Yellowstone Ghosts, Part l

Shellie Larios’ book Yellowstone Ghost Stories has many unusual stories about this national park located in Wyoming.

Larios shares the well-known traditional ghost stories of the Old Faithful Inn. This includes sightings of the Headless Bride and the lover who killed her.

She also includes a more recent sighting of a little boy ghost in this massive lodge. He has been seen on the second-floor observation deck. He approaches visitors crying and requesting help.

Larios who has visited the park numerous times over a 50-year span shares a variety of stories that witnesses have told her.

Each of these tales is unique.

One chapter is about Yellowstone’s guardian spirit. A silver-tipped grizzly bear named Wahb that once ruled the park. This bear today is believed to be a ghostly spirit who stands guard as a sentry outside Death Gulch.

Other chapters talk about the mysterious whispers that have been heard rising out of Yellowstone Lake for years and the story of a ghost named Mattie who died of tuberculosis. She haunts her gravesite near where she died in the park.

Larios also includes in her book the history behind the hauntings she mentions. In one story The Pirate of Yellowstone Lake she talks about an ornery bully named Ella C. Waters who ran Yellowstone Lake Boat Company for years.

Water was a swindler who overcharged tourists. In 1907, President Roosevelt expelled him from the park. After his death, he returned to Yellowstone to haunt Stevenson Island, located in the middle of Yellowstone Lake.

Stevenson Island

Larios shares two humorous stories that at first appeared to be hauntings. They both scare the living away only to turn out to be harmless. One involves an industrious mouse and the other a corpse that thaws out in the sunlight.

In her book, Larios also mentions a variety of ghosts that haunt other hotels or lodges in or near the park.

At Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel there is a ghost that often locks room doors or moves furniture around--sometimes blocking doors shut with these pieces.

Then there is the ghost of Uncle John, John R. Yancey, who was one of the parks first squatters. He ran a rustic inn and station that hosted both the famous and nameless.

Old Faithful Lodge

His inn is long gone but it is said that his friendly spirit settled at the nearby Roosevelt Lodge. He is a poltergeist who likes to bang on doors and move items.

Above is just a sampling of the many stories Larios shares. Her book can be purchased here.

In Yellowstone Ghosts Part ll, I share my favorite story from Larios’ book.

Here is a clip Ghost Adventures did about the mysterious "whispering” that is heard on Yellowstone Lake.