“What beck’ning ghost, along the moon-light shade
Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?”
The preceding is an excerpt from Alexander Pope’s Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady.
Carson City’s ghosts are beckoning. No, they are daring you to enter their haunts called homes or mansions. Madame Curry has arranged for you to learn more about former Carson City residents like stagecoach driver Hank Monk.
Mark Twain, a former resident of Carson City, wrote about Hank Monk in his book, Roughing It, “I can tell you a most laughable thing indeed, if you would like to listen to it. Horace Greeley went over this road once. When he was leaving Carson City he told the driver, Hank Monk, that he had an engagement to lecture at Placerville and was very anxious to go through quick. Hank Monk cracked his whip and started off at an awful pace. The coach bounced up and down in such a terrific way that it jolted the buttons all off of Horace’s coat, and finally shot his head clean through the roof of the stage, and then he yelled at Hank Monk and begged him to go easier — said he wasn’t in as much of a hurry as he was awhile ago. But Hank Monk said, ‘Keep your seat, Horace, and I’ll get you there on time!’ — and you bet you he did, too, what was left of him!”
Tour the St. Charles Hotel, but not alone. Walk past Carson City’s Red Light District, tour the Ferris Mansion to smell a strong men’s cologne, enter the Brewery Arts Center to moan, the rectory for St. Teresa’s priests was the Stewart — Nye home, the ghost at Thomas J. Edwards home’s really ends dusting, John Wayne’s movie, The Shootist, had Dr. Krebb’s home adjusting.
The Governor’s Mansion was completed in 1909. Gov. Denver S. Dickerson’s daughter, June, was the only child born in the Governor’s Mansion. While in the mansion, listen carefully to hear a child crying. Be warned, a picture may fall from the wall. Each Halloween at least 5,000 children trick-or-treat the governor.
Your guide will share the history of the Bliss Mansion, Orion Clemens’ home, the Schartz home, Abe Curry’s sandstone home and the Rinkel Mansion, rich in history and ghosts. Enjoy traveling back in time more than a hundred years. When your bedtime does appear, may your dreams be without fear.
The next Ghost Walk is Saturday, Oct. 18 For additional information, go to carsoncityghostwalk.com, or call 775-343-6279. Purchase tickets online at www.brownpaperticket.com. There’s a small service charge. Tours will leave from Third and South Curry streets every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Go back in time by turning off your cell phone.
Ken Beaton of Carson City contributes periodically to the Nevada Appeal.
