Leland Stanford Mansion

About the Leland Stanford Mansion

The house known as the Leland Stanford Mansion began as the home of Shelton C. Fogus, a prominent area businessman. Started as a more modest two story house, the mansion was enlarged (and even raised) by its most famous owner Leland Stanford, Sr. It served as the Executive Mansion for the state of California during Leland’s single one year term and for his successor, Frederic Low. In 1871 the Stanford’s began another ambitious expansion project which brought the mansion to its current size.

In 1900 Jane Stanford, widow of Leland Stanford, bequeathed the residence to the Catholic Church of Sacramento to be used as an orphanage. The Stanford and Lathrop Home for Friendless Children was run by the Sisters of Mercy. In the ensuing years the house served many functions. A fire destroyed portions of the 4th floor in the 1940s. In the 1950s the facility was overseen by the Sisters of Social Service. The home was made a State Landmark in 1957 and bought by the state through imminent domain in 1978. The sisters remained on the property until 1987. A major effort to renovate the mansion was begun in the early 90s which has brought the mansion to its current use as a State Park, and as California’s Governor’s protocol receiving building.

Ghost Stories

There is are no current reports of haunting, but it is said that Governor Stanford’s son’s ghost appeared and encourage him to built Stanford University

The lady at the front desk relayed this story to us about the haunting of the Stanford Mansion:

The Stanfords had tried unsuccessfully for 18 years to have a child, then at the age of 39 Mrs. Jane Stanford conceived later gave birth to Leland Stanford, Jr. She and her husband centered their lives around their son. When Leland Jr. was 15 the family went to tour Europe as a celebration before the younger Stanford would move back east to attend college. While in Europe, Leland Jr. contracted Typhoid Fever and died.

Devastated by the loss of their only child, the Stanfords had cried until they could cry no more, and in the sleep that exhaustion brings, Leland Stanford, Sr. believed that he saw his son appear to him. His son told him to give all that he wanted to give to his son to all the children of California instead. Inspired by this, Leland Sr. visited the great colleges of the East Coast, Yale and Harvard, and then founded a university on land in Palo Alto that the younger Leland Stanford had enjoyed as a youth. He named it after his son, and Stanford University was born.

Jane Stanford tried for many years to contact her son through the use of mediums.

The story is interesting and tragic, but we have to give this place only two spiders because the mansion has only one report of any ghostly occurrence.

Our Review

The gift shop and visitors center was nice. They have a video on the history of the building, and a model that helps demonstrate the different phases of the mansions growth.

There is, unfortunately, no photography allowed within the mansion, but pictures of the interior can be purchased in the gift shop on postcards and in books on the history of the mansion (at gift shop prices, of course), which is why our photographs are limited to the exterior. The mansion is beautiful, however, and it is unfortunate that you have to take our word for it or find other photographs online.

Our guided tour was just the three of us. Our guide, Janine, was close to our own age and put up with our joking and was able to joke with us. At the end of the tour she told us that we were the most fun group of her day.

The building still serves official functions for the State of California, and is therefore sometimes not able to be toured.

Official Website for the Leland Stanford Mansion

Carluccio’s Tivoli Garden

About Carluccio’s Tivoli Gardens

Carluccio’s Tivoli Gardens is an Italian restaurant in Las Vegas Nevada. The restaurant was designed by non-other than Liberace who owned the restaurant as Liberace’s Tivoli Gardens. It is located adjacent to the Liberace museum that he opened in 1979, just 8 years before his death due to complications related to AIDS. The current restaurant maintains the decor designed by Liberace, and although Liberace was found of cooking and even wrote his own cookbooks, the menu is not filled with Liberace creations. We stopped by the parking lot to the restaurant during the Haunted Vegas Tour we took.

Ghost Stories

The Ghost of who else but Liberace is said to haunt the Tivoli Gardens. His image can sometimes be seen peaking into the banquet room in the back of the restaurant from outside through the windows. There is a story thata one night all of the power in the restaurant suddenly turned off, but the power in the businesses nearby were still working. When one of the waitresses remembered that it was Liberace’s birthday and the employees sang happy birthday to him, the power was restored. The owners had an electrician come in the next day to check out the building, and he found nothing wrong with the electircal system. One night someone said something offensive to Liberace and a large tree in a planet near the bar fell over. It took five men to get the tree righted. (there were no trees in planters near the bar when we visited for dinner)

Our Review

He Says:

The food was decent, but nothing spectacular. The decor was of course gaudy and dated, but one would expect that from a restaurant designed by a very flambouyant entertainer who has been dead for more than two decades. I wouldn’t want them to change it. While Vegas my seem to pride itself on constantly changing and updating, it is nice to see a few remnants of the older days that does not seem to be in any hurry to change.

She Says:

The food was good and the room we ate in looked like almost any other italian restaurant. It seemed too normal for what I expected from a place Liberace would have helped design. However, after dinner, I explored and found that the Piano Lounge was really the place to see. With dangling lights and sparkles all over and a piano shaped bar (complete with the raised piano lid!) I particularly liked the stained glass window.

Green Valley Park

About Green Valley Park

Green Valley Park is a small neighborhood park in Henderson, Nevada. There are a lot of amenities here for such a small park. The park has a baseball diamond, basketball courts, a playground, bathrooms, and even horseshoe pitches. We came to this park as part of the Haunted Vegas Tour.

Ghost Stories

According to the tour, two boys were found murdered in the park some time in the 70’s. They had very little information about the other that they were brothers, and that the court records surrounding the case had been sealed. Regardless, strange things have happened in the park near the picnic tables and barbacue at the corner of Pecos Rd. and Milcroft Dr. There is even a photograph on the tour’s website of possbile paranormal activity. Our most compelling photograph was taken at the site as well. You can see that on the photos page or our Ghostly Images? page.

There was also a story of another body of a 29 year old whose ghost haunts the park. The tour guide told us his body was discovered in the park, and that there was a tree and a plaque memorializing him in the park. We went back the following day and found a plaque dedicated to a man, Christopher D. Brown, who was 29 at the time of his death, but after investigating his death found that he was killed while trying to cross interstate 15, and not murdered. Here is a link to a news article detailing the events surrounding the death of Christopher Brown of Henderson Nevada. We did not investigate further, so there could be another plaque in the park that would help confirm the story told on the tour.

The Las Vegas Paranormal Investigations group has investigated the park three times between 2004 and 2006 and concluded that it is not haunted according to their website.

Our Review

He Says:

My wife took what I would consider our first picture of something odd that could not easily be explained away as a mundane occurance while in this park as part of the Haunted Vegas Tour. It is featured on our Ghostly Images? page and included on the photo page here. I am naturally skeptical of the supernatural, and even this picture gives me pause. I cannot find a rational explanation for it.

She Says:

After shooting shot after shot of Orbs (possibly some pollen or dirt, it was rather windy) in Green Valley Park, I really hadn’t expected much for the night. I didn’t even see the blurry figure in the photo in the camera screen when I clicked yet another picture of expected orbs. It is strange how he is blurred out and slightly see thru when other things infront of and behind him are in sharper focus… I feel like I missed out on something, not seeing it with my own eyes!.

Haunted Vegas Tour

About Haunted Vegas Tour

The Haunted Vegas Tour was started by Robert Allen in 2004 and leaves out of the Greek Isles Hotel/Casino. Before the tour there is a short stage show featuring magic acts and some video clips about some of the haunted locations featured on the tour. The V.I.P. tour consists of a tour bus ride around Las Vegas and Henderson Nevada and a set of dowsing rods that you are invited to use in Green Valley Park (which we have reviewed on a separate page). The show and tour last approximately 2 and a half hours. We went back to most of the places featured on the tour explore them more completely.

Ghost Stories

Most of the ghost stories told on the tour are taken from other sources, which the tour guide, Jac Hayden, freely admitted, although they leave off any stories that are unsubstantiated or undocumented. What criteria used to make these determinations was not explained. The tour starts at the Greek Isles casino and as we left the tour guide told us stories of hauntings at the Stratosphere Hotel and the Oasis Motel (two sites the tour does not actually pass).

The Stratosphere Tower

The Tower has been the site of two suicides. A teenager who climbed over the railing and jumped after an argument with his parents. According to the tour guide drugs were found in his system during the autopsy. The ghosts are said to be seen near the escalators to the entrance of the tower’s elevator.

Oasis Motel

David Strickland (imdb link) an actor who appeared in the Brooke Shield’s sitcom Suddenly Susan was found dead in room 20 of the Oasis Motel on March 22 1999, the victim of an apparant suicide. He had tied a bed sheet around his neck and hung himself from a ceiling beam.

Bally’s Hotel Casino

Once the MGM Grand Hotel before they built the current MGM Grand and sold the old one to Bally’s. It was the site of a disastrous fire in 1983 that killed 84 people. At the time the hotel was built Nevada law did not require Hotels to have smoke detectors in areas that were occupied 24 hours a day (with the assumption that an employee of the area would notice the fire and report it). The area where the fire broke out was not used all day by the year the fire broke out. Furthermore, the fire started in the walls where no one would have been able to see it. Most victims died of smoke inhalation as they tried to escape. Some bodies were allegedly found in the stairwells still holding on to each other. We have a page dedicated to Bally’s Hotel Casino.

The Flamingo Hotel

Next we were taken to the Flamingo Hotel where Bugsy Siegel is said to haunt two locations of the hotel he helped build. The penthouse suite of the new hotel which is said to have the gold bathroom fixtures that used to be in his apartment, and the area around his memorial in the “jungle” behind the hotel near the wedding chapel. According to our tour guide, that area used to be occupied by Bugsy’s apartment. This is one of the two locations where we were lead off the bus and allowed to explore a location. We have a page dedicated to the Flamingo Hotel and its hauntings.

Tupac Shakur Memorial

We drove by the spot on Flamingo Road where Tupac Shakur was gunned down by unknown assailants in a drive by shooting. There is a street pole at this location that is used as a memorial to the rap star. Tupac has on a few occasions been seen walking in the area late at night.

Tupac’s street

We were driven by the street upon which Tupac Lived. His house is on Road. It is said that neighbors have seen him walking along the balcony that stretches across the front of his former home. This is a private residence and is not open to the public.

6660 Pecos

The house across the street from the entrance to Wayne Newton’s Casa de Shenandoah estate, 6660 Pecos, is constantly changing hands because it is haunted by the ghost of a teenage girl who was taken there by Hell’s Angels or another biker gang where they performed satanic rituals on her before killing her. Her body was found in the house. It was very dark when we drove by on the tour and difficult to photograph, so we returned to the location the following day. It is in the midst of being remodeled. We did not seen the address marked on the property, but according to the tour guide the owners are constantly changing the address to avoid the “666” demarcation the house originally had. While no one was living at the house at the time, if you visit the location remember to be respectful of the owners.

Redd Foxx’s house.

The home once occupied by Redd Foxx, of Sanford and Son fame, is now a real estate agency. The home was known to be haunted before the current business occupied the home and performed an exorcism and had a medium tell them to paint a red fox on both sides of their sign to appease him. He is still there, however, playing pranks on the people that work in the office.

Green Valley Park

There are two stories surrounding Green Valley Park in Henderson. It is said that in the 70’s two boys were killed and there bodies were dumped in the park. According to Jac, our tour guide, the court records about the event were sealed and it is impossible to find information regarding the names of the children. However their ghosts have been seen in the area of the barbecue near the front of the park. The tours website has an enteresting photograph taken at the location by a member of the tour. We have an odd photograph of the area also that can be seen on our Ghostly Images? page. We also have a full page dedicated to Green Valley Park.

The other story surrounds the death of another person whose body, from what I remember, was also found in the park. His family placed a plaque and a tree in the park to memorialize him. Jac mentioned the tree was too far away to allow us to see. However, when we went back in the daytime we found the tree not really very far from where we were, and learned the name: Christopher Brown. Doing some internet research we discovered that 29 year old Henderson resident Christopher D. Brown died while attempting to cross a Interstate 15 on foot. (news article). The dates listed on the memorial plaque match the year of death and age. We do not know what significance this park had to Mr. Brown.

Carluccio’s Tivoli Gardens

The restaurant is housed in a building that was designed by the famed pianist Liberace and is located adjacent to the Liberace museum. Liberace is said to be seen starring at guests inside the banquet room in the back through the window from the outside. Other stories about his presence in the building include a story about how one day all of the power switched off suddenly with no explanation. The other businesses in the area still had their power. When one of the waitresses remembered it was Liberace’s birthday they sang happy birthday to him. When they were done the power was restored. The owners had an electrician come out on the following day, but he found nothing wrong with the electrical system. Another story involves a large tree in a planter near the bar in the piano room. Someone said something insulting of Liberace and the tree fell over. It took three men to set the tree back up again. We have a full page dedicated to Carluccio’s Tivoli Gardens that include information from employees of the restaurant and our review.

We also were driven by Liberace’s house, but no stories of the supernatural were conveyed.

Luxor

There have been a couple suicides in the Luxor pyramid. According to the tour, one of them fell from the 26th floor into the area that was once the buffet. The person who jumped was suffering from AIDS and as a precaution the hotel closed the buffet and moved it to a separate part of the building out of fear of contamination. The second person jumped from the 10th floor and hit the ground around the area of what was once the express check out. On the tenth floor guests report having someone whisper in their ear, or blow down their neck only to turn around and see no one there. (according to some web sources this phenomena occurs on the 10th floor of the adjacent Excalibur Hotel, although it does not specifically mention which of the two towers of the Excalibur.)

The old Nile River ride that was only open for a few years after the hotel opened was said to be haunted, potentially by ghosts of men who died when the building was being constructed and a wall fell on them.

We have a page dedicated to the Luxor Hotel Casino.

Las Vegas Hilton

The ghost of Elvis is said to haunt the entire top floor of the hotel (now broken up in to smaller suites with one occupied by Barry Manilow at the time of our visit) He has also been seen in the basement near the theater and in a freight elevator that he used to ride in to avoid the crowds of fans that would follow him. We have a page dedicated to the Las Vegas Hilton.

Our Review

He Says:

While I found the pre-show to a be a little cheesy, the actual tour portion is entertaining and informative. They freely admit they got some of their stories from other sources, but they cite some of them on the tour. Our tour guide, Jac Hayden, was funny, friendly, and informative. I enjoyed the opportunities we had to depart the bus and explore two of the locations. It was on one of these excursions that my wife took the photo of the strange shadowy shape that is clearly not there in other photographs

She Says:

If you enjoy ghost stories, macabre humor and have a few hours to spend, I recommend this tour. I think that it is a real sign of professional integrity that they do not promote random rumors. When other guests would ask “What about the one I heard about…”, they stated that they did not wish to promote stories that had no research to substantiate them. So they may know more stories, but they only wish to present the best of the best and the most documented tales.

Seattle Underground Tour

Seattle’s underground tour is half comedy routine and half history lesson. The story of how the underground came to be and the way the tour guides tell it is a lot of the reason to see the underground tour. So as not to spoil the tour if you ever plan on going, I will give a very short capsule version. Seattlites a long time ago made a lot of stupid decisions. They decided to raise the level of the town (above the mud) and the city and townspeople had a slight disagreement about it. The city raised the streets to ten feet above sidewalk level, and chaos ensued. Eventually, the sidewalk was raised and the second level of the buildings became street level. The old first levels are still there, underground.

Ghost Stories

I have found a lot of references to the Seattle Underground being haunted, but the only source I could find is the book Ghost Stories of Wasshington by Barbara Smith. In it there are reports from a tour guide named Janet having seen a man in period clothing. There are a few other references to sightings in the book, and a more detailed description of this one if you want to check that out for further reading.

Our Review

Cannot really say much more about it than I have already in the about section, except to say that it was fascinating. I loved the lecture/stand-up routine that starts off the tour, and I loved the tour itself. I highly recommend seeing this if you are ever in the Seattle area.

We went on this tour as part of our “Haunted Honeymoon.” You can learn more about our visit by checking out our honeymoon page day 14.

Official Website for Seattle Underground.

Ghostly Walks with John Adams

John Adams is a preeminent storyteller and historian in the Victoria Area (and all of the pacific northwest). He has been guiding Ghostly Walks in Victoria since 1970.

Ghost Stories

Since part of the point of the ghostly walks are the stories, it would be a shame to ruin them by retelling them here. Suffice to say, they were good stories, and well told. There were numerous stories on our tour about the Empress Hotel, St. Anne’s Academy, and the Helmcken House.

Our Review

Kryis and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. John Adams in an excellent storyteller. It does not matter if you believe in the supernatural or not. The pacing and tone of his voice add beautifully to the carefully constructed stories. There is no doubt that the tour was worth it, although we did not see any apparitions on our tour.

We went on the tour as part of our “Haunted Honeymoon” you can get more information by visiting our honeymoon page day 12.

Official Website for Ghostly Walks.