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The Copper Queen

 

My story centers around an old copper mining town in Arizona called Bisbee. It's only eight miles north of the Mexican Border and is a little slice of the 1880's, right down to the Grand Dame hotel in town. The Copper Queen.

I lived in California growing up but moved to Texas in my 30's and wound up engaged to the love of my life. Unfortunately, the timing was off for us then. He was recently a widower, and I had a young son, an ex-husband who was a pain and an ill, elderly Mother. Regretfully, we called off the marriage and I moved back to California. To make this short, seven years ago I moved back to Texas, ran into my boy through a strange set of circumstances and we decided pretty quickly that someone - maybe his late wife or maybe my late mother or father wanted us to finally get it together and stop faffing around. This is where the Copper Queen comes in! Honest! We were getting married! And we wanted it be an adventure.

He wanted to get married in Tombstone, Arizona but I had wanted to see Bisbee for a very long time. We looked around for wedding venues and you could be married in the upper sitting room of the Copper Queen Hotel. They're only 30 miles apart so we could spend a day or two in Tombstone also. Perfect! After the wedding we could spend a couple of days exploring Bisbee and then see the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone.

The hotel itself is a four story, stucco fronted mansion, with a series of terraced steps leading up to it. It overlooks the entire town. It's rumored to be very haunted and it conducts ghost tours twice a week. Not far from it are the copper mines which also have a reputation for spirits being seen. We checked in and they had two rooms from us to choose from: The Julia Lowell Room (reportedly haunted by a prostitute who killed herself) and the John Wayne Room. He was a frequent guest when he was shooting films and was known for having the room closest to the bar; so that he could find his room after a night of drinking in the saloon at the hotel.

They took us first to see the Julia Lowell room. I walked in and was immediately hit with "I see you." Not on my wedding night, no thank you! I noped out of there as fast as humanly possible. My oblivious fiancΓ©e argued about it all the way down to the John Wayne room and couldn't understand my 'not just no, but hell no' attitude. The John Wayne room was an homage to his movies. Fiancee settled down pretty quickly when he saw it. He'd been a cowboy in Kansas at 20 so this was nirvana to him.

We got married in the sitting room on the third floor in front of a beautiful fireplace at sundown. In Levis. Much to the amusement of people wandering through going OOPS and gingerly backing out of the wedding! It was funny and sweet and we loved it. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant and followed it up with a few drinks in the hotel saloon.

We got up to our room and unlocked the door. I flipped on the light switch. It flipped back off. I did this a couple more times and each time the lights all switched off again. Okay... Then we turned on the TV. It died. We had to call down to the office and have them bring up a whole new TV. This was getting interesting. I had the feeling of energy everywhere in this hotel, but whatever it was felt curious, not threatening so I shrugged if off. At least the lights were finally working.

We finally went to sleep somewhere around one am. I have no idea what time the noise woke me up but I was hearing people in the sitting room or common room on that floor arguing. It was a man and a woman and I couldn't tell what they were saying but it was the kind of fight where you hiss insults at each other. They had also turned on an antique radio that I had seen because I could hear music too loudly through the door. I couldn't have told you the name of the song but it reminded me of the Tennessee Waltz. I looked out of the peephole but the sitting room was to the left. All that I could see was the stairwell leading down to the lobby. I wasn't about to open the door.

My husband told me not to overreact and maybe they'd quiet down. Instead they got louder and to the point where they were yelling but trying to keep volume down because of area being a public space. I asked my husband to go out and break it up but he refused to go out and get involved in a domestic dispute. Especially between drunks. Things sounded like they were breaking glasses. Was she throwing things at his head? After about 20 minutes of this I got fed up and headed for the door. As I did, it sounded like the argument moved into another room a couple of doors down. I heard their door open and slam twice. The voices were still yelling but they were behind a closed door now. Still - this was ridiculous. I called the manager on duty down in the lobby.

The manager listened to me rant for a couple of minutes, then said "Ma'am, can you come down to the lobby?" Thirty seconds later we were downstairs and I smiled apologetically and pointed to the room where the noise was. He looked at me with the blankest expression. I grabbed my husband and he too told the manager all about the drunken roaring fight that had been going for quite a while. The manager turned the printed register around to face us where we could see the room assignments.

The room two doors down? Empty, unoccupied. The room next to us. Empty. Two more rooms close to us. Empty. His expression clearly said that he thought that we'd lost our minds. Now, the lobby is one floor down and you can almost see it from the open stairwell. They had heard no fight, no door slams and they hadn't heard the music. Thank god my husband heard it too. Anyone coming from the bar would have had to pass through the lobby and the manager on duty would have seen them. Besides, as it turned out the bar had been closed for a couple of hours. He even pointed out that there were cameras in the lobby. No one had come in or out.

I had tried to nope my way out of a haunted wedding but the Copper Queen had the last word. We're going back there in January for our anniversary. We haven't tried the mine tours yet. It could be even more interesting.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, EmmalineTexas, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

babygoatpuller (4 stories) (432 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2017-11-22)
Excellent idea with the fan Emmaline!

My hubby doesn't go EEK. (had to lol at that one) Mine is well aware that "stuff" happens here, it's happened to him but his standard comment is, "I don't want to talk about it". I don't push him on it as he had too much trauma/drama in his early life and from what I can gather, some of it involved the "spectral" kind.

I can't imagine why anyone would "eyeroll" your narratives. They're just too detailed and well written to NOT believe! That's just crazy talk! πŸ˜†

Please do let us know about the return trip. Yer pretty awesome yerself! ❀
EmmalineTexas (10 stories) (163 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2017-11-22)
BabyGoatPuller - Your comment makes me laugh. Yes, if something is decades old, it will find me and vice versa. But I'm oblivious to the obvious. My hubby was the world's biggest skeptic when he moved into this house. Until the day he felt one of the dogs bump the bed and snuffle the length. Do you know the thing they do when they rub their head up against something? He looked to see which dog it was and the dogs were outside. I had to laugh because he was standing in the center of the bed doing the "EEEK" thing when I walked in.

Everyone has a gift. Mine seems to be residual stuff. Well that and always finding a parking place. Both not spectacularly useful.
😜

I love your comment! I expect anytime for someone on this site to go "really... (Eyeroll) " but I swear it's the truth. As for Juliia Lowell; anything pretty was in short supply. I thought that I would buy her an antique fan and ask the owner if I could leave it placed in her room.

Thanks BabyGoatPuller. You're awesome ❀

Emma
babygoatpuller (4 stories) (432 posts)
 
6 years ago (2017-11-22)
Emmaline-
It seems to me that it's "history" that is "haunting" you. I don't mean that in a bad way but you seem to pick up on decades old happenstances more than your average bear, so to speak. 😜

I like Jubeele's idea of bringing a token for Julia. How does your "new" hubby feel about all of this ghost stuff? Hope he's on board with it because it looks like he may be in for a wild ride with you! 😜 ❀
EmmalineTexas (10 stories) (163 posts)
 
6 years ago (2017-11-22)
AugustaM ❀

It's definitely worth going. In order to focus and not write a scatter-shot story, I left out a couple of details.

Not just the hotel, but the town is loaded with energy. We passed an alleyway and there was an older church with terraced steps. The bride and groom and family were taking pictures. And watching were several men in worn, patched clothing. They were leaning against the building and smiling at the wedding party. It was only at the second or third look that I realized that they weren't flesh and blood. One glanced up at me and I smiled and nodded. Then he slowly faded along with his companions.

Now, a very respected psychic told me one time that I was psychic all right. Just not enough to do anything useful with it.:) That's my luck in life. I have a feeling that you'll see much more than what the website advertises. If someone like me can pick it up it's very strong.

I hope that you do get a chance to go. Thanks for your comment.

Emma
AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
 
6 years ago (2017-11-22)
Ok after reading this, I HAD to see the place! Their website gallery needs work but the Christmas collection of photos really shows the beauty of the place ❀
Http://www.copperqueen.com/gallery-en.html

Now I want to go! Thank you for sharing:)
EmmalineTexas (10 stories) (163 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2017-11-22)
Melda ❀ I'm like Rex-T. So glad to hear from you. Melda, I love your insight.

Now, I could be totally wrong, but my impression is that the manager was very used to doling out the spookies for guests.
However, when something not on the 'menu' appeared it threw him for a loop.

I'm going to mull over your comment. It's early, coffee hasn't hit yet 😊 You're right. Thank you.

Emma
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2017-11-21)
Emmaline - I think the manager of the Copper Queen is a very good actor. He (plus other staff) must have had dozens of complaints similar to yours! He probably has to play all this stuff down to prevent scaring other guests.

Also, they conduct ghost tours? The pan-faced manager was either an idiot or tried to make you feel like one, all in the best interests of the hotel of course.

What an unforgettable wedding night. The lady of the night and her lover caused such a ruckus, I'm surprised John Wayne didn't enter the fray, firing from both hips. Then again, he might have taken refuge under the bar.

You're going there for your anniversary? Let us know how that one unfolds 😊

Regards, Melda
Jubeele (25 stories) (882 posts)
 
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
I wonder if one event triggered the other in turn. Going off in sympathy, so to speak. Be nice to Julia (she's got my name) - hope she is nice in return! 😜

Definitely would love to catch up if either of us are ever in the same country. ❀
EmmalineTexas (10 stories) (163 posts)
 
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
Jubeele - So sorry, I'm scatterbrained tonight. I think your idea is fantastic. When we go back I'll be very sure to take Julia a token of our affection and respect. She had a very sad life.
EmmalineTexas (10 stories) (163 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
Jubeele - You always leave such amazing comments! I'll be thinking one way and then, very logically, you flip my thinking on it's head.

John Wayne stayed there a lot in the 1940's when he was married to Pilar. He wasn't known for his discretion and it's very possible she surprised him with a visit. I'm sure they would have had a roof shaking fight if he already had some female companionship. That ties in very neatly with the lights refusing to work and a brand new TV blowing up. Thank you...

I do have a visit to Australia planned in a couple of years and would love to meet you and tour the area. Likewise, if you are ever near the Gulf Coast, please come and meet us and I would adore giving you a tour of Galveston and Houston. The third coast is Hawaii with boots.❀

Thank you again,
Emma
EmmalineTexas (10 stories) (163 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
Lady-Glow -Thanks so much for your comment. I always look forward to hearing from you and reading your stories. I don't know that a fight is romantic but we sure will remember it. ❀
Jubeele (25 stories) (882 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
Emma, just saw your reply to Rex_T while I was typing out my earlier comment. I do believe you may be right. That's so sad. Maybe you can bring her some token when you go back. Leave flowers or something to comfort her?

That was certainly a night to remember. 😘
Jubeele (25 stories) (882 posts)
 
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
Some romantic wedding night, Emma. I guess the extra "show" wasn't on the brochure! ❀

Apparently the Duke was a bit of a ladies' man in his time. Maybe he got "caught" by one of his wives...

Do post us an update should anything happen on your anniversary. One of these days, you've got to come visit us in Sydney. We live near the Quarantine Station in Manly - I'd love the company to do a tour there. πŸ˜‰
EmmalineTexas (10 stories) (163 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
Hi Rex-T, thank you so much for your comments. LOL You're probably right about the Duke. Absolutely spot on.

You know what I wondered after all of this happened?

We had gone to the Julia Lowell room and she's very active on the 2nd floor on the west side (1st floor if you're in Europe). This is where she's usually seen and that's exactly where the John Wayne room is. Now, I know that she was watching and she heard that we were getting married at the hotel. We discussed it in her room. I actually stepped around the energy as we looked at the alcove and bath.

She killed herself after she told a client that she had fallen in love with him and wanted to get married. He rejected her and they had a blazing fight at the hotel. I really wonder if we caused that residual haunting to happen because it reminded her of the past. That makes me sad to think of how heartbroken she must have been.

Thanks Rex-T. Really sweet of you to wish us well. It's a great memory.
Rex-T (5 stories) (288 posts)
+3
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
I was expecting you to say that it was the 'Duke' but then I realized that all the furniture in the rooms would have been wrecked.

For both you and your husband to hear the commotion makes me wonder if the duty manager knew more than he was telling you. I'd bet that other couples had complained in the past.

Shear brilliance getting married in Levis!

Hope that you will always look back on this night with fondness.

Rex-T
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2017-11-20)
Playing only for the newlywed's ears, in the Wine room... So romantic!

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing. ❀

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