This is the sixth annual Ghost Walk by Beale Theater. This is a very enjoyable presentation and worthy of any ghost story or history buff. I consider myself both so I was in my element. The first stop on the walk was to the old county jail where we heard a story I had never heard before. The old jail is between the old courthouse and the new courthouse. They told of two brothers, drunk, who were trying to get home and having difficulty. The noticed a kerosene lamp at the jail and decided to help themselves so they could see better. The spilled kerosene upon themselves, and then accidentally lit the kerosene. They both became infernos running through the street until they expired. The fire turned them to ashes.
We then walked up the street by the Catholic church, and there was told of the screaming ghost of Slaughter House Canyon. This was not too scary, as Slaughter House Canyon was at least a mile away. But the story of how the screaming ghost came to be is very tragic. A mother and her starving children slowly gave way to madness, which ended in tragic deaths of them all.
We were introduced to Lewis Kingman, whose name was given to our city. However he did not talk about Kingman so much as he talked about Diablo Canyon and the Diablo Canyon Bridge. While they waited for materials to build the bridge this was the end of the rail line, and a large community was established. This community had the worse of human nature with drinking, gambling and its share of murders.
There was a story of a gambling murder and the ghost who rides off with his partners every year at the same time. I didn't catch the name of the murder victim, but the gambling was taking place in the Beale Hotel.
Hi Jolli, the camel master for the Beale Camel team told the story of the red camel ghost. This ghost has been seen on the hills of Kingman but wanders the entire state of Arizona. It is believed to be a lost camel from the Beale excursion. It was first noticed with a rider strapped to its back. In an agitated state it trampled and killed a woman. The dead body strapped to its back must have been because of punishment, or perhaps a dying man who strapped himself so he wouldn't fall while the camel looked for water. At any rate the man and the camel became ghosts still wandering the Arizona desert.
The Beale Theater, being very old, also has its own ghost story. A disgruntled former employee who was discharged when the theater changed hands, apparently kept letting himself into the theater and hanging about the cat walks and rafters. He eventually disappeared. But it is still believed he haunts the building.
Tom King was murdered at Commercial Restaurant which he helped run with his partner Don On. This was part of a Chinese gang feud. Four men, with the driver, approached and killed Tom King while the escape car waited for them. Don On escaped murder as did another employee. Don On disappeared shortly after and never heard from again. However the employee, who was in a back room, witnessed the murders and was later able to testify against them.
Andy Devine, as a youngster was running with a curtain rod in his mouth in the Beale Hotel which his father owned and ran. Somehow he fell and the rod injured the back of his throat. Devine blamed this for his raspy voice which became his signature characteristic as an actor.
Central Commercial Store was the largest store in Kingman for some time. They sold all types of items, groceries and dry goods, and farming supplies. Tunnels under the Store leading to the powerhouse were used to bring heat. However they also had clandestine uses which may have included smuggling and slavery. So said the narrator from Beale Theater.
And I never knew Lee Williams High School had issues with being haunted as it was constructed over the cemetery which was moved to make ways for the school. However not every family could afford to move the bodies. Consequently some remained. They were encountered when the school was first constructed, and then again during the remodel. Part of the football field is over the graveyard. During the remodel, several bodies were encountered.
Some of the tour B stories also deserve a closer look. The Daily Miner was moving their location to a larger facility. At the time is was in the building now occupied by 66 Marketplace. They were bringing items up from the basement in the elevator. Everything was pretty much up and so the last worker was bringing the last box up. The circuit gave way and the basement went dark. However the elevator was headed down. In his struggle to get his bearings the man fell in the elevator shaft and the descending elevator squished him. As a result the elevator was shut down and boarded up. However many years later eerie feelings prompted them to try and find the elevator. They could not find it however.
Kingman was at one time the home of a vibrant red light district. It was called the Rabbit Patch and located where Locomotive Park is today. Blackjack was the queen of the patch and recognized as the head madame. She arrived in Kingman in 1888 and was often seen in town with her pet parrot "Polly." Blackjack's real name was Josie Harcourt. Pollie died around 1905. Blackjack was devastated. One of her patrons, in an effort to cheer her up, provided a casket and head stone for the bird. There was a processional and the bird was laid to rest at the Pioneer Cemetery. A picket fence was built around the grave. Blackjack did not survive the bird for long and also passed away within a year and was buried beside the bird.
A botched stage coach robbery has lead to the story of gold being his in those mountains. In 1872 Macallam and his companion heard of a gold shipment from Prescott to Fort Mohave going through Mineral Park. They set up shop close to the stage station and waited. They were able to relieve the stage coach driver and guard of the gold and sent them on their way. The gold proved too heavy for them to carry, so they had to hide it some where. However since they let the stage coach carry on, a posse was quickly upon them. Macallam's companion was shot and killed. Macallam was sent to prison. While at Yuma State Prison he told a cell mate of the buried treasure before he died in jail. However no one knows if he was ever able to find the gold. So if the gold is still there or no is just a guess. $72,000 worth of gold in 1872 would be worth almost a couple million now.
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| The stage station above Mineral Park |
However, I discovered later that the tour was actually telling the story of "Hualapai Joe" Desredo. In 1880 a stage coach disappeared with $200,000 in gold ingots and another couple of bags of gold west of Beale Springs. Desredo and his men were already pursued by posse based on a store robbery in Mineral Park. The posse had holed up in Beale Springs, and when Desredo and his men road into Beale Springs shots began to fly leaving Desredo's men dead and Desredo dying. Desredo told the sheriff of the stolen gold, but also the strange happening with the stage coach. He could hear it leaving and then the noise stopped suddenly. A hermit, in 1940 wandered upon the remains of the stage coach, with human bones. It had fallen into fissure beside a wash. He was able to show this to a historian making him promise not to tell anyone. He did not tell for several years, and when he told the sheriff's department wasn't interested in something that happened so long ago.
Olive Oatman was traveling west with her family. Her father was Mormon and with a small group of other Mormons had decided to pioneer in California rather than Utah. All of the other members of the party stopped along the way. However Sara's father was determined to continue on; which was his undoing. A group of Native Americans, probably Apache, came upon them and after initially asking about food and tobacco brought out cubs and killed the entire family except two girls, Olive and her younger sister. Olive and her sister were forced to walk many miles and kept in captivity. The Mohave Tribe eventually purchased them and they lived with the Mohave along the Colorado River. A year of famine took the life of Sara's younger sister. When the White Community heard of a white girl among the Indians they were determined to rescue her. Eventually arrangements were made for her to be returned to Fort Yuma. To Olive's surprise her brother was waiting for her. He had been left for dead but had survived.
The Bonelli House was on the tour, telling of the spirits that inhabit the house. The home was built by George Albert Bonelli.
The murder of Jennie Bauters resulted in the last hanging in Kingman. Jennie was a successful madame in Jerome, AZ. She was considered the richest woman in Arizona. She owned Jennie's place in Jerome. However as the town was becoming more cultured, she had moved on to a new mining town in Goldroad. Unfortunately Clement C. Leigh had followed her. He had lived off of her for many years as a common law spouse, and was determined to continue. She refused to give him money, and he insisted. In a drunken condition he murdered her in the morning, Sunday, September 3, 1905. He made sure she was dead rolling her over and putting a bullet through head. With his last bullet, he shot himself in the chest; but he did not die. He was taken to Kingman for trial and found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. It took over a year to go through the appeal process. He was finally put to death January 18, 1907. He was a man with lots of bravado, but as he was being lead up the stairs to the gallows his courage failed him. He fell and bonked his head. After this he had to be carried and lifted up for the noose to be placed around his head. The fall broke his neck. He was buried at pioneer cemetery. When the cemetery was moved he and his victim were both buried in a communal grave. (The tour said his had was pulled off and then explained that he is the ghost at the school who is seen headless, pulling his head on a rope behind him. Bt that likely is just story telling.)
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| Jennie Bauters in Jerome |
The final story is that of a child falling from the balcony of the Red School. The teacher who sent he and his companion to the balcony for discipling hung herself. I have not been able to this point to verify this story; but the school does have a balcony.
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