Ghosts at Goldfield Hotel?

A number of ghosts reportedly haunt the Goldfield Hotel in Goldfield, NV, including a brick-throwing spirit that helped propel the Ghost Adventures crew to fame. But is the hotel truly haunted? Or are the stories nothing more than folklore gone wild?

No More Gold in Goldfield

Goldfield sprang to life in 1902 after prospectors discovered gold in the area. The town’s population quickly swelled, and by 1906, 20,000 people called Goldfield home. Two years later, the Goldfield Hotel opened its doors and was the height of luxury, boasting a saloon, fine dining, and the fastest elevator in Nevada. However, the ore in the mines didn’t last, and as the mines emptied out, so did the town. By 1910, the population of Goldfield was less than 5,000.

The hotel limped along until the 1940s but closed forever in 1945. The property is now privately owned and off limits to the public. Today, less than 300 people live in Goldfield, and the once thriving town would likely be forgotten if it weren’t for Zak Bagans and the Ghost Adventures crew.

Ghost Adventures in Goldfield

In 2007, Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin released a documentary titled Ghost Adventures. The film features the trio investigating the Goldfield Hotel, and footage of a brick flying across the room, seemingly by itself, made the investigators famous. Ghost Adventures is now in its ninth season, and the crew has returned to the hotel two times. Host Zak Bagans says Goldfield holds the key to answers about the afterlife.

Ghosts at Goldfield

A number of legends surround the 112-year-old hotel though the most disturbing involves a prostitute named Elizabeth. The story goes that hotel owner George Wingfield got Elizabeth pregnant, and, fearing a scandal, chained her to a radiator in the basement so no one would discover their affair. There the terrified woman remained, pleading for help, until she either died in child birth or was murdered. George then threw the baby down an abandoned mine shaft. Now, people claim to see Elizabeth roaming the hotel, a ghostly woman in white bemoaning her tragic fate. She particularly likes Room 109. An infant’s wails also pierce the empty hotel, or so the story goes.

Other spirits at the Goldfield Hotel include two suicide victims on the third floor, a trio of ghostly children and their dwarf companion, and a menacing ghost known as The Stabber. George Winfield himself also walks the old halls, leaving the scent of cigar smoke in his wake.

Goldfield Skeptics

Though Zak is certain the Goldfield Hotel is haunted, there’s no shortage of critics claiming to debunk the infamous brick footage. It’s also worth noting that other so-called haunted hotels, such as Oklahoma’s City Skirvin, have variations of the abused woman/crying baby tale. In the Skirvin story, the owner impregnated a maid and locked her in a room on an upper floor. The woman gave birth to the child and then committed suicide by leaping from the window. Now she, and her baby, haunt the historic hotel.

What do you believe? Is the Goldfield Hotel truly haunted or are the stories surrounding the hotel more folklore than fact?

For more information, please see:

Goldfield Historical Society
Goldfield Hotel Wikipedia
Legends of America