Folklore of ghost stories have lingered in history, sometimes with no explanation of how they start.
There is a fascination for ghosts, ghouls and vampires that has lasted generations. Some stories are tied to communities or places. They are told by those who believe it, as others visit and share their experiences, more gets added to the story.
Ben Fineman, editor of Hauntbound, a self-described field guide for America’s haunted places, says Nevada’s ghostly past reflects the state’s own history.
“I do think it is indicative of the kinds of things that folks want to remember about their own personal history and the history of the places that they live,” he said.
For Fineman, visiting these places is also a way to connect with the history behind the stories.
“Go in with an open mind and have fun because at the end of the day, that's what it's all about,” Fineman said.
Sometimes that history can be difficult to separate from the legends that grow from it.
On the outskirts near the Truckee River sits a lone stone house. Some believe that beneath the heavy gusts of wind may be the whispers of those who haunt it.
The Truckee River Murder House has drawn people looking for something they can’t explain.
Jerry Olsen, founder of Vipers Paranormal, is one of those people. He has spent the past 15 years ghost hunting. But the hunt doesn’t end when he catches something unusual.
He said the experience can leave people wanting to see more.
“It’s people like us coming out here and doing this and then going back and posting online that hey, this is what I found. You know, if you catch an EVP, you want to catch a shadow,” Olsen said.
An EVP, or electronic voice phenomenon, is a sound investigators believe to be a voice that wasn’t caught at the time of recording.
Whether it’s an unexplained voice, or a shadow peering out of the door, or a tug on the shoulder, people keep returning to places with no obvious explanation.
Olsen said the appeal is to explore something that he doesn’t understand.
“Something had to happen to get it started,” he said. “For every story like that, there's truth somewhere and I don't know exactly what.”
Legend has it that an unnamed family of five was murdered by an unknown hitchhiker.
The earliest telling of this story was a 2019 Youtube video documenting a ghost hunt at Truckee Meadows Murder House. Since then the legend has grown with the additions of a previously not mentioned town; a specific year the murders took place; and the Wendigo.
The stone house, although still in one piece, is missing the side of its roof. Inside missing floor boards reveal the basement below and faded graffiti plastered on its walls.
As Olsen carefully walks inside the house trying not to fall through the broken floorboard, he places the many instruments he uses in his investigations. Placing a camera on the table, a motion detector by the back door, and a voice recorder at the window by the entrance, Olsen is set on his ghost hunt.
Skeptics may find other explanations for the supernatural. Even among paranormal investigators, believing in something does not always mean accepting every claim.
“I just want you to enlighten yourself on all the different things in the world,” Olsen said. “I've only started this 15 years ago, and I've learned so much. I've experienced so much.”
Despite the motion detector going off once and alleged voices being lost in the blowing winds, whether or not something resides along the Truckee River, depends on the kind of answer being looked for.
For the people who keep returning to these places, the questions are enough to bring them back.
That’s partly why ghost stories survive. They give people a way to revisit the past, explore the unexplained and ask questions about what might come after this life.
