Monti’s La Casa Veija

Tempe,  Arizona

Property Type:  Restaurant and Bar

Business Website:  http://www.montis.com

Investigation Date:  October 2008

 

Property Description and History

Monti’s Casa La Vieja is the oldest remaining building in the Salt River Valley and is now used as a 25,000-square-foot rambling steakhouse.   The original adobe hacienda was built as a home by Charles Trumbull Hayden in 1871.  Hayden settled in the area to establish a flourmill and a ferry service for crossing the Salt River, which flowed year-round at that time.  In 1876, Hayden married Sallie Davis, and the couple turned their residence into a hotel, blacksmith shop, post office and general store. Over the years, the staff and guests of this historical restaurant have laid claims of paranormal activity from noises, items being moved on their own to full apparitions.

The community became known as Hayden’s Ferry.  The following year, the Hayden’s son Carl was born in the hacienda. Carl would go on to become a sheriff, cavalry soldier and congressman, serving more than 57 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.  In the late 1880s, a traveling English nobleman named Darrell Duppa suggested that the small settlement resembled an area in Greece called the Vale of Tempe. A few years later, the town’s name was officially changed to Tempe.

When the Hayden family moved to a new home in the 1890s, they began referring to the original structure by the nickname La Casa Vieja — Spanish for “The Old House.”  The restaurant of some sort was operated at La Casa Vieja as early as the 1890s, most likely as a convenience to those who had traveled a great distance to use the flourmill or ferry service.

In 1954, the building was purchased by Leonard F. Monti, Sr. Monti had been operating a 13-stool diner in Chandler since 1946, having come to Arizona following World War II. was keenly aware of the property’s illustrious heritage, and rather than entirely renaming the establishment he merely added his last name, dubbing it “Monti’s La Casa Vieja.”  In 1984, the Hayden House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

Claims of Activity

Many of the current and former employees have claimed to experience some strange activity.  Some of these claims include things that happen when the employees are closing up, and while  they are turning off lights and checking doors. they can hear the sound of women’s voices having a conversation and laughing closeby.   They have seen an apparition of a cowboy walking down the hallway.  Even the security system will show there movement within the building, but after checking no-one is there.

The Fountain Room was originally used as an open courtyard.  The cleaning crews states that they often “hear” the laughter and sounds of children playing in this area.  Sounds of whistling and mysterious noises come from The Hayden Room, where Carl Hayden was born., the cleaning crew try to pair up while they clean.

An employee in the men’s restroom believes he heard the late Leonard Monti walking down the hallway (he had a unique shuffle).  The restroom is next to Leonard’s old office, and banging has been heard coming from the now vacant room.

 

 

The Investigation

We set up cameras in the areas with the reported activity.. Senator’s Room, Hallway down towards the Senator’s Room, Fountain Room, Hayden Rooms and the hallway beside the banquet halls. We also left a digital recorder in the Zane Gray Room.

While at WCGAPS command center an investigator was hearing woman chatting in the lobby just south of her. After looking around she could not find anyone. She also felt a lot of cold chills at this time, but played this off as being from the air conditioning being turned on.

 At the same command center in the bar, two other investigators were hearing unexplained noises and when playing back the audio recorder, an EVP of a woman can be heard speaking.

 

Investigation Findings

Evidence was captured in the bar and lobby area, in correlation with the investigator’s claims of hearing woman speaking in the area.  As far as cold chills throughout that area, we were not able to debunk any cold drafts from the area, and the air conditioning unit was off the whole night. We were able to catch an EVP that backs up her claim as you can hear a conversation between women in the front lobby area around the same time. a conversation between women in the front lobby area around the same time. 

 

At the same command center in the bar, two other investigators were hearing unexplained noises and when playing back the audio recorder, an EVP of a woman can be heard speaking.

On video, we also captured what looked like a black mist floating in front of the Senator ‘s Room.  The investigators were unaware of this mist in person, and actually walked right through.  We are still reviewing this evidence to find a reasonable explanation for what was captured.

Throughout the night, there were also many personal experiences that happened, that we were unable to find explanations for.  All investigators that have an experience must record it in our command center notebook after their session and not discuss it during the investigation so that we may review and compare at a later date.  One of the personal experiences at Monti’s was a full body apparition of a woman wearing a white/blue dress walking through the lobby.. the investigator only caught a glimpse and was unable to photograph or video this occurrence.  We look forward to trying to debunk this in the future!

 

This is the first place that Andy Rice, Founder of WCGAPS has listed as haunted due to the overwhelming evidence that was found, and the fact that we were not able to debunk many claims using normal methods.