My Dog The Professional Ghost Hunter:

Stanley Sniffs Out Oatman Hotel Ghosts!

Some dogs hunt rabbits... My dog hunts real ghosts!

Story and Photos ©2007 Cheryl Edmond

Many web sites and paranormal investigators have recorded many stories about pets ghost or being able to detect real ghosts by using such as dogs and cats, parrots even snakes and fish. This is why I like to bring my ghost hunting pets along with me on Paranormal investigations. I also bring EMF detectors and the usual ghost hunting equipment to check out their reactions with also. Ghost hunters say that, judging from the number of ghost-hunting organizations they are involved with, I am the first in America to use my dog to do ghosts hunts with.

I've had experiences of seeing spectral figures as a child while growing up in Maine. I've lived in many haunted homes and experienced them and their trappings of such first hand. Those experiences led me to investigate many of the most haunted places in the west. My experience is mostly first hand, not necessesarily just equipment related. Sorta, Been there-experienced that. I am a pragmatist. And do not believe everything I hear. I need my own solid proof to be a believer. But, I do believe in what I've seen.

I use my own pets as professional natural born ghost hunters. Besides they like going with me and their personal instincts and awareness is more highly tuned and developed then humans. In speaking with many Paranormal experts and others who research the field. Most all agree that pets or aware of another world or haunted dimension that we do not see or realize is there. I believe that most paranormal activity is explainable. However, my experiences in the field of ghost hunting has open my mind to the possibility that we are not alone. I've been interested in the paranormal since I was young, I've had some experiences myself but nothing that I would say is solid proof to others, just to myself until Stanley started hunting ghosts with me.

I am mainly interested now a days in demonology, and reoccurring hauntings and poltergeists. I have always been interested in the paranormal or the un-explained for as long as I can remember. I got my start hunting ghosts with a friend in the early 1990's setting up video surveilance cameras to catch a reported entity which had been haunting a lighthouse in Maine when I was in college. I've investigated several ghost towns in the past 5 years, battlefields, haunted cemeteries and strange places considered to be haunted.

This is the first story of how I got my dog involved with my Ghost Hunting experiences. I will in the future add more to the never ending story of my ghost hunt adventures.

Do Our Own Pets See Real Ghosts?

My Ghost Hunter cat Spencer see's real ghosts all the time... Does your cat do the same?

Many cat enthusiasts believe that cats especially have superb supernatural psychic abilities and can see and tell if a ghost is present. These cats often growl and vocalize and the skin over their spine ripples as the event occurs. Some do liken it to taking a canary into a coal mine to find out if there is natural gas leaks.

I have heard dog owners tell how their pet stares and follows something unseen to us in our homes. Often how they are awakened and growl as if a stranger has entered the home unseen. Fish react as snakes do to temperature changes and light. My snake Bazal often coils away from cold spots and hides his head if a ghost is near. As for being a 7 foot fat red tailed boa, yes he offers great protection too... if you happen upon a stranger in a haunted cemetery late at night but that's another story.

My Dog The Professional Ghost Hunter

I decided to put this to the test and started taking my own dog and cat and fish and snake on ghost investigations with me. Besides my dog Stanley being great protection I wanted to see if he or the cat saw something or heard something that I did not. Animal senses of smell and hearing are more sensitive and acute then ours or so they say. And often ESP powers have been noted. Snakes fish are sensitive to light movement and temperature change, and as we know snakes taste the air, and parrots I believe are natural born instinctive ghost hunters all from my personal observations. All of these pets I happen to own and so take them on my paranormal excursions all the time depending on the case and surroundings involved.

Strange Haunted Surroundings

Once I took my 100 lb Rottweiler to Oatman, Arizona, an authentic western ghost town and mining camp, located along historic route 66. I also did my research to find out all I could about this Haunted Ghost Town. And called ahead to see if I could bring him in to the businesses and location without any problems.

I stayed at the Kingman Arizona Bed and Breakfast near Oatman Ghost Town, Brunswick Hotel and Hubbs Restaurant, 315 E. Andy Devine Ave., Kingman, Arizona 86401 520-718-1800 FAX: 520-718 1801.

Amenities: Air conditioning, Telephone in room, Television in room, Television in parlor, VCR, Piano, Antiques, Sitting room/library, Full breakfast, Continental breakfast, Box lunches, Banquet facilities, Balcony, Room with scenic view, Private porch, No smoking, Pets possible (inquire), Children possible, Meeting rooms/facilities, Suites available, Laundry facilities, Full handicapped/wheelchair access, Restaurant on site, Other meals upon special request and Corporate rate available. And Please Call ahead about your pets stay too!

Sight - Seeing: Museum and Historical site/district

Other Sports: Golf, Tennis and Horseback riding

Out In The Town: Antique shops/malls, Espresso bars, Shopping district and Movie cinemas

Out In Nature: Parks and Stargazing

Rides & Tours: Cave/cavern tours and Train rides.

Area Attractions:
Oatman Ghost Town , Powerhouse Visitors Center, Chloride Ghost Town, Hualapai Mountain Park, Laughlin, NV Gambling

These recreational facilities and attractions are all within 30 miles of Brunswick Hotel and Hubbs Restaurant.

Stanely and I roamed the streets of this old west-mining town and visited the Oatman Hotel where Clark Gable and Carol Lombard spent their wedding night and where " Katie The Ghost ", an Irish Miner who died in 1930, is said to reside. I also took him to the many shops and the mining are too.

I wanted to take him because I knew the place was haunted and because it was full of strange people and scents. I feel it is important to know your pet and see how he reacts to the living as well as a place and strange sounds. Observation I do believe is the crucial key to any Ghost Hunter and investigations of paranormal hauntings.

GHOSTS PHOTOS

I think he saw and encountered Katies' Ghost, Stanley began to get rigid in his stance and growl in a low tone towards an empty wall at the top of the stairs. I snapped a few pictures as well as did a few EVP's. Someone heard his growl and I explained to them that I think he saw a ghost. They said to me that their dog acted the same way and thought she saw real ghost as well.

The Ghost of Clark Gable? everytime Stanley reacted I snapped a photo with a few anomalous results.

This is the room that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their hoonymoon. They were married in Kingman, Arizona but the news people were so bad, that they went to Oatman to get away.

As I stood out side the door Stanely growled long and low so I snapped this Ghost photo to my surprise when I saw it. The photos I took when he was calm showed no phenomena at all.

The burro's that roamed freely kind of set Stanley on edge but all in all it was great for our first learning experience. Oatman's "Wild" Burro's are the descendants of burro's brought here by the miners late 1800 hundred – when the miners no longer needed then were turned loose. Each morning they come into town looking for food. They wander the streets and greet the tourists. Burro pellets and carrots are for sale at many of the shops -- the burros will eat all day if you feed them. -- Shortly before the sunset they will wander back to the hills for the night.

 

Oatman, Arizona - A Living Ghost Town Research

Oatman, Arizona around the turn of the century, photo courtesy Arizona Images, Phoenix Public Library

Oatman began 0ver 100 years ago as a mining tent camp and quickly became a flourishing gold-mining center. In 1915, two miners struck a $10 million gold find, and within a year, the town's population grew to more than 3,500.

Oatman was named in honor of Olive Oatman, who was kidnapped as a young girl by Mojave Indians and later rescued in 1857 near the current site of the town. Oatman was served by a narrow gauge rail line between 1903 and 1905 that ran 17 miles to the Colorado river near Needles, California.

But both the population and mining booms were short-lived. In 1921, a fire burned down many of the smaller shacks in town, and three years later, the main mining company, United Eastern Mines, shut down operations for good. Oatman survived by catering to travelers on old U.S. Route 66. But in the 1960s, when the route became what is now Interstate 40, Oatman almost died.

The Ghost Of Animals Haunt Us!

Is it possible that burros', may become ghosts too, I thought? There have been many reports of people who have had encounters the ones they say who had previously died. Could many of the haunting's of houses and open areas be the ghost of these lost dead animals?

Stanley got use to place rather quickly, and the burro's too. But I realized this was a busy place and I needed to take him somewhere more private or more haunted. So I thought I would go out with him scouting old historical Route 66.

As we walked along Old haunted highway Route 66 he kept looking back as if something was following us right on our heels. he would growl and bark. I turned around several times and no one was there. So I snapped a few pictures of the empty highway brush behind us and to my surprise I think I captured ghost burros on film. I was told that there have been several burros hit on the highway so why not a better reason for them to haunt this spot.

Many people have had experiences with family pets Ghost coming back whether that be as simple as a ball of twine rolling across the floor by itself with no outside source, the feeling of something rubbing up against your leg and there's nothing there and sometimes the actual visual apparition of the beloved pet. I realized that I still had a bag of carrots hanging out of my purse. I tend to believe this ghost Burro was hungry! This was my first attempt at ghost hunting with Stanley, I have many more tales and will tell them all to you soon.