The Ghost of the Historic 2R bar and Bistro

The 2R Bar and Bistro restaurant is located in one of the historic buildings at Roslyn W ashington and it’s rich history of coal m ines, disasters, struggle s truggle and hard w orking people. people . residents..

Som e w ould even say that the ghost of Roslyn out num ber the residents

W elcom e to PIH A ’s H istoric H aunting of W ashington State M agazine On behalf of the volunteer paranormal investigators of PIHA, I invite you to experience Washington State’s amazing historical sites and museums like never before. PIHA has created a program unlike any other in Washington State. Through our process of networking with local historical societies, museums and registered historical sites, PIHA hopes to help educate the public of our state’s exciting history and the process and technology utilized in today’s paranormal investigations.

PIHA was created with two goals in mind: 1. PIHA hopes to bring our history to life by attempting to obtain significant evidence of these strange occurrences. Utilizing the latest in today’s electronic technology and dedicated paranormal investigators, we are accomplishing this objective.

2. PIHA wants to stimulate additional interest in our residents and visitors to Washington State’s fascinating history. We want to encourage individuals, families, schools and community organizations to visit these (and other) historical locations for a better understanding of our state’s history and the people who made it.

PIHA is not out to prove or disprove the existence of possible paranormal activity, but to publish any significant evidence collected at an investigation and let each individual decided for himself what to believe or not to believe.

Wherever your travels in Washington take you, best wishes for a “Trip to the Extraordinary”.

For additional information about PIHA, visit our website at www.pihausa.com

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In this Issue: Welcome to PIHA’s Historic Haunting of Washington State Magazine…..2 Washington State History………….……..……..…….5 The History of Eastern Washington…………………..7 The History of Roslyn.…….………………….…..…….9 The History of the 2R Bar and Bistro Restaurant……11 Paranormal Investigation Report……………………...13 Paranormal History Report………………………...…..15 Contact PIH A:

PIH A M agazine Publisher:

PIHA (Paranormal Investigations of Historic America) Vaughn Hubbard: Case Manager/Historian Phone: 360.799.4138 Email: Info@pihausa.com Website: WWW.PIHAUSA.COM

Publisher………………...…..….Historic Haunting Chief Publisher…………..……..Vaughn Hubbard Program Manager:………….…..Debbie Knapp Marketing Manager:………….....Kathy Gavin Graphic Designer:…………...…..Christian Wells

Debbie Knapp: Lead Investigator/Historian Kathy Gavin: Lead Investigator Dave: EVP Specialist Christian Wells: Investigator

A cknow ledgem ents: We wish to acknowledge the HistoryLink for allowing PIHA to use their published historical research information as reference material. To read about the history of Washington State visit the HistoryLink website at: www.HistoryLink.org Special thanks to Dave from Silent Voices who works with the Grey Team as our EVP Specialist.

To read more about the groundbreaking work that Dave is involved with and his instructions on EVP's techniques, visit his web site at www.SilentVoices.info 3

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Washington State History The State of Washington occupies the far northwest corner of the contiguous 48 United States. It occupies 66,582 square miles (176,600 square kilometers) between the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Idaho border at 117 degrees longitude. Washington borders Canada on the north along the 49th parallel and Oregon on the south along the Columbia River and 46th parallel. Great Britain and the United States jointly occupied the region between 1818 and 1846, when Britain ceded the Pacific Northwest below the 49th parallel to the U.S. In 1848 the U.S. created Oregon Territory, including the future states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and a portion of Montana. Washington Territory (including Idaho and western Montana until 1863) was separated from Oregon on March 2, 1853, and gained statehood on November 11, 1889.

The federal government created Oregon Territory on August 14, 1848. The area of the new jurisdiction included the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and western Montana. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 triggered a large westward migration, and settlement of Oregon Territory was promoted by passage of the Donation Land Claims Act of 1850, which granted 160 acres to any U.S. citizen who agreed to occupy his or her land for five years.

On August 29, 1851, 27 male settlers met at Cowlitz Landing (south of present-day Olympia) to petition Congress for a separate “Columbia Territory” covering the area between the Columbia River and 49th parallel. The petition was reaffirmed by 44 delegates who met in Monticello on November 25, 1852. Congress approved the new territory on February 10, 1853, but changed its name to “Washington.”

President Millard Fillmore signed the bill on March 2, 1853, and Olympia was named the Territorial Capital and has remained the capital of both Washington Territory and State since 1853. President Franklyn Pierce named Isaac I. Stevens as the first governor of an area that included northern Idaho and western Montana until President Abraham Lincoln established Idaho Territory on March 4, 1863.

Washington’s non-Indian population grew steadily to more than 300,000 over the following decades. Its residents began petitioning for statehood in 1881, and Washington was admitted to the Union on November 11, 1889, with the signature of President Benjamin Harrison.

Thirty federally recognized sovereign Indian tribes and reservations occupy substantial areas in Washington, and there are an additional seven unrecognized but culturally distinct tribes. Native American Indian tribes have occupied this area; now know as Washington State for over 10,000 years and have a rich history in culture and survival. By the 1850s, when the first Euro American settlers arrived at Alki Point and along the Duwamish River, diseases had already taken a devastating toll on native peoples and their cultures. During the 80 year period from the 1770s to 1850, smallpox, measles, influenza, and other diseases had killed an estimated 28,000 Native Americans in Western Washington, leaving about 9,000 survivors. Historian Robert Boyd conducted extensive research on the effect of European diseases on Northwest coast Indians.

In his book, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence, he states that the 1775 Spanish expedition led by Bruno Hezeta, commander of the Santiago and Juan Fracisco de la Bodega & Quadra, commander of the Sonora was the most likely carrier.

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The History Eastern Washington In the spring of 1853, Congress authorized a US Army expedition made up of engineers and explorers and led by Isaac Ingalls Stevens, to survey a route from the Missouri River to the Columbia River suitable for building a railroad. Stevens assumed the task, but also kept in mind that the route should be suitable for a wagon road A small, dark-haired young man, Lieutenant John Mullan just out of West Point, was placed in charge of surveying, and later improving, a wagon route (now commonly called the Mullan Road) between Fort Benton (Montana) and Fort Walla Walla (Washington). Lieutenant Mullan commanded a workforce of more than 200, including civilian workers, soldiers, engineers, and surveyors who carved a 25-foot wide road across the region.

Although the road was never heavily used by the military, it was an important conduit for civilian passage, which hastened settling of the northwestern United States. In the first year after completion, it was used by an estimated 20,000 people, 6,000 horses and mules, 5,000 cattle and 83 wagons. The Mullan Road helped Walla Walla become the largest town in Washington Territory by 1870, with a population of 1,394. The road continued to serve as an important route until the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883 provided faster and more convenient access to the region.

In 1836 Marcus Whitman a physician and missionary in the Oregon Country, along with his wife Narcissa started a mission Waiilatpu (Why-eelat-poo, the 't' is half silent), which means "place of the rye grass" in the Cayuse language also known as the Whitman Mission. The mission was located 6 miles from current day Walla Walla Washington, just west of the northern end of the Blue Mountains. Whitman would later lead the first large party of wagon trains along the Oregon Trail, establishing it as a viable route for the thousands of emigrants who used the trail in the following The settlement was in the territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez PercĂŠ tribes of Native Americans. Marcus farmed and provided medical care, while Narcissa set up a school for the Native American children.

The influx of white settlers in the territory brought new diseases to the Indian tribes, including a severe epidemic of measles in 1847. In what became known as the Whitman Massacre, Cayuse tribal members murdered the Whitman’s in their home on November 29, 1847. Most of the buildings at Waiilatpu were destroyed. Twelve other white settlers in the community were also killed. For one month 53 women and children were held captive before negotiations led to them being released. In 1850, the tribe handed over five members to be tried for the murder of the Whitman’s. All five Cayuse were convicted by a military commission and hanged on 3 June 1850. The hanging was conducted by U.S. Marshal Joseph L. Meek. This event triggered an ongoing conflict between white settlers and local tribes, known as the Cayuse War an armed conflict that lasted from 1848 to 1855. This was the first of several wars between the original inhabitants and Euro-American settlers in that region that would lead to the placement of many of the Native Americans onto Indian reservations.

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The History of Roslyn Washington On February 4, 1889, the citizens of Roslyn, which began as a coal camp three years earlier, present a petition to Judge L. B. Nash requesting that their city be incorporated. He duly proclaims Roslyn to be an incorporated town, and the city government is organized. The city is reincorporated on April 26, 1890, after Washington achieves statehood.

The legislature adopted a new general incorporation law on March 27, 1890. The re-incorporation was officially registered with the Washington Secretary of State on April 26, 1890.

Roslyn was founded in 1886 as a coal mining town. Platted by Logan M. Bullet, vice president of the Northern Pacific Coal Co., the first commercial coal mining operations were begun to support railway operations. Throughout the middle 1880s, the Northern Pacific Railway, the parent of Northern Pacific Coal Co., pushed to reach Puget Sound across the Cascade Mountains. The Northern Pacific began building across Stampede Pass just west of Roslyn, approaching from Wallula in the east and Tacoma in the west. Roslyn, which lies on the route to Stampede Pass, provided the coal for the railway construction work as well as the continuing railroad operations.

The Roslyn Sentinel of March 1, 1895, carried the following story about Roslyn's name: "On the far away shores of Delaware, midst the sand hills, peach orchards, and blue blooded 'skeeters', nestles the little hamlet, named Roslyn over a century ago. After mature deliberation, he christened the town Roslyn on August 10, 1886, after the town in which his loved one lived. This industry also brought many different ethnic groups of people together that worked in the coal mines.

The prosperity that the coal mines brought to Roslyn came with a high price. Tensions between management and labor in the Roslyn mines began spilling over in the summer of 1888, when management laid off a number of union workers who were petitioning for higher wages.

Eventually, the strike was settled and the African-American strikebreakers assimilated into the community of Roslyn. Today Roslyn prides itself as a historical community in Washington that attracts visitors from all over the world. From there they can walk The Coal Trail that follows the right-of-way of the Northern Pacific Railroad branch line developed in 1886 to export coal from the Roslyn Cle Elum Coal Field and explore the entrances of the old mine shaft openings along the way. The Roslyn Branch was extended in 1887 to the #3 Mine site where the community of Ronald developed. The branch line intersected the Northern Pacific Railway's Cascade Line in Cle Elum and for decades constituted the primary transportation link between the Upper Kittitas County communities of Cle Elum, Roslyn and Ronald.

Visitors also learn how this ethnic mix brought about the unique Roslyn Cemetery. The Roslyn Cemetery is really an amalgamation of 25 separate cemeteries abutting each other on 15 wooded acres on Roslyn's west hill. Visitor’s can see what those exciting years were like for the citizens of Roslyn at the Roslyn Museum.

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The History of the 2r Bar and Bistro Restaurant The building that the 2R Bar and Bistro restaurant is located in was built in 1930 as a public gathering place for the residents of Roswell Washington. Over the last 80 years the building has had numerous owners, but it still remains a favorite gathering place for the residents of Roslyn.

Some of the previous businesses that have occupied the building included bars, restaurants and general stores. Most of the previous owners of the building ran their business on the main floor and lived with their family on the 2nd floor.

PIHA became interested in scheduling a paranormal investigation of this historical building for these reasons: 1. Being a local community gathering place usually means that there were a lot of happy times shared by many of the residents over the years.

2. Being used as a home for families usually means a strong attraction remains with the building by previous tenants.

We have found that these factors can play a significant role in possible paranormal activity in a historical site. And usually not by one or two spirits, but by many spirits. This theory was reinforced by the numerous EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomena) digital recordings obtained as evidence during the Grey Teams investigation.

Today, the present owner of the 2R Bar and Bistro restaurant, Ronda Thompson and restaurant manager Eileen, maintains the same friendly atmosphere and still provides a gathering place for the local residents and visitors of Roslyn. It is no wonder that Ronda and her employees and patrons have reported strange activities since she has owned the building. It still remains a happy place and as such, there’s really no reason for the past spirits to leave.

Ronda and Eileen looking for ghost at the 2R Bar and Bistro 11

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The PIHA Grey Team’s Paranormal Investigation On July 16th 2010 the PIHA Grey Team accomplished a midnight paranormal investigation of the 2R Bar and Bistro in the historic town of Roslyn Washington. These are the results of the PIHA Grey Teams investigation of that historic building.

The PIHA Grey Team began their investigation at 1:00 am with PIHA Lead Investigator, Kathy Gavin assisted by the restaurant owner Ronda Thompson and manager Ilene.

As is the usual practice, the team first completes a scan of the area to be investigated. They use their EMF (Electromagnetic Field) detectors to locate any abnormal electronic energy that may exist.

Next, the Grey Team sets up their camcorders to video tape any shadows or strange movement that may take place during their EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) session.

Finally they position the parabolic dish that they use to record any noises or voices that may or may not be heard by ear. The parabolic dish also has a headset attached allowing an investigator to hear any voices or noises that cannot be heard naturally by the other investigators during the EVP session. This has proven to be a valuable tool to validate anything recorded during the EVP session that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Vaughn has concluded that if ghost actually exist, they can be seen, heard and felt anytime, day or night with the lights on or off. The main reason that most paranormal organizations investigate late at night is that there are fewer people in and around the area or building being investigated and the same is true for vehicle traffic. All of these factors can contaminate the electronic recordings being made during the actual investigation. Basically, the quieter it is the better chance of recording possible evidence of paranormal activity. But, if someone just wants to have a paranormal experience or possibly see a ghost, they’re chances are probably better during the day than at night. There are many more encounters told by ordinary people of seeing or experiencing a ghost during the day and fewer at night. You could have something standing right next to you in the dark and you would never see it, but during the day you will.

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Results of the PIHA Paranormal Investigation Main dining room/dance floor area Friday night 7/16/2010: 11:22 pm – A voice says “Hi” 11:45 pm – A voice says “Stop It”

Bedroom on the 2nd floor Friday night 7/16/2010: 1:05 am – 2 loud thumps are heard by everyone. These are followed by 2 more thumps and then a Shhhh sound is recorded twice.

1:07 am – 2 strange voices are recorded on the parabolic dish.

1:16 am – During Dave’s EVP session he comments about the bar fire and voices from an unknown source are recorded.

1:22 am – Debbie hears a voice from nowhere 1:26 am – The investigators all hear multiple tapping sounds from an unknown source.

1:30 am – More tapping sounds are heard by everyone and a voice is recorded on the parabolic dish.

Living area on the 2nd floor Saturday night 7/17/2010 : 10:39 pm – The Grey Team hears unidentifiable sounds 11:19 – During Dave’s EVP session he and Debbie hear the answer “NO” to a question.

11:29 pm – a voice is recorded saying “Buenos” 11:58 pm – Debbie hears a faint voice 12:30 am – Dave asked a question and a voice is recorded saying “Vaughn”

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The History of Paranormal Activity Reports by employees and patrons have included glasses disappearing to nowhere, the owner's have heard things upstairs where there's a vacant apartment. The smell of cigarette smoke has lingered on the main floor even though the restaurant is a non-smoking establishment. And then, there was the fire — started by a candle left on the bar — that burned part of the bar top and then just "went out". People reported a gambler sitting at the front of the bar and a miner walking around the bar. There have been reports that upstairs a young girl with an apron on and an older gentleman has been seen. A short, bald man who walks with a cane has appeared upstairs. One ghost identified himself as "Wes," and another gave his name as "Milt Nelson" according to another paranormal group that investigated there.

Over 40,000 years ago early man started leaving cave drawings depicting what appear to be representations of paranormal activity. This also occurred around the same time early man started burying their dead. The first Shaman appeared acting as a medium between the visible and spirit worlds by experiencing paranormal activity and asking the age old question “What happens to us after we die”. Today, we still have our religious leaders and are still searching for the answer to that age old question. Hopefully, with today’s electronic technology, the scientific community will begin to study that question and eventually give us some answers. Many people who think that something paranormal exist, physics and logic can debunk. That said, occasionally PIHA obtains evidence that neither physics nor logic applies. When this occurs, we classify it as paranormal evidence and let each individual decide for himself what to believe or not believe. PIHA has no answers to what it is we are documenting with our electronic equipment, only questions for the scientific community. Any conclusions determined are based solely on speculation and conjecture with no scientific basis to support their theory.

Ghost, Demons, Spirits and Energy People have always believed that the night is full of ghosts, but the thought of a ghost sound is still disturbing. It is unsettling to listen to the sound of death as if they were occurring in the present and not a lifetime earlier. I suspect the world is far more mysterious than we’ve ever imagined.

In subtle and unexpected ways science and religion are approaching common if uncertain ground.

At some point as the scientific focus becomes more and more specific, as the particles examined by quantum physicists become more and more elusive, the paranormal escapes its cage of scientific incredulity.

And there lies the mystery of the paranormal. They are messages, so dense that they require unraveling before they’re understood. It’s a little scary, acknowledging that something paranormal can exist, but also an affirmation that what lies beyond consciousness has tremendous power and potential.

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O n behalf of the volunteer paranorm par anorm al investigators of PIH A , w e invite you to experience W ashington State’s am azing azi ng historical sites and m useum s like never before. PIH A has created a program unlike any other in W ashington State. Through our process pr ocess of netw orking w ith local historical societies, s ocieties, m useum s and com m unity leaders, PIH A hopes to help educate the public of our o ur state’s exciting history and the process pro cess and technology utilized in paranorm al research. research .

The PIH A “G rey Team ” is m ade up of dedicated paranorm al investigators w ith a passion for history and a curiosity in the paranorm al phenom ena. O ur approach, equipm ent en t and procedures to paranorm al investigating are prim arily based on research and logic in obtaining evidence of possible paranorm al activity.

The PIH A A pproach to Paranorm al Investigations PIH A never use m edium s, psychics or O uija B oards in our investigations. investigations. M any people w ho think that som ething paranorm al exist, physics and logic can debunk. That said, occasionally PIH A obtains evidence that neither physics nor logic applies. W hen this occurs, w e classify it as paranorm al evidence and let each individual decide for him self w hat to believe or not believe.

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