Gooch’s Bar & Grill in Tucson is the focus of an ongoing paranormal investigation.

The bar, formerly known as Belushe’s and The Rhino Pub, has long been reputed to be haunted. The bar at 1118 E. Sixth Street has changed names over the years, but the resident ghost has remained nameless until recently. She earned the nickname of “Gooch’s Ghost” over the last several months, since the time the bar changed hands. However, she may now have a name, resulting from the latest preliminary findings of a group of local paranormal investigators.

The team called Southern Paranormal Investigational Research in Tucson (S.P.I.R.i.T.) has spent the last few months documenting evidence of paranormal happenings at the bar. Creepy EVP and video evidence is posted for public viewing on the team’s YouTube page.

The YouTube videos posted last week document a team member’s psychic impressions of Gooch’s Bar & Grill.

Phyllis “Goldi” Golden, the psychic member of S.P.I.R.i.T., believes that the location once served the area as a brothel in the mid-1800′s, around the time of the Gadsen Purchase. Golden says that the location feels like the O.K. Corral. She also felt that the most prominent presence at the location is the spirit of a beautiful woman named Cherie. Cherie is believed to have been the madam of a brothel that once operated on the property. In the video, Golden remarks that Cherie would have been the “Miss Kitty” of the era, operating a saloon, as well as a house of ill-repute. Cherie may have had a thing for French men and French wines. Maybe she still does. It is thought that disapproving local residents eventually shot and killed Cherie during a stand-off.

Since the investigation is still ongoing, the aforementioned information that Golden grilled out of the spirits has yet to be verified through historical records. The team is currently combing through Arizona Historical Society records to verify Golden’s impressions.

Access Tucson viewers may already know Golden from a previous public television stint as a psychic reader. She has also provided readings over the Tucson airwaves on a number of radio shows over the years. Golden works alongside fellow S.P.I.R.i.T. paranormal investigators Donny Bass, Ingrid Baumgart and Lisa Roybal.

The four team members have a combined 13 years of experience in paranormal investigations.

Team member Donny Bass will soon post new video evidence from the investigation at Gooch’s. The evidence from Gooch’s is still mounting.

“We have captured many EVPs, mostly from a woman, but also a few from a man and one that sounds like a child.  So there is definitely more than one spirit at Gooch’s.” – Donny Bass, team member, S.P.I.R.i.T.

Additional information will be shared at the conclusion of the investigation. This will include a review of all evidence captured, digital copies of all photos, videos and EVPs, as well as a detailed written report of the investigation.

It will be exciting to learn of their findings, especially to have the chance to listen to more EVP evidence. Bass said, “One EVP captured a woman saying ‘Hey Donny’, so the ghosts seem friendly.  I don’t believe there are any evil spirits there. I think these spirits once lived in the building or on the land that Gooch’s now occupies.”   

Perhaps “Cherie” would appreciate a glass of fine French wine presented by a fine-looking Frenchman. If there are any willing volunteers who fit that bill, we’ll see you at Gooch’s tomorrow night.  In the meantime, we will anticipate the release of new evidence presented by the S.P.I.R.i.T team.

The two-part video of Golden’s psychic impressions can be found on YouTube:. Watch Part 1 | Part 2.

S.P.I.R.i.T. is currently accepting new cases. The team investigates historical sites, residences and businesses where paranormal activity is believed to occur. If you would like them to consider your location, contact S.P.I.R.i.T. at spiritintucson@yahoo.com for a preliminary interview.

During my two-year stint as a resident of the Old Fort Lowell Historic District on Tucson’s northeast side, my paranormal curiosity was continually fed by intriguing tales of ghosts and hauntings.

These accounts of hauntings aren’t limited to Fort Lowell park, where remnants of the United States mililtary camp are preserved.  Reported paranormal activity circulates well outside of the boundaries of the park, and even into some of the old homes in the general vicinity. The accounts of ghosts and hauntings are known to have been circulating since the year 1900, nine years after the last living soldiers left Fort Lowell.

According to many accounts, the spirits of soldiers who died at Fort Lowell have never left.

It was first reported around 1900 that the ghost of a solder haunted the ruins of the old Fort Lowell. Residents of the area allegedly spent much time participating in a crude early form of ghost hunting. The residents were said to have spent countless hours, along with countless rounds of ammunition, firing at the ghostly soldier. The soldier would simply disappear upon attack.

It is said that the soldier turned the tables on one attacker and fired back in defense with a blast of rocks.

The newspapers of the time started covering the story. On December 14, 1900, the Arizona Daily Citizen (predecessor of the Tucson Citizen newspaper) reported that  “reputable citizens” continued to see the ghost. The story stated that these reputable citizens were preparing for a gun battle with the said spectre soldier, scheduled to take place that very evening.

The ghost was victorious, as the paper reported on December 28th that the ghost had returned to steal resident’s turkey on Christmas Eve. The Republic in Phoenix also ran the stories, as interest in all things paranormal grew at the time.  

If the reporting stemmed from an ”inside joke” of some sort, there seems to be a missing article somewhere and we don’t get the joke today. Perhaps the stories were inspired by a reporter’s vivid imagination?

We’ll never know.

Interestingly, the stories have sparked my imagination about those pre-Tucson Citizen / pre-Paranormal Old Pueblo weird news accounts by the Arizona Daily Citizen, written well over a century ago. The newspaper published their last story about the ghost April 13, 1901 - not long before the name of the newspaper changed. Later that same year, records indicate that the Arizona Daily Citizen changed their name to the Tucson Citizen.   

Isn’t it ironic that not long after the Tucson Citizen ceased distributing a printed publication in 2009 (transforming into the online TucsonCitizen.com) that the Paranormal Old Pueblo blog was born into it?

We seem to have come full circle here. The thought intrigues me.

However, I am also intrigued by ghostly tales around Fort Lowell.

There are still reputable citizens living in the Fort Lowell area more than a century later. The reports of ghosts and hauntings in the area have not ceased.  

For example, a woman I know shared with me that her father’s home, the home she grew up in, is haunted. The old house stands near Craycroft and Fort Lowell Roads, and it houses at least one ghostly resident. The woman’s father still lives in the home and claims to have witnessed strange events, in and around the house, over the span of more than four decades.

Most interestingly, he said that he began hearing the sounds of the wagon wheels turning, along with the clomping of the horses’ hooves upon the hard, dry desert ground. He stepped outside one day and witnessed  a ghostly horse-drawn wagon, steered by spectral soldiers. The eyes of the soldiers remained focused on their destination ahead, toward Fort Lowell Park. Then, the ghostly wagon simply vanished. According to the homeowner, he witnessed this event on more than one occasion and got used to it.

After a while, when he would hear the sounds approaching, he would simply go about his business and let the wagon drive by in peace. He says that the neighbors have learned to do the same.

Is the Fort Lowell area haunted? Or does the area simply spark our imaginations into a wild frenzy when we think about the soldiers who risked (and even lost) their lives at Fort Lowell?

We’ll never know.

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When I had car trouble a few years ago, I called my sister to pick me up from work. She wasn’t feeling up to taking me all the way home that day. I hung out with her for a while and called my dad for a ride home. My dad arrived at my sister’s house in his full-sized pickup truck with a shell, with his friend Carly by his side in the passenger seat. My sister came outside with me to see me off. We both noticed a boy, who we identified as Carly’s son Jimi, in the back of the truck. He looked out of the truck’s shell at my sister and me. He looked happy to see us and gave us a huge smile. My sister and I commented about how we liked Jimi. I hugged my sister goodbye.

As I approached the truck, Carly slid to the middle of the seat to allow room for me. I climbed in and took the passenger side seat. I greeted my dad, gave Carly a hug, and turned around to greet Jimi. Jimi wasn’t there.

I turned to my dad and Carly and asked, “Where’s Jimi?”

Jimi was at his dad’s house, they said. I was quite confused, but insisted that there was a young boy in the back of the truck. The boy smiled at my sister and me. My dad said I was seeing things. As we pulled away, I noticed my sister still outside, waving her hand and smiling at us. A confused look came over her face before she turned around and went back inside her house.

I called my sister later that night to tell her that there was no one in the back of the truck. She was as surprised as I was. She added that as we pulled away, she waved at the little boy, he waved back.

Months went by, during which time my sister and I received some ribbing about the ghost boy. Then it was forgotten, for while. Others started “seeing things” in the back of the truck, inside that  shell.

My dad worked as a contractor for a time for Qwest Communications, arranging for service and towing. One hot summer day, my dad answered a call for a broken down truck at Kolb and Valencia. The driver of the disabled vehicle was sitting against a fence when my dad pulled up. It was too hot for him to wait for my dad inside the vehicle. My dad examined the disabled truck, while the driver looked on. The driver asked if it was maybe a little too hot to let the kids stay in the back of the truck with no air conditioning. My dad said there were no kids in his truck. The driver took a closer look, and thoroughly examined my dad’s truck to satisfy himself. He said he distinctly saw kids looking out the shell windows.

Several months later, my dad took a job at a roofing company. One day, he arrived at the roofing yard, parked out front and walked in. Someone at the yard asked if the kids in the back of the truck were his grandchildren. My dad said that there were no children there. The inquirer decided to go outside to make sure. A couple other workers refused to even get near the truck at the mere thought of ghosts, particularly at the thought of ghostly children. The inquirer continued to insist that he saw kids looking out the window, and had even commented to another worker as my dad pulled in, saying that he was probably on his way somewhere with the grandkids.

Once since then, my sister and I joined my dad on a camping trip. Since we had other commitments, we only visited with him for a few hours and ate a steak dinner around the campfire. By nightfall, I kept my back to the truck, as I felt that someone was watching me. So did my sister. We drove back to Tucson through the Coronado National Forest late that night, feeling rather creeped out and quite jumpy.

My dad since removed the camper shell to install a tool box in the back of his truck. The  shell sits on my uncle’s property, reserved for occasional camping trips. I don’t know if the “children” are attached to the truck or to the camper shell. It could be a defect in the glass, but that would be an eerie defect, to say the least. My uncle hasn’t reported any activity associated with that shell stored in his yard. There’s seemingly no paranormal activity attached to the truck either.

One day soon, I will take a full camping trip with my dad. Perhaps those kids might come along with my dad. Although the kids in the truck look quite happy and not menacing in any way, I think I’ll keep my back to the truck again and let them play in peace.