On February 23, 2008 WCGAPS investigated the Museum Club, located off of Rt 66 in Flagstaff, Az. We were welcomed there by General Manager Brandyn Tullis. The building, built in 1931 by Dean Eldredge, was originally a museum of sorts that housed a multitude of taxidermy animals and other curiosities (thus earning the nickname of “The Zoo”). In 1973 the owners of the club were Don and Thorna Scott. Thorna fell down the stairs leading to their upstairs apartment and died as a result. Don never recovered from her death and killed himself in front of the stone fireplace with a rifle in 1975. The building today is used as a club for live concerts and dancing, and the name is a nod to its beginnings.
Over the years, many stories and claims have been made about supernatural happenings in the building, both by employees and patrons of the club. Everything from voices, to bottles at the bar being moved, to full-body apparitions have been reported. The most well-known story involves a former employee who lived in the upstairs apartment where Thorna and Don Scott used to live. According to different reports, he was either on the floor or on his bed as this occurred. Different reports has the ghost saying either “You only need to fear the living”, “Don’t be afraid. Only the living can hurt you”, and “Don’t be afraid of me, only the living can hurt you.” The man was scared out of his wits and went through the second floor window without bothering to go out the door. He never returned, and according to the present manager, he still calls once a year to see if the place has burned down yet.
WCGAPS placed cameras scattered through the building, including the upstairs storage area. Our investigation started at 2am and continued to 6am. We started by debunking as many claims as we could. After reviewing a collection of photographs taken by patrons and other investigators, we were able to debunk the anomalies that appeared in the photos. There were many orbs, which after close review, we determined all of them were the result of light reflecting from the flash on dust particles in the air. Also, one photo appeared to have a translucent man hanging from a tree in the middle of the dance floor area. At first glance it appears to be a man hanging, but in fact it is only smudges and dirt on the mirror making it appear that way. The next occurrence we were able to debunk was the stall in the women’s bathroom. It had high EMF readings given off by the bathroom fan directly over the stall which could give the feeling of being watched or a presence. Also the store room is directly overhead and anyone speaking from there sounds as if it is in the bathroom itself. The fireplace is a wood burning fireplace and sometimes appears that the fire is out, but as we investigated, the hot ambers would cause the wood to flare up back into a fire again.
We did capture a number of EVP’s around the fireplace where the stairs to the apartment above use to be. On one of the recordings, a male voice called a female investigator a “bitch” on two different occasions. Also, one of the recordings had a female voice sounding as if it were saying ”help me” and “killed me” on two different spots. One investigator heard a deep male voice saying “Hello” by the corner booth in the back of the building and this was also caught on the digital audio recorder. The female investigator with him did not hear it but was able to hear it as it was played back on the recorder. Other EVPs seemed to be communicating by answering “no” to some questions asked by an investigator.
Our conclusion is that there seems to be paranormal activity, but it appears to be residual. We didn’t have many personal experiences or capture any other data, so we are unable to label the claim as haunted, though that could change if we were to do further investigation.