Last Sat. night I decided it was time Alex and I went on a date. I was trying to do something halloweenish and found out they were doing paranormal tours of Ogden's Union Station. We'd never done anything like that before and it sounded like fun, so I bought tickets. I had never even been in Union Station and it was cool to learn more history about it. There were paranormal investigators from all over the state there with booths set up showing us their recording devices and magnetic what-ya-ma-call-ums. They took us all over though the building (all the lights were out) and only our guild had a small flashlight. They showed us the big rooms where they would lay out the dead bodies during WWII that came in on the trains so they could be identified. They also told us about at huge train crash the happened west of the GSL in the 1940's. Two trains hit head-on and about 50 people died. Union Station was the closet place to take the bodies for identification and that's where they believe most of the ghosts that haunt the place came from. Apparently, most of the night cleaning crew and security guards have either heard things or seen things. We also learned that the original station that was built in the 1880's burned to the ground in 1923 and the building that stands today was built on the original foundation in 1924. They took us down underneath the building into the old vaults of the original station that are not open to the public. Big metal vaults with 6 inch thick rusty iron doors. They put us in one without a flash light and closed the door. Apparently down in the old basement is were the most paranormal activity has occurred. We also heard an old legend of secret tunnels running under 25th street. The tunnels were dug sometime during WWII and, according to legend, ended in the old basement somewhere. But they've never found the entrance to them. (The oldest part of that basement is only dirt walls). A lady in our group said that she used to work in a cafe there on 25th for a long time and has seen the tunnels, but the owner never let them go down there because of liability and safety reasons. She said they were used as opium dens during 25th streets wild WWII days. I actually believed this story since we know that at that time brothels, and other illegal businesses were operating down 25th. People in Ogden didn't go down there because it was the worst place in the whole city. (Why not an opium den too?) My mom has even heard the tales of secret tunnels. Anyway, we didn't really expect to see anything on our tour, but it was still fun. It would have been better, however, without the annoying teenage girls giggling the whole way and claiming they were seeing things every five minutes. They had done the tours the night before, and said that a lot of "activity" had occurred. A guy on one of the tours had been pushed to the group by something. Other groups claimed they had heard doors closing, but they found the doors were locked. I had brought my camera, but, of coarse, it was dead. So we didn't get any pics and I was pretty bummed. But it was great to spend an evening holding hands with my hubby. Oh, and if anyone needs a paranormal investigation, I have lots of business cards:) I was shocked to find out how many investigative companies there are in Utah.
