Chapter 1
The Grand Canyon’s Rim Trail is a thirteen-mile, one-way, relatively easy hiking trail and a fantastic way to see the canyon firsthand from the top of the South Rim. You can begin the journey at Hermit’s Rest and head east. You will walk through forested areas with ponderosa pine, pinion, and juniper trees to your right, to the beautiful abyss of the Grand Canyon to your left. Most of the trail is paved but be warned: there are areas where it is simply dirt and rocks with just a few pine tree needles sprinkled on top for color and there are areas with uneven stairs. At Pima Point you will be able to see the Colorado River and, if you’re lucky, an eagle-eye view of one of the water rafting trips floating by. In this area, if it is quiet enough, you can faintly hear the roar of the Colorado River going over the Lava Falls Rapids echoing up through the canyon walls.
While walking the trail, you will pass by Monument Creek Vista, Mojave Point, Hopi Point, Powell Memorial (supposedly the first man to successfully navigate the Colorado River inside the Grand Canyon), and Maricopa Point. As you continue heading east, you will eventually pass by the outdoor Sunday morning worship site. Located in this area are the two graves of husband and wife Charles and Olga Brandt. Charles was one of the very first managers of the El Tovar Hotel, and both husband and wife decided that they wanted to be buried overlooking the El Tovar Hotel instead of being buried inside the Grand Canyon’s Pioneer Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Brandt both passed away in the early 1920s. A beautiful spot near the Sunday morning worship site off the beaten path of the Rim Trail was chosen for their eternal resting place. The Brandts had a prized Airedale dog named Razzle Dazzle who was adopted and well cared for by a resident of the Grand Canyon Village upon their deaths. After the dog died in 1928, Razzle Dazzle was interred with the Brandts at their burial site. These graves are difficult to find if you don’t know where to look; it is possible that there could be other people throughout history buried near the canyon’s rim.
A vintage postcard of the Grand Canyon’s Rim Trail
Not much farther down the trail, hikers will enter into the historic Grand Canyon Village. The park lodges offer free water for your canteens as well as restrooms, gift stores, and restaurants. Outside the Bright Angel Lodge is the famed Soda Fountain where you can purchase a variety of delicious ice cream. My husband was known to frequent this location as I worked behind this lodge’s front desk. He was not allowed to visit me unless he had bought me a chocolate shake. After you get your ice cream, take a short walk to the rim and keep a watchful lookout for the majestic California condors soaring on the thermal winds emanating from the canyon’s floor. These massive birds have built their nests into the canyon walls’ crevices.
Continue trekking east and you will come across a marker that lets you know that you have arrived at the Trail of Time. It is a self-guided geological walking tour where you will see actual geologic samples taken from the numerous rock layers that make up the Grand Canyon. In just one and a half miles, you will see and experience millions of years of geologic history. At the end of the Trail of Time is the Yavapai Geology Center, where you can learn how the canyon was formed. Once you are done visiting the Yavapai Geology Center, continue on your walk and you will pass the park’s main visitor’s center, which includes Mather Point and eventually end your hike at Organ Pipe Vista.
During this hike, you will have seen incredible vistas, plateaus and the bridge that crosses the Colorado River to Phantom Ranch. (Phantom Ranch hauntings are not included inside this book. It was named “Phantom” because it is hidden from most views from the rims as well as inside the canyon itself). The views are stunning and will take your breath away. You may have passed on your journey an abundance of wildlife such as elk, deer, mountain rams, rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels. You have also just walked by where many people have fallen to their deaths looking at this canyon in the same spots you were.
Many people have fallen accidentally, while others have purposely thrown themselves into the dark reaches of the abyss hoping their souls would finally find peace. There have also, sadly, been many deaths from people taking pictures too close to unstable rocks and soft soil. Likewise, there have been senseless deaths due to people going rock climbing and jumping from rock to rock on the rims. Then you have the preoccupied people who just aren’t paying attention to that next step in front of them. It’s a sheer cliff on the other side of that trail and there’s not much to break your fall. Only a very few lucky people have survived falling from the rim, but these people have suffered life-altering injuries. With that said, for those who truly love true ghost stories, the Rim Trail has given us a bottomless array of paranormal activity. All anyone has to do is walk in any direction, have an open mind, and wait. Sometimes you don’t have to wait long and sometimes you don’t even have to be a believer in the paranormal, but the canyon can and will make a true skeptic run for their life.
The Wicked Within
Tara was a very excited young woman, having just two weeks prior been hired as a guest service agent (front desk) at the historic Bright Angel Lodge. She found out not long after relocating to the park that her longtime boyfriend, who was now her fiancé, was also set to be hired to work inside the park. He wouldn’t be there for another three weeks, however, so they couldn’t start their new lives working and living together at the Grand Canyon just yet. Officially employed at the park now, Tara was assigned to be housed in the old and rustic yet historic Colter Hall, a female-only dormitory for single employees. Colter Hall is situated directly next to the world-famous El Tovar and Kachina Lodges, features a long-abandoned secret hidden tunnel where the young Harvey Girls would walk to and from work at the El Tovar (as not to disturb any visitors) and is just a very short walk to the Rim Trail. One day, right after Tara got off work, she went back to her room to retrieve a letter that she had written for her fiancé the night before. She decided to go to the El Tovar lobby to mail off her letter, as the local post office was around two miles away and she didn’t have her own transportation. This was in late March of 2013 and the weather was still quite chilly outside for that time of year. Although Tara loved her fiancé, she wasn’t about to freeze her butt off for a letter. Little did Tara know that this simple act of convenience nearly turned tragic.
Tara was absolutely ecstatic about seeing her fiancé soon, so nothing else of importance was on her mind. She dropped the letter into the El Tovar’s mail box and exited the building through the lobby’s front doors. Tara decided that she wanted to go towards the Rim Trail then immediately noticed that there really weren’t many tourist swarming towards the rim to watch the multicolored sunset, which only the canyon can offer. It had been a chilly day, and as the sun came closer to setting, it was obvious it was going to be a brutally cold night—but that doesn’t usually stop the visitors from watching the sun go down. With no one else around, Tara was casually walking west on the trail when a feeling of immense depression consumed her. She felt like she was going to cry … but why? When Tara reached an area on the trail near the Arizona Room Restaurant, where there was no retaining wall, she heard a woman’s voice deliberately, directly, and forcefully whisper in her ear, “Go to the rim and jump.” Tara swiftly turned around to see who would say such an awful thing to a stranger.
To her unsettling amazement, there was no one there, not a single tourist or employee. She was all alone. More than a little startled, she thought she must have imagined it. As Tara approached the canyon’s rim, once again she heard a distressed woman’s voice demanding her to “JUMP.” The disembodied voice sounded angrier and more agitated than before. Surveying her surroundings, she could see that no living being was anywhere in sight. Saying Tara was scared doesn’t even begin to explain the fear and dread she was sensing or the thought that something she couldn’t see was going to try to harm her. Tara was 100 percent positive that she heard the woman’s voice in her ear telling her to jump. Frozen in fear for what must have seemed like an eternity, she finally summoned up the courage to get away from the rim as quickly as she possibly could. She eventually got back to the safety of Colter Hall not long after her ordeal. The sun could never set again as far as she was concerned. It simply wasn’t worth it for her.
Tara had only been employed at the Grand Canyon for two weeks. She didn’t know anyone well enough to tell them about what she had just experienced. When she was safely in her room at Colter Hall, she sat and asked herself if she really did hear a ghost or demon tell her to go to the rim and jump. She wanted to know if anyone else had ever experienced this evil voice trying to get people to jump into the canyon, but who could she talk to who wouldn’t think she was crazy? A week after Tara had her strange experience of the voice telling her to jump off the rim, she overheard some fellow coworkers discussing ghosts stories about the Grand Canyon Village. Tara pulled Lisa, one of the employees, aside, feeling comfortable enough to confide in her about the experience. When Tara told Lisa what had happened to her a week earlier, Lisa had this look of dread on her face.
“Oh my god, that happened to you too?” Lisa asked Tara. Lisa, herself, was finally able to tell someone about her experience with a similar disembodied voice on the Rim Trail.
A few months before Tara had been hired, Lisa and a friend were walking on the trail behind the Hermit’s Rest bus transfer. It was around sunset, and as Lisa and her friend were approaching the head of the Bright Angel Trail, a woman’s voice said sternly into Lisa’s ear to go to the rim and jump, yet Lisa’s friend never heard a thing. Again the voice, angrier this time, demanded that Lisa go to the rim and jump. Lisa said that after the second time the voice told her to jump, an overwhelming feeling of sorrow enveloped her and she wanted to jump into the canyon. Lisa’s friend noticed she was acting strangely and took her away from that area and the depressed feeling dissipated. Lisa to this day will not go near the Rim Trail.
A day after Tara and Lisa confided in each other, Laura, another employee, came forward and stated that she also was told by a female voice behind the Bright Angel Lodge to kill herself and that her life was pointless. Laura also was walking with a friend who did not hear the voice. A feeling of despair had consumed Laura, but this time the ghost became physical. After she heard the voice and became depressed, she felt someone or something push her on her back towards the rim. Shocked, Laura turned away from the rim to run when she was forcefully shoved towards a cliff 250 feet above the canyon. Laura was terrified that something she couldn’t even see was trying to kill her. Laura’s friend was watching what Laura was going through, but she claimed that something immobilized her and she was unable to move. Laura was finally able to escape the ghost’s physical attack and has refused to go near any of the canyon’s rims for any reason.
Stay Forever
Is there a ghost hanging around the Rim Trail waiting to ambush unsuspecting tourists and employees? Take Bridget, who came to the Grand Canyon for the first time in July with her husband and a couple of friends. Their plan was to be in Monument Valley later that night, so they decided to make a quick stop for a few hours at the Grand Canyon. Bridget and her best friend Robyn decided to hike down the Bright Angel Trail to the three-mile rest house while their husbands hung around on the rim waiting to see the California condors. The trail was crowded with teenagers and small children running around with no parental supervision. The two friends decided it just wasn’t safe to hike so they chose to turn around at the one-and-a-half-mile rest house and come back up. When they almost reached the top of the trail, they noticed they were finally alone. No one was coming up or down the trail at that moment. Now they could enjoy themselves for a little while and take in the view. They were at the last tunnel before reaching the top of the trail head and decided to hang out there. They had heard about ancient Native American petroglyphs around the tunnel and started looking for them, enjoying the solitude. They regretted not being able to stay longer at the canyon, but they were on a time limit and they had to depart soon for Monument Valley.
As the two ladies started slowly hiking back up to the top, Bridget distinctly heard a female voice next to her say “Jump.” She turned and looked at Robyn, who had stopped on the trail a few feet behind her, taking pictures of a flower that was growing out of a cactus. Bridget figured she must have heard someone’s voice echoing from inside the canyon. As the two friends continued their journey to the top, once again Bridget heard the same female voice, but this time it said, “You have to jump.” Bridget turned to Robyn and asked her if she just told her to jump. Robyn jokingly asked her why she would ask her to jump when she could just push her into the canyon if she wanted too. But then Bridget said, “If you didn’t say it, then who did?” Robyn suggested that the heat must be getting to her because she never heard a woman’s voice telling anyone to jump.
After the two friends reached the top of the Bright Angel Trail, they decided to go into the Bright Angel Lounge to relax and get a well-deserved drink. At the front desk, Tara and Lisa were catching up on their daily paperwork. Bridget left the lounge to use the woman’s restroom located down the hall from the front desk. Still puzzled about her weird experience on the trail, Bridget figured it couldn’t hurt to stop by the front desk and ask if anyone else had ever reported hearing disembodied voices around the Bright Angel Trail. As Bridget approached the desk, Tara was concentrating on her work but glanced and gave a friendly “Hi. How can I help you?” Bridget asked if she could ask her a stupid question. Tara silently prepared herself for the mother of all stupid questions. Smiling, Tara said, “Sure, ask away.”
Bridget seemed embarrassed at first but then quickly asked if Tara knew if the Grand Canyon was haunted in any way. This kind of question was not what Tara was expecting to hear but was intrigued to find out if this visitor was looking for a haunted location or if something otherworldly had happened to her. Curious, Tara asked her what she meant by haunted. After a minute she let out the whole story about what she experienced on the trail, with the woman’s voice telling her to jump multiple times but her friend Robyn claiming she never heard a thing. Tara was thrilled with what she was hearing and loudly exclaimed with excitement, “I have heard the same voice and so have many other people.”
Bridget, now ecstatic that someone believed her, excused herself to go and retrieve her friend from the lounge. Tara quickly called Lisa over as soon as Bridget and Robyn showed up. The front desk staff assured Bridget that she was not alone in hearing a disembodied voice telling her to jump, and if you’re with a group of people, most times only one person will hear the voice. Bridget thanked Tara and Lisa and said they were late meeting their husbands to finish their trip to Monument Valley. If Bridget only knew that she was one of the luckier victims of this evil ghost.
Come to the Other Side
Ashley resides in Flagstaff, Arizona, which is roughly eighty-one miles one way to the Grand Canyon. She made her weekly trip to the canyon to see her on-again, off-again boyfriend who was working for the park service. Having a boyfriend that worked at the Grand Canyon was her pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, because she loved nothing more than to be at the canyon. It was in March of 2014, and Ashley would have her most terrifying experience she had ever encountered in her entire life—and it was all complimentary, thanks to the haunted Grand Canyon’s Rim Trail. On this one particular day in March, Ashley was lazily walking the Rim Trail heading west after parking her car in the El Tovar/Hopi House parking lot. Her destination was to go on the Rim Trail behind the Bright Angel Lodge’s historic Rim Cabins and next to the Lookout Studio so she could find a quiet place to sit on the ground with her back against the retaining wall.
Ashley was an aspiring artist and loved to draw sketches of the historic buildings that make up the Grand Canyon Village. (If you ever walk any part of the Rim Trail, you quite possibly could encounter many artist drawings or painted landscape scenes from different parts of the canyon.) Within this area where Ashley chose to sit, she wasn’t in anyone’s way, and this was also one of her favorite places to normally sit and wait to meet up with her boyfriend. The sun was out with a few clouds blowing by and a slight cool breeze. As she sat back against the rocks that made the retaining wall, she thought she heard something moving around on the other side of the barrier. She knew that was impossible because it was a sheer cliff and almost nothing to break a person’s fall except a little bit of shrubbery. She figured it must be one of those annoying squirrels that frequent the walls looking for a bird-brained tourist who will give them a handout. As she sat back and tried to get comfortable, Ashley felt hands wrap around her throat from behind and the grip instantaneously cut off her breathing. She tried to grab for her assailant’s hands that had seized her neck and realized she was grabbing at nothing but air and her own throat. She couldn’t scream and then tried to squirm out of the deadly grip to no avail.
Ashley could now feel that her ghostly assailant was trying to pull her up and over the retaining wall. This murderous entity was physically able to lift her up about six inches off the ground before it finally released its deadly hold. As soon as Ashley realized the threat was gone she became distressed and sobbed uncontrollable. When she was able to gain composure she quickly grabbed her belongings and ran for safety. When Ashley explained to her boyfriend about what she went through, he tried his best to comfort her but didn’t seem too surprised upon hearing about her experience. Quite a few of the park employees have heard stories about strange occurrences that have happened in and around the canyon. There is also a belief by many people that the canyon calls to them. Victims have claimed this summoning draws them against their will to the canyon’s rim as if in a trance. Once there, they are overcome with a feeling to leap into the huge cavity within the earth known as Grand Canyon.
Gone Too Soon
As I previously mentioned, many different types of people throughout history have died suddenly and tragically within the confines of the southern rim, either by accident or by choice.
I have extensively searched many books and history records and I think I might know who this vengeful spirit could possibly be. Jennifer was a twenty-eight-year-old woman who had been working in the park for almost a year. Although she would smile at all the park’s daily visitors, Jennifer’s personal life was falling apart and a friend of hers had conveyed to me that this once fun and playful girl that he knew and loved had seemingly become a completely different person overnight. She began drinking heavily and could become confrontational in a blink of an eye. Jennifer had been given some devastating news about a court case involving a family member. Her whole life came crashing down around her and she went to the Bright Angel Lounge to drown her sorrows. After a while of intense drinking, Jennifer became even more upset when the bartender refused to serve her any more alcoholic drinks.
It was about 12:30 a.m. when Jennifer left the bar and proceeded out the Bright Angel Lodge’s back doors towards the dark rim. Bright Angel Lodge’s front desk employee Luke followed the intoxicated woman and watched her climb up on the retaining wall. He told her to get down, and the distraught and inebriated woman said she was going climbing.
Luke then ran into the Bright Angel Lodge and called the park’s dispatch for help. By the time the park rangers arrived, Jennifer was already in serious trouble. She had fallen off the wall and slid down the steep slope towards a cliff. She was screaming and begging for someone to save her. The rangers had a hard time locating her because it was pitch black outside. Even their flashlights were of little use. The rangers were trying their best to form a rescue team. Her cries and screams were piercing the night air and the rangers tried very hard to calm her fears. Every couple of minutes she would slide farther down the steep slope closer towards the deep chasm. Jennifer was desperately holding on to small brush, rocks, and anything else she could to keep her from sliding farther towards the sheer drop off.
It was now a little after 1:00 a.m. and the rangers were starting to lose hope. They had tried to throw Jennifer a rope to grab so they could pull her up, but she was so terrified to let go that she wouldn’t dare reach out for the life line. After a little over a half hour of fighting for her life, Jennifer’s strength finally gave out and she slipped off the cliff and all the frantic rangers’ hearts stopped when they heard terrified and gut-wrenching screams as she plummeted to her death inside the canyon walls.
I believe it could be possible that when Jennifer walked out to the rim that night that she could have been considering suicide. She had been very depressed and upset with the way things were going in her personal life. Nobody had actually witnessed her fall off the retaining wall but I think after she tumbled down the slope she realized that committing suicide was not the answer and tried any way she could from falling to her death, but the canyon had already heard her cries and accepted her as its own. What happened to Jennifer became a living nightmare. Her life had become a mess, and whether her fall from the retaining wall was an accident or intentional, it will forever remain a mystery. What is known is that there had been no recorded paranormal activity around this area until after Jennifer’s untimely death. It’s possible that her spirit wants revenge for not having the life she thought she deserved, or because the rangers who were trying desperately to save her life were not successful and she wants vengeance on anyone enjoying life who crosses her path.
Legends of the Fall
There is a ghostly legend about a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) member who was helping to build the safety railing around Maricopa Point lookout, where he supposedly fell to his death in the 1930s or 1940s. Witnesses have claimed that they have seen a black shadow person lurking around this lookout. Upon my research, I could not find any documents to confirm that any CCC employee fell to his death at Maricopa Point. On the other hand, there are documented reports of several people having committed suicide by jumping off the steep, jagged cliffs at this spectacular point and into the depths below.
Don’t Look Back
Many canyon dwellers like to find a quiet, solitary, and peaceful area that overlooks the canyon views to sit, relax, and for some new-agers, meditate. Park employees endure long days dealing with guests and visitors by checking them into their rooms and trying to assist angry overnight guests on where they can find parking inside the village area, especially at the Bright Angel Lodge. Everyone has their own unique method of relieving stress after a hard and strenuous day of work. Some find going home and watching television helps, while others (like my husband) live for playing video games. Still other people prefer to go to a local bar and have a few drinks, while a few like to go to the gym and literally exercise the stress away. Park employee Jessica loved to meditate at the end of her day and she even had her own special hiding place east of the El Tovar Hotel, just before the Trail of Time begins. One evening before the sun set, Jessica decided to walk to her special “sanctuary.” She placed a blanket on the ground, then sat down, crossed her legs, took in a long breath, and closed her eyes like she’s always done before.
Jessica enjoyed the peace and quiet for roughly ten minutes before she heard something rustling around behind her. Thinking it was one of the park’s many elk, she tried to tune out the noise that was interfering with her zen time. Only a few minutes later, Jessica clearly heard footsteps walking right up behind her. As she turned her head to see who or what it was, no one was there. Convinced that she was alone, Jessica turned her head back towards the canyon and reclosed her eyes. Within seconds, Jessica was hit with an overpowering feeling of dread and despair. The hair on the back of her neck and arms stood straight up, with chills enveloping her whole body. She could sense someone or something watching her every move. Had she become prey for something that wanted to harm her? The thought of it being a cougar had briefly crossed her mind, but they are very rarely seen near the main village.
Firmly believing she was in imminent danger, Jessica jumped up as fast as she possibly could to confront whatever it was she was feeling threatened by, but realized she didn’t have anything to protect herself with. To her relief, she didn’t see anyone in her vicinity. But even though she couldn’t visibly see anything, Jessica’s gut instinct still told her that something wasn’t right. She grabbed her blanket and started making her way back towards the Rim Trail, where she hoped there would be safety in numbers. Then, without warning, Jessica came face to face with a pitch-black shadow person standing right in front of her, blocking her path.
Even though she was terrified, she could clearly make out that the shadow had a human form but was obviously not human at all. As she stood looking at it, trying to figure out what it was, it quickly faded away right in front her eyes. Jessica bolted towards the trail as fast as her legs could carry her. By now, Jessica’s heart was pounding and she felt weak in her knees. When she reached the Rim Trail, she noticed no one else walking around. Jessica started heading west towards the El Tovar Hotel, then she stopped and turned around to see if she was finally safe and sound. To her dismay, she now witnessed several other shadow beings dodging behind trees and rocks like they were playing hide and seek with her—but Jessica was not in a playing mood.
Most of the shadows were only about three feet tall with a general human shape. She was able to make out that the shadows had humanlike legs and arms. Jessica was beyond petrified and started to run again as fast as she could back to the El Tovar Hotel. She knew she had a friend who was working inside the gift shop that night. Jessica broke down and started to cry uncontrollably. She told her friend about the horrifying experience that just occurred. Her friend was getting off work soon, so she hung around inside the El Tovar lobby to avoid having to walk alone to Colter Hall, where she resided. Jessica decided that life in Grand Canyon Village wasn’t for her. Shortly after this harrowing experience, Jessica left the park permanently for ghost-free pastures elsewhere.
The Grand Canyon’s Rim Trail offers some of the most beautiful and spectacular views for anyone to behold. Everyone should see the Grand Canyon at least once in their lifetime. Just remember, in two words, “Stay Safe,” or you just might become one of the many ghosts that call Grand Canyon home.