The Union Hotel – Old Sacramento
They know we’re here. The moment we stepped into The Union Hotel in Old Sacramento, we saw them. Staring up at the massive stairwell wrapping up four floors, we saw two females and a male. The females were long dead, the male more recent. Expecting old west saloon girls, we saw instead well-kept ladies with nice dresses and hair piled loosely on their head. They were staring down at us from the fourth floor stairwell. Arms laying casually over the railing – which I know now probably wasn’t there during the time they were alive. I would describe them as Gibson girls. Looking rather bored. 
The male hurried by on the floor we were on which entering from the street would have been the second floor. He walked from the rear into what may have been a serving area toward the front. He had his head down, walking hurriedly, we saw only a profile. Time period, I’m guessing would be late 70’s. This guy looked to be about 25. Bumping into spirits is not a new thing for us. Neither is the chain of events that happened next.
We had a friend over for dinner asking casually about our equipment. We pulled a few pieces out and were explaining their use. Turning off all the equipment that night, we went to bed. The next night, up for a late snack, we had forgotten about the EMF detector sitting on the far counter. This EMF detector was made by our friend Dave. He intentionally made a linear device with a thick wire and led lights running up it. It makes music like a Theremin when touched. This was our second EMF from Dave and he improved the original design so we could see responses better on film when we were ghost hunting. I can’t remember what we were talking about, but the device lit up with it’s little musical notes. We laughed, a little startled. It was unexpected but not unusual. We were only startled in that we thought the devices were all turned off.
We turned on The Ovilus V that was sitting on the table next to us and began questioning our new guest. We discovered her name was Sally, that she liked our dog and although unconfirmed, we figured she had probably followed us from the hotel. I had made friends with the new hotel’s owner and had gotten his permission to host a ghost hunt when renovations were complete. People who know me, know I stalk Old Sacramento anyway. With access to a 150-year old Hotel, I had been down there 4 or 5 times in the last 3 weeks. I had agreed to build a website for the building and had spent a few days steeped in it’s history doing research.
The next night, we turned The Ovilus V and the EMF Detector on again to see if we could find the second girl’s name. Our equipment didn’t disappoint and provided us with both the second females name -‘Betty’ name and possibly the males name of ‘Rodger’. Now, Digital Dowsing says The Ovilus V has a vocabulary of 2,071 words. I found it curious that within a few moments, it said what sounded like a version of both the hotel owner’s name and my name. Perhaps confirming where they were from. Checking back in the log, both names were created by the equipment using two different words and saying them quickly together. It could have been a coincidence, but it happens often and within the context of questioning. Inventive spirits maybe, but curious just the same. And yes, we got it all on film. Updates soon!
Stay tuned for updates on The Union Hotel and links to our upcoming event Ghosts of The Union Hotel.
Greg, Casey and Calla Saumure, investigate paranormal events in and around Northern California. We love to photograph, film, fly over (with our drone), and write about our experiences in ghost travel. We focus on the history and restoration efforts of haunted locations. We always open and close with prayer, ask for spirit permission and we never provoke. “We do this as a family, and we do it in light.” You can reach Casey at (916)759-7880 or E-mail us with questions ruedelamort@gmail.com.
Rue de la Mort 
You must be logged in to post a comment.