Anchorage Ghost Tours

Richard and I went on date night last night; someone I work with had left me a flyer for the Anchorage Ghost Tours so I thought why not check it out and maybe learn something new.  Right off one thing I really loved about this tour was the guide who said “I am a history buff” he was not there to dazzle us with effects in the hope of scaring someone, instead he told us stories about different locations and the ghosts who may still reside there. He had done his research on each place we visited and was knowledgeable about the history and the reported ghost sightings. 

 

Some of the stories I knew, like the police chief I wrote about in my Historical Anchorage Hotel post and the lady in the bathroom at the Captain Cook Hotel, but others were totally new to me.

We started our tour in front of the Snow City Café, it is said to have a spectacular breakfast and to be haunted so we will be returning to eat sometime soon.  In the 1970’s this building was not one but several store fronts one of which housed a travel agency owned by Muriel Pfeil, a wealthy business women who had been married to attorney Neil Mackay,  sadly Muriel had been involved in a nasty divorce and custody battle for the couple’s only son, she was awarded custody. On September 30, 1976 Muriel left her office and walked across the street got in her car turned the ignition and blew up. The car was wired with a car bomb. Her murder remains unsolved although everyone seems to be in agreement that her ex-husband was behind it, getting rid of her in order to gain custody of their son.

This is where our tour guides background story ended, he went on to tell us about what is believed to be Muriel’s ghost inside the restaurant and some of the manifestations that a night worker reported over the years and then other workers added to. She is said to become upset if she is not acknowledged when the workers arrive late at night or early in the morning. She has been known to do things like turn on the water in the kitchen and flood the floors. There was also one report of a worker seeing a women in the bathroom mirror, the women appeared to only have one side of her face.

Interestingly when we left and I wanted to do more research on this women and her death I found that her ex-husband was charged and tried twice for the murder of her brother. It seems the brother was executor of Muriel’s estate and controlled his nephews’ inheritance; he also fought for custody of Muriel’s son, his nephew. The family believed that Neil MacKay had something to do with Muriel’s murder. Muriel's brother was shot returning home one night and five people closely tied to Neil Mackay were arrested and convicted in the murder. Mackay was charged with murder for hire, but one trial ended in a mistrial and he was acquitted in the second, all the same popular belief is that he was responsible for both murders.

Next we made our way up the block to the Captain Cook Hotel. I have long known about the “ghost in the bathroom” at this hotel. It is said that again in the 1970’s just after the hotel was expanded and a elaborate grand opening for the new wing was taking place a women walked into the hotel, down to the bottom floor into the last stall and shot herself.

I stay every year at the Captain Cook with the girls when I take them to see Broadway in Anchorage and of course each year we have to check out the bathroom. Our guide did recount stories of this ghost becoming so destructive, shaking the stall doors and causing some people to feel tightness in their chest or faint that the hotel owners have locked off that stall.  A long time employee of the family owned hotel reports that she goes down and talks to the ghost in an attempt to appease her, she just babbles on about the latest news and since she has done this the reports from guests have decreased so again perhaps she just needs some attention, after all I suppose spending eternity in a bathroom stall would become very boring.

Last stall is the one that is said to be haunted

Looking over the locked door

We saw a few more buildings to include the 4^th street theatre; I intend to do some more research on that building so the stories from there will be included in a later post. We ended at the Historic Anchorage Hotel where we heard the story of the Police Chief who was shot and were invited in to take a look at the ghost journal the front desk keeps; we have stayed there so we had of course already seen it. Historic Anchorage Hotel

It was a delightful evening to walk around Anchorage and hear some history; I had not realized just how lawless and somewhat corrupt the city was in years gone by. I have taken a lot of ghost tours over the years, this one was definitely one of the best, I think perhaps because it is always done by the same man who started the tour and he does it because he truly wants to share some of the towns history with others.