visiting this booming city.

For nearly a hundred years, the mines produced “8 billion pounds of copper, 102 million ounces of silver and 2.8 million ounces of gold along with millions of pounds of zinc, lead and manganese.”

The mines survived price drops, labor costs, and even WW 2. However, like mining industry-based cities everywhere, sooner or later Bisbee had to face the challenge of how to survive when the ore inevitably was used up. In 1975, the mines closed for good, sending real estate prices into a tailspin. However, Bisbee was spared becoming a ghost town, or suffering prolonged economic hardship, because of several factors.

The mild year-round weather and its natural early 20th century charm, as well as the cheap real estate, immediately drew retirees, “hippies,” visitors and investors. Bisbee soon became an art colony, a wonderful place to retire and a huge tourist draw because of tourist-friendly attractions, including a variety of art shops and lovely hotels housed in turn-of-the-century buildings, which were ultimately restored to their former splendor.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS

Sometimes owners, guests and employees of hotels, inns and motels love their experiences so much that they continue to reside or visit as spirits.

People who really enjoyed staying at their favorite place to relax and have a holiday, sometimes decide to spend their afterlife there as well.

Hotel Congress, AZ (A variety of past guests, and residents still keep the living company, while they enjoy the hotel in their afterlife).

The Larian Motel, AZ (The Larian Motel is perfect for after-life vacations and spectral boarders as well).

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, CA (Spirits of the prominent and the ordinary haven’t checked out).

The Copper Queen Hotel, AZ (Located in the heart of downtown, it was kept up during its 105 years of existence, because it was always a popular place to spend the night.

Some guests it seems enjoyed their stays so much while living, that they have decided to spend their afterlife here as well, which is the case in many classy hotels.

People who really enjoy their jobs, often won’t let being in spirit form stop them from doing what they loved while alive.

Menger Hotel, TX (The spirit of a murdered maid still goes about her duties).

Stanley Hotel, CO (The spirit of Mrs. Smith still goes about her duties in Room 217, which includes getting between unmarried couples).

Lake Hotel, WY (The spirit of the head porter is still appearing as a real person and carrying guests’ bags up to their rooms).

The Copper Queen Hotel, AZ (The spirits of a manager, and spirits who worked in the dining room, are still working there).

During the 19th Century through the early years of the 20th Century, hotels would offer their own prostitutes as a perk which could be hazardous work for women finding themselves trapped in this fallen woman profession. Violent clients, pregnancy, or disease were always risks. Developing suicidal depression was also a killer. The only way to join a mainstream life style was to find a husband.

The Palace Hotel, WA (This establishment had sexual services offered on the third floor. Some women died in childbirth, and some suicided when they couldn’t find a man to take them away from it).

Geiser Grand Hotel, OR (Back in its early years, prostitutes were brought in to satisfy their male guests. Some suffered the risks listed above).

The Merchant Hotel, Shanghai Tunnels, OR ( A young female sex slave worked in this hotel until she was killed by her owners for telling outsiders about her sexual bondage).

The Copper Queen Hotel, AZ (Female companionship was offered on the hotel’s third floor. Miss Julia Lowell “serviced” men during the 1920s and ’30s, a time when prostitution was still tolerated in Arizona. Julia fell in love, hook, line and sinker, at the age of thirty, with a gentleman who enjoyed her body, but rejected her as marriage material. In despair, she killed herself).

Children who die unexpectedly from disease or accident, sometimes like to stay in the place that they felt love and acceptance, near loved ones.

Shanley Hotel, NY (The daughter of the barber who worked here fell into a well and drowned).

Bee-Bennett Mansion, NY (Four year old Marcus Bennett fell down the stairs and died).

Waverley Plantation House, MS (Two young children died here. One was a victim of Diphtheria. Another young girl, Susan Hamilton, had a deadly accident on the dangerous stairs that had no railing. Both spirits play in this structure).

The Copper Queen Hotel, AZ (The active young eight or nine-year-old son of a woman who worked in the hotel’s dining room used to play on the third floor. Tragedy struck when the boy died in a dumb kid accident. He drowned while swimming in either the neighborhood pond or the San Pedro River)

MANIFESTATIONS

The Spirit of Miss Julia Lowell

Apparently, Miss Julia is still working in her mind.

She has gone back to what she knows best, seducing men, even if they are alive.

The spirit of the still alluring, flirtatious Miss Julia mostly haunts the west side of the building on the 3rd floor and rooms, especially Room 315, though she occasionally is seen in other spots in the hotel.

Some men hear a female voice whispering in their ear.

Personal Appearances

She only appears to men.

She is sometimes seen as bright white smoke.

Men who sleep in Room 315 are awakened in the middle of the night and treated to an eye-full at the foot of their bed.

Julia dances a seductive striptease, smiling as she fades away into the air.

Julia has been seen on the grand staircase, where she is described as looking like a filled-out, real looking person with not much clothing on, clutching a bottle of booze.

Spirit of Drowning Victim

The spirit of the young eight or nine year old boy likes to play on the 3rd floor and the dining room of the hotel.

He is a bit of a rascal who likes to hide various items belonging to the guests, especially on the third floor.

Guests can hear him crying when they run the water in the bath tub.

This spirit boy has appeared before guests wrapped in a towel.

Children enjoying a meal in the dining room often see this friendly spirit under their tables.

The Spirit of a Male Guest

The spirit of an older, dignified “gentleman” has chosen to spend his after-life in a place he loved during his lifetime.

He is described by witnesses as being tall, with long hair and a beard, dressed in a fine, black suit, complete with a black cape and top hat.

He appears to the living in the lobby and stairway, and in rooms located on the 4th floor, southeast corner.

Witnesses have also caught the aroma of cigar smoke either before or after seeing this stately apparition.

Spirit of Upper-class Lady

A stately woman dressed in a black, turn-of-the-century evening gown has been seen walking up and down the grand staircase as well, when she is on her way to the dining room where she disappears.

Spirit of Female Server

The reddish brown-haired, solid, pink-complexioned apparition of a young woman in her early 20’s, appeared to a front desk employee in the dining room, from the waist up!

She was reporting to work as a server in the dining room!

Her hair was up in a bun, and she was wearing an early 1900s era high collar blouse.

This same front desk employee would occasionally hear the sound of a woman walking across the dining room floor and the sound of her long skirt dragging across the room as well, when no one living was there.

Spirit of Employee Manager

An entity known as Howard checks up on the hotel employees, seeing how they are doing.

Front Desk employees often get a phone call from this past 1910 front desk clerk, Howard.

After answering the phone, they hear a disembodied voice asking for Howard.

While working on the hotel’s computer, an employee feels a presence enter the office, who stands behind the employee’s chair and looks over the employee’s shoulder, as she feels chills run through her person.

Spirit of an Unknown Guest

Another spirit of a man inhabits the third floor as well.

Employees hear their name being called as they go about their jobs on the third floor, and throughout the hotel as well.

The loud steps of a man’s heavy boots are heard walking up and down the third floor hallway.

PARANORMAL FINDINGS:

South West Ghost Hunters Assoc. have done some research with some positive results: http://www.sgha.net/az/bisbee/copper.html

Independent investigator Roger Linnenburger stayed three days at the Copper Queen Hotel in room 312, taking pictures there and in all the rooms and hallways on the third floor, catching orbs. http://farshores.org/p05orb5.htm

STILL HAUNTED?

Oh yes indeed!

Spirits still enjoy the hotel, especially the third floor, a hotbed of activity. These entities are basically well-behaved, though some are a bit mischievous and perhaps a bit nosey, but mean no harm to the living.

Sources include: cityofbisbee.com/bisb_history.html * copperqueen.com/ * Copper Queen Hotel Brochur

SLEEPING WITH GHOSTS, by Debe Branning, Golden West Publishers, pg.19-22, 2005
ARIZONA GHOST STORIES, By Antonion R. Garcez, Red Rabbit Press, pg. 13-20, 2003.

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LOCATION

11 Howell Avenue
Bisbee, Arizona 85603
520.432.2216

The Copper Queen Hotel can be found in the town of Bisbee, which is 95-100 miles southeast of Tucson on Arizona Route 80, just 20 miles away from Tombstone. Bisbee is a high dessert community nestled in the Mule mountains,which has an elevation is 5,300 feet. Bisbee has the advantage of being 10 to 15 degrees cooler than Tucson or Phoenix, cities which are located on the flat lands.