This Week in the Haunted Flathead
<p>A ghost light, created by Micah Groschupf of the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, in the Whitefish Cemetery in the early hours of Oct. 21.</p>
<p>Old glass doors stored in the basement of the Remington Bar in downtown Whitefish. The lower level of the bar is the legendary home of multiple ghosts.</p>
<p>A lonely table in the basement of the Remington Bar in Whitefish on Monday, October 24.</p>
<p>A collection of old jars, bottles and bear cans are covered in a thick layer of dust in a back room in the basement of the Remington Bar in Whitefish on Monday, Oct. 24.</p>
<p>A view of the Belton Chalet in West Glacier.</p>
<p class="p1">Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies Caleb Tappan on Mesa and Colten O'Connell on Woodrow pose for a photo in front of the Old Courthouse in downtown Kalispell. O'Connell is the great-great-grandnephew of the last sheriff of Flathead County to order a public hanging. This hanging was held at the courthouse on April 2, 1909.</p>
<p>The Kalispell Grand Hotel in downtown Kalispell.</p>
Ghost lights are frequently used in theaters as a safety precaution, keeping some light on stage even when all other inside lights are off. However, there are some paranormal superstitions also associated with ghost lights.
Many theaters are rumored to have a resident ghost, and some have various methods of appeasing the spirits. Some lore holds that ghost lights are left on stage as an invitation, allowing the theater ghost an opportunity to perform without sabotaging sets or productions. Others believe ghost lights attract the spirits to the light, and keep them away from other areas on stage and performers.
Groschupf said there have been no ghostly encounters in the Whitefish Performing Arts Center that he knows of, but added that he wasn’t worried if there were — ghost lights apparently only invite friendly, if slightly mischievous, specters.
Ghost stories abound at various buildings and sites in and around the Flathead Valley.
Some of the ghosts are well-known and well-documented, such as the spirits residing in the Belton Chalet in West Glacier and at the Remington Bar in Whitefish. Both of these sites appear in “Haunted Montana” and “More Haunted Montana” by Montana author Karen Stevens.
But there are also rumors of supernatural activity in the Kalispell Grand Hotel, at the Flathead County Courthouse, the Conrad Mansion, the Hellroaring Chalet in Whitefish and many others.
In honor of Halloween, This Week in the Flathead decided to feature some of these supposedly haunted sites. We leave it to you, dear reader, to determine what’s real, what’s legend, or what can simply be explained away by creaky doors, drafty windows and old electrical wiring gone wrong.