Haunted Utah: Ghosts of the Promised Land

I got a call with a true haunting experience last week from Mariah. We're recording it for one of my podcasts, and her true account was eerie. But I all kept coming back to something I had never heard about, the Mormon pioneers and the hauntings in Utah. Now it sounds like the title of a book I would read just for the heck of it. But behind the history and the connections we can make right away. The main points of this are that there are groups of people who believe that there is a Holy Land, a promised land made just for them. No. I know what you're thinking. It sounds like another belief, just like any other. You might be connecting it with Israel's atrocities or the Zionists. But this is different, I mean a little different. It's a belief still, and it grows into something much larger. Now it turns out that there is a place in the United States one that fits the description. Well. The more I looked into it, the more I found odd connections between the searchers of the New Holy Land, which were the Mormons, and the ghost stories that still haunt Salt Lake City and other places in Utah. Are you ready my name is Edwin, And here is a horror story. When you think of Utah, you probably imagine enormous red rock canyons, snow capped mountains, vast emptiness. But I also found out that there is this culture deeply rooted in faith. When the early Mormon pioneers arrived in the Great Basin in eighteen forty seven, they truly believed that they had found a place of refuge, a new Zion. Looking over the valley, they saw surrogate landscape that perfectly mirror the Middle East. They even named the river connecting the fresh waters of Utah Lake to the salty Great Salt Lake the Jordan River, ring a direct geographical parallel to the biblical river one that flows into the Dead Sea. Zion, by the way, is the name of a hill near the city of Jerusalem, and a lot of people have a strong attachment to it. Anyway. They believe that they were the chosen people, directed by God to make the empty desert blossom like a rose. But here's the thing about places built on such strong beliefs. The gap between the living and the dead tends to thin out. Some might argue that even reasoning goes with it. So In order to understand why Utah is such a magnet for restless spirits and the paranormal, we have to look back at the very roots of the Latter day Saints' Church, the Mormons. Long before the pioneers ever trek the West, early Mormonism was full of what historians call a magic world view. Now, back in the nineteenth century, this wasn't seen as something weird at all. For these early settlers, religion and folk magic often work together. It was a world where people were highly attuned to the supernatural and the invisible world. During his youth in the eighteen twenties, the church's founder, Joseph Smith and his family were actually heavily involved in something called treasure seeking. Across the American Northeast, there was a widespread belief that ancient inhabitants, Spanish explorers, or even pirates had buried immense wealth deep in the earth. People would use divining rods and searstones to locate these lost treasures. These treasures weren't sitting there waiting around to be found. They were protected. According to the folklore of the time, buried gold and silver were watched over by supernatural beings known as treasure guardians. Some believed that these guardians were the angry ghosts of murdered men, like a pirate who had been killed and left behind specifically to watch over the loot, a bleeding Spanish ghost whose throat had been cut from ear to ear. Other times, the guardians took the shapes of animals or supernatural beasts. Legends spoke of giant dogs, wolves, or even a creature that looked like a toad before transforming into a man or a flaming monster with glittering eyes. Treasure diggers had to follow strict rules of silence and draw magic circles with ritual swords to protect themselves. Of course, they were terrified that if they misspoke or cursed, the guardian spirit would penetrate the circle or drag the treasure deeper into the earth, just out of reach. Now, I bring this up because it shows us something super important. The people who settled Utah weren't only bringing the religion with them. They also brought a culture that fundamentally accepted the reality of spirits, angels, and supernatural entities. They lived in this world where the dead could seamless interact with the living. When you bring that kind of energy into a rugged, isolated landscape like a great basin. Well, the spirits tend to stick around. In fact, some of them are still waiting for us in downtown Salt Lake City, which is where we're going. Of course, I can't tell you ghost stories about Utah without mentioning this one, so I'm going to tell you. Right in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, there's this magnificent monument to Utah's industrial age, and it's the Denver and Rio Grande Western Depot, which was built in nineteen ten. It's a beautiful building with tall ceilings, wide windows. But after the train stopped running and the station officially closed to passengers in nineteen forty seven, the depots started to take on a much darker reputation. Now those story centers around a tragic event that occurred right on the tracks behind the building. Legend has it shortly after World War One or World War II, a young woman went to the depot to finally reunite with her fiance. However, the reunion was not a happy one. Some say that she confronted him because he hadn't written her in months. Now, the discussion grew incredibly heated, and in a fit of rage, her fiancee told her that the engagement was off and tossed her ring right into the train tracks. Panicking, the young woman scrambled down to the tracks to get the ring, only to be struck and killed instantly by an oncoming train. Versince that horrific day, her restless spirit has remained trapped at the depot, and she is famously known as the Purple Lady because witnesses frequently report seeing the apparition of a young woman with black hair wearing a purple velvet dress. Now, she's most known for haunting the woman's restroom on the upper floor. Over the years, the sounds of disembodied singing, crying, and wailing have been heard echoing from that bathroom, often sending terrified visitors running out the door screaming. But she isn't just confined to the restroom. Security guards working in the Graveyard shift have reported heavy breathing, phantom footsteps on the upper earth balconies, and shadowy figures approaching them in the dark before simply vanishing. Because the activity is so intense, paranormal investigators have flocked to the Rio Grande depot now during the investigation, a crew used a device called the paranormal puck. It measures atmospheric changes to communicate with spirits, and immediately began spitting out strange, rapid fire responses right in the building's basement. Perhaps the most chilling piece of evidence ever captured at the depot changes the entire narrative of the Purple Lady's death. According to one group of investigators who were trying to interview her spirit, captured an electronic voice phenomenon, an EVP of a woman's voice stating very clearly, he pushed me. But she isn't the only star of the Purple Lady's story. There's another one, the one that happened in the Memorial House Reception Center in Memory Grove. The first and more dramatic legend claims she is the spirit of a young woman whose wedding was scheduled to take place at the venue. According to the story, she was tragically struck and killed by a vehicle while crossing B Street. Because she loved the color purple in life, she is said to be drawn to it in the afterlife, and some drivers even claim that if you go to the exact spot where she died, you can still see her crossing the road in her wedding dress. Paranormal investigators, though, point to a different historical origin for the ghost. According to investigator Wendy Pettit, the Purple Lady is actually the spirit of Missus E. O. Howard, a woman who was highly instrunt in transforming the Memorial House into the event center it operates as today. In this version of the story, she lingers simply because she isn't ready to leave her hard work behind. Missus Howard under her nickname because she was frequently seen wearing the color, and there's even a portrait of her hanging in the Memorial House. It depicts her in a purple dress. Witnesses and investigators report that Missus Howard's spirit becomes the most active when the venue hosts an event that involves the color of purple. People have reported hearing phantom footsteps and whispering, as well as seeing doors open and close on their own. Ultimately, investigators believe she continues to haunt the building simply because she still enjoys a good party, and who can blame her now? Leaving the bustling streets of downtown Salt Lake City. If you head west toward the desolate salty shores of the Great Salt Lake, you'll find the imposing remains of the Great Saltaire. Originally constructed in eighteen ninety three, the Saltaire Pavilion was a joint venture funded by the Mormon Church in the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway. Church leaders wanted to create a safe, wholesome recreation spot for families, an antidote to the moral decadence they feared at other typical pleasure resorts, and there was a spectacular architectural marvel. It was designed in a Moorish Revival style, featuring bulbous onion domes, minarets, and a massive dance floor built right over the lake's waters. Drawing thousands of visitors, it quickly earned the nickname the Coney Island of the West. But almost from the beginning it seemed as if the lake itself rejected the intrusion. Drownings became so frequent that the locals began to whisper a dark legend the lake demanded a soul for every season, And then came the fires. In nineteen twenty five, a massive blaze completely consumed the first Saltaire pavilion with flames dancing over the domes as a wind howled, they rebuilt it with the cursed lingered. The second incarnation of the resort also met a fiery end, burning to the ground in nineteen seventy. A third version was constructed in the early nineteen eighties using parts from an old aircraft hangar, but within a few years devastating floods submerged the main floor under five feet of water. Today that third building operate as an entertainment and concert venue, but has become a massive hot spot for paranormal investigators. Expert ghost hunters estimate that the Saltaire is home to at least ten resident spirits. The activity here is incredibly intense and often pretty violent. During the twenty twenty pandemic, when the venue had been completely locked down and vacant for six months, the building's events coordinator and a small crew clearly heard the disembodied sounds of children that were laughing and they were echoing in the empty space. Visiting investigators frequently report sudden freezing temperature drops and overwhelming feelings of unexplained aggression. There's also a deeply unsettling poultergeist presence. During one paranormal investigation, a crew member was violently pushed down the Grand staircase by an unseen force, a terrifying moment that was captured completely on video. Another chilling session, an investigator named Sam was overcome by a strange energy and his posture was stiffened as he whispered, I was not Sam anymore. Moments later, their recording devices captured a sharp, disembodied whisper commanding the crew to get out. Investigators have also captured electronic voice phenomena EVPs or phantom music, like faint violin notes playing to an empty room. Hunting isn't just confined to the building. Out on the cracked salt flats at dusk, visitors have reported seeing blue white ghost lights hovering near the remnants of the old pier before vanishing into the fog. Now whether it's the restless spirits of those who tragically drowned were an ancient dark energy trapped by the harsh salty waters, The Great Saltaire proves that even the most wholesome intentions can't always keep the darkness at bay. As we trace a path of Utah's paranormal history, we will eventually find ourselves standing inside the historic spaces built and curated by the state's earliest settlers. These are places where the heritage of that new zion is carefully preserved, and where the spirits of the past seem to fiercely guard their legacies. Take, for example, the breathtaking mccoon mansion in Salt Lake City, Built in nineteen oh one for a wealthy entrepreneur named Alfred won, this insane twenty one room mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was eventually gifted to the Latter Day Saints' Church to be used as a school of music and art, bringing a wave of creative energy into the building. Today, the mansion is best known for its resident ghost, the playful ten year old girl whose portrait still hangs on the wall inside. Now, unlike the terrifying entities we talked about out in the Saltaire, this little girl is friendly. She loves to join in on parties and celebrations hosted at the mansion, and she's even set to help out with decorating for the weddings held there. She's reportedly been caught on film a few times too, and, according to one famous piece of local Lore, a wedding pianist, was once playing alone in one of the mansion's elegant rooms, and as he played, he saw a little girl in a white nightgown happily dancing to his music. When he stopped to ask for her parents, she vanished. The staff quickly informed him that he had been the only living person in that room. But if you want to find a place where the concentration of Pioneer history creates a true paranormal hotspot, you have to visit the Pioneer Memorial Museum, operated by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. This museum is dedicated to preserving the history of those brave people who cross the planes to settle in the West. It houses thousands of personal artifacts, everyday items and heirlooms that belonged to the pioneers, many of whom suffered or died during the tough trek. So much residual energy attached to these objects it's no wonder the building is an active site for the unexplained. One of the most incredible stories from the museum centers around an antique sampler, which is a piece of embroidered cloth used by students who practice stitching The sampler was stolen from the museum decades ago, but a sharp bite staff member miraculously recognized it for sale on eBay twenty years later. The seller, whose family had unknowingly purchased a stolen item and good faith, he immediately returned it to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Right around the time the artifact finally came home, the museum experienced a chilling visitation. A custodian was working late one night, but he noticed a young woman dressed entirely in black, sitting silently on a bench in the museum's foyer. Thinking that she was just a guest who hadn't realized that the building was closed, the custodian approached her, explained that it was time to leave, and he unlocked the door for her. But the young woman never spoke a single word. She simply stood up and walked out the door. But as a custodian watched her leave, his blood ran cold. She wasn't walking down the ex tier steps. The woman was silently floating above the stairs and the sidewalk, hovering in the air until she completely vanished into the dark. To really understand the scope of Utah's haunted history. We have to look beyond the majestic mansions and family resorts. We have to look at where the dead are actually resting, and occasionally the darker fringes of the region's religious culture. So let's start at the Salt Lake Cities Cemetery. It's a massive, sprawling graveyard, and it has its fair share of bizarre legends, like the infamous headstone of Lily E Gray, which bears a terrifying and unexplained inscription victim of the Beast six six six. The most chilling true story to come out of the cemetery happened back in eighteen sixty two, and it involves a man named Jean Baptiste. Now, Jean was an ordinary gray digger from the cemetery, but it was soon discovered that he had been digging up the dead and stealing the burial clothes. He desecrated up to three hundred graves. You can imagine the absolute horror of the newly established Salt Lake City. But church president Brigham Young was particularly furious. He declared that hanging John or putting him in prison wouldn't do anyone any good. Instead, he said, if it was left to me, I would make him a fugitive in a bagabond upon the earth. So John was tattooed on his forehead with the words branded for robbing the dead, and he was banished to Fremont Island, a remote patch of land out in the deep waters of the Great Salt Lake. Because John couldn't swim, it was believed that he could never escape, and to Rancher simply left him there with a shanty and some basic provisions. When they eventually returned to check on him, he was gone. To this day, nobody knows how he vanished, but visitors and locals have reported seeing the ghost of a man wandering along the shores of the Great Salt Lake carrying a bundle of wet clothes in his arms. But not all of Utah's darkest supernatural tales belong to the nineteenth century. Some are shockingly modern in stem from the extreme fringes of the area's religious culture. Rid in downtown Salt Lake City is a twelve story hotel that was formerly known as the Shiloh Inn. It is now the Holiday Express Inn. In nineteen seventy eight, it was the site of the largest and most horrific murder suicide in Utah's history. The tragedy centered around the family of Emmanuel David, whose real name was Bruce Longo. Bruce was an excommunicated Mormon who started his own cult, eventually believing that he himself was God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. Now the Feds were closing in on him for tax evasion, and he committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. And just days later, his widow, Rachel David, took their seven children to the balcony of their hotel room at the Shiloh Inn, and an unimaginable dark turn of events, Rachel forced her oldest daughter to help throw the six younger children over the edge, before tossing the eldest daughter over and jumping to her own death. Miraculously, one of the children, a fifteen year old girl, survived the fall, though she sustained horrific injuries. A tragedy of that magnitude leaves a permanent scar on a building, and today the hotel is widely considered to be haunted. Guests have reported hearing the disembodied laughter of children echoing in the video gaming area. The ghost of the mother and her children are set to frequently enjoy the first floor pool area, and they are known to play tricks on the maintenance crew by moving their tools and completely unscrewing light bulbs. Even with a multi million dollar rehab and a change in ownership, the energy of that horrific day seems forever trapped within those walls, and that brings us to the heart of what makes you Toss so uniquely haunted. This is a state that was literally built on a foundation of profound faith, angelic visions, and an absolute, unwavering belief in the afterlife. The early pioneers didn't only build cities, but they built this new zion while operating under a worldview where the veil between the living and the dead was really thin. And when you have an entire culture that is so intimately focused on the spiritual world, the landscape itself seems to hold onto things and it acts as a magnet for the restless dead. After looking at all these stories, I findest parallel between lands that are filled with belief and those who inherited them, or in this case, search for them. My culture is sort of like that, with supernatural beliefs ingrained in all of us. Now, think about this when you're culturally conditioned to accept the reality of angels, spirits, devils, supernatural manifestations. We thin the veil ourselves between the living and the dead, and in this unwavering belief placed right in the middle of a rugged, isolated desert, pioneers were tasked with building cities, but they also tagged along with a landscape where visions, visits from spirits and ghosts were sometimes accepted as part of their heritage. And it makes me wonder even if those who are not associated with these beliefs, they can also witness a presence of these ghosts. They were so clearly seen by true believers at first, but then they spread out. Did they know something that we still can't understand? This episode of horror Story was written and produced by me Edwin Kovarrubiaez with a lot of help from Scary FM team and her supporters over at Scary Plus a huge thank you to Mariah for sharing this idea with me. I think one of the themes of our conversation was the whole Salt Lake City area is haunted. People should talk more about it, and I agree, So if you're from Utah and have more stories from your area, please send it over. My details are on the description of this episode. You can also follow us by the Way on social media for more creepy content. A link to everything so you can find it. That's all I got for you this week. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary everyone, See you soon.