LOCATION:

Salt Lake City is located in north-central Utah, just 14 minutes from the eastern shore of North Salt Lake, about 1 hour, 19 minutes southwest from Evanston, WY, and 2 hours, 4 minutes south of Preston, ID.

HISTORY:

Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 by a hardy group of Mormons, led by Brigham Young. These early settlers were described as "a well-organized, centrally directed group, believing that they were on a mission from God," to form a model society which follows Mormon teachings and religious convictions, in an atmosphere free from the rest of secular society and other faith systems.

For a while, Salt Lake City did foster the dreams of its founders, in that their culture had the unique feature of having their Mormon religion involved in every aspect of life, with little space between religious and secular activities. Their society was described as being "a relatively self-sufficient, egalitarian, and homogeneous," supporting themselves nicely through irrigation agriculture and village industry.

Then, in 1863, lead and silver was discovered in Bingham Canyon. Soon after, copper and gold was also found. The mining industry took off like a rocket, bringing a new crowd of gentiles to the city. In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed, ending Salt Lake City's geographic isolation and opening up new markets for Salt Lake City's industries.

More outsiders also came to live. Uh Oh! By 1870, 10% of the population was made up of non-Mormons. Conflict between these two factions showed itself in local politics; Mormon Church's People Party and an anti-Mormon Liberal Party were the main parties, which focused mostly on local issues, not national ones. The atmosphere was getting hot and not conductive to economic growth, or a friendly community atmosphere. YIKES!

Under intense pressure from the federal government, this situation began to become less intense and more normalized when the Mormon leaders decided in 1887 to move toward being more accomodating to the larger society and "to conform to national economic, political and social norms."

* The Mormon Church sold most of its businesses to private owners, and changed the business plans of the ones they kept to be for profit instead of being "shared community enterprises."

*The local parties dissolved themselves, and people divided between the Republican and Democratic Party.

* In 1890, it was announced that the Mormon Church would no longer perform plural marriages. Perhaps this was done not only because having multiple wives wasn't accepted in America but also because 1/2 of the 45,000 people who lived here were non-Mormons in 1890. This custom of having multiple wives was probably a bone of contention among non-Mormons, and for the sake of keeping the peace, it was discarded.

All this change resulted in an economic boom as people prospered even more. While the Mormon Church was still a very strong force, it was willing to give up / share some control, and stopped the overt strife between Mormons and non Mormons, which allowed even more growth in the sense of community and their economy as well. There were still divisions, but people became tolerant of each other. By 1920, Salt Lake City became a modern American City. People worked together to solve the problems of urbanization and industrialization, struggled through the stressful 1920's together, and the Depression of the 1930's, relying on New Deal programs to soften the hardships. The 1940's brought war and defense industry into Salt Lake City, which really brightened up the economy then and throughout the 20th century.

HAUNTED PLACE: The Shilo Inn Suites Hotel

LOCATION:

The Shilo Inn Suites Hotel can be found in downtown Salt Lake City, two blocks away from the 10 acre Temple Square, and only a block from a TRAX light rail stop, which offers transportation opportunities to get around town.

Address: 206 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101.

801-521-9500 * Web-Site

DESCRIPTION:

The Shilo Inn Suites Hotel is a very popular, 12 story hotel, with a 13th floor which stores the boiler room, elevator motors and other items which are necessary in the running of the hotel. A neat feature is its external glass elevator which gives the living lovely views of Salt Lake City and the grand Wasatch Range. This hotel offers its guests a long list of amenities, including: * Free high speed Internet access in every room * Complimentary Lite-American breakfast * Indoor pool and over sized spa * Fitness center * Fresh homemade cookies daily in the lobby * Free local newspaper * Guest laundry/Valet service * Free local phone calls * Free 24 hour shuttle to airport * Flexible meeting and conference space * Free parking * Children 12 and under stay free with an adult * Cafe and Lounge on premises

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS:

In the 1970's, a distraught woman decided to end it all; for both herself and her children. First, she and her eldest daughter threw the younger children over the balcony. Then, the suicidal / murderous mom threw her eldest daughter over the edge as well before jumping herself after the falling girl. Killing oneself doesn't bring peace, and being murdered can cause an entity with issues to be restless, unable to go to the other side. The mom wasn't totally successful though; One child did survive the fall.
 

MANIFESTATIONS:

Entities of a woman and a little girl (one of the murdered kids) haunt this hotel. Like other hotel guests, they enjoy the first floor pool area, and the game machines where they get some chuckles and attention from the living.

The First Floor

* Disembodied, echoing laughter from an unseen female entity is heard coming from the pool area.

Near the Exit which leads to the Upper Parking Lot.

* The pinball machine is the favorite game of the little girl entity, as the pinball machine has been seen by the living being on and active, providing entertainment to an unseen presence.

Both entities enjoy hanging out on the 13th floor, according to a maintenance man.

* The light bulbs unscrew themselves during times when no one has access to this quiet floor.

* Tools of the maintenance move around by themselves.

* The entities play tricks on the maintenance man, yet he senses that they are friendly presences.

Still Haunted??

Yes.

These two friendly entities have haunted this hotel for the last 30 years, and without help, will continue to do so.

Sources Include: dailyutahchronicle.com * ghosttraveller.com * theshadowlands.net
utah.com* shiloinns.com * virtualtourist.com/hotels/ * travelwest.net/cities