The Ghosts of Wyoming

In December 2004 we did a "mini tour" of Wyoming, performing shows for Kennecott Spring Creek Mine in Sheridan and Short Powerline Service in Glenrock. We selected 7 actors, rented a van, and set out one Friday in the frosty but still air of a Colorado pre-dawn. When the sun came up, however, we found that Wyoming was different.

Don fights to keep the van on course in a strong crosswind somewhere north of Cheyenne.

In The Virginian, Owen Wister wrote about the towns of Wyoming: "More forlorn they were than stale bones. They seemed to have been strewn there by the wind and to be waiting till the wind should come again and blow them away."

Every cluster of homes or herd of cattle along the way was huddled behind a cliff or stand of trees.

But not the antelope. Antelope like the wind.

The lights of Sheridan gleam for Christmas. Fortunately, the town is in the lee of the mountains, so the snow and wind - at least during our visit - were much less there than further south.

That night we put on our show at the Sheridan Inn, which opened 1893. They say there was a woman named “Miss Kate” who worked there for 64 years, retired in 1965, and died in 1968. By her own wishes, she was cremated and her ashes were buried in the wall of the third floor room that she had occupied for so many years. Her favorite chair was placed next to her.

The staff say Miss Kate’s presence is felt almost daily. Lights turn on and off. Doors open and shut. There are moving cold spots on the third floor, near the front downstairs windows, and in the dining room (below). Sometimes visitors hear footsteps upstairs.

The dining room of the Sheridan Inn where we did the show. Although there were many rooms upstairs, the staff told us they were closed off for some reason, so we had to use a cloakroom on the first floor as our "green" room.

This is not Miss Kate. It's one of our actresses beneath the traditional Yule Buffalo that decorates the dining room. The staff put a hat on one horn and we put a star on the other. Somehow it seemed a more appropriate place for decoration than the live tree which (no doubt bent by years of wind) had trouble standing up straight.

Saturday: shopping in downtown Sheridan. This is King Saddlery on Main Street, home of King Ropes and King Western Museum. There is actually a very mundane ghost in this photo. Can you find it?

Saturday: stopping for lunch at the Sagewood Cafe in Buffalo, Wyo. From left to right: Bob Hart, Nadine Keaney, Dave Woolover, Heidi Link, and Star Edgington.

On the day of the annual Christmas Parade, the Sagewood has a Jambalaya special. The waitress asked if we'd had Jambalaya before. I said I'd had it in New Orleans. "Oh well", she replied, "this is just Wyoming Jambalaya."

But it was actually quite good: rice, chicken, shrimp, and sausage in a spicy hotness that doesn't bite but rather envelops you with gentle warmth.

Saturday: Historic Higgins Hotel and Paisley Shawl Dining Room in Glenrock, where we did a show for Short Powerline Service.

One of the most fascinating things about the Higgins is a huge bearskin rug in its lobby.

Fire grenades are another fascinating thing about the Higgins. They told me this was the latest fire-fighting technology in the 1890's. What you'd do is throw a grenade at the fire and the glass would break, spilling the water inside on the flames.

They also told me to put it back in the rack before I had to pay for an expensive antique.

The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies (or something like it) is part of our Christmas show. Here we're in the Paisley Shawl restaurant, named for an historic shawl displayed behind glass on the wall. (Lest you think paisley clothing was an invention of the 1960's, you should know that the design was developed in ancient Babylon, and that Paisley Shawls were in world-wide fashion from 1790 to 1870.) The important part of this photo however, is the dining room window on the right above the radiator.(More on that below.)

After the show: Red Herring actor Bob Hart plays the piano in the Higgins lobby while Short family members and friends sing along.

Higgins lobby at night.

Judi and Mike Colling, the proprietors, told us about two ghosts in the hotel. One they think is called Elsie. She wears high heels and tends to sit on the end of your bed at night. The other is a cowboy named Frank who disappeared a number of years ago. Some psychic investigators got a photo of Frank peering in through the top of a tall window in the dining room.

Our experience: around midnight Heidi went in to check on Dave, who'd retired after the show and hadn't been heard from. Dave was in his room and said he was fine, but he wished Bob, who had the room next door, would stop moving things around while he was getting ready for bed. That's when Heidi told him that Bob was still downstairs in the lobby playing piano.

If you'd like to visit Elsie or Frank yourself, you can call the Higgins Hotel at 307-436-9212 or look up Hotel Higgins on the Web.

Sunday: the trip home. Bob plays a version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on Rudi's ukelele.

A few minutes later he was joined in the singing by Tiny Limeaid, a diminutive actress whose voice sometimes issues from Heidi's throat.

Geologists tell us that, while Colorado has been stirred like broth for last billion years - through uplift, erosion, volcanism, folding, faulting, and fracturing - in all that time Wyoming has remained relatively unchanged. Perhaps that's why it's haunted.

The wind stopped shortly after we crossed the Colorado border.