From now on, when I think of Las Vegas, I will definitely think
of gambling, glitter and ghosts. “Ghosts…in Vegas?” you
ask. Well, if you don’t think that Sin City is haunted,
you’d better think again, because you’re dead wrong!
Recently, I was invited to speak at the first annual Las Vegas
Paranormal Conference, along with my good friend and colleague,
renowned ghost hunter, Patti Starr. While I was there, I discovered
a supernatural side of the city that I’d never known about
before!
The conference was held at The Palace Station Hotel and Casino
and included many informative workshops and lectures. The
list of speakers read like a partial “Who’s Who of
Hauntings.” Paranormal investigator, Richard Senate,
and his wife, psychic Debbie Christenson Senate, were there. Jeff
Belanger, whose very informative website, Ghost Village, receives
5 million hits per month, was there. Dennis Hauck, an investigator
who appears in the trailer for the movie, White Noise, was there.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Janice Oberding, one of the
organizers of the event. Janice, a resident of Reno, has written
several books about Nevada hauntings. Her book, Las Vegas
Haunted, recounts numerous hauntings that have been reported in
this dazzling and glamorous city. Janice recently gained international
exposure due to her appearances in several episodes of Dead Famous,
a television series that features two hosts -- a psychic and a
skeptic -- who search for the ghosts of deceased celebrities.
Robert Allen is a longtime Las Vegas resident and entertainer who
has performed alongside many celebrity headliners. After watching
a television documentary about hauntings in Vegas, based on Janice
Oberding’s book, Robert founded Haunted Vegas Tours. The
two-and-a-half hour bus tour is a bit like a ghostly Grey Line
excursion, but it is also filled with compelling historical information
about Las Vegas
The Haunted Vegas Tour kicks off with a half-hour show at The Greek
Isles Hotel and Casino. The tour includes visits to the scene
of Tupac Shakur’s fatal shooting, the location of gangster
Bugsy Siegel’s former home, several haunted hotels, and the
haunted edifices that were once the homes of Redd Foxx and Liberace.
The bus also stops at a local park where a young boy, who was killed
nearby in a tragic accident, reportedly plays on a swing in the
playground. Three female ghosts are also said to roam in the
park. Another stop includes a look at a high priced dwelling,
just across the street from entertainer Wayne Newton’s ranch.
This was once home to a drug dealing Satan worshipper. The
home lies empty; no one is willing to purchase the property because
of its sordid history and the eerie, paranormal activity that now
occurs there. |
During the tour, I also discovered
that the ghost of Elvis is frequently seen lurking around the
Las Vegas Hilton. (It would appear that Elvis has NOT left the building!) The
specters of three people who jumped from the top of the tower
at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino reportedly haunt that location.
Conference attendees were treated to a special trip to the original
Las Vegas home of famed entertainer and pianist, Liberace. The
rambling ranch style dwelling is located in a rather nondescript
area of the city, but the interior of the home is definitely opulent. The
current owners of the house have left it much as it was when Liberace
lived there, filled with crystal, chintz, assorted gaudy chotchkes
and mirrors everywhere. A life-sized painting of silent film
star, Rudolph Valentino, hangs in the foyer of the house, undoubtedly
in homage to the fact that “Valentino” was Liberace’s
middle name. A grand piano, owned by the famed showman,
remains in the house, now digitally automated to play tunes precisely
in the same fashion that Liberace played them.
Some members of the tour group captured orbs and even ghostly
faces in photos that they took inside the house. Others claimed
they felt a “presence” there. I honestly felt
nothing, perhaps because there were 40+ others trekking through
the house ... and perhaps because Liberace was busy giving a
concert in the Great Beyond.
A final thought: I was totally prepared to dislike the new CBS
television series, Ghost Whisperer, mostly because I envisioned
it as a knock off of NBC’s highly successful show, Medium. I
decided, nonetheless, to give the show a chance and I am delighted
that I did. Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer
Love Hewitt, is about a young woman, Melinda Gordon, who helps
earthbound spirits to finally cross over. Although some
may find the show a bit schmaltzy, similar in tone to the former
TV shows, Touched
by an Angel and Highway to Heaven, I applaud the
show for its emotional honesty, as well as its lack of fear in
teaching the general public what “we who walk the spiritual path” already
know about death and dying. Ghost Whisperer airs on CBS on Friday nights
at 8 PM.
The Las Vegas Paranormal Conference is slated to become an
annual event, taking place during the first weekend of October. Visit
www.tlvpc.com for more information.
Also on the Web:
www.hauntedvegastours.com - Robert Allen’s Haunted Vegas
Tours, www.hauntednevada.com - Janice Oberding’s website,
www.ghostvillage.com - Jeff Belanger’s website, www.ghost-stalkers.com
- Richard Senate’s website, www.haunted-places.com - Dennis
Hauck’s
website
Chip Coffey is a psychic, medium and
tarot reader. Contact 770-806-0369,
chipcoffey@aol.com, www.chipcoffey.com.
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