Post by Joanna on Nov 29, 2015 23:15:17 GMT -5
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Haunted Hotels of Northern Colorado is more than a collection of spectral spookings, it’s a well-told history of Colorado’s pioneer boom days. Evergreen author Nancy K. Williams researched extensively and wrote engagingly about the real-world aspirations behind the apparitions in lodges from the Meeker Hotel to the Hotel Colorado.
Laurena Mayne Davis: What is your writing background?
Nancy K. Williams: I began freelance writing for magazines when my kids were little while I was working full-time as a registered nurse. My first sale was to Trailer Life magazine, a piece about allergic reactions to insect stings. Since we lived near the Gold Country just east of Sacramento, we’d load the kids and dogs in our pickup and head for the hills to explore the old towns and pan for gold.
I had no writing classes in college but really studied writing and collected a big library of books on how to write. Writing was always there and the amount of articles I cranked out depended upon the demands of my full-time job. I wrote about herb teas before they were popular and how to whip up a salad of your backyard weeds before that was trendy. That type of article appeared in health publications like Prevention and Bestways.
Davis: What drew you to this particular project?
Williams: My husband always encouraged me to try things that I didn’t think I could do, from going for leadership positions to writing. I don’t think I’d ever have tried writing without his positive encouragement through rejection after rejection. I’m sure as a journalist you know how discouraging that can be. Anyway, he always said I should write a book about the California Gold Country, which I loved. I never really got at it, but before he died from lung cancer at 52, I promised I’d finally write that book.
Again, the years passed, but the book nagged like a chronic toothache, one I’d avoided doing anything about. Then one day I realized it had been 26 years since I made that promise, and it was time to keep it. That became my first book: Haunted Hotels of the California Gold Country.
After many exciting Jeep trips around Colorado, I discovered more fascinating old places, which eventually grew into this book.
Davis: Your research is extensive. I imagine you had a fabulous time traveling around the state and learning about the life stories of the people behind the ghost stories. What favorite memories come to mind?
Williams: I loved researching material for this book and learned so much. My problem always is trying to include too much – how a town developed or what some quirky character did or just how difficult life really was. I do not see how prospectors survived in the rugged mountains in the winter and the hardships families faced trying to build a life in the mining camps were terrible. I read old letters men wrote home to their families – their loneliness and discouragement because not everyone struck it rich.
My son, granddaughter and I had fun exploring old trails through the mountains and we saw so many fallen-down cabins and remnants of old mining camps. Today, there’s little left of these thriving settlements that once bustled with activity. While exploring the large old North London Mill and Mine in Mosquito Gulch near Fairplay, which is in pretty good shape considering its age and the heavy snows, you can practically hear the interminable racket of the stamps crushing ore and see all the miners bustling around. It doesn’t seem possible that a branch of the Denver and South Park Railroad once ran clear up this gulch.
Davis: Are there any grand old hotels featured in your book that you haven’t stayed at yet but would still like to?
Williams: I’ve visited the Brown Palace several times, but have never stayed overnight. My daughter has spent several nights there and she says it’s fabulous. The TP is even gift-wrapped!
Davis: Ghosts, particularly those from the boom days, seem to be a lingering connection to history. Why do you think people want to keep those stories alive?
Williams: I think people want to know more about those who lived before – what their lives were like, what they dreamed about and the pain they suffered. Ghosts can link us to the past, they are remnants of past lives. There’s also a melancholy about some sad figures of the past – the woman who waits for a lost husband or lover, the mother who mourns the loss of a baby, the dreamer who failed to strike it rich, the lovelorn miner whose sweetheart died too young. We see their stories repeated in our lives today.
Davis: Did you witness any paranormal activity during your research?
Williams: I have never "seen a ghost," but I have sure had cold chills in places, sensed that something else was present and felt a strong urge to get out before something bad happened. In a cabin in Leadville, I could not sleep, despite leaving all the lights on and pulling the covers over my head. It was a heavy, evil feeling and I knew something was watching me. When I spent the night in a tiny loft overhead with my granddaughter, I was certain if I came down the ladder (no stairs) during the night, that something was going to grab my leg. It was really a spooky place. I’ve seen those fleeting shadows out of the corner of my eye but convinced myself that it was nothing.
Now you’re going to laugh, but I think I have a ghost-hunting dog, a Boston terrier. While staying at the Hotel Colorado, he’d freeze and stare fixedly at one spot and refuse to move. When we snapped a digital picture, we saw he was focused on an orb or a group of orbs. He’d move, and we’d take another picture, which showed the orbs were gone. Near the morgue in the basement, he became quite frightened, picked up his leash and headed for the stairs.
Photos showed he was surrounded by large orbs, with some even on his head. I thought I was nuts until I happened to see a Ghost Hunters: TAPS program in which Jason Hawes' dog picked up paranormal activity during an investigation. It makes sense, really, since ghosts are masses of energy that can be detected by animals as well as humans.
Davis: What are you working on now?
Williams: I am planning a book on haunted hotels in Southern Colorado as a follow-up to this one. Then I am toying with the idea of a children’s book about my ghost-busting dog. On the serious side, I’d like to write about the history of the Evergreen area. Arcadia and History Press like local histories, and little has been done here. Then my other long-held interest would be to put together a book about Teddy Roosevelt and his Colorado connections.
Source: Laurena Mayne Davis, The Daily Sentinel, November 28, 2015.