In the early 1900s, theatrical displays of séances and psychic powers were common, particularly with the wealthy.
While some viewed these as mere parlor tricks and entertainment, there were those who believed these supernatural happenings were real.
In Wyoming, paranormal activity would often even be reported in local newspapers as journalists and others sought to debunk the sightings.
One such story occurred in March 1900.
Fear had gripped the young women working at the steam laundry in West Cheyenne. Terrified, they would take a long detour to work so they would not have to walk past a certain house located on the southwest corner of 18th and O’Neil streets, across from the laundry.
A headless woman had been seen by several eyewitnesses at that spot, and the young women were petrified to see her again.
The apparition would walk the streets before entering this home on cold, winter nights, according to several newspapers of the time.
“Reports are rife that the house is haunted,” the March 1900 Wyoming Tribune reported. “On several occasions, passerby’s have seen a long white figure, without a head, walking around the premises.”
The young women were adamant that they were not delusional and were positive that they had indeed seen this headless woman.
The reporters dismissed the vision without even bothering with an investigation into the sighting.
“It is evident that someone, in a spirit of mischief, is playing a practical joke on residents in that vicinity,” the reporter said.
He then added that if the specter was not a joke, that several Cheyenne people were subject to a strange hallucination and should see a physician.
The sighting remained a mystery and the young women continued to take the long way to work.
During the early 1900s, Cheyenne was home to several ghosts as well as to the living. A headless ghost had been seen haunting a street and even the police station was not safe from ghostly visitors. (Wyoming State Archives) 
During the early 1900s, Cheyenne was home to several ghosts as well as to the living. A headless ghost had been seen haunting a street and even the police station was not safe from ghostly visitors. ( (Wyoming State Archives) 
Cheyenne Police Officer Tom Holland was confronted with a specter late at night in the hallway of the police station. He said the experience was terrifying. (Wyoming State Archives) 
Cheyenne Police Officer Tom Holland was confronted with a specter late at night in the hallway of the police station. He said the experience was terrifying. (Wyoming State Archives)
Strange Bumps In The Night
Not to be outdone by ghostly tales, the Saratoga Sun was soon reporting on that town’s own haunting.
In early December 1900, a family in Saratoga was so terrified of the strange bumps in their home that they were ready to sell the place at a reduced rate.
“Saratoga has for some time past been priding itself upon the fact that it possessed a haunted house,” the Wyoming Tribune of Cheyenne reported. “Every evening after the inmates had retired to bed, just as the clock struck the hours, there could be heard three hollow knocks somewhere in the building.”
The head of the family was engaged in business and would not come home until late at night. This left his wife, daughters and servant girl home alone as the only witnesses to the terrifying thumps according to the Saratoga Sun.
“This would occur every half hour and the hired girl, fourteen or fifteen years of age, would become so frightened that she would run screaming from the house into the yard, frightened nearly to death,” the Saratoga Sun said.
The matter grew so serious that the family tore up the floor and searched high and low, but the mysterious bumping continued. The women grew afraid to live in the house. The servant girl especially was terribly agitated over the trouble. After the bumps, she would run screaming out of her room, white as a sheet and on the verge of hysteria.
After a week of terror, the newspapers declared the mystery solved.
It was the girl.
The men investigating the matter suspected the young teenager but when she was charged with causing the thumping, she stoutly denied it. So, after the women retired for the night, these men lay in wait for her and claimed to have caught her in the act.
It was found that the servant girl was so affected by the clock striking, that in her sleep, unconsciously, she would startle three times involuntarily. The men claimed that it was the sound of her head striking the bed that gave rise to the ghostly sounds.
The Apparition In The Hallway
Not to be outdone by Saratoga’s ghost story, the next day on Dec. 7, 1900, the Cheyenne Daily Leader was reporting on another scary spirit, this time from the police station.
“Tom Holland had a thrilling experience last evening he will remember for a long time,” the Daily Leaders said. “It didn’t turn his hair gray, but he swears he lost ten pounds by the ordeal.”
Holland, an officer with the Cheyenne police force, was ascending the stairs in the U.M. block about 11 at night. As he passed down the dark corridor, he felt a cold chill creep down his back as he noticed a ghost-like form suddenly appear in the semi-obscurity of the hallway.
Curiosity got the better of superstitious fear and he advanced towards the specter only to observe it float away into the air and disappear.
Again, it suddenly appeared before his eyes and as he bravely advanced, the apparition receded.
By now, Holland was terrified. He was about to turn and flee when suddenly a voice, distinctly human, emanated out of the darkness.
“Oh, it’s you, is it, Tom? What a relief. Say, have you got a key that will fit any room? I went out to take a bath and Les Snow locked me out of my room in this abbreviated costume.”
To Holland’s relief, the speaker was the dignified Ed Smalley, the respected sheriff of Cheyenne who had been locked out in the hallway by his deputy sheriff.
In December, 1900, the haunted house that petrified several women of Saratoga was the talk of the town — until the men claimed the strange thumping was that of a servant girl bumping her head against the headboard each night as the clock chimed the time. (Wyoming State Archives) 
In March 1900, several newspapers in Wyoming carried the story of a headless ghost that had been seen wandering the streets in West Cheyenne. Several explanations were given to the cause of this ghost but the mystery was never solved and terrified young women refused to pass the house the headless ghost had been seen to enter. (Wyoming Newspaper Project) 
In March 1900, several newspapers in Wyoming carried the story of a headless ghost that had been seen wandering the streets in West Cheyenne. Several explanations were given to the cause of this ghost but the mystery was never solved and terrified young women refused to pass the house the headless ghost had been seen to enter. (Wyoming Newspaper Project) 
In March 1900, several newspapers in Wyoming carried the story of a headless ghost that had been seen wandering the streets in West Cheyenne. Several explanations were given to the cause of this ghost but the mystery was never solved and terrified young women refused to pass the house the headless ghost had been seen to enter. (Wyoming Newspaper Project) 
In December 1900, newspaper reports told of a haunted house in Saratoga, Wyoming. The men of the town said they discovered the mysterious thumping was that of a sleeping servant girl who would repeatedly bump her head against the headboard when the clock chimed. (Wyoming Newspaper Project) 
In December, 1900, the haunted house that petrified several women of Saratoga was the talk of the town — until the men claimed the strange thumping was that of a servant girl bumping her head against the headboard each night as the clock chimed the time. (Wyoming State Archives)
The Laramie Literary Club Ghost
During this same period, the elite Literary club in Laramie could not explain away their own ghost and it so terrified the well-educated members that they changed where they met.
For years, Dr. Johnson Burke and the rest of the high society club were disturbed by the memory of their “club ghost.”
At one of their meetings of the Literary club, the gentleman who was president at the time was expected to appear and take the chair.
According to the 1901 Laramie Boomerang, the gentlemen could not come, but in his place there appeared a figure bearing his likeness, wearing a long white robe and with the face wan and spectral.
The ghostly visitor refused to talk. He discouraged by gesture any attempt at conversation and simply greeted each member present with a nod. He waved his arms solemnly and, then, disappeared as quickly as he had come.
None of the men had seen the figure enter or leave the premises.
A messenger was immediately dispatched to the house of the president but discovered that he had died that very night.
The most eminent men of Laramie were at great pains to solve the very strange proceeding, but without avail, the Boomerang said.
Convinced that the ghost of the departed president had really visited them, they moved the club meetings to another part of Laramie where the ghost could not disturb them.
Many years after this strange visitation, Burke was summoned to the bedside of a dying woman who wanted to give him her final confession.
She confessed that she had nursed the literary club president in his final days. She had been told by the physician that in the crisis of the president’s illness she must not leave the invalid for a moment, or that he might perish.
However, the dying women confessed, she momentarily neglected her duty. During this time, her patient escaped from the chamber and hurried to the club meeting. When he returned to his room, this excursion had so exhausted him that the gentleman had instantly expired.
It is not known if the Literary club was relieved or disappointed to finally understand the mystery behind their ghostly guest when the visitation was finally explained.
As for the early newspapermen of Wyoming, they continued to search out these ghostly stories to entertain and terrify their readers.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
