Against the Grain: Wyoming’s second appearance on ghost show hauntingly dull

  Way back in 2013, I excitedly turned on the Travel Channel to watch as Wyoming made its first appearance on “Ghost Adventures.” I came away from the episode disappointed.

For those unfamiliar, this show — now in its 30th season — follows Zach Bagans and his merry band of ghost hunters as they visit reportedly haunted locations. They’ve explored places such the Island of Dolls and the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. In 2013, as part of their eighth season, they visited Rawlins and the Wyoming Frontier Prison.

Having grown up around Rawlins, first in Bairoil and then in Saratoga, I was excited to see what they’d find or discuss. I still remember being in grade school and hearing the stories of prisoners who died from rattlesnake bites in the now-filled-in rock pit and of a mysterious painting created in one night in a cell. I remember the cafeteria painting of railroad tracks, with it being impossible to get on the “wrong” side of the tracks.

I was hoping some of these same stories would be told. Especially that of “Big Nose” George Parrott, the infamous outlaw who, after being hung by a lynch mob, had his skin used for shoes worn by Governor John Osborne at his inaugural ball. Alas, no mention of Parrott. The outlaw did later get some attention on “Mysteries at the Museum” when it came to the shoes to which he made his posthumous contributions. I would have even been okay if Bagans claimed a piece of Viggo Mortensen’s soul had stayed behind following the filming of the 1987 horror movie “Prison.”

It seemed only a quarter of the episode was dedicated to the Wyoming Frontier Prison because Bagans and his team found a second location to investigate. 

This second location seemed to take up most of the episode with focus on a ghost cat. I would have been okay with the second location if it had been the Ferris Mansion which, at least according to “Ghosts on the Range” by Debra D. Munn, has its own dark history when it comes to the seemingly cursed Ferris family.

All this talk about the dark history of the prison and yet the resulting episode was underwhelming, to say the least.

Fast forward and I recently finished watching Wyoming’s second appearance on “Ghost Adventures” on HBO Max. What I learned from the episode is that Casper Mountain is a refueling spot for alien spacecraft due to the metals inside the mountain, is the site of a vast underground military base and is used by extradimensional beings to access other dimensions. In this two-parter, the most interesting part was in the second episode which spent much of its time on Crimson Dawn and Elizabeth Neal Forsling.

Know, I’m willing to give the episode the benefit of the doubt in switching from ghosts to aliens. What is unforgivable, in my mind, is talking about Casper Mountain as a refueling spot for alien spacecraft without even bringing up the Green River Intergalactic Spaceport.

The silver lining in both cases, I suppose, is that the “Ghost Adventures” crew spent money in Wyoming and these episodes will likely encourage more travel to the Cowboy State. What’s ironic is that, despite my disappointment with both episodes, I am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to the supernatural. 

If, for any reason, Bagans decides he wants to return to Wyoming for more adventures with ghosts I have a few suggestions. There’s the St. Mark’s Bell Tower in Cheyenne, the Sweetwater County Library in Green River which was built on the site of a former cemetery, or the Shoshone Bar in Lovell which has had a variety of hauntings. Each are featured in “Ghosts on the Range.”

If you’re looking for some good supernatural experiences, I can’t recommend the Wyoming Frontier Prison enough as the tour guides do a great job of retelling the history, including the changes made to the facility for the movie. The US Ghost Adventures tour of downtown Cheyenne is also a good time — and it includes St. Mark’s Bell Tower on its tour. It’s worth it to splurge to rent an EMF detector for the walk. And if you haven’t read “Ghosts on the Range” yet, give it a shot. You can find a copy at your local library or order it through the state library loan system.