Episode 37: Vegas Field Trip, Part 2: The Spooks Are On the House

Three storytellers, Thurkettle, Townsend, and Hodur, rendezvoused in Sin City for a special My Dark Path field trip, recording clips of discussions had in key places surrounded by stories of supernatural happenings. The first clip was recorded in The El Cortez where the supposedly haunted room, 3300, sits in the historic wing our team was exploring. One of the biggest major criminal entities who made a fortune in driving the evolution of Las Vegas was Benny Binion; his hotel tells all about its ghosts. Despite being a convicted murderer and an experienced gambling hall boss even before his initial arrival to Vegas, there is a statue of Benny in Vegas today. His story started in Texas where he was born in 1904, but couldn’t go to school due to chronic poor health. Hence, Benny got his education by accompanying his father, a horse trader, on trips throughout the wild, wild west where many fellow horse traders also gambled.

As a teenager, Benny got more involved in the gambling business till he moved to El Paso where he began bootlegging and even committed murders, but walked scot-free based on his influence. When his destructive nature attracted attention beyond his influence, he moved to Las Vegas where he set up the Binion’s Horseshoe Casino, leveraging higher stakes than other casinos to attract high rollers, as well as many other perks that transformed gambling in Vegas to what it would evolve to become today. In the end, the law caught up with Benny as he was arrested for tax evasion and lost his Nevada gaming license but "The hotel Apache", the only section of Binion’s with its name restored, is the only hotel that will openly tell you it is haunted. At the front desk, there’s a pamphlet describing its history of haunted encounters with a card to report yours; this list is on the Dark Path Website. Interestingly, most cases were reported in the same rooms or areas of the hotel, with no explanation from the hotel as to why.

Another place in the suburbs known for supernatural events is the La Palazza Mansion also known as The Death Mansion, The Devil's Mansion, and The Hell House. Located in a residential neighborhood, miles from the Las Vegas strip, it was once owned by Tony “The Ant” Spilotro, who was an enforcer for one of the deadliest gangs in Vegas. Rumored to be the place where many of Tony’s heinous acts were carried out, the house is also known for legends surrounding it like having dead bodies in the backyard and a drain in a room for spilled blood to flow out. La Palazza does not offer ghost tours but there are stories of previous owners like Chris Martinez, who led the Ghost Adventures crew through the house describing several eerie happenings. Spilotro's Devil's Mansion might be one of the last true haunted places in Vegas.

The corporate takeover of Las Vegas transformed casinos but was also connected with deaths. The site of one of the biggest sits at the heart of the Strip today where the old MGM Grand now known as Bally’s was gutted by an immense fire. The disaster which struck the 26-story building on Friday, November 21st, 1980 claimed 85 lives. Remaining the worst disaster in the history of Vegas to date, it is not surprising that at Bally’s, there are several stories of eerie encounters in the tower and the casino itself.

One of the most eye-catching buildings in Vegas, an Egyptian-themed massive black pyramid called The Luxor, also has a dark past foreboding its ghost stories. Deservedly, supernatural energy pools from lives lost during its construction, which has been described as the most difficult building project in the history of The Strip, as well as the spiritual representation of the structure itself and fatalities from accidents or suicides in falls from higher floors.

Celebrity ghosts are not left out of the Vegas dark path experience. The most famous, Elvis Presley, who died in Memphis, performed over 800 shows at Westgate Hotel in Vegas which is where his spirit is most likely to be encountered. Michael Jackson who passed away in Los Angeles has also been said to have been sensed by the cast of a tribute show at the rehearsals and events. There is one place in Vegas where ghost stories rule; Zac Bagans’ Haunted Museum. Created to entertain those with a desire for the morbid and strange, the museum is filled with several cursed objects, antique curios, relics of real-life serial murderers, and even the so-called “Death Van” of euthanasia advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian. While it is mostly entertaining rather than authentically supernatural, the goal is possibly to siphon away peoples’ appetites for a good spook story, separating it from the casinos. In the end, Las Vegas is a city of star power and pleasure, but also a city of murder, torture, and misfortune with dark pasts that make it fertile for supernatural experiences. -"Chasing ghost stories has an uncanny way of opening a door to a history we don’t talk much about" -"When people die from our collective sins, ghost stories seem to follow”

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