“I grew up in this building…Ghosts were normal to me. They weren’t scary at all. They’re friendly. They’re here,” said Taylor-Gruters. rice field.

Her family moved when she was a little over a year old. Taylor-Gruters eventually felt connected to the building’s history and some of its former residents.

“My father bought this building in 1975 and my mother first worked here in 1981. A year later they fell in love and I returned. We’ve just built it up over the years,” Taylor-Gruters said.

For over a decade of her own childhood, she spent time in the basement (now home to Gopher Hall) talking to or trying to befriend a ghost she called Algernon. could be seen. Matilda.

This year, she shared her own story, as well as that of some people. A person who is alleged to be a supernatural guest of a hotel When paranormal investigators Zach Bagans and Aaron Goodwin performed with professional ghost hunters, Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” We visited the Weatherford Hotel earlier this year.

Along with the production staff, Bagans and Goodwin visit “haunted destinations”, meet witnesses and experts, and “piece together the haunted history of each site.”

According to Weatherford’s manager Drew Purcell, the production team contacted Weatherford in January and began filming in February. The crew stayed up all night “investigating” historic downtown buildings, looking for signs of paranormal activity.

An episode filmed in Flagstaff kicked off a new season of “Ghost Adventures” last week.of recent episodes It focuses solely on the very spirit that the Taylor-Gruters consider their childhood friends.

“I was very friends with the ghosts in the building. I’m an only child,” said Taylor-Gruters. “We used to hang out in the hallways, and I had a night watchwoman who used to work here…she was a medium. When I asked her if she was there and I told her why, she said, “How do you know that?” I would say, “Because they told me.” ”

Taylor-Gruters said it was an interesting experience, describing what it was like to have a film crew in the house where she worked and where she used to live.

“They had cameras in all sorts of unexpected places. Then I went into the hallway and found myself being filmed, but no one was there. Professional and very passionate about their craft, they definitely knew what they were doing,” she said.

In a poignant scene in the episode’s trailer, the crew faints for no apparent reason.

“Honestly, I was a little cynical about it, but in the end I really enjoyed it. I thought they did a good job,” Purcell said. “I’m not scared of this place at all. I’m not trying to make light of any supernatural claims. If there was anything supernatural, it wouldn’t seem too negative to me, but its The episode was understandably terrifying.”

Taylor-Gruters echoed that Weatherford has always felt very safe, day or night.

That doesn’t mean she hasn’t witnessed a few things that might stand on end to the casual observer.

Late one night, between 2:00 and 3:00 am, Taylor Grouters was gearing up for the first opening of Gopher Hall. She was wiping her glasses and talking casually to her friend when something happened and her friend was startled and ran out of the basement.

“While we were doing some renovations, a glass flew off the drink rack and hit my face and hit the mirror in the basement,” she said. “My friend just walked out the door and went across the street with Kinrani Building right there. They just left me here. I pretty much figured out what it was, I just put it away, and since then small things have started to happen from time to time,” said Taylor-Gruters.

She said surveillance cameras in the basement bar occasionally caught strange footage of people sitting alone in the bar.

“We had someone on our security camera sitting in this chair. It looked like someone coming out. A woman with very long dark hair was sitting in a white dress,” she said, gesticulating from her seat at the front of the bar.

The Weatherford Hotel is said to have several ‘signature spirits’, in addition to having several operating bars. According to Taylor-Gruters, the first will spend a lot of time in the basement.

According to her, Algernon is “dark” and harmless, making him attractive to paranormal travelers who wish to glimpse ghosts with their own two eyes.

“Some of our security cameras show footage of him. We have people from all over the world. I like to walk down the hallway late and try to catch something,” she said.

Another apparition Taylor-Gruters encountered was what she described as “a woman in white.”

A “woman in white” is a type of female ghost often recognized by spooky ghost trackers. They are usually dressed in white, understandably, and are associated with tragedy.

“She’s wandering upstairs looking for her lost lover, so I think it’s the woman in white who’s wearing the wedding dress,” Taylor-Gruters said. “Apparently the story is that they had their honeymoon here. I thought it might be, so I killed myself.He came back, found her, and killed himself.They are just wandering around looking for each other.”

The spooky denizens of Weatherford have attracted the attention of amateur paranormal adventurers as well as silver screen ghost hunters.

Before the ‘Ghost Adventure’ crew visited Weatherford this year, the hotel was featured in another TV show, ‘Dead Files’, produced for the Travel Channel.

In episode 12 of season 14, the show’s two-man team explored possible paranormal activity in Flagstaff more generally. Former homicide detective Steve Diskiavi and psychic Amy Allan focused on one part of the building. “Special Investigation: Ghosts of Flagstaff”

“When we were filming ‘Dead Files’ we were talking about the blown glass in the bar and it happened again in front of a full room in this bar. It was very interesting because I felt like I was listening,” said Taylor-Gruters.

It’s clear that Weatherford’s spooky side has attracted interest from professional and amateur ghouls alike, but what makes the ghosts themselves occupy this historic hotel?

Purcell said he has at least some idea.

“There is a good chance that our hotel is the oldest hotel still in operation in Arizona. We’ve been a hotel since we opened in 1900, and that’s how many people come through our doors,” Purcell said.

Weatherford has a lot of history and features beyond the supernatural, Purcell said.

“Even though these ghostly things are well documented, I think there are a lot of very trustworthy people who have had such experiences. There’s a lot of love in. Even in the worst case scenario, the goodness of this place wins out.It goes all the way back to John Weatherford, Henry and Sam who founded this place. [the current owners] save it. We are often here alone and we both believe things, but we don’t think it’s scary,” he said.

A new episode of Ghost Adventures, “Fear of Flagstaff,” premiered on June 21st. Stream with Max on Discovery+ or Prime Video.