The Copper Queen Hotel is one of Arizona’s haunted hotels. Guests staying at the hotel have reported strange experiences, apparitions and things being moved around. The hotel has been the subject of several paranormal investigations by local ghost hunting groups and a spot on SYFY’s Ghost Hunters television show.
The Hotel
The Copper Queen Hotel, located in the quiet little town of Bisbee AZ, was built in 1902 by the Phelps Dodge Mining Company. The hotel is on the list for haunted places in Arizona due to the claims of hotel guests that three ghosts inhabit the halls of the old hotel. The resident ghosts are a little boy named Billy, the ghost of a woman named Julia Lowell who committed suicide and a gentleman who wears a top hat and smokes a cigar.
The Copper Queen Mine
The town of Bisbee, named after Judge DeWitt Bisbee (a financial investor of the mine) was a booming mining town in its heyday. Gold, copper, silver and turquois were produced by the Copper Queen mine in abundance and so the town was built to draw much needed workers for the mine. At that time, it was considered to be the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. The mine was closed in 1972 but still runs as a tourist attraction with a mine tour run by retired employees.
Ghost Hunting
The Copper Queen Hotel has 52 rooms, an elevator, a swimming pool, dining room and saloon. The television show “Ghost Hunters” on SYFY featured the hotel in an episode called “Spirits of the Old West,” which aired in 2006. The team member stayed in some of the rooms reported to have activity, in fact one of the crew staying in room 312 had the covers pulled up over his feet while he was sleeping, a favorite activity of a flirtatious female ghost. The ghost of Billy is seen in the dining room and around the third floor. He is believed to have been the son of one of the kitchen staff who drowned in the river. There is no historical data about who the man in the top hat might be. The Ghost Hunter’s team also investigated the O.K Corral in Tombstone, AZ for the same episode.
Investigative Findings:
Southwest Ghost Hunters Association performed two investigations, one in 2001 and a second in 2002. The investigation performed in 2001produced a couple of good photos of orb activity as well as a few interesting EMF readings, but no visible apparitions or unusual phenomenon. The second investigation reported similar results but with some very interesting photos of something white and blurry coming down the hall in several photos.
Go on a Ghost Hunt
Guests staying at the hotel on Thursday nights are invited to participate in the Copper Queen Ghost Hunt beginning promptly at 8pm. Take a tour of the hotel with one of the guides from Old Bisbee Ghost Tours who will provide instruction for the EMF detectors. Perform your own investigation of the hotel and record your own experiences. Breakfast is provided at the end of the investigation.
The Copper Queen Hotel is located 100 miles southwest of Tucson in the town of Bisbee, Arizona. If you happen to stay at the hotel and have any ghostly experiences, please share them in the hotel’s Ghost Journal.
Personal Note:
I stayed in this hotel several years ago but was not lucky enough to have had any personal experiences there. Most of the ghostly activity is reported to be on the third floor. The rooms noted to have activity are rooms 303, 304, 308, and 412.
Copper Queen Hotel
11 Howell Avenue
Bisbee, Arizona 85603.
www.copperqueen.com
Phone: 520-432-2216
Resources:
http://www.oldbisbeeghosttour.com/CQGhostHunt.html
http://www.copperqueen.com/history_and_legend.html
http://www.sgha.net/az/invest_az.html