by Leslie Rule
The other exits were locked from the outside. Stacks of human beings were found just inside these doors, a sight that made firefighterscry
Rescuers pulled countless people from the building. While some were shuttled to the hospital, the deceased were tossed into piles. In the confusion, a few live folks were thrown into the carnage, only to awaken later to a nightmare.
Within twelve minutes of the time the sparks were noticed, more than 490 people were dead or dying.
It was the worst death toll a fire had ever visited upon Boston.
Dotty Myles was found crumpled on the floor and carried to safety by a fireman. Her burns required years of medical treatment, including seventeen operations to restore her face. But she inspired many when she continued with her singing career and eventually went back to performing in clubs.
Cowboy Buck Jones made it out of the club but was burned so badly that he later died in the hospital, his name added to the growing list of the mortally wounded.
With the public crying for justice, the stern finger of the law was soon leveled at the greedy club owners who had put profit before safety. Each of the accused seemed to have an excuse or someone else to blame.
One boy told the truth. With the weight of the grief and anger of an entire city on his young shoulders, Stanley Tomasqewski told authorities that his match may have sparked the fire.
He was put into protective custody. Outraged relatives of the dead wanted revenge, and it was feared the teenager could be the next victim of the Cocoanut Grove tragedy.
The cause of the fire has been a great source of debate. Some believed that it was not the match, but a problem with the wiring installed by an unlicensed electrician. Others think that methyl chloride gas, used in the club’s refrigerator, was a factor in the inferno.
Whatever the cause, Stanley carried the burden of the tragedy with him until the day he died at age sixty-eight in October 1994. Though Stanley was never held legally responsible for the fire, at least one bitter person would not let him forget. The cruel anonymous phone calls never ceased.
Club owner Barnett Welansky did not escape unscathed. He was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to twelve to fifteen years in prison. He later suffered from cancer and was released early to die in peace.
Barnett’s prosecution was an empty victory for the relatives of the victims. And the new safety laws and medical discoveries in the wake of the fire were not much comfort. They will never know how many lives their hapless family members saved.
Thanks to the 1942 tragedy, exits in public places are today clearly marked and unlock from the inside. Doctors used innovative procedures on the Cocoanut Grove burn victims that greatly advanced the knowledge for future care of such patients.
The information gleaned from the Cocoanut Grove fire has had a positive effect on future generations. Are those who died in the long-ago fire aware of that?
Perhaps many of them are aware. Perhaps they are in a peaceful place and happy that they could help others.
But a few stragglers remain.
Shocked and confused, still trying to find their way to safety, the ghost victims of the fire roam the site of the tragedy. Despite the fact that a luxury hotel, complete with its own theater, has been built on the deadly spot, energy from the horror may remain.
Wendi Clarke, human resources manager at the Radisson Hotel Boston, is well aware of the hotel’s haunted reputation. While she has yet to encounter a ghost there, she has heard from those who have.
“An employee saw the ghost of a woman on the sixth floor,” she told me.
The man had been cleaning up after a conference when he saw the apparition. He assumed she was a guest but could not understand where she had come from.
The conference floor was locked, and only the cleaning crew was there.
“He was really confused,” remembered Wendi.
The woman disappeared as swiftly as she had appeared, leaving the cleaner with a story he could tell his grandchildren.
A plaque on the Radisson’s Stuart Street Playhouse marks the spot of Boston’s most fatal fire. (Leslie Rule)
Wendi steered me toward the hotel’s theater, the Stuart Street Playhouse, which sits in an adjacent building. “Employees have seen the ghost of a man there,” she told me.
Those working in the ticket booths the day I visited confirmed that the theater was haunted. Much of the paranormal activity there centered on water, they pointed out.
There have been inexplicable floods in the building, they said. And they once found a sopping wet seat. The theater had been vacant, and no one could figure out where the water had come from.
A water faucet on the second floor of the theater is notorious for turning itself on.
It is as if a panicked fire victim is still trying to extinguish the flames.
Others told me that those working alone in the theater at night have often heard disembodied voices calling their names.
Jacques, a longtime bar that today features performances by men in drag, served as a makeshift morgue on the night of the deadly Cocoanut Grove fire. A stone’s toss from the back doors of the theater, the bar has long had a reputation for being plagued by the ghosts of the victims of the 1942 blaze. Though the employees openly admitted that the bar was haunted, they were tightlipped when it came to sharing their own ghostly encounters.
Most of the fire’s victims have probably moved on, but the paranormal events indicate that at least a few ghosts remain.
In the Radisson’s restaurant, the Theatre Café, bartender Edward Gormely has sensed their presence. Odd noises, he told me, emanate from the kitchen.
One night as he was carrying dirty dishes into the kitchen, he was startled by a sudden pop, accompanied by a flash of light. “It was right in front of my face,” he said.
He turned to the chef and asked, “Are you messing with me?”
But the chef also looked startled. “I don’t know what that was!” he exclaimed.
The noise had sounded like a balloon popping, and the light was as bright as fire.
The ghostly woman who walks the halls of the Radisson could be any one of the women who died in the Cocoanut Grove. I wonder if she is the spirit of Katherine Swett, the cashier who steadfastly stood by the club’s money, even as the walls around her went up in flames.
Jacques’s horrific night as a makeshift morgue left a legacy of tragedy and ghosts that few like to talk about. (Leslie Rule)
Those who knew her said that she feared her boss, Barnett Welansky, who worried over every nickel. His temper apparently frightened her more than fire.
Is she still looking for the cash box? Does she still fear that Barnett will be angry if she loses track of the money?
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RADISSON HOTEL BOSTON & STUART STREET PLAYHOUSE
200 Stuart Street
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 482-1800
www.radisson.com/bostonma
Evil Riches
When the Goldfield Hotel opened its doors in 1908, it was considered the grandest hotel in the state of Nevada. The pride of the town of Goldfield with its marble floors, gilded columns, and shimmering crystal chandeliers, it catered to those who struck it rich in the mines.
The hotel was built atop a depleted gold mine. According to legend, it became the site of a horrible deed in the 1930s when Elizabeth, who worked as a prostitute, became pregnant.
The wealthy owner of the hotel was the father, but he wanted no part of it. He chained poor Elizabeth to the bedpost in room 109, holding her prisoner until the infant was born.
Some say that he then murdered Elizabeth and tossed the child down a mine shaft. It was a heartbreaking tragedy—one her soul has not yet grasped, for witnesses claim they have seen her apparition still chained to the bedpost and stalking the halls of the old building.
She floats along in a white nightgown, searching for her baby, whose pitiful cries can also be heard.
Psych
ics have detected numerous ghosts in the hotel and have pronounced the location as a portal to the other side, a kind of cosmic doorway where ghosts pass through.
A vintage postcard captures the image of the haunted Goldfield Hotel. (author’s collection)
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THE GOLDFIELD HOTEL
On the corner of Columbia Street and Crook Avenue Goldfield, NV
As of this writing, new owners of the Goldfield Hotel are making plans to renovate and reopen the historic building.
Knapp Time
The Mason House Inn, built in 1846 in Bentonsport, Iowa, is home to a number of ghosts, including that of Mr. Knapp, a guest from long ago who has never checked out.
He had a bit too much to drink one night and stumbled into the wrong room. According to an old newspaper account, poor Mr. Knapp did not realize his mistake until something plunged into his chest.
The guest he had disturbed assumed he was being robbed and pulled a saber from his walking stick and stabbed the hapless intruder.
The owners of the formidable brick inn believe that Mr. Knapp is still looking for his bed. They often hear shuffling footsteps upstairs, and when they investigate the empty upper floors, they find freshly made beds have been mysteriously messed up.
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MASON HOUSE INN
21982 Hawk Drive
Bentonsport, Keosauqua, IA 52565
(319) 592-3133
www.masonhouseinn.com
Heartbreak Hotel
The historic Hotel San Carlos in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, is a favorite destination for ghost hunters, some of whom have encountered the specter of a heartbroken ghost who ended her life decades ago. Built in 1928, the hotel has the grand distinction of playing host to luminaries such as Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Carole Lombard, and Mae West, who all stayed at the hotel.
But the star of the Hotel San Carlos was not famous in life. She was simply sad—so sad that she decided to end it all. Her ghost is a big draw for the guests who travel from all over in hopes of an encounter with her.
According to area ghost enthusiasts, twenty-two-year-old Leone Jenson was so hurt when her love rejected her that she leapt from the seven-story hotel roof. She was clad in a lovely evening gown, perhaps anticipating a night on the town with her love, a bellboy who worked at another hotel. He, however, had found a new girlfriend. Crushed, the suicidal woman went to the roof and leapt.
Leone’s misty figure has been seen by many throughout the years. And when guests and employees experience sudden blasts of cold air from nowhere, they believe it is Leone, making her presence felt.
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HOTEL SAN CARLOS
202 North Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004
(866) 253-4121
www.hotelsancarlos.com
Haunted Ghost Town
Garnet, Montana, is a ghost town in the literal sense. The once-bustling mining community in the Garnet Mountain Range, east of Missoula, had a population of one thousand people in 1898. Those striking it rich with gold could spend their wealth at four stores or stay at one of the town’s four hotels.
Though the pioneers are long dead, they are still seen and heard in Montana’s most intact ghost town. Visitors have reported encountering folks in old-time clothes on Garnet’s dirt roads. But as they draw close, the figures vanish.
Disembodied voices and music reportedly emanate from the remaining hotel.
Who are the ghosts of Garnet?
One may be the cofounder of the Nancy Hanks Gold Mine, the natural resource that launched the town. After selling his share to his partner, the man committed suicide.
Or he could be poor George Black, who was killed when he was thrown from his horse as he was riding through town.
Perhaps the disgruntled spirit of Michael Finn is still hanging around. After his death in Garnet in 1870, his drunken pals were carrying his body for burial when they lost him in the river. When they went back to search for him the next day, they found him upside down in the water.
Visitors to Garnet, Montana, are sometimes startled when they encounter ghosts here. (Leslie Rule)
Are ghosts still living it up at the old dance hall in Garnet? (Leslie Rule)
The road to Garnet, Montana, is sometimes traveled by ghosts. (Leslie Rule)
Two rustic cabins are available for overnight stays a few months out of the year. Run by the Garnet Preservation Association and the Bureau of Land Management of Montana, the rates are very reasonable, but conditions are primitive.
Overnight guests must enjoy nature and be ready to meet a ghost!
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BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Cabin Rental Program
3255 Fort Missoula Road
Missoula, MT 59804
(406) 329-3914
www.garnetghostown.org
Leslie Rule is the author of Coast to Coast Ghosts and Ghosts Among Us, as well as two suspense novels and more than fifty feature articles in national magazines. She is the daughter of bestselling true-crime author Ann Rule. Leslie’s lifelong fascination with the paranormal sprung up from living in a haunted house overlooking Puget Sound as a child. She lives in the Seattle area.
