The Ghost of Gold Hill, Nevada

By Richard Senate

Gold Hill Hotel, Gold Hill, Nevada

Gold Hill Hotel, Gold Hill, Nevada

Ghosts are where you find them, so they say. Since I saw one long ago, I have been looking for them for over 20 years. In my search to find these elusive spirits, I visited the Gold Hill Hotel, in

Gold Hill, Nevada. Knowing that Room #2 had a reputation for being haunted by a ghostly woman called “Rosie,” and not able to resist the opportunity, I requested it for my stay.

Built of native stone in the 1850s, the Gold Hill Hotel looks as if Mark Twain himself stayed there — he may very well have. The room’s bathroom featured a huge claw tub and that night, as my wife slept, I filled the tub and relaxed in the hot water. It was then that I smelled it. Now, mark my words when I say that it was a powerful strong smell, almost a stench – smelling overwhelming of roses. It was as if someone had dumped a bottle of cheap perfume on the floor.

Scary T-Shirts

Scary T-Shirts

Intrigued, I got out of the bath and began to smell everything in the bathroom close-up. I smelled the soaps and shampoos but there was nothing there that had a fragrance remotely like roses. I even took a whiff of the windows and doors thinking that some trickster might be having a bit of fun with me by squirting some perfume in the room. There was nothing. Finally, just when I was convinced I had encountered the ghost–it was GONE. The smell was no longer there. Not one whiff of roses – the aroma leaving almost as quickly as it had come. I know that’s not normal. When you get a smell that powerful it’s hard to get rid of it. Nonetheless, the overwhelming scent was entirely gone.

Cold by this time, I went back into the warm water of the bath and almost discounted my experience as a dream, until it happened again. Getting out of the bath, I wrapped a towel around myself and searched not only the bathroom but the bedroom as well. The scent was gone!

The next day I learned that other people had had this happen to them while occupying the same room. Now, I believe the hotel is really haunted. It was a night I will not forget even if I live to be 100.

Updated January 2021.

Gold Hill, Nevada Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1867

Gold Hill, Nevada Timothy H. O’Sullivan, 1867

About the Author:  Richard Senate, from Los Angeles, California, is the author of seven books on the paranormal and regularly contributes to FATE Magazine. He has been involved in ghost hunting since 1978 when he saw a phantom monk at the California Mission San Antonio de Padua. He is the first ghost hunter to have a website on the internet in 1995 and has appeared on many television programs as a consultant. Visit Richard at his website – Ghost Stalker – www.ghost-stalker.com.

Also See:

The Comstock Lode

Gold Hill, Nevada

Folklore & Superstition

Legends, Ghosts, Myths & Mysteries