This has been a post that has been a long time coming. Having lived here since 2001, I’ve listen to a lot of stories. Here are the ones I know about. If you’ve got different versions or can correct the details, feel free to jump in. Can Indian Springs lay claim to the most haunted town in Nevada?
The Flight Nurse
On 3 April, 1999 a B0-105CBS-4 helicopter call sign Lifeguard 01 crashed near Old Ben Road. It was snowing. Witnesses and first responders stated that they were directed to the crash site by “a woman with flashlights”. Nearing the crash site no one could find this woman. The crash was fatal for the three people on board. Flight Nurse Kathy Batterman was the only female on board. During the crash she was ejected from the aircraft and then was crushed when the fuselage rolled over her.
Over the years she has appeared up and down Old Ben Road and as far south as the Senior Center.
The Old Woman
Back in the pioneer days a family lived in a cabin located in a valley North of Indian Springs. The loneliness and isolation got to her and she killed her husband and children. To this day she has been spotted along Old Ben Road. Notably, my son and his friend encountered her on Old Ben Road while walking back to town after getting a flat tire. She was dressed in a black dress and refused to talk when they asked if she had a cell phone.
Wild Bill
George and Belle Lattimer owned a ranch where the Indian Springs casino is now located. In 1906, George was bitten by an insect (maybe a Brown Recluse) and Belle hitched the wagon to take him into the doctor. A 16 year old Paiute Indian boy named Coachie Siegmuller was left to watch the ranch. While they were gone Coachie saw another Paiute named Bill “Wild Bill” Williams approached the ranch. Wild Bill was known as a “Bad Indian” and Coachie was terrified of him. Williams was notorious for exploiting young Paiute men by hiring them out to local ranchers and then pocketing their wages. Williams was there that day to collect some of these wages. Finding no one home, Wild Bill stretched out on the porch and was soon fast asleep. Coachie felt he needed to defend the ranch and fetched a rifle from the kitchen. He silently crept up on Wild Bill and shot him in the head. He pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to death. The Paiute reservation threatened to go to war over this and to keep the peace Coachie was sentenced three years in the Carson City prison. The Lattimers buried Wild Bill behind the ranch. Dogs kept digging him up so he was buried a few times before he stayed put.
Sort of.
The presence of Wild Bill still manifests itself in the casino. The ceiling fans in the cafe spin by themselves. Cans fly off the pantry shelves. Dishes and such are occasionally shattered on the floor. The Air Force took the casino claiming Immanent Domain and destroyed it claiming it was too close to the runway.
The Train
In 1906 Indian Springs became a way station and watering place for the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad. The original rail line ran along what is now known as Winston Road. The LV&T ceased operation in 1918. But on quiet nights and sometimes during the day you can hear the train whistle low.Someone still lives in the Depot on Winston Road. Someone still lives in the Depot on Winston Road.
The Indian Bells
In the 1840’s and before the White Man came The Southern Paiute lived around the flat area near the natural springs where they grew crops of corn, gourds, pumpkins and other tasty veggies. In 1858, the Mormons came through and named the place “Willow Springs” but that was later changed to “Indian Springs” because of well….the Indians.
The site of the original Paiute village is in the still vacant field behind to the current Post Office. It’s the corner of Lincoln and MacFarland if you want to go look for yourself. On quiet nights you can hear the sounds of bells as the long dead Indian celebrate.
The Bicycle Boy
This one is personal. I was driving home from work at about 10:30 PM. As I was about to turn into the Pioneer Mobile Home Park there at the corner of Clark and MacFarland I was horrified by the sound of me hitting “something”. To make it worse I saw a body fly across the hood of my car. Indian Springs is in need of some street lights and the kids tend to stroll up and down the roads on “dates”. To make things worse they like to wear dark clothes. I’m always on the alert to spot them but on this night I knew I hit one.
I jumped out of the car and found NOTHING. No body. No kid. Just me and my car on a dark road.
A few years earlier a boy was struck and killed by a car at that very spot. Others have claimed to see him still crossing the road. Sometimes on a bike. Sometimes on foot.
The Old Man
Back in about 1994 an old man died in his bed of a massive heart attack. The coroner reported that he had been “Scared to Death”. To this day his ghost haunts the trailer on Boulder Lane telling current renters that “Everything will be all right.”
Any Indian Springers out there with better stories?
UPDATE
Readers in the comments mentioned humanoids being seen on the MacFarland and Fisher ranches. Someone sent us pictures.
Very Interesting.
I find these stories fascinating. I lived in Pioneer Trailer Court in the 60’s as a kid and was always up for ghost stories. We never saw any though. Thanks for these.
Well these stories are interesting but I live in the so called depot?? It used to be the the general store/gas station on the 95 hwy and was later moved to our property. I have worked at the casino for 6 years and never have I heard or seen anything you described about it? Also my partner was one of the first responders to the helicopter crash & said no one was out there with flashlights?? Some nice fairy tales.
I found in the history on Indian Bill that he was a piaute indian and was killed in that year on the Tombstone Epitaph that I was looking up some of the old history of people who passed away in that year. from Wendy Sells
Wendy,
Different Bill? Thanks for the comment.
Walt
Is it possible to get in touch with Walt313 regarding the old LV&T RR Indian Springs depot photo and misc information. Thank you.
Sure Phil,
Click the handy dandy email link above and I’ll look for your email. You can also go to the “Find us on Facebook” link above and message us.
Walt
You failed to mention the Hatchet Lady, and the wandering boy on Sky, and the little humanoids in the trees between clark and macfarland – lincoln and macfarland area.
gabrielle!
YES! My son and his friend actually came across the hatchet lady while walking on Old Ben Road. They got a flat at the dump and were walking back. She didn’t have a cell phone they could use. In fact, she didn’t say shit.
The humanoids seen in IS should be a completely different post. Pictures anyone?
Caroline Shafer- Ask Jan about the nurse, she told me the story.
I lived on Winston ln for years. I grew up on the ranch butted up against the fisher ranch and spent lots of days with Mary fisher. Very very interesting. Thank you for sharing.
What about the Tall Whites?
I lived in IS from 2007 to 2012. The corner of Lincoln and MacFarland is ice cold and you can hear Indian drums late at night during the summer months
Nope, no Tall Whites.
Beth, I know exactly what you are talking about on Licoln and Macfarland, also, my big Great Dane and I encountered a very scary apparition on Lincoln, towards Sky road years ago while out on a walk very late one night. So much activity in this town!
The “hatchet lady” on Old Ben (the dump road) was one of the 1st stories I was told when we moved there in 1973. We always were on the lookout just in case too many had claimed to have encountered her. The property on Lincoln and MacFarland is ALWAYS cold and I have heard drums and bells.
I lived in Indian Springs as a 10 year old in the very early 50s, and while I don’t have any ghost stories, I remember being told that sometime (perhaps in the 1920s) a wealthy woman wanted to rival Mable Phelps Dodge who had developed Taos NM as a literary/artist colony. However, she was not able to entice any artists to the area, and instead had a bunch of rather side-show inhabitants including a person who had a very large snake collection. The house, with a brightly painted sunken pool-sized area, was still to be seen. Electricity was turned off for most of the day, turned back on in the evening. There was a communal laundry building, and another building that we were told had been originally established to be a communal dining room. A good sized pond for swimming, which was drained every Monday for irrigating fields in the area. And off to one side of the community, some trees with the worlds absolutely greatest tree house! We went to a 2-room school on the base, where we played football at lunch and recess, and I learned the basic rule of base football–don’t tackle the coronel’s son when he has the ball.
I lived in Indian Springs from 1956 to 1963. I knew Mary and George Fisher well. They were good friends of my parents. They had some very interesting stories to tell. My family had experiences that most would not believe me. We had those guys in suits/hats and shades come to our house and threatened my parents to keep our mouths shut of one experience we had.
. Our home is still there on the corner of Gretta and Sky Rd. This was an Air Force barracks from Nellis that my father rebuilt in it’s entirety. The trees in the yard were just sticks when they were planted. Dad planted them along the property line but most died after we moved. I remember the Schencks, Gretta served as the post mistress for many years. If I remember he ran the little store.
Thanks for the comment Kathie. Tell us a story. See if we believe it.
I can attest to the helicopter crash. I have been on the road to the dump.I have seen what looked like someone with a flashlight there at different times and areas around the crash site. Walt I believe was a first responder on many accidents up and down and, around the Indian Springs area.His kindness and caring are only surpassed by Bravery. He feed me dinner many a night I would not have eaten other wise. I only hope that next time a fast walked falls out of the continuum I am their to check it out with him. Also some day I would be able to pay him back for all his kindnesess. God bless you Walt. I’m not sure I’m ready to keep living in a level four world the rest of my life. Especially one created buy man him self. P.S. What does one hear in the cockpit of a jet moving faster than the speed of sound ???.
Thor,
I usually delete SPAM, but you were so elegant. You’re either a robot or a Indian Springer that took some bad meth.
Cheers,
Walt the Good
I wish Kathy would come back and tell us why the Men In Black came to visit her family.
Charles Hall was an airman at Indian Springs Aux AFB for two years around 1966 time frame. He was a weather specialist and his job was to go out to bombing ranges 1 – 4, release balloons and record wind speed/direction and report results to Nellis. He says there is an Alien base in the mountains to the north. They messed with him all the time and his predecessors stopped doing their jobs out of fear. Reason Air Force removed all living quarters at base. Wrote some short books about it years later called Millenial Hospitality. You people are in danger. They have lived around there since 1820’s. Mess with USG also.
Saw the dudes in suits, hat, shades comment. That topic was in one of his books. Said he saw them in the old Stardust Hotel and recognized one of them. Says these m.i.b. are the aliens security detail in disguise. Tall Whites is the name he gave them. They do all kinds of strange things. Incredible amount of specific details in the books. Their children like to play with human children. Your Ghosts are likely them, the USAF personnel thought they were radioactive glowing wild horses.
They wear environmental suits that protect them, when activated they glow and allow them to levitate and fly, often in groups. They have small utility craft that look like utility trailers when sitting on ground.
thank you Anon
Your welcome. Posted link to your article on Creech Air Force Base Wikipedia page, someone there removed it within a day giving reason as ‘unsafe’ link. Reversed it saying link quite safe, to a local blog. The https thing is a huge racket, it doesn’t signify anything other than the webmaster caved in a payed the tax so his url doesn’t get as red thingy and block. If Google doesn’t ‘like’ the content of your site they will make it disappear from their search engine results anyways.
Couple other things with Creech AFB. I don’t actually think it exists, it seems more of a marketing gimick. Has no boundries and has no living quarters, it was only a local squadron co that was assigned as the ‘base’ commander, by Nellis. So It is just an area of Nellis AFB, where Airman Charlie got his vague marching orders from. Alot of those buildings on ‘Creech’ that are right beside the highway are were a number of the incidents occured. Also the ‘visitors’ / residents have their own visitors and schedule, full moon and new moon – arrival – departure from over Dog Bone Lake, large hanger is to immediate nw near top of mountain facing east. There living quarters beneath, he guessed about a 100 individuals. The monthly arrival is an enormous craft he thought held 500. That is when the ‘tourism’ activity began he said. Also they tend to be more active at night and in the hot months. The whole thing is along the southern boundry of Area 51. There are two security lines he said, one human, one alien. They are heavily armed and have alot of ‘electronic’ defenses, can intercept telephones and often will impersonate base and higher authority, give instructions, cancel exercises and are able to ‘mobilize’ local county police and military officials when they are upset about something or have some emergency, like a large craft that was forced down once at Mt Charleston ski resort one winter night. This is all in Charles Halls book series. There was also something about the charcoal kilns as a play area, as well as the base swiming pool. The Air Force Officers weren’t in the habit of responding to upset airmen, didn’t like going out there, same with the Military Police.
I worked at Creech in Transient Alert. Nine Stars across three generals showed up to rename the place as Creech AFB. Walking with one of the Generals, a co-worker asked why the renaming. I said, “More Bucks for the Bang”. The General put a finger to his nose and nodded.