Of all haunted places, why not the oldest
profession?
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Becky Bosshart, [email protected]
October 30, 2004
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Just past an industrial area in Mound House - through the gate
displaying a sign warning visitors if sexual activity offends them, then turn
back now - sits an unimpressive white building.
Cathouse or haunted
house? The sign only warns visitors of one. Behind the doors of the BunnyRanch
the working girls tell tales that have attracted the attention of paranormal
experts and ghost hunters, not just lonely guys hunting for a good
time.
The stories are told by several prostitutes. Publicity stunt or
not, they are convinced something strange is going on at the BunnyRanch. This
week the SciFi Channel's "Proof Positive: Evidence of the Paranormal" aired an
episode featuring Nevada's notorious house of ill repute. In this episode the
women testified and owner Dennis Hof aired his skepticism about the haunted
brothel. According to Nielsen ratings, 726,000 people watched this
episode.
Hof, a big man clad in a black outfit stitched with his
brothel's logo, sat at the bar clutching Christy, an international Playgirl
dressed in a black satin robe and pink and black bustier.
Hof said the
stories started around 1975 when a girl who roomed in 13A died a "terrible death
out of the house."
Other working girls heard
voices when they stayed in 13A. The lights flicker. The air conditioning doesn't
work right. It's either too hot in the room, or too cold.
He said the TV
show brought in paranormal testing equipment and a lie detector test - which Hof
said he passed.
"I don't believe Elvis is coming back," he said. "I don't
believe in the Loch Ness monster. I don't know about this. I don't know if it's
old hookers' tales."
Christy's tale involves a ghost dressed in a long,
black coat who glided up to her bed and stared down at her.
"He
disappeared right there in front of me," she said, nodding her blond head. "He
wasn't angry or anything. It was weird."
Most of
the women just go by one name here, or a moniker, like Airforce Amy. She said
she got this nickname because she is a "highly decorated Air Force
veteran."
"At first I didn't believe it at all," said Amy, who has worked
at the brothel four years. "And management doesn't encourage these stories
because it scares the girls."
She said the ghost would move things around
the room while she was with clients. It swiped her special shade of lipstick
several times.
Max, sitting in room 13A on a black faux fur bedspread,
said she believes the BunnyRanch has a male and female ghost. The female ghost
is kind and often stops by just to say "hey." The male isn't as
friendly.
"I've seen the door open and close and when it closes I've seen
an energy there," she said. "And it looked like the alien in 'Predator.'" Max
shook her hands in the air to demonstrate the blur. "He's male and he's not
friendly."
The BunnyRanch's smoky, rainbow-lit
parlor is bustling, even though it's a Thursday afternoon. A television reporter
and a camera man are leaving. They've just completed similar interviews with
brothel workers.
The publicity manager for the Sci Fi Channel said of the
three stories told on Wednesday night's "Proof Positive" the Mexico Vacation UFO
tested positive, not the Haunted Brothel.
"Though the investigation
couldn't find proof that would deem the brothel haunted, that doesn't
necessarily mean it's not," Adrienne D'Amato said.
Maybe this story only
really proves one thing: The media are always attracted to abnormal stories
originating from a brothel.
Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at [email protected] or
881-1212.
