Haunted Mill
I have always beena fan of haunts and creeps and all the like, therefore over myyears I have gathered a bunch of ghost stories. Stumbling acrossthis group I blew the dust out of the corner of my mind they werestored in, and I will do my best to recount them...
As I said before, I have always been a fan of haunts etc. Eversince early highschool I was involved in 'haunted' houses aroundHalloween. I do not know how popular they are in other area's,but in Salt Lake city they are quite a large production, andthere are quite a few around. The first few years I worked in theHaunted Old Mill, which is an old paper mill dating back topioneer times, located at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Thesetting around the Old Mill is perfect, an aged slightly decrepitsurrounding dropped down into a small valley carved out by thecanyon river. It has the right mix of ancient tree's and deadundergrowth. Because of the building's odd nature it never hashad too much care given too it, just the minimal. Needless tosay, it is definitely a place which gives you the willies, evendriving by it in the daytime.
I'll just cover the Old Mill's history now, and then go into morepersonal stories in later posts.
It has been burned down a few times, being rebuilt again. It'slatest form is broken into two major portions, as you can seeabove. It is several stories tall, with the main floor being amuch taller than normal height. The Courtyard was at one pointpart of the main building, but was not ever rebuilt in the lastfire, and is now a cement courtyard with crumbling walls whichmake it look almost like a castle wall due to the window holeswhich have lost their arches. The Central building is broken into2 major portions, with the south end being a large open room witha tall balcony. Both the main floor and the balcony have lockeddoors to the tower which was condemned years ago. The northernend is more economical, broken into 3 stories. The centralsection of the northern end is divided by a stone wall. It hasmassive fireplaces on each floor, but is only two stories aswhere the middle one would be, it is an open space to the largeentrance chamber below (the ceiling is ornately painted, but theyare hard to see due to age).
The 3rd story of this section is considered the heart of the OldMill, where most of the ghosts are supposed to reside. Frompersonal experience I can say that simply walking through theroom the temperature is noticeably colder, and if you stay in itfor more than a few minutes your skin begins to crawl. On thewall facing the outside the rock is unusual. Rather than thenormal large bricks, which are approximately 1-2 feet thick, itis mottled and covered with twisted cement and other stonesleaving a jagged surface. In the evening when the sun is settingand the shadows are long you can watch this wall, and you willbegin to see movement which cannot be pinpointed. Sometimes youcan even make out forms of some type.
I have forgotten the exact date the Old Mill was built (I didsome research on it, at one point), but it was back in the 1800's.It served for quite a few years as a productive paper Mill. Then,one winter's night, it burned to the ground. The officialhistorical entries I could find simply said some oily rags caughtfire from a lantern. However, one of the folklore stories relatesa conflict between two of the evening caretakers. They were up inthe central room to the Old Mill having an argument. One of thetwo struck the other, who hit the table knocking the oil lamp thethe floor. The second caretaker's dog began barking at the firstone, as the fire ran out of control he fled. The second caretakerand his dog never survived the fire, although their burnt bodieswere found in the fireplace (presumably to escape the flames).More than one person working in the Old Mill at night has heard afaint barking which couldn't be tracked down.
The Mill stayed that way for a few years, until just after theturn of the century when it was rebuilt to be a dance hall. Ithad a bit of activity through the twenties and thirties, but whenWorld War II hit it shut down. For years it stayed empty, untilone night it burned to the ground again. The official historicalsources once again simply record it as a fire started bytransients, but the folklore recounts a story from the transientwho survived, which was ignored by the officials. He said theyhad started a fire in the fireplace up in the 3rd story room (theHeart), to keep themselves warm. Early in the morning he woke uphearing a barking and what sounded like yelling. He looked aroundhimself confused, as it was much too loud to be outside but hedidn't think anybody else was in the building. That was when hesaw the fire run across the floor. He insisted it did not startfrom their own fire, but needless to say it engulfed the room anddestroyed the building again. The transient that did not escapewas found curled in the fireplace. One version of the story saysthere was also the remains of a dog, even though the twotransients did not have one.
When it was rebuilt the last time only the western section wasfinished. Since then it has had many roles, from that of a discoin the 70's to what it is now. The building even is riddled withcatacombs below, which were at one time used to channel wateraround.
To end, the second year I was working on the haunted house theevening caretaker committed suicide in front of his wife. Theylived in the northwest corner. His wife said he had been torn fora few months, as a part of the north east corner on the courtyardwas very unstable, and he was afraid it would crumble and fall onsomebody with the upcoming haunted house. They had both known theMill was haunted, and he told her he felt the Old Mill didn'twant the portion of the wall destroyed. But one day he made hisdecision. He left their living quarters almost as if he was upset.She heard the tractor start and drive around the building, thenit idled for a few minutes. Before she was about to go check onher husband he suddenly appeared in the apartment and made abeeline for the cabinet housing his weapons. He withdrew arevolver, filled all the chambers and pointed it at his head. Helooked at his wife and stated, "lets play russian roulette,"then stroked the trigger once, killing himself.
I'm not sure if the caretakers still live in the buildinganymore, although I doubt it.