Today is Halloween, and here at The Show we wondered, if you were a ghost, where is it that you might hang out in the afterlife?
For one early trailblazer of Phoenix — long deceased — that answer may be the Arizona Historical Society in Tempe.
Kaydi Forgia, executive assistant at the Arizona Historical Society, joined The Show to see if they could confirm a spooky rumor: Is it true that a couple of spirits like to visit?
Full conversation
KAYDI FORGIA: Yeah, I can kind of confirm that we do have some spooky things happen here on occasion. Several spirits do float in and out, but there are two in particular that hang out all the time.
SATIVA PETERSON: I'm intrigued. Who is the first spirit?
FORGIA: One of them we know for sure is Hattie Mosier, very eccentric, wealthy woman, was kind of a maker shaker here in the state of Arizona.
PETERSON: What do we know about her?
FORGIA: Oh, she's so much fun. She came here with her father in the early 1870s. Her father's name is Samuel Lount. Most people might know that from the early ice machines. He was actually a Canadian and came down with his ice machine, the ice house downtown that's still standing was his. Hattie came down with him and their family in the early 1870s.
PETERSON: So a Canadian man dealing with ice going to make a go of it here in the desert. It kind of shows a really adventurous character, I would say.
FORGIA: Absolutely. And I believe Hattie inherited some of that adventure seeking from her father. His ice wagon in Phoenix was known around the town. There's actually a polar bear painted on the side by Hattie that eventually became their logo.
Further along in Hattie's life, she did end up marrying a man named Charles Mosher. He was one of the first editors of The Arizona Republic. She did also work at The Arizona Republic as a journalist and, and they did have a little girl, Julia. Hattie adored Julia. That was, that was her whole life.
Sadly, the relationship with Mr. Mosher did not last, they did divorce. And upon that divorce, Julia and Hattie went to Europe and traveled around Europe for 12 years. So again, a very adventurous lifestyle.
PETERSON: During Hattie's time abroad, she worked as a newspaper woman. But when her father died in 1901, Hattie and her beloved daughter, Julia returned to Arizona. Hattie inherited about 10 acres of land from her wealthy father in downtown Phoenix.
FORGIA: She in turn then tried to build a bridal shop, a tea house and a hotel on approximately Central Avenue and Van Buren.
PETERSON: Wow, very adventurous, especially in that time for a woman to endeavor to create those different businesses.
FORGIA: Absolutely. One of my favorite little facts about Hattie is she's known to be the first woman to ride a bike in Arizona. We actually have a photo of that back in our collections.
PETERSON: OK. Very important question here. How does Hattie Mosher make herself known here at the historical society? How is it that you and other staff here have come to know that the spirit you're encountering is that of Hattie Mosher?
FORGIA: We have her daughter Julia's diaries from when she was very young and into some of her older life and various family heirlooms. During Julia's second childbirth, she sadly passed away. And from that point on Hattie kind of was never really the same. And, and we just kind of think that she's here just because of her love for Julia and, and wanting to be near things that belonged to her. We can often smell roses, which was one of Hattie's favorite perfumes. We know that from Julia's diaries. And we know she's around just, just because we can kind of catch whiffs of that. And it's typically near Julia's diaries, too.
PETERSON: So, so in that, in that part of the building where the diaries are kept, you might turn a corner and smell the scent of roses.
FORGIA: Yeah, that's, that's right. And it's, it's a beautiful smell.
PETERSON: And, and do we know what did Hattie look like when she was alive?
FORGIA: Hattie lived until 1945. When I encounter her, I often encounter her as a, a younger individual. So imagine somebody in the nicest Victorian era dress, often she loved her fur. So she would have a little fur hat on. Her hair is dark and curly and she really liked the color blue.
And that rose perfume is, is definitely her signature. Others when they have described her to me, encounter her when she's slightly older towards the end of her life. As I said, she, she did not take Julia's death during childbirth very well. And, and became a little bit more eccentric in her older life.
Even in 1945, she went back to wearing some of those Victorian era clothing. I mean big hats with feathers and boas and different things like that. But she'd be caught riding a bike with 1945 sneakers on.
PETERSON: Is there a particular place or areas in the building that Hattie likes to make herself known?
FORGIA: She really likes to hang out in the library and archives. One. because Julia's diaries are there. But she also has an attachment to one of her hat racks. Like I was saying, she would wear these big huge feather covered, fur covered hats, and we think she likes to hang her hats on this particular hat rack.
Occasionally, we'll need to move it for doing different things around the museum. When we do that, we notice electronics don't really work the same. Our pencils might go missing, our sharpeners, go missing our staplers. Our printer doesn't work until we place that hat rack back where it belongs.
So we, we like to attribute that to Hattie, letting us know that she can't get to her hats.
PETERSON: Hattie Mosher was a woman of many adventures and many losses. Despite her trailblazing spirit, her projects didn't always go as planned.
Hattie's tea house was a three-story structure. Construction was never completed and the bottom floor lacked finished walls and her hotel, started in 1923, also lay vacant and unfinished for years. It was commonly referred to by residents of Phoenix as Mosher's Folly.
She also ran unsuccessfully for Arizona state Senate and Phoenix city commissioner. Towards the end of her life, Hattie was quite destitute and could be seen around Phoenix wearing tattered clothes that had once been quite elegant.
If you would like to read Julia Moser's diaries, you can make an appointment with the Arizona Historical Society at arizonahistoricalsociety.org.
There is one other frequent ghost who likes to appear there, Louis C. Hill, an engineer involved with the construction of the Roosevelt Dam. He can sometimes be spotted still working at his drafting table.
