by Danielle Branch

Created on: April 20, 2008   Last Updated: December 04, 2008

When looking at interesting historical facts, it is always fun to look at the unusual and wacky history that has happened in a city. It is this "character" that defines a city and so often carves a city into a major tourist hot spot.

Lost Gold Mine

If you happen to be a treasure hunter, than you may be interested to know there is a lost gold mine called the Lost Dutchman of the Superstition Mountains. The story goes that Jacob Waltz "The Dutchman", had a rich gold mine deep in the mountains of Apache Junction. This old prospector braved the dangers of the Apaches before the 1886 surrender of Geronimo at Skeleton Canyon. No one has been able to find this mine, which they say it is near Weaver's Needle, because all who have tried have faced foul play or death. Many maps have been found but have either disappeared or were stolen. Can you find the lost gold mine?

Mystery Castle

Boyce Luther Gulley built this castle in 1930 after learning that he had tuberculosis. He abandoned his wife and daughter, so they would not see him die, however he traveled to Phoenix and built the home for his little young woman. Mary Lou Gulley was little when her father left and never returned, and she now lives in the castle he built for her. Mystery Castle is on the Phoenix Historic Property Register, so it will be preserved even after Mary Lou is gone. The house is neither a castle nor a real mystery, but what makes it unusual is the materials it is made of. The home was built on a salvage yard. Gulley used anything he could find including auto parts, junk, and other artifacts he found in the South-west and in Mexico in building his home. Talk about being creative.

Ghosts and odd events

The Hotel San Carlos sits on the site of the city's first school which was built in 1874. Guests in the hotel have reported hearing laughing and playing children, even when there are no children around. In 1928, Leone Jensen went to the roof of the Hotel San Carlos in her nightgown, broken-hearted over her lost love, the bellhop. She then plummeted off the roof to her death. Since that evening, people have reported feeling strange breezes, odd noises, and seeing Leone's ghostly figure hovering in the air.

While Phoenix is filled with great history, there are some unusual things that have happened here. From an infamous lost gold mine, to house made of junk, to a haunted hotel, Phoenix sure is weird.

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