Young bellboys stay on duty, caring doctors walk the streets outside their offices, and brides and grooms are tied up in the afterlife. US Ghost Adventures brings a whole new perspective to ‘Till Death do we part’, naming Flagstaff among the most haunted cities in the country. The company originally launched a tour of 20 locations on the East Coast before the pandemic. December added 12 more cities, including Flagstaff.

“Flagstaff has two very obscure types of hauntings: nothing malicious and nothing to hurt you,” said expansion director Andrew Luciano. “The rest of the hauntings are like recordings, played over and over. [the spirits] Don’t recognize you, they don’t see you. For example, every morning at 3:00 am, you hear footsteps in the hallway. ”

Another kind of common paranormal in cities is active hauntings, he says. I might turn it off.”

Both types of ghosts have been repeatedly reported over the years by guests and employees of the historic Monte Vista Hotel. Luciano says he experienced a “creepy and truly unusual” occurrence when visiting the hotel, which was built in 1927.

“Was talking to staff long before I got involved with this company. When I got to the hallway all the light bulbs from the ceiling fixtures were on the floor. Some were broken. Only one staff member on duty. Just, the hotel wasn’t busy at all, which would have required someone to unscrew all the light bulbs!”

There is talk of a bellboy from the 1940s, still in use today. Tour guide Spencer Phillips says he wears a red suit with brass buttons. A ghostly bellboy appears in room 210 and hallways that guests continue to use. Legend has it that actor John Wayne reported seeing this ghost. “He didn’t feel threatened. He didn’t want to warn anyone. He just wanted to report it.”

If you want to know what’s going on in an old building, Phillips says, ask the janitor there when everything is quiet. They know when, or when the room temperature changes.”

The historic Weatherford Hotel on Leroux St. has been featured in numerous news articles and television programs about its historic past. “There have been reports of guests hearing whispers and women crying,” Phillips said.

Room 54 is no longer available to guests because it is said to be haunted enough to be haunted, explains Kim Ward, event coordinator at the Weatherford Hotel. It is now used as a hotel laundry room. Phillips shares that story on his tour.

“For years, guests reported waking up in the middle of the night to see the bride and groom sitting on the edge of their bed. The couple then got up and disappeared off the wall.” There are two versions,” he said. “Sadly, both end in heartbreak and death.”

Two doors down from the hotel, Keystone is the 1911 Raymond Building and the office of Dr. Ralph Oliver Raymond, one of Flagstaff’s first physicians. He is remembered as a quiet, caring family doctor who loved the land and wanted people to succeed in life. Dr. Raymond founded the Raymond Education Foundation in 1952 and continues his dream of helping as many people as possible to receive a quality education.

“When it was snowing, Dr. Raymond brought beans and rice to areas where people were in need of food,” retired South Beaver School teacher and foundation member Mike Cromer told FBN last July. said in an interview.

Former teacher Sarah Cromer, who taught at South Beaver and the Church of the Nativity of Mary, said Dr. Raymond quietly went about his business and helped people wherever he could. “He wanted them to eat properly and take care of their bodies and emphasized his education. He was a unique and wonderful human being who understood that education would level the playing field. was.”

Over the years, the doctor has acquired many fortunes. In the North he donated land on Beaver Street to a hospital in Flagstaff, in the West he provided land for Clay’s Armory, and in the South he helped build 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 was also known to sow dandelion seeds in open ground around Flagstaff. Babbitt Ranch founding member Billy Cordasco said, “He wanted to make sure there were plenty of dandelions so that people with no money could pick them and get the nourishment from a tea made from the stalks. rice field.

Over the past 70 years, the Raymond Education Foundation has contributed more than $5 million in scholarships to fund students’ attendance at Northern Arizona University and Coconino Community College.

Today, Dr. Raymond is also remembered for Ghost Adventures. According to Phillips, the tall, well-dressed family doctor continues to make a big impact in Flagstaff today, wearing a suit and hat outside his Leroux Street office and posing as he cares very much. It is said that they look out over the towns and communities they live in.

60- and 90-minute outdoor walking tours start at Flagstaff Station. Tickets start at $25 per person and are popular with history buffs, visitors, students and bachelorette parties. For tour information, https://usghostadventures.com/.FBN

Bonnie Stevens, FBN

For more on Flagstaff’s haunted past from US Ghost Adventures and tour guide Spencer Phillips, see Zonie Living at Zonie Living. www.StarWorldwideNetworks.com/shows/bonnie-stevens.

Photo by Bonnie Stevens: Ghost tours with the “haunted” Weatherford Hotel as a backdrop start at $25 per person, according to tour guide Spencer Phillips.