The Spirits Flow at the Drift Inn Saloon

Looking for a new and different location for a haunted getaway weekend? Globe, Arizona is an old mining town often overlooked as one of the most haunted locations in Arizona.  

Like its counterparts Bisbee, Jerome, and Tombstone, Globe has a history of being an untamed mining community in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Globe is an easy 90-minute day trip from Phoenix so many people like to take the drive or ride their motorcycles up for the day.

It is not unusual for them to hang out at the Drift Inn Saloon after shopping in the antique shops and galleries. Guests feel as though they have stepped back in time when walking through the doors of the saloon. The Drift Inn Saloon has been restored to its former glory from the wooden plank flooring to the punched tin ceilings. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

“Haunted Scottsdale Ghost Tours” meets at different locations throughout Arizona and offers a variety of hands-on paranormal adventures at each site. Owner Amy Schrader leads a number of tours in the Globe area, such as the Globe Historic Train Depot, the Historic Gila County Jail, the spooky streets of the nearby mining town of Miami, and a new favorite, the brothel above the Drift Inn Saloon.

The History of the Drift Inn Saloon

Stephen, Dominic, and Alfred Rabogliatti sailed from Italy and settled in Globe, Arizona shortly after the early 1900’s. They began to live the American dream by constructing a 6,000 square foot building—the finest structure standing on Broad Street.

The International House, as it was called, was constructed of adobe bricks by a local manufacturer. The upper façade was cast in decorative pressed metal around the windows and cornice which proudly displayed the family name.

The building that now houses the Drift Inn was divided into three sections, or bays, with three entrances to separate businesses. The south end of the building was the Club House Café, the middle section was home to the notorious International Saloon, and the north end of the building had a business called Western Cash.  There was a sign near a stairway leading to the second story of the building. It read “International Rooms” and the stairs led to a prosperous brothel.

The madam had the largest room at the top of the stairs.  The “ladies” plied their trade in the twenty cribs that lined the hallways. This was one of the finest brothels in Globe. Prostitution remained a thriving business at the International House for several years. Eventually, the laws became more refined and the ladies of the night were forced to move elsewhere. The rooms became a legitimate boarding house for mining officials in town on business.

Downstairs, the International Saloon was wild and dangerous.  Miners, cattlemen, and cowboys came from miles around to celebrate their successes and to belly up to the bar. They say there was a trough built in the center of the bar room floor so the male patrons could relieve themselves without making a trip to the outhouse. Loaded pistols were placed every few feet along the 30-foot-long bar for use of the bartenders in case things got out of hand. There were several gaming tables for faro and poker. A raised platform above the back door housed an armed guard who watched over the activities of the saloon.

Over the years the building has been occupied by several other businesses.  It has housed a barber shop, restaurant, grocery store, furniture store and music store.  The saloon has changed ownership several times as well. It has been known as the Owl Bar, Blackie’s Tavern and in 1980 it became the Drift Inn Saloon.

The Ghost Tour

I recently attended one of the “Haunted Scottsdale Ghost Tours” in Globe at the Drift Inn. The tour gathered near one end of the saloon.  Amy told the investigators that a spirit of an older man wearing grey is seen at the end of the bar. Others have seen him drift off into the kitchen or storage room. He often stands behind unsuspecting customers.  He looks over their shoulders and never utters a word. When the surprised customer reaches out to the man, he simply disappears in thin air.

Bar stools are knocked over for no reason. Billiards chalk is seen flying through the air. You might catch movement out of the corner of your eye or feel an invisible touch on your shoulder. Personnel at the Drift Inn blame it on the ghosts.  

Could the man be the victim of the famous Globe Christmas Eve Killer of 1944? Or is it the gentleman shot by his ex-girlfriend in 1963 as he sat on a barstool at the end of the bar? Could it be one of the Rabogliatti brothers overseeing what is remaining of his American dream? Or is he a customer from the saloon’s wild past stopping by to quench his thirst?

Amy unlocked a side door and guided the group of investigators up a wooden staircase to the second story of the Rabogliatti building. This floor was once busy with ladies of the night entertaining the gentlemen from the downstairs saloon and other prominent men of Globe who secretly climbed the forbidden stairs.

Amy led us to a large room and indicated that the room was quite active with ghosts and not to be surprised if we see or hear an “unexplainable spirit of the past.” Both men and some of “the ladies” have been seen in the upstairs back hallway.

Amy comes prepared on her tours, armed with the latest ghost hunting equipment and gadgets.  This helps to help stir up the spirit energy in hopes of getting them to respond or give hints to their demise. She explains the use of each piece of equipment and passes them out to the tours guests so they, too, have a chance of making contact with the dead. Guests have a chance to work with electronic equipment such as EMF Meters, Spirit Boxes, Rem Pods, Laser grids, Mel Meters, the Puck, Echovox, or something as easy as dowsing rods. Guests are encouraged to snap photos or record EVP voices.

We moved to another room and Amy began to tell us one of the reasons behind the haunting of the old saloon and brothel. The tale was so chilling and sounds as though it came from an old horror movie.

Room 18: The Murder of Joseph Ludwig

A young miner by the name of Joseph Ludwig was not known to be a lady’s man, but was often seen in the company of certain women of the tenderloin district. The 190-pound man was a gambler and lost most of his payroll earnings playing faro. Late in October 1907 he lost more than just another paycheck. Ludwig lost his heart, and not in a romantic way!

Many of the working ladies of the tenderloin were hired at the International saloon as ‘bar rustlers.’ Male patrons of the saloon were often doped, and seduced upstairs to one of the rooms in the brothel. Once the door to the room was closed and the man lay passed out on the bed, the women would quickly search the victim’s coat and pants pockets for money, jewelry, and anything else of value. When the gentlemen came out of their stupor, often embarrassed or unsure of what had just occurred, they snuck out the back door not telling a soul where they had been.

It is assumed Joe Ludwig was hustled up to Room 18 by one of the ladies of the International Saloon.

Whether the motive of his death was greed, self-defense, a twisted love affair, (or perhaps an angry woman’s act of revenge), it will never be known for sure. At some point in the night, Joe Ludwig’s throat had been ripped open with a sharp blade and his heart carved out of his chest. His limp body was carried out of the hotel and taken about a mile to a deserted canyon. He was blown up to destroy evidence of the crime. His body was found with a bloody towel wrapped around his neck —his severed heart lay on the ground about thirty feet away.

Bloodstained bed clothing and identification of the body showed that Ludwig’s throat had been cut in Room 18 of the International Rooming House. It was also learned that he suffered a minor stab wound a few days prior to the murder. Was one of the ladies working in the brothel possessively jealous and decided to put an end to his wandering eye? (It was noted that it was a custom of Southern Europe to cut out the heart of a man who has disrupted the family of another.)  

One year later, in November 1907, another tragedy happened upstairs in Room 18 at the International Hotel. Even though the second crime did not seem so puzzling, there was something so uncanny that it was traced to a possible connection between the two. If the musty walls of Room 18 could talk, two tales of vicious crimes would probably be told.

Room 18: The Murder of Richard Veckland

One Sunday afternoon, the body of Richard Veckland– a young 25-year-old Finnish miner, was found in the bed in Room 18. The chambermaid discovered the remains about 2:00 in the afternoon and notified the authorities at once. Strangely, this was the same chambermaid who testified in the Ludwig case one year earlier. A post mortem examination showed Veckland came to his death by poisoning. The lungs were badly discolored and the heart clogged with blood turned black from the lungs. His stomach was sent to San Francisco for chemical analysis.

Saturday night, shortly before midnight, two Globe police officers came across a man standing in front of a house in the red-light district. He appeared to be intoxicated to a point that he seemed like he had been drugged. He opened his eyes and the officers asked where he lived. In a weak voice he answered, “Room 18, International.” Confused, the police officers escorted him to the hotel where he was taken and put to bed.

What made Veckland say, “Room 18, International?”  His friends indicated he did not have a room there.  They reported he was rooming at the Central House on Broad Street—four blocks away. Was Veckland in some mysterious manner implicated in the Ludwig crime, and in his drugged condition give that answer because the effect of the drug brought back to his benumbed brain recollection of that crime?

When Veckland went to the Tenderloin District with his companions, they said he had over $100 in his pockets. When he was picked up unconscious by the officers, he had not a cent on him. The crime itself was easily explained. Veckland was undoubtedly given Chloral or ‘knockout dope’ in his drink by some habitant of the tenderloin and robbed. There was probably no intent to cause his death, but he died from the effects of the drug and there was small probability of the guilty ones escaping the penalty.

Tour Activity 

Amy moved us to yet another room.  As we stood or sat in a large in the room, paranormal investigator, Cindy Lee, signaled me to look inside the connecting room.  We stood and watched as the door at the opposite end of the adjoining room began to open slowly—as though ‘someone’ had come ‘from the other world’ to see what the visiting investigators were up to. We watched for several minutes as the atmosphere in that particular room began to feel heavy with an unexplained energy.  

Amy’s “Haunted Scottsdale Ghost Tours” last about three hours and everyone leaves with a new understanding of the paranormal and communication with spirits. Her research at each location is accurate and verified. Her following is growing and there are new locations appearing on the agenda all the time.

To book a tour, go to www.hauntedscottsdaleghosttours.com. Don’t delay! The spirits await!

Drift Inn Saloon
636 N Broad Street
Globe, AZ  85501