Haunted & Paranormal

From the fanciful and revelatory to the horrifying and sorrowful, the folklore of southern Utah hints at a complex history. Whether spiritual or spooky, home-grown legends are a window to understanding local culture. Visit Grafton, Utah's most haunted ghost town. Explore what haunts Southern Utah University in Cedar City, the St. George Temple and Touquerville's "murder house.'? Learn about skinwalkers and the theft of Native American beliefs. Examine the numerous urban legends surrounding Route 666, "The Devil's Highway.'? Uncover the secrets of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the curse of Escalante Petrified Forest. Drawing on information from more than two hundred interviews, Darren M. Edwards investigates the tales and myths that permeate and persist in communities throughout red rock country.

Uncovering ghost stories in Salt Lake City leads to a spooky mixture of legend, lore and local history. A young female apparition likes to surprise guests of the McCune Mansion by leaping from a mirror. Believed to be stationed at Fort Douglas, a Civil War vet named Clem still teases female visitors. Staff at the historic Devereaux Mansion, once a major social center, relented in their vain nightly attempts to keep the lights off and let the spirits continue their eternal party. And nuns of the Sisters of the Holy Cross still visit patients in the hospital they established. The guides of Story Tours' Salt Lake City Ghost Tour reveal characters who just can't seem to leave the valley.

From Ogden up to Logan, northern Utah claims more than its fair share of restless spirits. The Ben Lomond Hotel was rumored to be the site of a honeymooning bride who tragically drowned in her bathtub, only to have her distraught son consequently commit suicide in the adjoining room. The iconic Union Station still houses passengers in the form of apparitions and disembodied voices. The owner of the Shooting Star Saloon purportedly continues to monkey around with the jukebox and a phantom piano, while Crystal Hot Springs hosts a bevy of spirits, including a crying child, a stabbing victim and multiple pool-related fatalities. Author Jennifer Jones unearths the stories behind the ghosts that continue to preside over their final destinations.