Chapter 12
In the early twentieth century, visits to the Grand Canyon were growing in popularity. It was quickly determined that more employees were needed for the spike in tourism. The major dilemma became where would they house all the new employees. Once again, Mary Colter was called in for her assistance in designing two separate dormitories, one for single women only (Colter Hall) and the other being for single men (Victor Hall). These buildings would become the last two projects in the Grand Canyon Village that Mary Colter would be contracted to design. Both buildings were constructed with the help of local native stones.
Completed in 1937, this dorm became the temporary home for female employees (Harvey Girls) working for the Fred Harvey Company. This building has multiple floors at different levels with seventy-five sleeping quarters. Each room contains two beds, a couple of dressers, an extremely small closet, a window, and a sink and mirror. There is a common room where female employees can watch television, socialize, and cook a meal. Several large shared bathrooms are located towards the middle of each main floor. Showering can be difficult because there is only four shower stalls on each floor and they have to be shared with roughly one hundred and fifty women. Living in such close proximity to each other can at times become frustrating, plus the thin walls between rooms can make women seeking out peace and quiet nearly impossible. No men are allowed inside the building after 8 p.m., and quiet hours begin at 10 p.m. However, these rules are loosely enforced by security. Located on Village Loop Drive, it’s an easy walk for employees from the Bright Angel Lodge and El Tovar Hotel to get to work, plus it is conveniently located almost directly on the rim but just far enough away that the noise from all the visitors won’t disturb anyone. In the summertime, this dorm becomes the home of seasonal employees traveling from different countries. It is truly a unique experience to meet people from all sorts of different backgrounds and cultures.
There is even a local legend that there is an underground tunnel that leads directly from Colter to Victor Hall. This tunnel is also rumored to be haunted, however, these rumors have never been investigated and this chapter is only about the dormitories, so, let’s get into all the spooky stuff, shall we?
Colter Hall has continuously housed women of all ages since it first opened with many of these ladies staying for multiple years. With that said, it should come as no surprise that women have passed away within the walls of this building from sickness and old age and unfortunately suicides. There have also been female employees that lived in Colter Hall who have accidently fallen to their deaths off the rim or succumbed to accidents within the park’s boundaries. Well, let me be honest about this old, grim structure. This is one of the most haunted buildings I have ever lived in, let alone been too. Many women living here have heard, seen, and felt things that cannot be explain away, and walking the halls alone at night or just being alone in your room … well, this building just seems to manifest creepy vibes.
If Walls Could Talk
Annie was offered a job working at the Bright Angel Lodge in May 2013. When she arrived at the canyon, Annie went directly to the Human Resources’ building to fill out paperwork and get drug tested. When she completed all the processes to become a park employee, she was sent to the Housing Department to receive her bedding and be assigned a room that included a roommate. Annie choose room 14, which is located on the first floor. After she received the key to her new room, Annie was driven to Colter Hall with a few personal belongings that she brought with her to the canyon. She walked around the dreary hallways until she was finally able to located her room. When she entered the room, she saw two small twin beds, a dresser for her personal possessions, and one immensely tiny closet that she had to share with a total stranger. The only thing missing from the room was her new roommate. A couple hours later, as Annie was resting on her bed, the door opened and in walked Lindsey, her new roommate.
Annie and Lindsey hit it off from the beginning and became good friends. Both women worked in different areas of the park and rarely saw each other. Annie found herself alone in the room more often then she cared for and the whole Colter Hall structure just seemed sinister. One evening while Annie was reading, she heard someone running and laughing up and down the halls outside of her room. After it happened a couple more times, Annie became annoyed, got off her bed, and opened up the door to her room, leading into the hallway to ask the people if they could be a little quieter. As she flung the door open, she was surprised to see that no one was there. That was impossible, because right outside her door was a small staircase leading up to the main hallway, so the person or persons could not have vanished so quickly. Mystified, she shut the door and returned back to her bed to continue reading. Around thirty seconds later, Annie clearly heard loud thumping again coming from the hallway as if someone was running and jumping around. She flew off the bed and threw the door open to have words with the person, but once again, no one was there.
When Lindsey finally came home from work that night, Annie tried to tell her about the strange experience. But Lindsey, a full-blown skeptic of the paranormal, tried to come up with some off-the-wall explanation for what Annie thought she heard. Not wanting to get into an argument with her new friend, Lindsey cut the conversation short and the two women retired for the night.
The next day when Annie arrived at work, she started asking her co-workers if anyone knew if Colter Hall was haunted. Several women that live in the building said that they totally believe that something supernatural reside within its walls. Some women claimed to have had unexplainable things happen to them while others say they have known residents in the dormitory that have claimed to have witnessed full-bodied apparitions. About three weeks after Annie arrived at the park, the housing dept was going to relocate her to a room in Trailer Village. The night before she left, Annie was lying on her bed reading and her roommate Lindsey was sitting on her bed with headphones on, listening to music playing from her laptop. As both girls were in their own little worlds, a strange scratching sound began at their rooms only window. Annie didn’t think much of it at first, believing a branch from a nearby tree was brushing up against the window, but then the scratching became so loud and irritating that Annie wasn’t able to concentrate on what she was reading. She set her book down and walked over to the window to see what was creating the nails-on-blackboard sound. She was not able see anyone or anything that could be making the sound, though she did notice that there was a slight breeze blowing outside.
Annie, however, did not believe that this sound was being created by anything paranormal. Not having been able to detect what was making the sound and since it seemed to have stopped, she went back to her bed to continue reading. Within a few minutes, the scratching sound resumed, but louder as if someone was trying to get the girls attention. This time, Lindsey had heard the scratching sounds, which over-powered the music on her headphones. The two roomies eyes met and Lindsey said, “What the hell was that?” Annie replied that something had been scratching at the window for a few minutes. They both got off their beds and walked over to the window to look out and see what was making the horrendous sound. There were no tree branches anywhere near the window and they couldn’t see anybody walking around outside, it should also be noted that it had snowed earlier in the day and there was no tracks of any footprints in the freshly fallen snow.
Annie walked back to her bed, picked up her book and continued to read, while Lindsey went back to her computer, but avoided putting her headphones back on so if the sound came back, she could hear it. A few minutes later, the mirror above their sink slowly opened, exposing the medicine cabinet inside. Annie once again got out of her bed, walked over to the mirror, and closed it. As Annie returned to her bed for the third time, Lindsey blurted out that old buildings tend to make strange noises. A little while had passed and both girls had almost forgotten about the strange things happening within their room, when all of a sudden the mirror flew violently open and the cold water at the sink turned on by itself at full blast. This paranormal episode left Lindsey finally without any words. Annie could hardly wait for the next day when she would be moving out of Colter Hall. After she was relocated to Trailer Village, she refused to ever step foot back inside this old creepy building.
What’s Living in the Closet?
Carrie began working at the Grand Canyon in 2014. Having recently gone through a bitter divorce, Carrie thought that finding a job at the Grand Canyon would help with healing her broken heart. She loves to hike, photograph animals, stargaze, and just be one with nature. Now that Carrie was single, Colter Hall would become her new home. She was assigned to room 54, which is located on the second floor. Carrie fell in love with her new surroundings and made new friends quickly. One evening while she was watching a movie on her laptop computer and lying in bed, she thought she heard something inside her closet. She got off the bed, walked over to the closet door, and opened it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she decided to look around to see if a rodent had nested inside the closet and might be the reason for the noise. Carrie rummaged through boxes, shoes, and clothing, but was unable to find any living creature inside the closet. Satisfied that no wild animal or icky rodent had taken up residency in her room, Carrie closed the closet door and turned to go back to her bed, when it sounded as if someone punched the inside of the closet door. Carrie claimed that she hadn’t been that scared since she accidentally stumbled across a black bear while backpacking through Glacier National Park in Montana. Carrie tried to convince herself that she just didn’t place one of the boxes in the closet back securely on the top shelf and it fell on the door. The last thing she wanted to do was clean up any mess. She slowly went back towards the closet and cautiously opened the door in case the box’s lid came off and spilled out its contents. As the door opened just far enough for her to be able to peek inside to see what had fallen, she was surprised to see that once again everything was in its proper place. Carrie knew the walls in Colter Hall were paper thin and now assumed that she was hearing her neighbors in the next room.
The next day, Carrie felt that she needed to speak to her neighbors and ask them if they could please keep the noise down. She knocked on their door and when they opened it Carrie politely told them that the noise coming from their room the night before was just a little too loud. Both of the girls seemed confused and told her that they had also heard some weird pounding sounds all night coming from within their closet, and they thought Carrie and her roommate were the cause of the commotion. Carrie couldn’t believe what she was hearing and explained to them that her roommate was on vacation and had not been in the park for at least a week. The three girls sat down and discussed what they had all experienced the night before which was very similar in nature. Later that same evening, Carrie was once again watching a movie on her laptop when pounding sounds began to come from her closet once again. As she sat up in bed staring at her closet door, knocking also began on the front door. Carrie didn’t know what to do when until she distinctly heard her neighbors voices calling out to her from outside of the front door telling her to open up. Both girls were also experiencing strange sounds coming from their closet too. Carrie quickly invited the girls into her room and were able to witness the same strange sounds emanating from her closet as well. All three girls decided that until Carrie’s roommate came back from her vacation, Carrie could sleep with them in their room.
The sleeping arrangements were simple, the two neighbor girls would share a bed and Carrie would have a bed to herself. The next night as the girls were sleeping, Carrie was startled awake by something violently grabbing one of her legs and yanking her off the bed onto the floor, which awoke the other two girls. The two terrified neighbors jumped off their bed and ran over to see what happened and to see if Carrie was injured. After this last incident, Carrie knew that the two rooms were haunted by something malevolent. While the two girls were trying to console Carrie, their voices were overpowered by a sound that resembled many plastic bags being rustled at the same time, and then a loud bang for the finishing touch. The next day, Carrie began to look for a new room to live in. She thoroughly believes Colter Hall is a portal to the undead.
I’ll Miss You When You’re Gone
Molly had been living at Colter Hall for a few years and had lived in several different rooms during her stay here. The last room she lived in was room 65, which is on the second floor. Molly knew about all the ghosts that residents claim they have encountered inside this buildings dismal hallways and rooms. Molly also has stated that she too has had several paranormal experiences during her stay, but on her last night within this old dormitory, she and her overnight guest were both entertained by what they believed to be a ghost. Molly had found love at the canyon and was soon married to another park employee. The housing department tries its best to accommodate married couples, however housing can be sparse during certain times of the year, which means couples may be placed on a waiting list until a room becomes available. Molly and her new husband had finally received the call that a room had become vacant and they were going to be relocated to a coed dormitory near Trailer Village. Molly had decided that on her last night in Colter Hall, she was going to sneak her new husband into her room to spend the night with her. The newlyweds were cuddled up on the small twin bed talking about their future life together when a beautiful bluish mist came out of the ceiling and gradually descended upon them until it was within a couple of feet of them, then it just hovered. Molly and her husband watched this mist in amazement for about two minutes before it drifted back up towards the ceiling and disappeared. Immediately, the married couple knew that they had just witnessed one of Colter Hall’s many spirits and Molly believes to this day that this was Colter Halls way of telling her “Goodbye.”