How A Basement Fire Caught Dillinger And Left A Hotel Full Of Haunts

A basement fire, a desperate escape, and a suitcase full of contradictions turned the Hotel Congress into one of the Southwest’s most enduring ghost stories. We head to downtown Tucson to unravel how a 1918 rail-side hotel became ground zero for Dillinger’s capture and a century of spectral lore, then walk room by room through the encounters that keep investigators coming back.

We start with the history: Congress Street’s expansion, the Southern Pacific station, and the 1934 blaze that raced upward to the gang’s hideout. From there, we sift through the strangest details in the recovered luggage—Tommy guns, body armor, cash, gold coins, and whispers of a glass eyeball and a skeletal hand—and how those artifacts shaped decades of first-hand claims from staff and guests. The building’s restoration, landmark status, and still-working switchboard frame a space where time hasn’t fully moved on.

Then we dig into the hauntings with care. Room 242 carries the weight of a life cut short, with reports of a woman in white who sits at the bed or curls close in quiet grief. Room 220 is lighter, marked by a World War II veteran’s routine and the playful reappearance of butter knives left in impossible places. Room 214 hosts a dapper figure in seersucker and hat, often seen at the window of an unrented room, while 212 delivers pure anxiety: locks clicking, doors opening, and a ghostly “apprentice” practicing the craft of intrusion. Under the sidewalks, sealed tunnels with old glass lenses echo a harsher past—Chinese labor routes, smugglers, and disappearances—that anchor the hotel’s stories in Tucson’s wider underground.

If you love haunted hotels, true crime legends, and the way residual energy loops through old routines, this tour of the Hotel Congress is your next deep dive. We share what to watch for, how to plan a multi-room investigation, and where to extend your trip—Tombstone, Bisbee, and beyond—for a full Southern Arizona paranormal circuit. Subscribe, share with a fellow ghost nerd, and leave a review telling us which room you’d dare to spend the night in.

We apologize for the echo and technical difficulties.

Thank you for listening to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast.  Check us out on Facebook Paranormal Peeps Podcast or Coldspot Paranormal Research and on Instagram coldspot_paranormal_research

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
Between the realm of the dead and the journeys of the
living, join Josh, Jamie, andElisa as they delve into the
vast world of the paranormal andbreathe life back into the
history of the departed.

SPEAKER_00 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Paranormal
Peeps Podcast.
I'm Josh.

SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
I'm Jamie, and I'm Elisa.

SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
And what are we talking about tonight, Jamie?

SPEAKER_03 (00:23):
What?
Me?
What?

SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
Oh, wait.
Did I miss something?

SPEAKER_03 (00:28):
No.

SPEAKER_00 (00:28):
Okay.
It's cheese, right?
We're talking about cheeseagain.

SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
No, no, no.
Remember, we went the cheesedirection last time.
Remember Wisconsin cheese?
Yes.
It's a night for me, by the way.
Recap.
Um, no, we're actually going tobe talking, and so I never heard
of this place.
And that's kind of the thingsI've been kind of seeking out,
are locations that I'm notfamiliar with.
Now, I don't think it's reallycommonly known, at least not for

(00:54):
a lot of people.
I think for people that live inArizona, it might be.
But it's called the HotelCongress.
Ever heard of it?
It sounds familiar, but Icouldn't tell you anything about
it.
Okay, so there's another HotelCongress uh that's in is it
Chicago?
I don't remember, but there'sanother one.

(01:15):
And so a lot of people get thesetwo mixed up, but this one is in
Arizona.

SPEAKER_00 (01:19):
So it's not related to the Continental Congress
where they stayed before writingthe Constitution?

SPEAKER_03 (01:25):
No, has nothing to do with that.

SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:28):
Nothing.
But it's so the Hotel Congressis in Tucson, Arizona.
I've been there.
Sounds like a made-up place.
Totally made up.
Make sure you said it right.

SPEAKER_00 (01:42):
Isn't it Tuscan?

SPEAKER_03 (01:44):
Tuscan?
It kind of looks like that,doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
It sure does.

SPEAKER_03 (01:48):
Okay, so it's in Tucson, Arizona.
It's actually a fed uh federallyrecognized historic building,
and it's in downtown Tucson,Arizona.
So it's well known there, I'msure.
Oh, I'm sure it's it's probablylike, you know, Tombstone,
Arizona.
Like everybody knows Tombstone,Arizona.

SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
Or Bisbee.

SPEAKER_03 (02:07):
So, yeah, or Bisbee, Arizona.
A lot of people know it, butyeah, I'm sure a lot of people
in Arizona are familiar withthis.
But it was originally built in1918, and it was actually
designed by um the Los Angelesarchitectural firm, William and
Alexander Curlett C-U-R-L-E-T-T.

(02:28):
So, and it was part of anexpansion of Congress Street in
conjunction with the theatricalvenue venue, uh, which was the
Rialto Theater.
And I probably totally said thatwrong.

SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
It's it's possible.
You're probably close enough forpeople to understand where
you're at.

SPEAKER_03 (02:49):
Yeah.
So, and and the theater actuallysits north of Congress Street.
So, and then the rear of thisbuilding actually faces the
historic Amtrak Southern Pacifictrain station, which was built
by Southern Pacific in 1907.
So it goes back a little bit.

(03:10):
Like this is a historic streetand just kind of area in
general.

SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
I guess I didn't realize Amtrak or yeah, I guess
I didn't realize Amtrak wentthrough Tucson.

SPEAKER_03 (03:20):
Yeah, it's yeah, that's kind of cool.
I had no idea either.
Um so but in addition to theCongress being just a hotel,
it's also it has a bar, it haslike a music venue, and it
actually has a restaurant aswell.
I don't know if it's arestaurant or like a cafe that

(03:41):
like serves like some food andstuff.
So it's it's it's multiple ofthose things.
So that the actual name of theCongress Hotel, it was act the
name for it was actually pickedthrough a contest where it's
like, hey, come up with a namefor this new place and blah blah
blah.

(04:02):
And that's the one that won.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (04:04):
So the thing that won was naming it after the
street that it sits on.

SPEAKER_03 (04:09):
Yep.
So originality.
Right?
So yeah, it was chosen through anaming competition that was
organized by the Arizona DailyStar newspaper, and that was in
1918.
So the actual winning suggestionwas actually announced on April
30th of Hey, that's my birthday.
Yeah, that's Elisa's birthday.

(04:31):
Um, and it was submitted byDorrit Dinkle.
That poor lady.

SPEAKER_00 (04:38):
Oh, Mrs.
Dinkle, we have got words.

SPEAKER_03 (04:41):
Oh, you know what?
I actually kind of really likethe name.

SPEAKER_02 (04:44):
Like it's just fun.
I really hoped she was a cuteperson.
You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 (04:48):
Like a cute personality.
Because that could go eitherway.

SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (04:52):
But so for winning the naming competition of the
hotel, she won$15 worth of babybonds for having the name
chosen.
What the heck is a baby bond?
I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 (05:04):
I think it's like a bond you get when, like
essentially, like when you havea baby.
So you like you get like aalmost like a treasury bond,
like an 18-year uh bond, andthen it matures at 18 when like
an interesting.
Yeah, just like an interestingearning treasury note.

(05:26):
It just they just have I thinkthey happen to be like 18-year
notes.

SPEAKER_03 (05:29):
Yeah, and$15 worth back then was probably a lot.
Fair amount of money.
A fair amount, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (05:34):
I just I wonder what I like.
I I get she won with terribleoriginality.

SPEAKER_03 (05:43):
Well, everybody loved it because it got right.

SPEAKER_00 (05:46):
I wonder what the other names were.

SPEAKER_03 (05:49):
You know, that would be interesting to hear to read,
but I I didn't find any.
Of course, I didn't really digdeep to look for other names
that were still.
Yeah, like but it would havebeen nice had they included a
handful.

SPEAKER_00 (06:00):
Yeah, you found like hotel bigotry, hotel horror,
hotel murder.
And you're like, Yeah, hotelcongress works.
Let's use that one.

SPEAKER_03 (06:11):
Let's name it after the street it sits on.
Duh.
So the hotel is known for beingthe site of the capture of
gangs, famous gangster and bankrobber, Don Jillin Dillinger's
gang, and that took place in1934.
So after a series of bankrobbery, sorry, after a series

(06:32):
of bank robberies, uh theDillinger gang arrived in Tucson
in order to hide out.
Okay, so they commit all theserobberies, they go to Tucson to
hide out.
So on January 22nd in 1934,there was a fire that actually
started in the basement andspread up to the third floor of
the hotel where the gang wasresiding under various aliases.

(06:58):
Okay, so Mr.

SPEAKER_00 (07:00):
Dinkle.

SPEAKER_03 (07:04):
So after the desk clerk contacted them through the
switchboard, which by the way,that switchboard is still used
today.
That's impressive.
Yeah, that's awesome.
They don't make things like theyused to do it.
They don't, they sure don't.
It's still there, and it isstill used to this day.
Anyways, they contacted themthrough the switchboard, and
then the gang escaped by aerialladders.

(07:27):
So basically those ladders thathang out the windows, I'm
guessing.

unknown (07:31):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (07:32):
Like little rollout ladders.

SPEAKER_00 (07:34):
That or they took a ladder and and went from a
window to the next building.
But either way.

SPEAKER_03 (07:39):
I don't know.
Either way, they escaped.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (07:42):
Yep.

SPEAKER_03 (07:42):
So on the request of the gang, so the these gangs
asked uh, because I think it waslike two of the gang members.
I don't think it was multiplebecause I I watched a thing and
I come across the original newsarticle that said it was two of
the Dillinger gang members.
And I think one was JohnDillinger.
Um, so two of them, they went tothese firemen, these couple of

(08:06):
firemen, and requested that theyretrieve their luggage from
their room.
Right.
And so when the firemenretrieved their luggage, by
their luggage, they identifiedjust who they were.
So after being transferred, sothey were obviously arrested.
Yeah, I was gonna say, did theydo anything about it?
Oh gosh, I hope so, right?

(08:27):
Right, or did they just take themoney that Dillinger gang took
and rob them?
Um, so after being transferredto the jail in Crown Point,
Indiana, Dillinger actuallyended up escaping again.
So he's escaped multiple timesfrom law enforcement.
Um, but he was eventually onthis when he escaped this time,

(08:47):
he was eventually shot down inChicago.
Oh wow.
Taken out.
So bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
You wonder if he had like a luggage tag on his bag
that said John Dillinger.

SPEAKER_03 (08:58):
Or did the fireman like was the luggage not like
closed?
And so when the fireman went upto retrieve it, they see like
all the money from the banks.

SPEAKER_02 (09:08):
That's what I'm wondering is if they were like,
let's open these bags, likewhat's in these bags that was
one not fully closed, yeah, andthey discovered all this money
from the bag.

SPEAKER_00 (09:17):
Can you grab my 30,000 in cash and bring it down
for me, please?
I kind of need it.

SPEAKER_03 (09:22):
It's my life savings.
So uh local Tucson architect RoyPlace ended up so it was the
third floor that burnt down.
So now today the hotel is justtwo floors floors, the main
floor, and then the upper floorswhere the rooms are.
Okay, up on floor.
They never rebuilt the thirdfloor.

SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
Makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 (09:44):
So local Tucson architect Roy Roy Place, uh, he
actually rebuilt the upper floorin the same style as the
original.
So the second floor, because II'm sure there's damage there
too, because it started in thebasement spread up.

SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
Right.
So it so it would go throughsecond and then consume the
majority of the third floor.
Right.
Which is a weird way for a fireto spread.

SPEAKER_02 (10:09):
Yeah, you would unless there was way more
flammable things on the thirdfloor.

SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
Yeah, like 30,000 in cash.
A little bit of kindling there,yeah, a little bit of dry
kindling.

SPEAKER_03 (10:19):
But, anyways, when they when they rebuilt, they
rebuilt the upper floor in thesame style as the original,
which is kind of nice.
Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 (10:26):
You know, gives it that style.

SPEAKER_03 (10:28):
It does.
Um, and then a historic plaquewas uh placed on the south
entrance of the hotel, and itbears the place's name, so it is
often believed to be of itsoriginal design, which it's it's
architect after it like it'sbuilt, rebuilt as the original
design, but it it's not alloriginal.

SPEAKER_00 (10:49):
Right.
That's still neat though.

SPEAKER_03 (10:52):
And the Hotel Congress was actually added to
the National Historic Registerin 2013.
Or no, sorry, 2003.

SPEAKER_00 (11:04):
So it's been on the register for for for a little
while 20 years.

SPEAKER_03 (11:07):
Yeah.
So let's see, let's get to thegood stuff.
Okay, so that's just like it'sjust a small portion of the
history.
There is more, but I kept theinteresting stuff like John
Dillinger, the fire.
That's kind of like the twobiggest things, I think.

SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
It's pretty big notorieties for the one.
I mean, interesting enough tothink that a fire broke out in
the basement of this hotel,which just so happened to
coincide with an with aninfamous gangster hiding out in
the hotel.

SPEAKER_03 (11:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
Leading to his capture.

unknown (11:49):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (11:50):
All because all because when he fled, he didn't
take his luggage and he askedthe fireman to go get it for
him.

SPEAKER_03 (11:58):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
So does he get like the dumbest criminal award for
this?

SPEAKER_03 (12:03):
World's stupidest criminals.

SPEAKER_00 (12:04):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (12:05):
I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (12:06):
Right?

SPEAKER_03 (12:06):
I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (12:07):
See, if I was the criminal, I'd like to pay some
kid or whatever, be like, hey,ask them to go get this for me.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (12:15):
Yeah, not somebody with integrity.

unknown (12:17):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (12:19):
So, but because of the link of Don Don Gillinger.
I can't even talk.

SPEAKER_00 (12:25):
Don Juan Dillinger.

SPEAKER_03 (12:26):
Don Juan Dillinger.
Because of this link withDillinger, they actually every
year have Dillinger days onthere.

SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
Oh god, that's so awesome.

SPEAKER_03 (12:37):
So it looks kind of neat.
I was watching a thing on it.

SPEAKER_00 (12:40):
It does look like it would be kind of are they all
30s gangster dressed up?

SPEAKER_03 (12:43):
Pretty much, yes.
Oh my gosh, that's so fun.
It looks like it could be fun.
So there are reports ofparanormal activity, and it may
be linked to, it's probably Iwould say linked to the fire
because I do believe peopledied.
Um, it doesn't really say, but alot of times people kind of get

(13:04):
this um mixed up with CongressPlaza Hotel.
That's in Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 (13:09):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (13:10):
So you gotta be careful when you look this one
up.
Make sure it's the CongressHotel in Tucson, Arizona.

SPEAKER_00 (13:17):
Right.
So if someone's reporting someactivity and they might
accidentally be reporting it tothe wrong location because it's
got a similar name somewhereelse.

SPEAKER_03 (13:26):
Right.
So there have been tragediesthere uh beyond the fire.
Um, so there's a woman in awhite dress, of course.
We always got a woman in white,but she's in room 242.
So she was a young woman and shewas on an extended stay at the

(13:46):
hotel Congress.
Um, she was going through arough time in her life.
It doesn't really like there'ssome articles that kind of tell
you a little bit more, but we'rejust gonna keep it pretty basic.

SPEAKER_00 (13:58):
Pretty simple.

SPEAKER_03 (13:58):
So she was having a hard time in life, and she was
really troubled.
And the hotel staff notes thatshe was talking a lot about
wanting to make the voices stop.
Oh, okay.
So she's a little schizo, maybemaybe, yeah.
I think she had a lot of trauma.
There was some sort of a lovething and rejection thing, and

(14:19):
and I think that's kind of whereit started.
So the staff and other guests,you know, obviously the the more
they would talk to her and hear,I want the voices to stop, you
know, they got really concerned,and they eventually ended up
calling authorities to basicallydo like a wellness check on her
up in 242.

(14:40):
And sadly, the woman actuallyended up taking her own life.
Did it say how?
No, I I saw stuff where she shotherself on the bed in there.
So, but I don't know.
Like, I didn't dig super deep.
I'm sure if you I mean, I don'tknow.

(15:02):
There could have been an articleabout it somewhere if you dug
far enough or knew where tolook, maybe you could find a
cause.

SPEAKER_00 (15:10):
Yeah, there'd be a police report somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 (15:12):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (15:13):
It something like that in a small Tucson's not a
huge town, and it was probably atiny town back then.
Back then, so I'm sure it madethe news.

SPEAKER_03 (15:22):
I'm sure it did, you know, especially like after the
fire and everything, you know,and then suicide and a room.
And but I mean, she was hearingvoices, she wanted the voices to
stop, and she ended up takingher own life.
My guess is to get the voices tostop.

SPEAKER_00 (15:36):
Yep.
That would stop them.

SPEAKER_03 (15:39):
Yep.
Well, we don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (15:42):
That's true, right?
Theoretically, it would stopthem.

SPEAKER_03 (15:46):
Right.
But it's rumored that her spirithas never actually left room
242.

SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
So it says that she shot herself during a standoff.
Yeah, see.

SPEAKER_00 (16:02):
Oh, with the police.
So they would have came, went tocheck on her.

SPEAKER_03 (16:07):
Probably wanted to pull her out of there, get her
some help.
And she's if you're hearingvoices, right?

SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
Right.
She's like, Hell no, we I won'tgo.
Hell no, we won't go.

SPEAKER_03 (16:16):
Oh, maybe.
Poor thing.

SPEAKER_00 (16:19):
Ugh.

SPEAKER_03 (16:20):
So a lot of guests have reported like a very big
heaviness in the room, whichwould make sense, right?

SPEAKER_00 (16:27):
Sadness, just dismay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
Just uncomfortable, thick, heavy feeling.
Um, and can you imagine theenergy she had been putting out
in that room for how long hadshe been there?
You know?

SPEAKER_03 (16:39):
Yeah, and it was an extended stay.
So it had been weeks, months.
I mean, but they say, uh, Iguess it reported that a woman
in a long white dress is willsit on the end edge of their
bed.
Some report feeling somebody laydown in the bed next to them and
like like curl up with them,like they're spooning.

(17:01):
Yeah.
And you know, the feeling thatthey get isn't like of course
it's startling becauseespecially when you're staying
in the room alone and you feelsomebody spooning you, like it's
a little Yeah, it's not whatyou're expecting.
No, but they report like feelinglike you know, like she's
lonely, like she just wants tobe close to somebody because

(17:23):
she's alone and she wants to beloved, and you know, so that
would be heartbreaking.
That would be heartbreakingafter you get over the initial
shock, yeah.
So, um yeah.
Hold on.

(17:43):
So yeah, it just says uh theythink she feels the need to
impart and share the darknessthat clouded her life with
whoever stays in that room.
Probably a sense of depression.

SPEAKER_00 (17:57):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (17:59):
So it's just, I don't know.
It's just that's sad.
I mean, I think this is the mostlike on everything I watched and
read and looked up, 242 was themost prominent out of all these
hauntings.
There's a handful.

SPEAKER_02 (18:12):
Well, and also it's probably the oldest.
And where if you have that muchdepression and you're putting in
that putting out that muchenergy for as long as she was in
that however long she was inthat room, obviously longer than
a normal stay, yeah, then it'sprobably a little more

(18:32):
prominent.

SPEAKER_01 (18:33):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (18:33):
And also thinking, like, I wonder if the reason why
people always see women in whiteis because most of the time
their pajama clothing were whitedresses that they would go to
bed in.
And what always happens at likeat night, things get worse.

(18:54):
Yeah.
Emotionally, mentally,physically, yeah.
Like I feel like when I getsick, it's always worse at
night.
It is than during the day.
Yes.
You know, whenever I'mdepressed, it is worse at night
than it is during the day.
I feel like the sun makes a hugedifference.
Light makes a huge difference onanybody's personality and

(19:15):
attitude.
But also like when it'snighttime and everything is
quiet, there's no noise around,and you're you have all this
depression and it just kind oflike builds up.
And at night it's just becomestoo much.
It's more intense.

SPEAKER_03 (19:30):
It is it's like amplified.

SPEAKER_02 (19:31):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (19:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (19:32):
And so that's why I wonder if maybe she did it at
night and she was in her whitepajamas.
Yeah.
That are often on women duringthat time.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (19:44):
So very real possibilities.

SPEAKER_02 (19:46):
Yeah.
Maybe that's why there's alwaysa lot of women in white.
Yeah.
Doesn't have to be a weddingdress, guys.

SPEAKER_00 (19:51):
Well, and and that's true, but that I mean, that's
what people think about, right?

SPEAKER_03 (19:54):
They think about a wedding dress, but a lot of
those nightgowns back in the daywere lovely.
Yeah.
Lazy pretty long, flowynightgowns, which in today's day
and age we would interpret as adress.

SPEAKER_02 (20:08):
Well, and if you think about it too, is a lot of
the time I will see, like orread about these women in white,
their hair is down.

SPEAKER_01 (20:18):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (20:18):
And back in the day, they didn't really wear their
hair down.
They wore it up.
So at night, they put theirhair, they take their hair out
and it's down and long.
So something to think about.

SPEAKER_03 (20:31):
Yeah, makes total sense to me.
Yep.
So then we go to room 220.
So it has two doubles in there,sleeps four.
Two to a bed.
So it's reported that a WorldWar II veteran that arrived at
the hotel Congress in 1965, andhe never left.

(20:51):
So he was very disciplined.
Okay.
He had his routine and hefollowed the same routine day
after day.
He would wake up, he would getdressed, he would go downstairs,
he would then uh get a cup ofcoffee and a small plate, a
butter knife, and a bagel.

(21:12):
And he would then returnupstairs to his room to eat.
And when he would finish, youknow, like a lot of people still
do, they leave their plates anddishes outside the door.

SPEAKER_00 (21:25):
Very common.

SPEAKER_03 (21:26):
Yeah.
So he would leave the dirty cupand the play outside and the
butter knife uh for the cleaningservice.
Um I wish I could do that.

SPEAKER_00 (21:34):
But you can, but you just gotta go pick it up when
you're done.

SPEAKER_03 (21:39):
Well, so he would leave he okay, so here's the
thing.
He would leave the dirty coffeecup, the dirty bagel plate, but
he would never leave the butterknife out.
Oh for the service to pick up,which is I don't know why I
don't know why, but he wouldn't.
Um so what's a self-styled mean?

(22:01):
What is self-styled mean?
Okay, spell it self-what?
Self-styled.
Self-styled what?
Handyman.
So I'm guessing what they'remeaning.
Because he leave his stuff outfor the cleaning service, but he
never returned the butterknives.
And the self-styled handymanwould often not only use these

(22:23):
knives with his breakfast.
Okay, so he was a they'recalling him a handyman.
He's a soldier, but they'recalling him a self-styled
handyman.

SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Okay, a self-styled handyman is someone who has
given themselves the title ofhandyman without the formal
certification, licensing, orofficial qualifications.
All right.

SPEAKER_00 (22:41):
There's actually a qualification to be a handyman?

SPEAKER_02 (22:45):
It says that the term is often used with negative
connotation.

SPEAKER_00 (22:48):
Oh, gotcha.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (22:49):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (22:50):
So yeah, they said he would often not only use
these knives with his breakfast,but he would also use them to
fix various things around thehotel that he saw.
Oh needed fixing.

SPEAKER_02 (23:00):
Okay, so now probably use it as like a
screwdriver kind of thing.
I've done that.
I've totally done that with abutter knife.

SPEAKER_00 (23:06):
Okay, so I get the self-style now because here he
is.
He's walking around the hotelwith a butter knife in hand,
going, hmm.
This screws loose.
This is a little loose.
Let me fix that.

SPEAKER_03 (23:16):
A little bored.
He might be like fills his daysbecause he has his routine, but
beyond after he does his routinein the mornings.

SPEAKER_00 (23:24):
What's left?

SPEAKER_02 (23:25):
Well, maybe that was part of maybe that was part of
his routine where he walkedaround the hotel for things to
kind of tighten up and fixthings.

SPEAKER_00 (23:32):
And if this is the 60s, it's 1965.
World War II ended in the 40s,which means he's about so he's
an older veteran.
He's 40 some, it's at least 40years old.
Yeah, at least 40 plus.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (23:50):
So, anyways, he was a collector and a bit of a
trickster in life.
And it seems like thattransferred over into his
afterlife as well.
Um, so after he passed, and hepassed in 2001.
And it doesn't say if he passedat the hotel, but I wouldn't
imagine that would like 1965 to2001.

(24:11):
I yeah, I doubt it.

SPEAKER_00 (24:12):
But doubt he was living in the hotel style.

SPEAKER_03 (24:14):
I doubt he was living in a hotel, but it seems
like the hotel was like a timein his life where he was there
for an extended period,probably.
And maybe he really liked itthere and liked his routine that
he had there.

SPEAKER_00 (24:27):
There was time in the 60s and 70s where people
would live in hotels who didn'thave apartments because of it
was easy, they weren'texpensive, you could easily live
there and work, and and sopeople would do that.
And so it's a good possibilityhe lived there for a while.

SPEAKER_03 (24:43):
Yeah.
And it could be.
But, anyways, he passed in in2001.
And after his passing, likestaff and housekeepers and even
guests at the hotel, theyactually started finding
restaurant butter knives outsideof the room and in very random
places.
That's so cute.
Throughout the whole property,not just in the hotel, but

(25:05):
around.

SPEAKER_02 (25:06):
He's still going around fixing things, dropping
his knives.
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (25:10):
Dropping butter knives.

SPEAKER_02 (25:11):
Yep.
I wonder if part of it is or ifit's like residual.
It could be.
You know, because if you have,you're more likely to have a
residual haunting if there is aperson who has a routine that I
do every single day.
Yep.

SPEAKER_03 (25:26):
And he was very, he had a routine.

SPEAKER_00 (25:29):
Can you imagine going to bed and waking up with
a butter knife on the pillownext to you?

SPEAKER_03 (25:33):
That's not that would be a little terrifying.
That would be a little alarmingbecause what what do you need a
butter knife for laying on yourpillow?

SPEAKER_02 (25:38):
And you're like, who in the freak just put this
butter knife by my pillow?

SPEAKER_03 (25:42):
Where did it come from?
But so apparently he also enjoyslocking and all locking locking
the doors to the rooms and youknow to different entrances and
stuff.
And he likes also moving guests'items around the place.
That's cool.
So seems harmful, just more of atrickster.

SPEAKER_00 (26:00):
Where's my bag?
Why is there a butter knifewhere my bag was?

SPEAKER_03 (26:03):
Right?
Is this a threat?
Are you sending me a message?
So then we move on to aVictorian channel, gentleman
that is in room 214.
Okay, so this has got one kingbed in it.
Obviously, sleeps two people.
Um, so this one seems to be thefavorite room of a stately man

(26:29):
from I don't know when.
So he's dressed in hisSeersucker suit.
So what is that?

SPEAKER_00 (26:38):
That's 19 Seersucker being 1940s?
1950s.

SPEAKER_03 (26:43):
See, I was gonna say 30s and 40s.

SPEAKER_00 (26:46):
Um Yeah, which which is weird that you describe him
as Victorian because Well,that's what they're describing
as Victorian gentleman.

SPEAKER_03 (26:55):
How do you spell it?
Uh it's E-E-R and then Sucker.

SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (27:02):
Sucker food.
Seer sucker.

SPEAKER_00 (27:07):
I think that's 30s to 60s.

SPEAKER_03 (27:10):
Well, that's a that's pretty broad.
I want to narrow it down just alittle bit more.
Okay, let's see.
Seersucker suit.
I mean, this is why I wish Icould witness some of this stuff
so that I could kind of be like,okay, is it really a seersucker
suit?
Or, you know, because if youcall them Victorian, was a

(27:31):
seersucker suit in the Victorianera, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (27:34):
No, there was that was much more of a modern era
type style.

SPEAKER_03 (27:37):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (27:37):
Yeah.
It says someone would wear aseersucker suit during the
spring and summer, especiallywhen it's hot.
The style, the style waspopular, right?
We're all winning.
Popularized in the 1920s byPrinceton students and became
mainstream in the 1930s.

(27:58):
Okay, so it would actually beVictorian.

SPEAKER_00 (28:01):
1930s in Victorian.

SPEAKER_03 (28:03):
20s?

SPEAKER_00 (28:04):
1920s aren't Victorian.

SPEAKER_03 (28:05):
Are you sure they're not Victorian?

SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Victorian era is is 1700s.

SPEAKER_03 (28:10):
But when you watch like Meet Me in St.
Louis, and they live in likethis Victorian house and they
kind of dress that way.

SPEAKER_00 (28:16):
Right.
I I think I think the I thinkwhat ends up happening is people
say, Oh, he looks Victorian,because you're talking about a
nice suit, yeah.
Probably a hat, probably eithera top hat or a bowler hat,
something along those lines.
And obviously, if even if I sawsomeone dressed like that today,

(28:39):
you might think the same thing.
You would think something moreVictorian because I mean,
obviously, I mean, how often doyou see someone now walking down
with a down the street with athree-piece suit on and a top
hat and a cane?

SPEAKER_03 (28:53):
You don't, you don't, unless it's Halloween.

SPEAKER_00 (28:55):
Exactly.
And and then what do you dressas Halloween?
Oh, I'm a Victorian vampire orVictorian, you know, something.

SPEAKER_03 (29:03):
Victorian steampunk.

SPEAKER_00 (29:04):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 (29:05):
Yep.
Anyway, so he uh hold on.
So, anyways, he he's you knowreported around the halls of the
hotel, which there's not manyhalls.
You got first floor and secondfloor, second floor, and that's
in and the rooms are all up onthe second floor.
Because in the main floor islike the lobby, the music venue

(29:29):
that was added, like I think inthe 80s, and then like the
little cafe and and the bar,which they call I think Tiger's
Bar.
Um, so oh yeah, and sometimeshe's even seen in a depper top
hat.
Yep.
So there you go.

SPEAKER_00 (29:45):
Yep, that would that would put people as looking at
it as Victorian, right?

SPEAKER_03 (29:48):
Even though it's not so many guests have actually
claimed to see him standing inthe window and watching the
people mingle in the plaza areabelow.
That would be kind of cool.
But The room that he's likelooking out of the window to the
room, uh, they'll check it onlyto find out that that room

(30:09):
hadn't been rented out thatnight and nothing's been
touched.
That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
That's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 (30:13):
Yeah.
I want to see something likethat.
But they said the impressionthey get from him is he's just
very friendly.
Yeah.
I mean, those are the bestkinds.
Right.
He's a people watcher.

SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
He's a people person.
Just like, you know what?
This was a fun place to stay.
We'll hang out for a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 (30:30):
Yep.
Well, and you know howinteresting it would be to be
somebody who lived during thattime and to come back and like
watch people nowadays be like,holy cow, things have changed.
Like, how fascinating would itbe?

SPEAKER_03 (30:43):
Well, I think it would be a little scary too.
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (30:46):
But think about it.
Right.
But think about it from ouravenue too, though.
Like, what would life be like ahundred years from now?

SPEAKER_03 (30:57):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (30:58):
Because that's what we're I mean, in the literal
sense, that's what we're lookingat now.
Someone who who would have diedor been around in the 1930s,
that's a hundred years ago.

SPEAKER_02 (31:07):
Yeah.
You got horses upstairs.

unknown (31:11):
All right.

SPEAKER_03 (31:12):
Like a whole herd.
Okay, so our next haunting is inroom 212.
And this has one king bed andsleeps two people.
And they actually call this onethe locksmith apprentice.
So if you rent out this room,it's reported that it pretty

(31:35):
much starts out like you wouldthink, right?
Like any night.
You get ready for bed, you crawlin the bed.
But as the evening kind of wearson, they start people report uh
experiencing some supernaturalmischief.
Okay, so they have consistentlyreported um the locking of the

(31:56):
like they'll lock their door,they'll turn off their light,
right?
And turning in for the night,only to find a few minutes later
and hear that the door opensagain.
Like the lock clicks and thedoor opens.
So it's like something, itsounds what they describe it as
is it sounds like someone'spicking the lock.

(32:18):
Like they're like someone'sphysically out there with tools
picking the lock.
Oh my gosh, that'd be so scary.

SPEAKER_02 (32:23):
And then you hear it click and then you hear the
door.
That would be terrifying.
If you're staying in a hotelroom, yes, that's like worst
case scenario.

SPEAKER_00 (32:31):
That's a nightmare.
Yeah, yeah, that's a nightmarefuel right there.

SPEAKER_03 (32:35):
So this lock picking, like people will get up
and they'll be like, what theheck?
They'll look down the hall, outthe door, nothing there.
So they'll shut the door andlock it and get back into bed
only to hear it happen again.
So this one guy, he was like,you know, whatever this is, it's
a game.
So you know what?
I'm just gonna leave the dooropen, right?

(32:56):
So he's thinking that's gonnasolve the problem.
If I don't shut it and lock itagain for like the fifth time,
whatever's doing this can't pickit and open it.
Yeah, because it's already open.
Well, to his surprise, the doorthen shut and the lock locked.
I mean, can you imagine howfrustrating that would be?

SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
He just doesn't want you to.
He's like, You think that'sfunny?
I'm just gonna close the door onyou and lock it.
And then I'm gonna pick it laterand open it again.

SPEAKER_03 (33:27):
Right when you're about ready to fall asleep.
So yeah, they they say thatwhatever this ghost is, they're
practicing their lock pickingskills.
You know, now do they just do itto the one room?
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
You know, fun to do is try is go in with a board and
put like three or four differentlocks and lock types on the
board and see if they willattempt to pick those locks
while you're sleeping.

SPEAKER_03 (33:55):
Sharpen his skills to master pick.

SPEAKER_02 (33:58):
Yes.
You know what that reminds meof?
Remember like the Melissa andDoug toys for little kids?
They have they're all made outof wood.
So they're like better material.
And they have locks, differenttypes of locks that you can that
kids can learn to open on justthis wood board.

(34:19):
That's crazy.
Yeah.
Like, we'll just get a Melissaand Doug toy.

SPEAKER_01 (34:23):
There you go.

SPEAKER_03 (34:25):
Here, pick these locks.

SPEAKER_01 (34:27):
There's some locks for you.

SPEAKER_03 (34:28):
This will keep you busy.
So I found like these are likehauntings that are generalized
to like certain rooms andassociate with certain certain
rooms.
But this one actually that Ifound says that there was a
good-looking middle-aged man inthe 1930s in an old-fashioned
gray suit with a long gold watchwith chain, like a pocket watch,

(34:52):
right?
And he was actually murderedduring an April 1st, nine uh
during a poker game on April1st, 1931.
And after he was murdered, soI'm guessing it doesn't say why
he was murdered.
I'm guessing they thought he wascheating, something, there was a
dispute.
Or he won, and other people wereblessed that he won.

(35:12):
Won their money.
They killed him.
And they hid his body under thebed and then continued playing
poker.
I mean, okay.

SPEAKER_00 (35:25):
Bang, you're dead.
Sweet.
Put you under the bed.
Who's in?

SPEAKER_03 (35:32):
Right?
Any up.
But so, anyways, um, sometimeshe's actually been seen peering
out from the second-storywindows of unoccupied rooms on
that floor.
Um, it's like he's looking tocontinue his life.
So yeah.
And then of course, this onerefers to room 242 again with

(35:53):
the the woman who took her ownlife.
Um so they call it the suicideroom.
And it just says after a youngwoman working as it says she was
working as a barmaid in the1940s and took her life
following her breakup with amarried, high-ranking 1940s
local official.
And okay, and here it is,resulting in a midnight standoff

(36:16):
with authorities that ended in ahell of gunfire, from which her
death from 29 bullets wasofficially listed as a suicide.
Oh, suicide by cop.
Yep.
So the bullet hole in the room'scloset still early gives um an
on-settling connection to theevents of that bloody night.

SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
That would be interesting to put like an EMF
meter to that.

SPEAKER_03 (36:39):
So apparently the bullet hole, there's a bullet
hole still in the closet that'sstill there.
Yeah, that would be cool.
And that's room 242.
That's cool.
So uh a lot of guests reporthearing strange noises, seeing
the ghostly apparition of thewoman.
They say she's walking up anddown the hallway and in the
room's bathroom.

SPEAKER_00 (36:58):
See that part of the story kind of makes a little
more sense to why she will spoonyou in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_03 (37:03):
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (37:04):
Because she's she was rejected.
Rejected by a married man.
Which seems to be part of thethe problem with a lot of these
stories.

SPEAKER_03 (37:18):
Yeah.
Well, and they also reportsmelling the smell of roses
along the lobby stairwell.
Old lady perfume.

SPEAKER_00 (37:25):
Yep, old lady perfume.

SPEAKER_03 (37:26):
And that's been going on and off for like years,
years and years.
Uh, they've been findingold-fashioned uh flat butter
knives scattered around fromthat one gentleman.
And this is another article.
So um, Vince, who is a residentat the Congress Hotel, he was a
resident there for 37 years.
Whoa.
So maybe these people were therefor a long time.

(37:48):
This is the one, the veteran.

SPEAKER_02 (37:50):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 (37:51):
Apparently, his name is Vince.
He's the one that steals thebutter knives.
So he was there for 37 years,and he was known for stealing
the knives from the kitchen andaround town during the 60s and
70s until his mysterious deathin 2001, during a full moon,
when he was attacked by a desertbobcat in the alley.
What?
Yeah, that's what this articlesays.

(38:12):
And see, this is the problem isin some articles you get some of
the details.
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (38:18):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (38:18):
And then in other articles you get more of the
details.

SPEAKER_00 (38:21):
And then you gotta read another article to get the
to fill in the the gaps.

SPEAKER_03 (38:25):
Right.
But it also makes me wonder likethe validity of these
reportings.

SPEAKER_00 (38:32):
I would say some of them are probably very the ones
that are more detailed areprobably some of the more
accurate ones.
It's interesting though, becauseit's like he we were just
questioning how long did he livethere?
Was it a short-term thing?
No, he lived there until hisdeath.
He lived there for 37 years.
So, I mean, it's not uncommonfor people to live in hotels

(38:57):
like that, especially if it'sit's cheap enough and whatnot.
So, like they'll do that.

SPEAKER_01 (39:02):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (39:03):
It's interesting that he that he not only stole
butter knifes from the hotel,but from around town.

SPEAKER_03 (39:10):
So like cafes and stuff.
You know, I had a fascinationwith butter knifes.

SPEAKER_00 (39:15):
The strangeness to be killed by a desert bobcat in
an alleyway.

SPEAKER_03 (39:19):
In an alleyway by the hotel.

SPEAKER_00 (39:21):
No, granted, if you've never been to Tucson,
it's basically right outside oftown is the desert, so it's not
it's not for it's like findingdeer here, right?

SPEAKER_02 (39:33):
Yeah, it's I'm sure it's not as common, but it's
possible.

SPEAKER_00 (39:38):
Yeah, I mean, you'd have like I've seen things where
they're bare in someone'sbackyard if you're like right by
the mountain and stuff likethat, or a moose.
But yeah, to have an apexpredator just kind of like
meander in the town and thentake somebody out.

SPEAKER_03 (39:57):
Well, it does happen not too long ago earlier this
year.
We had a cougar somewhererunning over here in Lehigh.

SPEAKER_02 (40:03):
Yeah, in your neighborhood.
Yeah.
Remember when you and I wereoutside talking?
Well, here's the thing becausewhen I came, I heard a growl and
it sounded like a cat growl.

SPEAKER_03 (40:12):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (40:12):
And I was like, what is that?
And then you told me that therewas a cougar around or
something.

SPEAKER_03 (40:17):
Remember, we were talking.
Oh, you're right.
It sounded like a chirp, and itwas night.
It was like 11 o'clock at night.
Her and I were outside of ourgarage talking because she was
getting ready to get in her carand go home.
And we heard a chirp.
And she looks over and I'm like,uh, I don't want to scare you,
but that sounds like a cougar.

(40:39):
And she's looking at me like I'mcrazy.
We get in the car, she pulls upthe thing like sounds cougar
make, and one was the identicalchirp.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (40:48):
The the one that is that is bone-chilling to me is
when a cougar screams like awoman.

SPEAKER_03 (40:53):
Or a child.

SPEAKER_00 (40:55):
Really?

SPEAKER_03 (40:55):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (40:56):
And when you're at a gas station by yourself in the
middle of nowhere, and you hearthat, your blood just goes cold.

SPEAKER_02 (41:03):
It does.
I've never heard that when theyscream like that.

SPEAKER_00 (41:07):
You don't want to because it's terrifying.
It is terrifying.
But it sounds just like a womanscreaming like she's being
murdered.
Yeah.
It is terrifying.

SPEAKER_03 (41:17):
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
And they also do the chirpingsounds.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (41:20):
Always of drawing in prey.

SPEAKER_03 (41:22):
Yep.
So, anyways, the sidewalk out ofthe hotel that was built in the
late 1800s, it was actuallybefore the hotel was built.
Um, it reveals kind of like amystery.
So, in an outdoor cafe uh thatfronts the tap room and lobby
bars of the area, uh, you canstill see parts of the pavement

(41:44):
that's actually embedded withthis like this thick
multicolored bubbles of gold.
Um, well, different colors ofold glass shards.
It's like embedded.
So the glass was put there toallow like light to filter down
to a spooky series of longclosed-off tunnels below the
sidewalk that once ran aroundand underneath original downtown

(42:05):
areas.
Makes me wonder if they're stillopen down there.
I know.
Like, could you could be likeunderground tours?

SPEAKER_00 (42:12):
That sounds a lot of like night, gosh, that sounds
like it'd be part of the 1930s.

SPEAKER_03 (42:16):
But so the tunnels actually were originally used in
the 1800s for many of theChinese workers uh to get tuned
from their job sites and arounddowntown Tucson areas.
Um when it was back in time whenthe United States uh had like
the anti-Chinese laws and uhnumerous uh illegal

(42:38):
discrimination practices.

SPEAKER_02 (42:40):
Yeah, I do remember hearing about that.

SPEAKER_00 (42:43):
So and then there's also another I mean that it's
interesting because I wouldn'tthink I wouldn't think Western
Arizona as a place you wouldfind Chinese labor.
Yeah, yeah, it was more theeastern well actually no, it's
usually like so the Chinese theChinese built the railroads

(43:05):
coming from California.
Yes, yes, but if you draw thecorrelation, the fact that there
is another railroad, SouthernPacific Railroad, was down
there, then it's more thanlikely that they came from the
railroad.

SPEAKER_03 (43:20):
Yeah, which makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 (43:21):
And then they yeah, then they were digging their
tunnels and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 (43:24):
Yeah, and of course, so it was a way to get them the
Chinese to and from job siteswithout being seen up on the
streets and all the things,right?
And that way they couldn'tsocialize with other people, and
um, but of course, being tunnelsand being secretive, they were
also abused for more sinisterpurposes.

(43:45):
They always are, they alwaysare, right?
So saloon owners, gamblers,thieves, uh Tucson uh vigilante
committee, and like nefariousothers uh would use the tunnels,
you know, at will after dark.
Um those out at night sometimesdisappeared down into the

(44:06):
underground tunnels and werenever actually seen again.
So Shanghai, right?
But I think they were alsomurdered too.
Like oh, I'm sure drugged downthere, robbed, and probably
murdered, right?
And disposed of wherever.
Um, so yeah, it's said thatthere are restless spirits uh
that were never never able tofulfill their full lives still

(44:26):
prowled down in those tunnels.

SPEAKER_00 (44:29):
So it sounds like there's still might some of the
tunnels still might beavailable.

SPEAKER_02 (44:34):
Well, and it sounds like a lot of negative energy.

SPEAKER_00 (44:37):
Lots.

SPEAKER_03 (44:38):
So, and going back to Dillinger, okay, there's
another thing that says when theluggage was later recovered and
one bag accidentally opened up.
Accidentally, quotes,accidentally, um, it found that
it uh contained three Thompson45 caliber submachine guns.

(45:01):
Oh my goodness, two 3030Winchester rifles, five military
bulletproof vests, four handgrenades, three bottles of dark
Cuban rum, a glass eyeball.

SPEAKER_02 (45:13):
Oh my gosh, this sounds like a great correlation.

SPEAKER_03 (45:16):
A skeleton's hand.
What?
So uh yeah, a hand.
What?
A skeleton's hand, and$38,000 incash with along with$7,500 in
gold coins from the UnitedStates mint.
What the heck?

SPEAKER_00 (45:32):
So Dillinger and how big was this bag?

SPEAKER_03 (45:37):
It must have been like you remember how they used
to have like those old steamertrunks for their luggage?
Yep, like it would have to besomething.
It's like a body bag.

SPEAKER_00 (45:44):
It had to be big, yeah, more like a body bag
because it was huge.
No, some Thompson submachineguns aren't super huge, they're
about the length of my forearm.
Okay, so there's three of those.
But a Winchester rifle is thelength of my arm.

SPEAKER_01 (46:00):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (46:01):
And so like you have that, like, so you got three of
those.
You have body armor in there.

SPEAKER_03 (46:06):
Grenades, grenades, a glass eyeball.
You gotta have the rum.

SPEAKER_00 (46:11):
Right, the rum in 38,000 in cash and plus more
gold coins.
Yep.
Like this thing had to have beena massive bag.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it's so heavy.
So, like, hey guy, is he's likedragging this thing on the
ground that's like the size ofhis car.
What you got in the bag?

SPEAKER_01 (46:32):
Nothing.
Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 (46:33):
It's it's real light.
Just give me a minute.

SPEAKER_02 (46:37):
Can I have one of those luggage carriers?

SPEAKER_00 (46:42):
Bellman.

SPEAKER_03 (46:44):
What about the Bellboy then?

SPEAKER_00 (46:46):
I need I need six Bellman, please.

SPEAKER_03 (46:48):
No reason.
So, but most of that money,along with the gold coins,
actually disappeared and hasnever actually been found.
Wow.

SPEAKER_02 (46:57):
Okay, I want to know whose skeleton hand that was.
I don't know.
Maybe it was his like partner incrime, and he's like, screw you,
I'm taking it all.
Right?

SPEAKER_00 (47:07):
Or did it belong to does it belong to the guy with
the eye?

SPEAKER_03 (47:10):
Probably.
Or it was somebody he was partof his gang, but he caught
stealing from him.
Could be.
And so chopped off his hand forstealing.
Could be.
So yeah, and then like they havelike so some of the names of his
gang was Russell Clark, known asKiller.

(47:33):
Charles uh Macley, known as TheKnife, Harry Pierpoint, known as
Gunner, and the ringleader, DonDillinger John Dillinger, also
known as Dapper.
So they were all arrested by twothe two Southern police
officers, and what wasshort-lived and of their freedom
and soon to be repeatednationwide manhunts for them all

(47:57):
over again.
So the men were all transferredto another state to stand trial
for their many murders andescapes from prison, um, and
then went right back to the roadto commit more crimes.
So I'm guessing this is beforethe Hotel Congress.

SPEAKER_00 (48:14):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (48:15):
Because they kept escaping.

SPEAKER_00 (48:17):
So here's an interesting thing.
John Dillinger's nickname wasDapper.

SPEAKER_02 (48:22):
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (48:23):
He died in the 30s.

SPEAKER_02 (48:25):
Yes.
Dapper Dan.

SPEAKER_00 (48:27):
He's the is it he could he be the Dapper guy?
Seersucker suit, top hat, verydapper.
And they just don't realize thatthey're seeing Dillinger because
you know, if you showed me, ifyou show me a picture of
Dillinger right now and a listof people, I wouldn't be able to
pick him out.
Yeah, I wouldn't be able to pickhim out.

SPEAKER_03 (48:49):
That's his actual wanted poster back then.
Yeah.
So and we will post that.

SPEAKER_00 (48:59):
Yeah.
But yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn'tbe able to pick him out of a
lineup.
If you if you pick if you hadlike other people, Bugsy,
Capone, Dillinger, uh MachineGunner, Machine Gun Kelly.
But if you posted them up andsaid, which one of this is
Dillinger?

SPEAKER_03 (49:18):
You wouldn't be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 (49:19):
No.

SPEAKER_03 (49:19):
You might.
You never know.

SPEAKER_00 (49:21):
Maybe.
Doubtful.

SPEAKER_03 (49:22):
Anyways, when they kind of found all these items,
you know, the grenades and theguns and glass eyeball.
And so the Tucson PoliceDepartment actually kept all the
items found in the luggage.
But over time, the onlyremaining items that can
actually be accounted for arethe machine guns, which are on
display at the Tucson PoliceDepartment headquarters.

SPEAKER_00 (49:41):
So you're telling me so the cops kept the$38,000 in
cash.

SPEAKER_03 (49:44):
And the$7,500 in gold coins coins from the U.S.

SPEAKER_00 (49:48):
And the grenade.
They just put them in lockup inevidence and they just
disappeared.

SPEAKER_02 (49:56):
Happens actually often.

SPEAKER_00 (49:58):
I'm sure.
I am dying of not surprised.

SPEAKER_03 (50:02):
So here's something that's kind of interesting that
has to do with the skeletalhand.
So over the years, since theevents surrounding the capture
of Dillinger's gang, right?
Some of the current and pastemployees of the hotel club
Congress have actually reportedfeeling a skeleton's hand touch

(50:22):
their shoulders and necks duringtheir years while working at the
hotel.
How do they know it's a skeletonhand?
Probably because it feels likereally kind of hard and bony
instead of like soft.
Flesh.

SPEAKER_02 (50:33):
Soft and because you know when you get touched.
Like if you got touched with astick.
Yeah.
Well, like you know, when youget touched by a ghost, it's
like soft and feathery feelslike.
Versus Sometimes.
In general.
Depends on where they'retouching you.
And versus something more solid,maybe?

SPEAKER_03 (50:56):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (50:57):
Like small.
I don't know.
How would you I don't know.
I mean the Or they're justassuming that it's a skeleton
hand because of the rumors.
And that's that's kind of morewhere my mind goes.

SPEAKER_00 (51:10):
It could be an old bony man's hand, which would be
kind of skeletal in a sense.

SPEAKER_03 (51:16):
But either one of those.
It kind of gets better becausethen they refer to the glass
eyeball and they say it's stillsaid to be heard moving across
the floors like the colour.

SPEAKER_02 (51:24):
I was gonna say it was like rolling down the
hallway.

SPEAKER_03 (51:26):
Yeah, rolling across the floors of the kitchen and
along the top of bars reallylate at night, long after
closing time and during thecleanup hours.
How do you know it's notactually just like a phantom
marble?
And why is it a glass eyeball?

SPEAKER_00 (51:40):
Again, it's probably the the rumors, right?
But could you imagine just likein order for that to happen, if
it's residual, that means hejust sat there at the bars
rolling the eyeball back andforth across the bar.

SPEAKER_02 (51:54):
It's like, play catch.
We're drunk.
Catch this, right?

SPEAKER_00 (51:58):
You remember when Joan lost his eye?
Nah, I got a ear.
Catch.

SPEAKER_03 (52:03):
So kind of some more recent hauntings.
So on November 1st of 1987,there was an old gray-haired
man, and he was wearing like avery tattered black suit, and he
appeared at the bar late night,and it was really near closing
time.
And from his jacket, from underhis jacket, he pulls out an old,

(52:24):
very old bottle of real uh Cubanrum.
Remember the rum in the thing?
So the bartender then remindedthis guy that he could not bring
his own bottle into the bar.
And then this mysterious manthen rented a room up on the
second floor, paying the frontdesk clerk with some old United

(52:47):
States currency, and invited thebartender along with other
employees there at the time, upto have a drink in his room
later.
After drinking, talking for wellover an hour with employees, as
if he had once lived or stayedat the hot stayed at the hotel
for a long time, the old mansaid he was going to take a
shower and asked them all tocome back in half an hour.

(53:10):
So, I mean, did they not knowthat this, like, who is this
guy?
Is he a ghost?
Is he real?
Like, because they went up tohis room and drank with them.

SPEAKER_02 (53:19):
Well, the fact that he was talking to them for as
long as he was, I would assumethat they wouldn't even think
twice if it was a ghost or not.

SPEAKER_03 (53:25):
So they left so this guy could shower and they were
gonna come back in half an hour.
So upon their return to theroom, it was completely empty
with like no signs that anybodyhad ever been there.
Like nothing in the room was outof place, nothing had been used,
and the glasses they had alldrank from were clean and
unused.

SPEAKER_02 (53:45):
Well, that makes me wonder what about the money that
he gave them.
Right?
Is it did it disappear?
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (53:50):
The trash can was empty, and a quick check with
the desk clerk downstairsrevealed that no one had left
the hotel to his knowledge.
So quickly the desk clerk becamereally curious about this old
man and checked the man'ssign-in card.
Um, because he had actuallywatched this guy fill it out at
the counter with an ink pen thatwas actually still on the

(54:10):
counter.
And unexplainably, the card wascompletely blank.
And so the clerk then used hiskey and opened up the cash
register, but quickly had foundthat the old uh all the old
large-size United State currencywas not there.
That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 (54:29):
So Dillinger came to visit.

SPEAKER_03 (54:32):
If it was Dillinger, it was an old gray-haired man in
an old tattered black suit thathad the old Cuban rum.
Now, was it his skeletal handand eyeball that Dillinger took?
I mean, as like mementos, likewas had he one time been a part
of the gang?

SPEAKER_00 (54:48):
And it's hard to say.
Right.
I mean, I know Dillinger diedyoung because he was killed by
gunned down by the police.
But there again, though, spiritscan appear as they want.
Sure.
And so if he wanted to show upas an old man, he could.

SPEAKER_03 (55:08):
I mean, I suppose.
I don't know why he would, butthen again, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (55:13):
But who's gonna have Cuban rum?
Well, I mean, I would havetraded the guy, but of course,
he, you know, he invitedeverybody up to drink in his
room, which is highly againsthotel regulations these days.

SPEAKER_03 (55:26):
And this was in 1997.
Yeah, it's not like it was backin the day when maybe they were
all looking for a good time.
Maybe it was a slow night.
But, anyways, you can uh go totheir website for this hotel,
the Congress Hotel in Tucson,Arizona, and you can request a
haunted room and you can staythere.

SPEAKER_02 (55:47):
Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 (55:49):
How many rooms have they got and how much would it
take to rent out every room?

SPEAKER_03 (55:52):
Let's see.
We I don't know, but uh of thehaunted rooms they listed, what
was there?
Four?
There was four.

SPEAKER_02 (55:58):
Yeah, and they had the smallest room that we heard
of was 412 versus four or twotwelve two twelve and two
forty-two.
So there has to be I'm assumingabout fifty rooms, maybe at
least.

SPEAKER_00 (56:13):
It's a pretty good sized building.
Yeah.
Would be very interestingbecause the third floor isn't
there anymore.

SPEAKER_02 (56:18):
No.

SPEAKER_00 (56:20):
But that's the roof.
Is the roof haunted?

SPEAKER_02 (56:24):
Yeah, I wonder if they hear footsteps on the
stairs.
That's what I was gonna say.
I wonder if they hear peoplewalking around at the end.
See, but what's interesting iswhen I went to Gettysburg, I
stayed in a haunted hotel thatwas there.
It was a bed and breakfast thatwas there um during the war.

(56:48):
And we heard footsteps on theroof, yeah, but there was no
floor above.
So, but I know they have peoplelike on lookout and things like
that.
That so it makes you wonder,like, even though that one
didn't even have a floor, right?

(57:08):
And I still heard footsteps onthe roof versus a building that
actually had a third floor orhad that floor above, why
wouldn't you?
Sure.
Yeah.
Even if it's just residual.

SPEAKER_03 (57:20):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (57:21):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (57:22):
Totally.
But, anyways, it's you know,it's one for people to add to
their bucket list and go say.
They also have the uh JeromeHotel in Jerome, Arizona that's
really haunted as well.
So there, you know, there's acouple good places.

SPEAKER_00 (57:37):
Also, if you're not familiar with the geography of
Arizona, from Tucson to umstone,it's only about a two and a half
hour drive.

SPEAKER_03 (57:53):
I don't even remember it being that long, but
yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (57:56):
Well, that's because that's because we went that's
because we went from FortWachuca.

SPEAKER_03 (58:00):
Right.
But there's also Biz uh Bisbee.
That's uh, you know, you can goin the Queen Anne mine.

SPEAKER_00 (58:05):
Yep.

SPEAKER_03 (58:06):
I think that's 1880.

SPEAKER_00 (58:08):
There's a lot of fun haunted stuff down in southern
Arizona.

SPEAKER_03 (58:11):
There is.
Yeah, so you you can make like atrip of it for sure.
And hit a few places and stay ata few haunted places, go on the
Queen Anne mine tour, go toTombstone, you know, go to Big
Nose Cates and Tombstone, theBird Cage Theater.
Um, so many good places to gocemetery.

(58:33):
It's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 (58:34):
You know what's funny?
Is I've been to Tombstone adozen times.
Never once did I go to the OKCorral or Boot Hill.

SPEAKER_02 (58:45):
Yeah.
Really?
I would think the OK Corralwould be one of the first places
to go in Tombstone.

SPEAKER_00 (58:50):
Nope, I went to Big Nose Cates and got some food.

SPEAKER_03 (58:53):
Well, yeah, you and I went too to Big Nose Cates and
a Buffalo Burger.
And that's how I knew about it.

SPEAKER_00 (58:58):
That's how I knew about it.
We went there and we had we hadwe ate and drank in the bars and
the restaurants that are outthere.

SPEAKER_03 (59:05):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (59:06):
And we that's what we did when we went to
Tombstone.

SPEAKER_03 (59:08):
Yeah, you and the guys.
But yeah, but then you and BigNose Cates, you have like the
staircase that goes down.
This like curly staircase.

SPEAKER_00 (59:16):
To an actual mine.

SPEAKER_03 (59:18):
Where's where this uh old prospector had a bed down
there, and he like dug a holenext to his bed down.
Oh my goodness.
So you can go down there and youcan see it.
That's wild.
So cool.
And the bird cage theater ispretty cool too.

SPEAKER_00 (59:33):
Yeah.
So the the neat the really coolthing about the Burch Cage
Theater is that the poker tablethat they played.
That they played.
Um, if you've watched where umTombstone, the the movie movie
Tombstone where Doc Holiday andand then were at the poker table
playing cards, that poker tableis downstairs in the Birdcage

(59:57):
Theater.
It was the longest.
Running continuous poker game.
It was like a week's a week waitto get onto the table.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:10):
I can't remember what the price is.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:12):
Ten thousand dollars their money.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:16):
Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:17):
They would wait a month to get onto this table.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:21):
Yeah.
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:22):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:23):
Pretty amazing.
So Arizona, to sum it up,Arizona does have a lot of good
places to investigate thataren't super far apart.
So you could hit, like if youtook like a week, you could hit
a handful of locations.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:36):
Several places down there.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:37):
Easily.
It'd be worth it.
It'd totally be worth it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:41):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:41):
But yeah, that's the Hotel Congress.
So I had never heard of this oneat all.
No.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:46):
Yeah, I haven't heard of it either.
So if you said haunted Arizona,Tucson wouldn't even be on the
list.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:55):
So it's it's it's neat to find a place in in other
in an in a city you're notexpecting.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:01):
Yeah, and there's a good amount of hauntings at this
hotel.
So it's worth, I think it wouldbe worth a trip.
Yeah.
You know, stay in, like maybestay a couple nights, stay in
one room one night.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:11):
I was gonna say you could stay for four nights and
switch every night to adifferent.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:15):
Oh, I think that would be awesome.
Rent four rooms for four nights.
Yeah.
And we just each take a room.

unknown (01:01:20):
That'd be so cool.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:22):
To sleep in for the night, but then we can
investigate all four of them aswe go and just see what happens
and just leave uh camerasrunning.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:31):
Yeah, that would be so funny.
And digital recorders go allnight, do like a 24-hour thing.
Yes, you know, stay up all nightand then sleep during the day.
That's the way to do it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:42):
Oh, high school all over again.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:45):
Uh, but with a twist.
That's more like college days,right?

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:48):
Not high school.
But it's with a twist becauseit's it's for ghosties, it's not
just because we're, you know,college or something or how
because we're young anddrinking.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:57):
Definitely not because of that.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:58):
Definitely not doing any of that.
I never did any of that.
Let's just put that out.
I I didn't in high school.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:04):
I mean, I didn't for the record, neither did I.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:07):
Sure.
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:10):
Well, everybody, I hope you enjoyed uh this
episode.
Um, please like and subscribe.
And as always, stay ghosty, mypeeps.