The ghosts that haunt some of Bisbee's favorite places will be the major attraction during an upcoming weekend of paranormal hunts.
Starting Friday, guests with a preference for things that go bump in the night will gather in the historic mining town to meet each other and their guides to discuss the adventure that organizer Renee Gardner, guide of Old Bisbee Ghost Tour, wants to turn into an annual event.
"We hope this is the first of many to come," Gardner said.
The Bisbee Inn and Hotel La More were chosen as the accommodations for the weekend, based in part on their own hauntings.
The hotel has three ghosts that have taken up residency, guests and the owner have claimed.
In one room, a wandering spirit apparently dislikes toiletries. They end up on the floor. In another room, a lonely ghost likes to climb into bed with the guests. Evidence of that other-worldly existence is seen in the depression that forms in the mattress.
People are also reading…
Then there's the handsome miner who appears in his mining gear at the end of a hallway, Gardner noted.
The latter has a cat who apparently likes human company now and then. It purrs and walks across the bed to the delight of some and the chagrin of others.
One of Bisbee's most famous ghosts, the Lady in White, has been seen hovering in the corner of one room and outside at the darkened stairs behind the old hotel, Gardner added. She is a kindly lost soul who is credited with saving the lives of a few youngsters.
For those who join in the full-moon adventure, the International Community for Paranormal Investigation and Research will provide information on how to use scientific equipment to detect ghosts.
The members use a variety of technologies from digital and film cameras to infrared cameras to voice recorders.
The Web site for the organization states that the International Community for Paranormal Investigation and Research "formed because of a need to allow more people access to proper training as paranormal researchers."
All team members are chosen after meeting strict requirements, and all investigations are conducted with professionalism.
The group's mission is to find proof of the existence of life after death through scientific investigation.
"That evening during the full moon, guests will take the Old Bisbee Ghost Tour," Gardner said.
"After the Old Bisbee Ghost Tour, they will have the opportunity to ghost hunt with members from the International Center of Paranormal Investigations and Research at the very hotels they are staying at, which are believed to be the most haunted hotels in Bisbee."
On the weekend, members of the International Community of Paranormal Investigation and Research will continue their lectures on more of the equipment used in their studies and evidence they have found during some of their investigations.
"Later on (that) Saturday, the group will then head over to Tombstone to take the Tombstone Ghost Tour and to investigate the world famous Bird Cage Theater, thought by many to be the most haunted building in America," Gardner said.
Numerous killings by gunslingers happened in the notorious Bird Cage Theater, which served as a theater, saloon, gambling hall and brothel during the heyday of Tombstone in the 1880s.
