Category: Paranormal/Urban Legends

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: July 16, 2022

This Empire architectural house, built in 1903 on 201 South 5^th Street in Montrose, was the site where a man murdered several of his family in the 1930’s. The house was purchased and moved to the museum in the spring of 2016. Ironically, the museum later discovered that this was not the real murder house, that the murders occurred in a nearby house on that street.

None the less, I interviewed a tour guide who told me about his scary personal experience at this house a few years ago. The guide said that years later after the house was relocated here, that this house was debunked – it was not the actual murder house. It was a different house next to this house in the alley that was the actual murder house.

“I was closing one night and had locked up the brick building up there and was walking down through here and I heard bang, bang, bang. I thought there had been carpenters working around all day and if the carpenters are working in that house, they are sure working late. I walked up to the house and the door was open and I heard the bang, bang again. It was obviously coming from upstairs. I went in and the house reeked – old, dirty, nasty, and unwashed for years at the time. I opened the door to the stairway. It was a short hallway and had a sharp turn, with tight, tiny steps. I started up the stairs and heard bang, bang really loud since I was inside. I yelled, “upstairs, who is upstairs?” I started upstairs, and as my eyes came over the last step the banging stopped. Not a sound. I walked through the entire upper part of the house, every room, closet, every nook and cranny and nothing. No one was there. I did the obvious thing and got the heck out of there. I don’t need this.”

I walked through the house. The house was now clean and furnished in early 1900 furniture and artifacts. I took photos and an EVP inside. Outside around the perimeter of the house I took more photos. I obtained no evidence. Yet, the guide’s story was true and he speculated if a different ghostly presence is in this house, who is it?

Talking to the museum owner/archaeologist Richard Fike, he told me that Zak Bagan brought his Travel Channel “Ghost Adventures” TV show here in 2017 to investigate.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: July 16, 2022

A few miles down the road from where we camped at the Montrose KOA was the Mountain West Museum. Founded in 1997, this museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the west. There are over 20 historic buildings that have been relocated here and feature more than 500,000 artifacts displayed in authentic settings. Three of which have had paranormal activity. I met and interviewed Museum founder/owner and former Colorado state archeologist Richard Fike. The 1890’s saloon has a bar from a pony express and stagecoach station in Utah. The saloon also has a haunted clock which sits atop an upright piano. Here is Fike’s story in his own words.  

“A lady named Wanda Dejulio died in the saloon on May 17, 2002. She was cleaning in the saloon, had a heart attack and died. Her grandson found her. Shortly thereafter after the body was removed, Richard himself then came into the saloon and noticed that the clock on the piano was working and on time. He could never get the clock to work before as he had tried numerous keys to wind it, but none ever fit. He told the family that he had noticed that there were two thumbprints in the dust by the clock as she had not dusted there. So, she had not touched the clock and could not have got it working. Richard came into the saloon three days later after her funeral day and he noticed the clock had stopped working. That was after she had been interred in the ground. A few days later a couple spiritual leaders came into the saloon and did a Ute cleansing ceremony using sweet grass. They said the full good spirit of the deceased would stick around three days and then a part of the spirit will stick around forever. So, you figure it out. Why did the clock that never before worked, started working after all the times I had tried and failed to get it to work but it started when she died and stopped by itself three days later when she was buried. Explain that to me.”

I can’t explain it, but the story is compelling. I took photos and did two EVPs but obtained nothing unusual.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: July 16, 2022

This 1895 Diehl Carriage Works building was moved to the museum from Delta, Colorado not only a place to repair carriages but it was also where heavyweight champion boxer Jack Dempsey trained. Upstairs, a section of the loft was Dempsey’s training area. Some of his first fights were held in this building. The paranormal angle is that staff and visitors have had a lot of experiences such as hearing footsteps on the second floor, seeing a black shadow figure, lights that come on at night by themselves, and an apparition that appeared in a mirror. Museum owner and archaeologist Richard Fike said that he had heard that back in Delta, enraged townsfolk had lynched a Ute Indian in the rafters of the building. In that same building a man died after being kicked by a horse. I took many photos and an EVP, but it was difficult to investigate the building as a country band was performing a couple buildings down and the carriage house always had a patron or two in it. Still, it was filled with frontier history and many artifacts. Behind the carriage house was a boxcar used in the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: July 8, 2022

The legend of Bigfoot is alive in this museum that had exhibits of Bigfoot foot casts, hair, and sightings many of which came from the nearby southern Oregon, northern California area.  Some casts were from Dr. Jeff Meldrum from Utah State University. Another room contained shirts, books, magnets, socks, literally everything Bigfoot. Outside was a nine-foot-tall Bigfoot statue and behind the museum is Yeti’s Ice Cream & Treats featuring Oregon’s own Umpqua brand ice cream. I talked to the manager who related several Bigfoot sightings that took place along the Smith River just south of Cave Junction.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: July 4, 2022

This is where the UFO phenomena began. That’s right, back on June 24, 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying by Mount Rainier on his way to Yakima, Washington. His trip was delayed one hour as he flew in search of a marine transport plane that reportedly crashed near or around the southwest side of the mountain. A “mirror bright” flash reflected on his airplane, and he saw a fleet of nine peculiar looking objects flying north at supersonic speed at about 9,500 feet. Every few seconds two or three of the objects would change course or dip.  The sun would then reflect brightly off these objects. Mr. Arnold described the objects as being flat or crescent appearing like saucers skipping on water. Newspaper men began calling them “flying saucers”. Below is a photo of Mr. Arnold and his original report and drawing of the UFO’s.

Hiking the mountain foothills and trails it made me think of what Arnold saw 69 years ago. There have been UFO sightings reported in recent years but the past two days and nights it was so foggy at the campground so I could not see the night skies and clouds.

On day three it was sunny as we left Mount Rainier and drove east. We saw a large bigfoot statue at a gas station in Morton reminding us that we were in “Squatch” country. Hundreds of bigfoot sightings have been reported over the years not only in this tri-county area but throughout the state.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: October 28, 2022

Through the years I’ve run on the trail under this bridge in at least three 5K Runs without knowing the dark history of the bridge area. The Stillwater River Recreational Bike Trail runs parallel to the river and curves under the bridge. The old steel trestle bridge was replaced by a more modern span at the end of World War I.

Bessie Little’s dead, bloated body was found floating in the river by the bridge on September 2, 1886. She was age 23, unmarried and pregnant with two small bullet holes in her head. After investigation her boyfriend Arthur Frantz was found guilty of the crime. 

A man fishing the Stillwater River on August 29, 1907, near the bridge reeled in a revolver that was used in the murder of Bessie Little in 1896. The Ridge Avenue Bridge was often coined the “Bessie Little Bridge”.

The bridge is reportedly haunted by the ghost of Bessie Little. People have seen a female apparition gliding across the bridge only to vanish. Some drivers at night have slammed on their brakes as a woman was standing in the road on the bridge. Sometimes screams or gunshots are heard. Is her spirit still there due to the betrayal of her boyfriend. 

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: June 21, 2022

Since the first reported sighting in 1889, 109 reports of large-sized objects have been received with most describing a 20- to 40-foot-long eel or serpent creature with black steel eyes.  Some witnesses have described humps, or fins, and some smooth skin.  That first sighting 133 years ago, was by Capt. James Kerr and 100 passengers aboard the lake steamboat U.S. Grant. As the long, large creature approached the boat, one frightened passenger pulled out a rifle and shot at it.

We stayed at the Polson KOA campground where I relaxed and had beautiful views of the lake. In the small town I noticed lake creature murals and statues and even The Cove Deli & Pizza had a pizza named after it. At lakeside I saw no unusual water disturbances. The lake itself is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, 27 miles long, a maximum width of 15 miles and 370 feet at its deepest point.  With an average depth of 164 feet, hypothetically, it could be a possible habitat to breed a large eel like creature.  The lake is one of the cleanest in the world and is home to bull and cutthroat trout, whitefish, perch, and sturgeon. Considered a living dinosaur and one of the largest fish in the world, a sturgeon 6 to 11 feet in length with a bony lumpy back, and capable of living 50 to 60 years, could this be the misidentification that many witnesses have seen? So, is this a Montana sea monster or urban legend?

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: June 20, 2022

This famous June 1876 battlefield where Northern Plains Indians, fighting to preserve their ancestral way of life, massacred over 220 7^th US Cavalry soldiers including Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. With this type of tragic death, it is no surprise that park employees and visitors have reported paranormal occurrences at the battlefield. Reports of seeing ghosts of Indian warriors & cavalry soldiers, hearing unexplained voices, battle sounds, bugles or war hoops.

At the nearby Stone House, now used as a national park office, staff claimed to have seen a ghost with no head or legs, have heard footsteps and seen doorknobs turn by themselves. I could not enter Stone House due to Covid restrictions, but I talked to Ranger Steve Adelson as he related his personal experiences including seeing and following a short distance the apparition of a cavalry soldier. Next to Stone House is the Custer National Cemetery, final resting place of 5,000 early Indian War soldiers, scouts, military families, and more recent veterans.

After interviewing the ranger, I began my investigation at Custers Last Stand Hill. The hill was where 41 calvary men shot their horses for breastworks to make their final stand. Custer and his brother Tom were two of the casualties. Menacing dark storm clouds formed above as if the spirits of the soldiers and Indians were telling me to postpone my investigation.

Hiking down past Deep Ravine Trail and over Greasy Grass Ridge I heard gunshots below. In the distance down in the prairie valley on this side of the Little Bighorn River there was a house among the few trees. I stood and watched for five minutes but saw no one outside moving or shooting.  There was eerie silence as the wind totally stopped even though the clouds above looked sinister. Looking south about a mile was where, in 1876, approximately 7,000 Indians (1,500 were warriors) had made their encampment. So, who had made the gunshots? Had I heard gunfire from the past?

Back in the car we drove through the entire park viewing the remaining battlefield areas. I took many photos just before the storm hit. The park was closing anyway and as we drove back past the park entrance a park ranger locked the gate behind us. It reminded me of what area Crow Agency Indians called the park rangers locking the gates at night – “Ghost Herders”.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller

Date: June 19, 2002

The former home of French diplomat and entrepreneur Marquis de Mores and his wife Medora. Marquis founded the town and named it after his wife.  He came to establish a new kind of cattle operation. The slaughterhouse was built in the town he founded. Today, all that remains of the De Mores packing plant ruins at chimney park is the clay brick slaughterhouse chimney.

The house, built in 1883 as a hunting lodge and summer home for family and guests still stands. It has 26 rooms on its two stories and retains the European luxury of original furnishings, family artifacts and the ghost of Medora. The apparition of a female is seen in all parts of the house, and sometimes the impression of a body on Medora’s side of the bed. Tour guides and visitors report cold spots are often felt, and the sound of a person laughing is heard. Townsfolk report that lights come on when no one is in the house. I could not gain entrance on the two days we were at nearby Teddy Roosevelt National Park, but I walked around the exterior of the building and took photos and did one EVP. This house looks spooky sitting up on the hill all by itself.

Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller

Date: June 19, 2022

This small western looking desert shop, a former old bank building, is haunted by a ghost of a woman who comes out only on or near her birthday. The problem is, no one knows who the woman is nor when her birthday is. Staff I spoke to have not seen the ghost, but sometimes the old broken clock will start on its own, objects may move by themselves, and that the depot is unnaturally cold even in summer. I took photos and did an EVP but obtained no evidence. With no other stories out there about the female ghost, is this just a Medora urban legend? Certainly, sounds like it, but it was worth stopping at as I enjoyed a chocolate milkshake and Rosie had a delicious ice cream sundae.