Oatman Hotel Ghost
Witness: Newman Family
Location: Laughlin, Nevada
Date of Encounter: August 9, 2008
We went on a little vacation recently to Laughlin, Nevada, and we decided to visit a old mining town called Oatman located a few miles away. Being it was our first visit, we took a lot of pictures there. My husband and our 15 year-old son went inside the old Oatman Hotel, but I didn't go in because I'm a paraplegic in a wheelchair. I knew just by looking at the outside of this place and from the age of it, it was not going to have an elevator, so when my son and husband were going to go in. I made sure to tell my son to take some pictures for me — I love old buildings.
When they came out, I asked my husband, "Well, was it kind of a cool place?" My husband replied, "No." He said the place gave him the creeps — which is very unusual for my husband, Mr. Nothing-Scares-Me — you know the type. My Son said there's things on the wall saying how this place is haunted, there's ghosts there, and how one room is known to have a ghost they call Oatie, that occupies the room. Well of course I found that interesting, but I never gave it much thought for the rest of the time we were there.
On the way back to Laughlin in the car I was looking though the photos on my camera and when I came to the photos of the old Oatman Hotel lobby and rooms. I wasn't that impressed until I saw what my son captured in one of the rooms! Look for yourself and let me know what you think. If you view the photo too big, it gets distorted, but if you see it from my camera's screen, you can make out even his eyes and nose. I did some research on the spirit that's supposed to be roaming the hotel. To make a long story short, his real name is William Flour, and he was an Irish immigrant that came to America to mine, then he sent for his wife and two children, but they perished on the way – there is no mention on how, but he got so depressed he drank so much he got alcohol poisoning and died behind the hotel. Sad story. I don't know for sure if this is Oatie, but I think it's a pretty safe bet.
