If you travel around the country, it seems that one thing almost all of the really historical areas have in common is that they love to show off their spooky side with some sort of ghost walk or haunted tour, and the Carson region is no exception. That being said, we are living in times that actually are exceptional, and the Carson City Ghost Walk that is normally offered in the summer and fall is on hiatus with plans to return in 2021. But for those of you who may be in the Halloween spirit this month (get it?), here’s a sampling of the local sites that are rumored to be haunted. Even if you’re not into ghost stories, they make for a fun little driving-tour taste of the city’s history. Photo at left: Pixabay, Michael Gaida.
Top of the list is the Governor’s Mansion. The first governor to live here was Danver Dickerson who moved in with his family in 1909, and it’s his wife and daughter who are reported to still wander around the place. The mansion was designed by a Reno architect by the name of George Ferris, and if you are familiar with local history, right about now you might be saying to yourself, “Aha! George Ferris was the inventor of the oh-so-aptly named Ferris Wheel, and he grew up in Carson City.” And you would be correct about that, but the architect and the inventor were actually two different people. It was George A. Ferris who designed the mansion, and George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. who invented the Ferris Wheel. Photo at left: Flickr, Ken Lund.
However. (It always turns out that there's a "however," right?) However, the Sears-Ferris house in Carson City, once owned by the father of G.W.G. Ferris Jr., is also on our list of haunt spots in town. The back story here is that long ago during a wedding being held at the home, a ghostly bride made a surprise appearance and has been thought to make her presence known again now and then.
Not too far from the Governor’s Mansion is the Bliss Mansion, the late-1800s home of early Nevada’s pioneer of industry, Duane Bliss. When this millionaire picked a spot to build the home of his dreams, he didn’t let the fact that the area was already in use as a cemetery bother him. He reportedly had the bodies moved to another site, but come on, you just know that there still had to be a few left in the ground underneath the new home. Their spirits are said to still be hanging around, and some people even think the ghost of old D.L. Bliss himself is still in the mansion. Photo at left: Wikimedia Commons, Barb Mathers.
While many of the city’s haunted buildings are houses from the olden days, there are some ghosts who, it seems, prefer to spend their afterlives at work rather than at home. To accommodate the silver ore that came out of the nearby Comstock, the Carson City Mint started making coins in 1870. But in 1872, one of the workers there was killed in a workplace accident in the basement. The mint building is now the Nevada State Museum.
Another spirit who just can’t seem to leave his work behind is said to make himself known at the Brewery Arts Center. In the time between being the place where Tahoe Beer was brewed and becoming the hub of visual and performing arts in Carson, this building served as home to the Masonic Lodge. It’s thought that one of the late Masons who helped out with the building upkeep and maintenance returns once in a while to help remind workers and volunteers to turn out the lights and lock the place up at night. Photo at right: Wikimedia Commons, Jeffrey Beall.
And as for nearby Virginia City, forget about it, I think there are more ghosts in that town than there are people. This roundup of Carson ghosts and spirits only scratches the surface of the city’s haunted history, but hopefully it can help tide you over until next year when, fingers crossed, the actual ghost walk will live again.
About the Author Keith Rugg
R. Keith Rugg has worked on staff for a number of local publications, including Lake Tahoe Action Magazine, the Tahoe Daily Tribune and the Reno Gazette-Journal.
