Overland Hotel & Saloon was featured on season 9, episode 12 of the popular paranormal television series Ghost Hunters. During the episode (which aired on Jun 21, 2014), co-hosts Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, and Nick Groff explored the silver-mining town of Pioche and investigated the ghostly hauntings at Overland Hotel & Saloon, the Million Dollar Courthouse and the old jail.
Throughout the investigations, the team experienced several haunting activities including unexplainable footsteps, noises and bangs on the wall. During one of the segment where Nick was conducting a solo investigation of room 10, he reportedly felt an uncomfortable presence nearby. It did not take long before Nick felt disorientated and drained of energy. Later on, Nick opens the wardrobe only to find the hangers swingingly wildly. As he walked away, the intensity of the swinging increased.
Similarly, Zak also experienced a physical encounter with the paranormal. During another solo investigation, Zak claimed to have felt a mysterious yet powerful force shoot through him, causing him to fall to the ground in a
In the Overland Hotel & Saloon, the crew heard footsteps, noises, and loud bangs. Everybody felt the presence of an intense energy on the upper floors. The possession was a very scary part of the episode. It started with Nick investigating room 10 by himself. While investigating room 10, Nick felt a very uncomfortable presence. It almost felt as if somebody was watching him. Soon, he felt as if his energy was draining, which made him lie down on the ground.
The episode, which was titled “Overland Hotel and Saloon”, was well received by viewers and had received a positive rating of 7.4/10 on IMDb. View the full episode here.
History of Overland Hotel
Nevada is home to numerous haunted places, including the infamous Overland Hotel & Saloon in Pioche, Nevada.
The discovery of huge deposits of silver during the mid 19th century led to a massive influx of prospectors and miner into the “Silver State”. With it, major silver-mining settlements such as Pioche and Tombstone began to emerge all over Nevada.
However, the remote town of Pioche is ruthless known for being one of the baddest township in the state; far badder than Tombstone, Virginia City, and Silver City. Today, many visit the ghost town of Pioche not for its mining history, but the haunted Overland Hotel & Saloon.
The original Overland Hotel was built in the 1908 and served as a bar and a boarding house. Back then, the hotel was actively managed by a Chinese family known as the Peis. Back in the days, the hotel was packed with miners who lived on rock houses on the hills behind the building; the foundation of the miners’ rock houses can still be seen today.
However, a fire in 1947 devastated Pioche, destroying over a third of the city’s building including Overland Hotel; a total of three lives were lost as a result of the fire.
In the same year, construction of a new Overland Hotel began. To prevent another tragedy, the hotel’s facade was constructed with brick walls and covered with stucco. Massive vertical beams were also put in place in the interior to support the entire building. The hotel also includes a 8,000 square foot cement basement that once housed a bowling alley and a roller-skating rink.
Apart from housing hotel rooms, Overland Hotel was also home to Pioche’s doctor’s offices, a saloon, and grocery store. In 1976, the building was purchased by Mr Bill Brown, who went on to close down the grocery store and build a coffee shop.
The last change of hands came in 1996 when Overland Hotel was bought over by Ron and Candice Mortenson. At present, Overland Hotel & Saloon operates as a boutique hotel offering 13 unique rooms, each with a unique theme.
Ghosts of the Hotel
The haunted happenings at Overland Hotel & Saloon are said to stem from the violent history of Pioche. In fact, it was among the most death-dealing towns of the Wild West. Back when it was a silver mining town, gunfights were a common occurrence between raiders and gunmen hired to fight the mining encroachment. It is said that a total of 72 people were murdered and buried in Boot Hill Cemetery before anyone in town had passed away from natural causes.
“I left to get something and came back to find a ghost sitting there — that’s the best way I can describe it; a mist in the shape of a body that started floating across the room.”
– Stephanie Haluzak
Staffs of the Overland Hotel have reported numerous encounters with the paranormal. Stephanie Haluzak, a former employee who worked as a bartender and maid at the hotel between 2008 and 2014, claimed that footsteps and disembodied voices of men are a common occurrence in the building. On one occasion, Stephanie was cleaning up room 8 when she encountered an apparition sitting on the bed.
Haunted Room 10
Room 10 is rumored to be the most haunted room in the hotel. Guests who have stayed in the two-room suite have previously reported frightening encounters with the paranormal. In a 2011 Tripadvisor review by JD_Movie_Guy, two brothers claimed to have been choked by a poltergeist.
The incident reportedly happened at four in the morning when one of the brothers saw a “faint shadowy figure” in the middle of the rooms. Half an hour later, the other brother’s door was slammed shut. All of a sudden, faint sounds can be heard from the room, as if a ruckus was happening.
A few moments later, one of the brothers (the one whose door slammed shut) bursts into the other room in fear. There, he recounted the incident of being choked by a “shadowy being” with a pillow. The brother was choked to the point where he could not breathe or shout for help. Then suddenly, the poltergeist stopped and vanished.
Doug Hendershot, a former staff who had worked at the hotel for over a decade, recounted a similar incident when a guest in room 10 came to the counter to report the mysterious appearance of a man in the middle of the night; the man ‘faded’ into thin air after trying to smother the guest.
