Books

For a state that is said to have no room for ghosts, Utah certainly   has a vast number of haunted places! In this compelling and highly entertaining   book, author and Utah native Linda Dunning takes a trip back in time and   uncovers the ghosts, legends and unusual lore of a state that is unique in the   annals of American History. Travel along as she reveals the mysteries and   miracles of haunted mansions and farm houses, ghostly hotels and public   buildings, spirit-infested hospitals, churches and gathering places, eerie old   schools, colleges and universities and finally, the phantoms of Utah’s many old   mills and abandoned factories. It is a journey that no reader will soon forget,   filled with the lingering personalities of Mormon pioneers, miners, mill   workers, millionaires and murderers, through a land that is like no other —   Haunted Utah!

Performers connected to, born in, or growing up in Utah in the early days of stage and silent film, sometimes shared a common community of outcasts. Coming from farms, ranches, mining camps, small towns and big cities, they found their way to Broadway or Hollywood. They joined circuit chautauquas and local opera houses, moving on to smaller traveling troupes or stock companies, some even making it to vaudeville. The Territory of Utah and the early state of Utah provided more performers to both coasts than any other state at the time, actors and actresses often having been skillfully tutored and mentored on the Salt Lake Theatre stage, nicknamed “Brigham’s Playhouse.” In those days stage actors looked down upon early silent actors as being only “mimics” rather than “real” actors. Mormon actors were counseled by Brigham Young to stay put and only perform in “wholesome” plays, while Gentile actors took off for parts unknown on their own, often at a very young age, although some of them had “stage mothers.” These are their stories, many of them told for the first time in these books, capturing all of the “drama” of their lives from those who returned triumphant, those who fell into tragedy, those who went on to international fame, and those who never returned at all. Utah provided the early backdrop, promotions and mentoring for more performers in the talent of acting before an audience, a camera and behind the scenes. These are hundreds of their amazing stories.

Have you ever wondered if there are others like you? People who have experiences that they cannot explain? Do you feel bombarded by many different channels of energy at once? Is it hard to keep tuned into just one channel, like family or friends or even a world channel without being interrupted or confused by many others? Do you know if you are a “Duck” or a “Sponge?” You know, “water runs off a duck’s back,” while “Sponges” soak in the emotions of everyone around them? Are you becoming more aware of the synchronicities in your life, the waking dreams and signs and symbols that show up around you? Do you want to understand the differences between night travels, dreams and a vivid imagination? Do you already have a good cache of self-healing techniques that did not cost you a dime? Are your protections in place as an intuitive? It is time to come out of your intuitive closet! The energies say yes, and your children may already be out there ahead of you!

Travelers can glean a great amount of history from the scenes they see and the places they visit, yet there are other stories and legends that belong to Utah and her native land – tales that are not often told. Saltair was once the premier resort on the shores of the Great Salt Lake until a series of mysterious catastrophes and an unfriendly lake forced its closure. Mount Timpanogos’ unique shape subtly speaks the story of Utahna and not so long ago, the Anasazi were a thriving people, destined for greatness – until they disappeared into the canyons from which they’d carved their civilization, leaving no clues as to their whereabouts. For young and old alike, Lost Landscapes will pique interest and raise questions as to the mysteries within Utah’s borders.

You thought ghosts were wild! Read about these movie celebrities and stars from Utah during the peak period of film making in Hollywood. The crazy twenties, elegant thirties and heartwarming forties; with the true stories of over 250 people seen on screen, behind the scenes or even as stunting cowboys- feuding with movie moguls over their disregard for animals and humans while filming. Utah produced more actors and actresses for Hollywood than nearly any other state in the union. Find out who came from your hometown and whether they made it big, became a steadily employed character actor, worked behind the scenes, mysteriously disappeared or even died tragically.

These small town ghosts from both the past and present can be found all over Utah. There are old pioneer tales told around campfires, more recent tales based on an eccentric canyon dweller or two, even current tales from the land, and old or newly built houses in rural areas which are purported to be haunted. These are the stories of the myths, legends, folklore and true ghostly happenings which others and sometimes even myself have experienced. Of even greater interest are the strange tales from the southern part of the state where my own mother grew up. Kane County, Kanab, the many lakes and even smaller towns and caves all the way to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, provide mysteries to explore and places to visit. History and hauntings merge together in a tapestry of storytelling, where both the unusual and the strange, come together in Restless Spirits.

This was very interesting era in media with the big studios in Hollywood trying to compete with something called television. They came up with all sorts of things from 3-D to Cinerama or widescreen spectaculars in vivid technicolor to compete with what would soon be in everyone’s living room. An invention by a young man from Beaver, Utah, it was Philo T. Farnsworth who envisioned this invention as he gazed across his family’s wheat fields. From radio to screen to TV, performers from Utah flowed into Hollywood while others stayed in Utah to develop television stations in their home state. Early television for kids was very important at that time and many locals made a living out of hosting these various shows. Meanwhile the movies continued on and more and more Utahns made it big in the movies and later on television. And of course there was the paranoia of the McCarthy era which brought about a whole slew of “B” Sci-Fi movies with one Utah amusement park taking star billing over a few zombies or any humans.

Who are the Utah apparitions who haunt these theatres, dance halls, museums, amusement parks and a military post? There is the young man who died in a theatre fire and still warns the people in it. The sunrise meeting on a golf course between a deceased golfer and a little girl who drowned. The woman who appears in a park’s old horse stable, but only to visitors wearing purple. The “typewriter ghost” still writing plays in a gutted theatre. A small town genius who created animated life sized puppets, carousels and a dance hall made of thousands of mirror pieces. An internationally famous doll whose spirit frightened children. A bride mourning her fallen soldier, who haunts a local park. Chinese railroad workers whose suicides keep them trapped in an old hotel. A collector who found secrets of the ancients with a collection so massive that an entire old library powers portals with rocks and crystals. A young actress deserted by her lover and dying of a broken heart, returns to the museum where her theatre dress is on display. An Egyptologist who brought her cursed collections home to Utah.There are apparitions who hang out in familiar places such as libraries, museums and theatres. Men who single-handedly revived and reinvented old theatres who return to check on them. Actors and other theatre spirits who return in costume to where they once performed. Spirits attached to objects and vehicles at a military post. Cemeteries long forgotten, where the remains of souls are still buried beneath our feet or hidden away in the basements of museums. Dance halls, social halls, canyon resorts and amusement parks, where people gathered to celebrate, who have left their energies behind them. And finally, an elephant princess whose poignant and tragic story of her travels all over the country, ended in her inspiring the founding of a zoo. These are the ghosts of history, who tell us their stories and then haunt the places that entertain and intrigue us all!

Follow along as you read within these pages stories of long ago robberies, outlaws, claimjumpers and lost or abandoned treasures still waiting to be found. Visit the many ghostly and often deserted mining towns and mines where stories abound. Then, come along with me to witness the joining of the transcontinental railroad and ride the old rails to hear stories of phantoms, hoodooed engines, mysterious lights, and eerie disembodied voices in or near old railway stations. And lastly, visit the locations where trains collided or mines exploded, leaving the residual energies behind them.