Latest / Ghost stories and the Unusual Paranormal podcast / Elizabeth's Room: Inside the Goldfield Hotel Haunting
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are across the country
- 0:04Speaker 1: and around the world. You are listening to Ghost Stories
- 0:10Speaker 1: and the Unusual Paranormal Podcast. I'm indeed your spooky host, Joe,
- 0:16Speaker 1: the Ghost Guy. We have a wonderful story here today.
- 0:20Speaker 1: And just before we go to our story, I want
- 0:25Speaker 1: to show you, for those people that see on YouTube,
- 0:29Speaker 1: I got this wonderful cup here that I have it,
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- 0:39Speaker 1: a message on the paranormalghoststories at gmail.com if you like one.
- 0:43Speaker 1: It's got our podcast here, Ghost Stories at the Paranormal Podcast,
- 0:51Speaker 1: and the usual Paranormal Podcast. And on the back, got
- 0:56Speaker 1: Who You Gonna Call? G-S-A-T-U-P-P, or GASP for short, which
- 1:03Speaker 1: is Ghost Stories and the Unusual Paranormal Podcast. So, without
- 1:09Speaker 1: any further ado, if you want one of these cups,
- 1:13Speaker 1: please call me at the ParanormalGhostStories at gmail.com. So let's
- 1:19Speaker 1: get into our spooky story today. There's a place in
- 1:24Speaker 1: Arizona where the desert seems to remember everything, a place
- 1:31Speaker 1: where an entire city once rose from nothingness, where fortunes
- 1:39Speaker 1: were made, where men disappeared in mines, where violence was
- 1:48Speaker 1: a part of everyday life, and where, according to generations
- 1:53Speaker 1: of legends, some of the dead never left. Tonight, we're
- 2:00Speaker 1: going to the middle of the Nevada desert to a
- 2:04Speaker 1: town that once held nearly 20,000 people. A town that
- 2:13Speaker 1: exposed a town where it exploded into existence after a
- 2:19Speaker 1: gold rush was discovered and then slowly died when the
- 2:25Speaker 1: gold disappeared and standing over That ghost town is a
- 2:31Speaker 1: building that became legendary. A massive brick hotel with dark windows,
- 2:42Speaker 1: empty rooms, rotting doors, and floors, and the stories of
- 2:49Speaker 1: spirits that supposedly still wander its halls. This is the
- 2:57Speaker 1: story Of the Goldfield Hotel. And tonight. We're going to meet.
- 3:05Speaker 1: The ghosts. All of them. The women. The woman. Known
- 3:11Speaker 1: as Elizabeth. The star of tonight's episode. The mysterious. Hang woman.
- 3:20Speaker 1: The men. Said to have fallen. From the roof. The
- 3:24Speaker 1: violent spirit. Called the stabber. And perhaps even the ghost
- 3:30Speaker 1: of the hotel's powerful owner, George Wingfield. But there's something
- 3:36Speaker 1: important you need to know before we enter. These stories
- 3:42Speaker 1: are legends and reported paranormal accounts not established in historical facts.
- 3:51Speaker 1: In particular, the famous Elizabeth story. Has been changed by historians.
- 3:59Speaker 1: And paranormal researchers. And some accounts. Traced its development. To
- 4:05Speaker 1: later storytelling around the hotel. But whether you believe the stories.
- 4:12Speaker 1: Or not. There is something. Undeniably frightening. About the gold field.
- 4:19Speaker 1: Because the building. Is real. The stories. Is real. And
- 4:27Speaker 1: the suffering of the mining era. Was real. The hotel.
- 4:33Speaker 1: It's still standing. Before the ghosts. Before there was gold.
- 4:42Speaker 1: In 1902. Goldfield began. Began growing from. A remote mining settlement.
- 4:50Speaker 1: Into one of the Nevada's. Greatest boom towns. It became.
- 4:56Speaker 1: Then came the discoveries. Thousands of people poured into the desert.
- 5:03Speaker 1: At its peak, Goldfield had approximately 20,000 residents and became
- 5:11Speaker 1: Nevada's largest and wealthiest city for a time. Let's think
- 5:17Speaker 1: about that for a second, shall we? 20,000 people. In
- 5:25Speaker 1: the middle of a desert, there was hotels, banks, saloons, newspapers,
- 5:34Speaker 1: other businesses, gambling, mining, money, and of course, you got
- 5:45Speaker 1: the violence. Goldfield became a city where dreams can make
- 5:51Speaker 1: you rich or poor. They could kill you. And in 1908,
- 5:59Speaker 1: one of the most buildings in Nevada opened its doors,
- 6:05Speaker 1: the Goldfield Hotel. When the hotel opened, it was not
- 6:13Speaker 1: an abandoned ruin. It was quite the opposite. It was spectacular.
- 6:20Speaker 1: The hotel gained roughly It would contain 150 rooms with telephones,
- 6:31Speaker 1: electronic lighting, heating, private baths, elaborate furnishings, crystal chandeliers, gold
- 6:41Speaker 1: leaf decorations, and an elevator that was considered extraordinary technological
- 6:50Speaker 1: luxury at that time. The wealthy came. The bankers, mining magnates, politicians, gamblers, gunslingers,
- 7:05Speaker 1: and the women who worked at the goldfield's notorious nightlife.
- 7:11Speaker 1: The hotel was alive. The hallways were filled with voices.
- 7:17Speaker 1: The music. The footsteps. The laughter. The champagne, the doors
- 7:26Speaker 1: opening and closing, people coming, people were leaving. According to legends,
- 7:35Speaker 1: some of the people that entered the Goldfield Hotel had
- 7:41Speaker 1: never truly left. Every haunted hotel has a name. At
- 7:47Speaker 1: the Goldfield, that name is our star of today's episode.
- 7:54Speaker 1: Her name was Elizabeth. According to the famous legend, Elizabeth
- 7:59Speaker 1: was a woman who came romantically involved with a mining
- 8:05Speaker 1: magnate named George Wingfield. A story says she became pregnant
- 8:13Speaker 1: and when the pregnancy threatened Wingfield's reputation and his marriage,
- 8:20Speaker 1: Elizabeth supposedly became problem and had to disappear. The legend
- 8:28Speaker 1: claims she was taken to room 109. There, she was
- 8:34Speaker 1: allegedly chained to a radiator for days, then weeks, and
- 8:43Speaker 1: some versions of the story says she remained there through
- 8:51Speaker 1: her pregnancy. And according to the legend, she cried. She begged.
- 8:58Speaker 1: She screamed. No one came. Imagine that room. No sunlight.
- 9:07Speaker 1: A locked door. A radiator. And a woman alone. And outside,
- 9:14Speaker 1: people walking through the hotel. Talking. Laughing. Drinking. While somewhere
- 9:23Speaker 1: behind a closed door, someone was allegedly begging to be released.
- 9:30Speaker 1: But here was where the story becomes even darker. The
- 9:37Speaker 1: legend says Elizabeth eventually gave birth and then she disappeared.
- 9:46Speaker 1: One version claims she died during childbirth. other claims she
- 9:54Speaker 1: was murdered and perhaps most horrifying part of the legend
- 10:00Speaker 1: is that she would happen to have her baby and
- 10:04Speaker 1: some versions say that the child was thrown into a
- 10:07Speaker 1: mineshaft or underground passage underneath the hotel. There are no
- 10:13Speaker 1: reliable historical evidence establishing this story as fact but the
- 10:19Speaker 1: legend has come inseparable from the Goldfield Hotel, and according
- 10:26Speaker 1: to paranormal lore, Lisbeth never left. And Room 109 became
- 10:35Speaker 1: known as, in paranormal lore, was the one of the
- 10:40Speaker 1: hotel's most disturbing rooms. Some call it the Vortex Room.
- 10:47Speaker 1: Visitors and paranormal investigators have claimed the room feels different.
- 10:53Speaker 1: It's cold, heavy, oppressive. Some have reported becoming emotional. Others
- 11:02Speaker 1: have claimed to hear crying. And some stories say the
- 11:06Speaker 1: room's atmosphere changes suddenly. But imagine being there. You're standing
- 11:14Speaker 1: outside the room. Your flashlight moves across the walls. Nothing.
- 11:20Speaker 1: You look at the radiator. Nothing. You hear the wind outside.
- 11:27Speaker 1: And then you hear it. A baby's crying. You freeze.
- 11:33Speaker 1: The sound comes again. You look towards the door. Nothing.
- 11:39Speaker 1: The cries stop. You take one step towards the hallway.
- 11:44Speaker 1: And then a voice whispers behind you.
- 11:48Speaker 2: Where's my baby? Where's my baby?
- 11:56Speaker 1: You turn. Nobody. The room is empty. But the door,
- 12:02Speaker 1: which you know you left open, is now closed. One
- 12:07Speaker 1: of the darkest extensions of Elizabeth's legend is a story
- 12:14Speaker 1: of the child. Some paranormal accounts claim that the baby's
- 12:19Speaker 1: cries can be supposedly be heard underneath the hotel. A
- 12:28Speaker 1: sound coming from below. Room somewhere underground. From somewhere where
- 12:34Speaker 1: no living child should be. Imagine standing in the lobby.
- 12:40Speaker 1: You hear it. You look around. Nobody else reacts. You
- 12:46Speaker 1: hear it again. You kneel. You place your hand against
- 12:51Speaker 1: the floor. The crying stops. Then the knocking begins. You stand.
- 13:01Speaker 1: The entire hotel is silent. Then you hear a woman
- 13:06Speaker 1: crying upstairs. Is that Elizabeth? Calling for her child, she
- 13:12Speaker 1: was supposedly lost. That is the legend, not proven history,
- 13:18Speaker 1: but is one of the reasons Goldfield Hotel has became
- 13:23Speaker 1: such a powerful piece of Nevada's ghost lore. Elizabeth isn't
- 13:29Speaker 1: the only spirit said to haunt the hotel. Another story
- 13:35Speaker 1: tells of a woman who allegedly hung herself, and her
- 13:42Speaker 1: identity is uncertain. Her history is uncertain. Even the details
- 13:52Speaker 1: of the story vary. According to the haunting legend, her
- 13:59Speaker 1: spirit remains. Some stories describe the apparition of a woman
- 14:07Speaker 1: appearing in the hotel. A figure standing motionless. Head lowered.
- 14:14Speaker 1: Her hair covering her face. You see her at the
- 14:19Speaker 1: end of the hallway. You call out. She doesn't answer.
- 14:24Speaker 1: You take one step forward. She takes one step back.
- 14:29Speaker 1: You move closer. She disappears. Then, you feel something touch
- 14:36Speaker 1: the back of your neck. You turn. Nothing. You look
- 14:40Speaker 1: towards the ceiling. Above you. A rope. Has slowly. Swing.
- 14:48Speaker 1: But there is no breeze. Another spirit. Ascended. Another spirit associated.
- 14:57Speaker 1: With the Goldfield Hotel. Is said to be a man.
- 15:02Speaker 1: Who jumped. Or fell. Off the roof. Again. The historical
- 15:09Speaker 1: details are uncertain, but the legend remains. According to the stories,
- 15:16Speaker 1: his ghost is sometimes connected to the upper floors. Imagine
- 15:23Speaker 1: walking upstairs, the fourth floor, the third floor, the second floor.
- 15:30Speaker 1: Your footsteps echo. Then you hear something above you. You
- 15:35Speaker 1: hear footsteps overhead. You look up. Another step. Then another.
- 15:43Speaker 1: But the floor above you is supposed to be empty.
- 15:47Speaker 1: You reach to the top. Nothing. You walk towards the window.
- 15:52Speaker 1: And suddenly, you hear... You look down. There's nothing there.
- 16:00Speaker 1: You turn around. A man is staring behind you. His
- 16:05Speaker 1: clothes appear old. His face... is pale. He looks directly
- 16:11Speaker 1: at you, and then he walks backwards towards the window.
- 16:17Speaker 1: You shout. He disappears. If there is one spirit that
- 16:23Speaker 1: sounds like it belongs in a nightmare, it's the Stabber,
- 16:29Speaker 1: according to the legend. The Stabber is a malevolent male
- 16:35Speaker 1: spirit set to roam the hotel carrying a large knife.
- 16:42Speaker 1: Travel Nevada's historical account of Goldfield's ghost lore describes the
- 16:50Speaker 1: stabber as a spirit supposedly associated with hotels. Goldroom, where
- 16:59Speaker 1: he said to attacked visitors. Some accounts notes that he
- 17:05Speaker 1: was never actually harmed anyone. Still, you imagine hearing footsteps
- 17:15Speaker 1: behind you. You turn. There's nothing. You continue walking. Another sound.
- 17:23Speaker 1: You hear it again. Footsteps. Turn. Nothing. Then, you hear
- 17:29Speaker 1: it against the wall. Knife scraping against metal. You freeze.
- 17:36Speaker 1: The sound of darkness. You whisper. Who's there? Silence. Then
- 17:43Speaker 1: there's a man's voice. You step backwards. Something hits the
- 17:51Speaker 1: wall beside your head. You look. A knife embedded in
- 18:01Speaker 1: the wooden wall. You run behind you. You start hearing
- 18:07Speaker 1: footsteps behind you. Fast. Getting closer. You reach the staircase.
- 18:14Speaker 1: You look back. Nothing. You turn forward. At the bottom
- 18:19Speaker 1: of the stairs, a man is standing there. Holding a knife.
- 18:25Speaker 1: He raises it to his head. Goes out. Then there
- 18:30Speaker 1: is a man in the center of Elizabeth's legend. George Wingfield.
- 18:37Speaker 1: Wingfield was a real historical figure, a wealthy banker and
- 18:44Speaker 1: mining magnate who associated with the hotel, and he is
- 18:51Speaker 1: associated with Goldfield's extraordinary boom. The Goldfield Hotel was built
- 18:57Speaker 1: during the period when men like Wingfield possessed numerous influence
- 19:06Speaker 1: in Nevada. And according to paranormal lore, some visitors have
- 19:13Speaker 1: reported that the smell of tobacco inside the hotel, a
- 19:20Speaker 1: strange smell, strong, sudden, and gone. The smell has sometimes
- 19:28Speaker 1: been imprinted as a sign of Wingfield's supposed spirit, but
- 19:35Speaker 1: there's no established evidence proving that the smell is a
- 19:42Speaker 1: residence's ghost. Still, for a horror story, imagine it. You're
- 19:49Speaker 1: standing alone in a dark hallway. You smell the peckle.
- 19:55Speaker 1: Not a cigarette. No cigar. Nothing burning. The smell gets stronger. Then,
- 20:04Speaker 1: a man's voice behind you. Where... You turn. Nobody. You
- 20:17Speaker 1: smell again. The tobacco smell disappears. The upper floors of
- 20:25Speaker 1: the hotel have become part of mythology. Paranormal accounts have
- 20:31Speaker 1: described figures operating there. One Nevada's Magazine article One of
- 20:40Speaker 1: Old Nevada's magazine accounts records the local guide, Virginia Ridgway,
- 20:48Speaker 1: saying that she had seen a figure on the fourth floor.
- 20:53Speaker 1: Now imagine you standing there on the fourth floor. The
- 20:59Speaker 1: hallway is dark. The windows are all broken. Moonlight. enters
- 21:06Speaker 1: through the glass. You see a woman at the end
- 21:09Speaker 1: of the hallway. She is facing away from you. You
- 21:13Speaker 1: call out. She doesn't move. You walk closer. Ten feet.
- 21:19Speaker 1: Five feet. Three feet. Then, she slowly turns around. Her
- 21:26Speaker 1: face is completely white. Her eyes are black. You scream.
- 21:32Speaker 1: Flashlight flickers. Then, She's gone, but now there's someone standing
- 21:40Speaker 1: behind you. Perhaps the most frightening thing about the Goldfield
- 21:45Speaker 1: Hotel isn't any single ghost. It's the building itself. For decades,
- 21:53Speaker 1: it has stood over Goldfield, watching the town change, watching
- 22:00Speaker 1: people come and go. watching the desert reclaim its streets.
- 22:07Speaker 1: Goldfield's population collapsed after the mining boom faded and the
- 22:14Speaker 1: hotel eventually to despair. Today, the hotel is not the
- 22:22Speaker 1: glittering palace it once was. The chandeliers are gone now.
- 22:27Speaker 1: The crowds are gone. The laughter, it's gone. And the
- 22:34Speaker 1: windows stare over the desert like empty eyes. Travel Nevada
- 22:40Speaker 1: currently lists the Goldfield Hotel as closed and says tours
- 22:46Speaker 1: are not being offered. So when you look at the
- 22:51Speaker 1: building today, you're looking at something real. Something old. Something abandoned.
- 23:00Speaker 1: And something... Surrounded by stories. Imagine. One final investigation. Three people.
- 23:11Speaker 1: One night. One flashlight. One recorder. And at the Goldfield
- 23:18Speaker 1: Hotel after midnight. They entered the lobby. Opening. They begin
- 23:28Speaker 1: to record. Is someone here? Silence. If there's a spear here,
- 23:34Speaker 1: it gives a sign. Then, everyone freezes. A second knock.
- 23:41Speaker 1: A third. One investigator whispers, Elizabeth? Silence. Then, the recorder crackles.
- 23:53Speaker 1: His voice appears beneath the static. Elizabeth? Looks around one another.
- 24:06Speaker 1: The recorder continues. Then another voice. A man's voice. Leave.
- 24:18Speaker 1: Get out. The investigators go back towards the entrance. And
- 24:28Speaker 1: then the footsteps continue. Come from the staircase. Slow. Heavy.
- 24:36Speaker 1: Coming down. Nobody speaks. Then, the footsteps. At the bottom
- 24:44Speaker 1: of the stairs. Nothing. One investigator shines a flashlight towards
- 24:50Speaker 1: the hallway. A woman standing there. Elizabeth, at last. That's
- 24:57Speaker 1: the legend who would tell us. She looks towards them.
- 25:02Speaker 1: She points towards room 109. Then the investigators follow. The
- 25:11Speaker 1: door is closed. One reaches for the handle. The door
- 25:16Speaker 1: opens by itself. Inside, the creator. The darkness. the empty room. Then,
- 25:34Speaker 1: you hear it. One of the investigators begins crying. Another
- 25:40Speaker 1: one says, Do you hear that? Then the woman.
- 25:45Speaker 2: Whispers, Where's my baby? Where's my baby?
- 25:56Speaker 1: Then the lights go out, and if they The investigators
- 26:01Speaker 1: run down the hallway, down the stairs, towards the entrance.
- 26:08Speaker 1: But the front door won't open. Open. Nothing. They pull harder. Nothing. Behind. Then.
- 26:18Speaker 1: They hear. They hear it again. Three. They turn. At
- 26:26Speaker 1: the hallway stands a man. The stabber. He faces the
- 26:34Speaker 1: hidden in the darkness. A knife hangs into his side.
- 26:41Speaker 1: Behind him, another figure. A woman. Elizabeth. And behind Elizabeth,
- 26:50Speaker 1: a small shadow. A child. The investigator whispers.
- 26:56Speaker 3: Oh.
- 26:57Speaker 1: The hallway goes silent. The child's shadow takes one step forward,
- 27:03Speaker 1: then another, then another, and another. The woman begins crying.
- 27:10Speaker 1: The man raises his knife. The investigator closes his eyes,
- 27:17Speaker 1: and suddenly the front door flies open. Then, all of
- 27:23Speaker 1: a sudden, desert air flushes through the lobby. Everyone runs inside.
- 27:31Speaker 1: They don't stop. They don't look back until they reach
- 27:36Speaker 1: the vehicle. One of the investigators finally turns around. The
- 27:41Speaker 1: hotel is dark. Completely dark. Except one window and room.
- 27:48Speaker 3: 109.
- 27:49Speaker 1: A light is glowing behind the glass. It's Stan and
- 27:57Speaker 1: standing at the window. is a woman watching them. She
- 28:03Speaker 1: raises her hand and slowly waves. Is Elizabeth real? Or
- 28:11Speaker 1: is there no reliable evidence proving that she was chained
- 28:20Speaker 1: into a radiator in room 109? Is the child beneath
- 28:25Speaker 1: the hotel real? There's no Established evidence providing the story.
- 28:34Speaker 1: Is the stabler real? No verified evidence demoshes that a
- 28:40Speaker 1: knife-holding spirit attacks visitors. Is her hanged woman real? The
- 28:47Speaker 1: legend survives, but the details are uncertain. And is George
- 28:54Speaker 1: Ringfield's ghost responsible for the smell of tobacco? that remains
- 28:59Speaker 1: a paranormal interpretation. These are stories, legends, reports, pieces of
- 29:07Speaker 1: folklore that have grown over decades. And perhaps that's what
- 29:14Speaker 1: makes the Goldfield Hotel so fascinating. Because beneath the supernatural stories,
- 29:23Speaker 1: there is a real history, a real mining town, real people,
- 29:29Speaker 1: real hardships, real deaths, and a real building that has
- 29:36Speaker 1: survived the collapse of the world that created it. Goldfield,
- 29:42Speaker 1: once beloved, its future was underground. Gold, fortune, wealth. But
- 29:51Speaker 1: then the mines declined. The people left. The lights went out.
- 29:58Speaker 1: The streets emptied. And the hotel remained. Today, when the
- 30:04Speaker 1: Nevada sun disappears behind the mountains, the Goldfield Hotel becomes
- 30:11Speaker 1: the silhouette against the desert sky. The windows become black.
- 30:18Speaker 1: The doors become silent. And the old buildings seem to
- 30:24Speaker 1: stare back. Maybe there's nothing inside. Maybe Every sound is
- 30:31Speaker 1: an ordinary explanation. Maybe the ghosts exist only in stories.
- 30:40Speaker 1: Or maybe when the desert comes completely silent, something moves
- 30:45Speaker 1: through those empty hallways. Maybe Elizabeth is still waiting. Maybe
- 30:52Speaker 1: the hanged woman is still wandering. Maybe the man who
- 30:56Speaker 1: fell from the roof Still walks upstairs. Maybe George Wingfield's
- 31:03Speaker 1: presence still lingers. In the smoke filled air. And perhaps
- 31:08Speaker 1: somewhere in the darkness. The stabber. Is still waiting behind
- 31:14Speaker 1: the next door. There is one final question. If the
- 31:19Speaker 1: Goldfield Hotel is empty. And no one is supposed to
- 31:24Speaker 1: be inside. And then. Who just not. Help me.
- 31:32Speaker 2: This has been the Goldfield Hotel. This is Elizabeth. I've
- 31:43Speaker 2: taken over the podcast. And you have been listening to
- 31:49Speaker 2: the Goldfield Hotel. The most haunted hotel in Nevada. The
- 31:56Speaker 2: place where the gold is gone. People are gone. The
- 32:01Speaker 2: laughter is gone. According to legends, all the ghosts have stayed.
- 32:10Speaker 2: And if you ever find yourself driving through Goldfield at night,
- 32:15Speaker 2: and you see a light burning in the window of
- 32:18Speaker 2: the old hotel, I would like you to stop. Don't knock,
- 32:24Speaker 2: and whatever you do, answer back.
- 32:28Speaker 1: The knockback.
- 32:30Speaker 2: And please, help me find my baby.
- 32:37Speaker 1: My baby. Thank you, Elizabeth. And some of what Elizabeth said,
- 32:50Speaker 1: I will counter that. If you do find yourself at
- 32:57Speaker 1: the hotel, Do not stop. Don't knock. And whatever you do,
- 33:05Speaker 1: don't answer the something knocks back. It might be the final.
- 33:11Speaker 1: It might be the last thing you ever do. And
- 33:16Speaker 1: tell them, my friends, stay spooky.
- 33:20Speaker 3: If tonight's story got under your skin, Good. That's what
- 33:31Speaker 3: we do here. You can find every episode of Ghost
- 33:37Speaker 3: Stories and the Unusual Paranormal Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube,
- 33:44Speaker 3: or wherever you receive your Bruce podcasts. Grab some haunted
- 33:49Speaker 3: gear at our Shopify store at Ghost Stories and the
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- 34:00Speaker 3: and to keep this show alive and undead, join us
- 34:04Speaker 3: on Patreon. Got a story of your own? Email us
- 34:09Speaker 3: at theparanormalghoststories at gmail.com. We read every single one of
- 34:16Speaker 3: your emails. Until next time, as Joe the Ghost Guy says,
- 34:26Speaker 3: stay spooky, friends.