The Irma Hotel in Cody is haunted.  No, really!

Now, I’m a pretty level-headed gal, and have personally never seen anything “other-worldly” – but if you ask the members of the Wyoming Area Paranormal Society, they’ll tell you that at least one ghost haunts the famous Irma Hotel, and they’ve got scientific proof!

The stories of Buffalo Bill’s ghost haunting the Irma have been going around for years.  But Mike Darby, whose family owns the hotel, says that when they bought the place 22 years ago they didn’t know a thing about it!  It was only after they purchased the historic building that they started hearing stories about strange phenomenon – like waitresses seeing people in dining room booths, then finding no one there when they went back to that table; or feeling someone touching them when there was no one around…  What’s more, visitors staying in Room 35 over the years have reported very visible disturbances – the water in the bathroom turns on and off by itself; clothes may be moved in the middle of the night; pictures have been found off the wall and on the floor in a way that wouldn’t have resulted from falling from the nail; and most disturbing, there have been many sightings of a soldier in a cavalry uniform with a sword… BUT THEY COULD ONLY SEE HIS BOTTOM HALF.

So when the W.A.P.S. group approached Darby last year about holding a ghost hunt, Mike thought it sounded like a good idea – let’s get these sightings and disturbances on the record!  About 25 people showed up last year to utilize the tools of the trade – electromagnetic field indicators; infrared cameras; thermal imaging cameras; and digital voice recorders.  According to W.A.P.S. founder Jez Krubeck, this equipment is used to detect what human eyes and ears simply can’t see or hear.  Last year when the ghost hunters camped out in the “hot spots” of the hotel, Jez said that some of them were rewarded with tell-tale readings on their equipment, and some of the ghost hunters heard sounds on the voice recorders after they’d left the room… SPOOKY!

So after the success of last year’s ghost hunt, the W.A.P.S. group decided to host a second annual event, and last weekend more than 30 ghost hunters from near and far – along with ghost hunting celebrities like Karl Pfeiffer from Ghost Hunters International, and a representative from the also-haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado – gathered at the Irma to see if they could capture evidence of paranormal activity at the famous hotel.

Seems like the ghosts were more cooperative this year, as Krubeck said that almost every participant had “something” happen to them.  Several people reported being touched by an invisible hand in Room 35, which is notorious for strange goings-on; and in Room 20 (the Colonel Cody Suite), the EMF readings showed quite a bit of activity!  What’s really interesting is that both Krubeck and another participant found that several days after the hunt, their watches quit working… and Jez says that’s the second watch of his that’s stopped after investigating at the Irma!  WEIRD…

Mike Darby says that the ghost stories have actually been good for business – he says the stories give the hotel an added dimension, which appeals to some folks who specifically book rooms at the hotel because they’ve heard it’s haunted!

And as for making this ghost hunt an annual event?  Well, Mike says, “That’s up to the ghosts.”

Until next week, I’ll be… lovin’ life in Buffalo Bill’s Country (and on the lookout for spooky specters at the Irma Hotel)!

Corrie N. Cody

You know, every spring when I see business picking up around town and the first visitors coming in, I marvel at the way that tourism affects EVERYONE in our little town.  And I was fortunate enough to spend a couple days this week in the state capitol of Cheyenne, learning more about how our state as a whole benefits from the tourism industry.

Living in Cody for as long as I have, I witness every year how important tourism is to our local economy.  Did you know that around a million people went through Park County last year?  Holy cow!  And what did those people do while they were here?

Well, they bought gas.  They replenished their supplies.  They stayed overnight in a motel or campground.  They went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and learned about Buffalo Bill and grizzly bears (not that Bill had any direct encounters himself, but I digress…).  They experienced their first rodeo.  They were entertained at the downtown gunfight and the Dan Miller Cowboy Music Revue.  They bought their first pair of cowboy boots.  They had their oil changed and their vehicles repaired.  They bought and sent postcards to friends and family.

Now think about what those actions mean to the local economy – even those businesses that aren’t geared specifically to tourism benefit from the money that the visitors spend here! Think about it – the tips that the waitress at Cassie’s made will help her pay her electric bill.  The extra hours that the mechanic puts in fixing the transmission of the RV that broke down means that he can buy that new TV his family has been asking for.  It all trickles down!

So back to the Governor’s Conference on Tourism.  Each year the Wyoming Office of Tourism, along with the Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association, hosts a conference that brings together marketing councils, hotel operators, owners of local attractions, and others who rely on tourism for their livelihood.  They visit with the their legislators (because the conference happens during the legislative session), they network, they learn about industry trends and how they can reach more people and attract more visitors to their particular corner of Wyoming.  Which, in turn, helps to grow Wyoming’s second-largest industry (tourism, of course!), and the whole state benefits.

One of the things that I learned at the conference is how important word-of-mouth is in influencing others to visit a community or an attraction.  So that’s my advice to you this week – tell your friends and family all about WHY you love living and vacationing in Wyoming!  Do your part to stimulate the local economy!

Until next week, I’ll be here, lovin’ life in Buffalo Bill’s Country!

Corrie N. Cody

Wow, I can’t believe how cold it is here!  This morning as I was pulling my little car out of its nice, cozy garage, the temperature was a not-so-balmy minus 10 degrees!  And I am SO not a cold weather girl – give me days of 70 degrees and I am a happy camper.

It got me to thinking, though, about the things we do around here in the winter when it is uber-cold outside.  We, of course, have the Buffalo Bill Historical Center – that’s the first place that comes to mind.  Five museums, all indoors, and all chock-full of interactive displays, fabulous artwork, photographic archives, and opportunities to learn year-round.  It’s fabulous!

We have an almost-brand-new library here in Cody – it was dedicated about a year and a half ago, and is state of the art.  It’s got a reading area with a fireplace, computers, magazines, a children’s library that almost makes me wish I was a kid again, a teen room, meeting rooms, and the “warmest” atmosphere!  They’ve even got a little café there – they call it the “Biblio Bistro” that serves sandwiches, soups and coffee.  It’s a great place to just chill out in a relaxed, nicely-lit, quiet place that looks out over a duck pond and has a wonderful view of Heart Mountain to the north.

The Paul Stock Aquatics and Recreation Center is another place to spend some quality indoor time. Racquetball courts, fitness classes, basketball courts, two huge swimming pools and a water slide, along with exercise equipment and an elevated walking track – if you’re looking for a place to get in shape for the new year or spend some great time with the kiddos, this is the place! 

Dining out in Cody – what a great way to spend an evening in the winter!  We’ve got restaurants of all kinds here – steak houses, oriental restaurants, bistros, cafes, sandwich shops, contemporary cuisine – something for every taste.  Dinner and a movie sounds good to me… or maybe dancing at Cassie’s Steakhouse!

We’re so blessed here in Cody to be a stop on the tour circuit for several major musical acts.  As part of the Cody Wild West Show concert series, Cody has hosted acts like Mel Tillis, Riders In The Sky, Asleep At The Wheel, the Bellamy Brothers, Suzy Bogguss… the list goes on!  The concert series started out as the brainchild of Dan Miller, television personality and talented musician in his own right, to bring many of these acts to Cody.  I can’t wait to find out who’s coming this year!

Well, looks like I’ve outlined my to-do list for the next few weeks…  I’ll catch up with everyone again next week!

Lovin’ life in Buffalo Bill’s Country,

Corrie N. Cody

So, it’s 2011.  What does that REALLY mean here in Buffalo Bill’s Cody/Yellowstone Country?  After all, this is such a timeless region.  The hills look much the same as they did a hundred or a thousand years ago.  Buffalo still roam (in selected areas, of course), wildlife is everywhere, and if you look in just the right direction, it can feel as though you’re the only person on earth.  It’s one of the things that I love about the area right around Cody – you can go back in time just by willing it.

But, then, time never does really stand still, and that is evident in the little changes that happen in town every year.  This year we’ll have a new high-end hotel in town, the Best Western Ivy Inn and Suites.  Bill Garlow, who owns the Best Western Sunset, is the great grandson of Buffalo Bill himself, and in the family tradition of naming hotels after daughters, Garlow is naming this new property after his own daughter, Ivy Garlow.  Isn’t that cool?  So by the end of this summer, we’ll have another really nice hotel in town, to add to the charm and character of the properties that are already a home-away-from-home for our visitors. 

Another addition to Park County that is long overdue is a tribute to those Japanese-Americans who were interred by the United States government during World War II at the Heart Mountain Internment Camp, between Cody and Powell.  This is such an interesting story, and if you’re a history buff like I am, it’s a story that really needs to be told!  In 1941, shortly after the attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Government decided that Japanese Americans, particularly those living on or near the west coast, needed to be “protected” and were relocated to camps.  I get really riled up about the unfairness of that, because so many of these people had given up their ties to their birth country to become true American citizens!  They were contributing members to their communities, they owned businesses and properties, much of which was never returned to the internees or their families after the war was over.  They were trucked off into the middle of Wyoming and other places in the west and made to live in small barracks that did little to shelter them from the cold Wyoming winters.  What just amazes me, though, is how resilient these people were.  They truly created their own community at Heart Mountain – they had their own schools, their own newspapers, they had a boy scout troop… and to top it all off, many of them even enlisted in the United States military, serving with honor. 

So now, after many years of efforts by the internees, their families, and folks from right here in Wyoming who don’t ever want to see this history repeated, their stories are now being told at the new Heart Mountain Learning Center, on the site of the old internment camp.  This interpretive center will be opening on August 20^th, and will be an awesome addition to the already long list of things that there are to do here in Cody/Yellowstone Country! 

I’m sure by the time that summer rolls around again there will be more new things to report – I’m hearing rumors about new restaurants, and there could be some imaginative entrepreneur out there who’s right now devising a new activity for our visitors to enjoy – but I’d be satisfied with these few, but significant, additions to our local culture.

I can’t wait to share all of what we have to offer with those who choose to make us their vacation destination this year!

Lovin’ life in Buffalo Bill’s Country,

Corrie N. Cody

As 2010 comes to a close, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on what this year has brought to us here in Buffalo Bill’s Cody/Yellowstone Country.

We celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the Shoshone Dam, now called the Buffalo Bill Dam – that structure completely changed the economy of Powell and Cody and the geography of the North Fork highway!  

We had some top-name entertainers come to Cody this year for the Cody Wild West Shows – Billy Dean, the Kentucky Headhunters, Bryan White, The Bellamy Brothers, Suzy Bogguss, Asleep At The Wheel and Riders In The Sky wowed local audiences throughout the year.

Sleeping Giant Ski Area was featured on National Geographic Channel’s “The World’s Toughest Fixes” – ever seen a ski lift being built?  Watch that episode!

We learned to be careful around wildlife – several grizzlies went haywire this summer…

Our local air service board negotiated a great deal with United Airlines AND we have a new terminal at Yellowstone Regional Airport – so flying to Cody is easier and more economical than ever (hint, hint)…

The 4^th of July Stampede Celebration once again brought thousands out to celebrate the western way of life – and it was televised, too! ESPN broadcast the Cody/Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls in July.

The National Park Service unveiled its new Yellowstone National Park visitor’s center at Old Faithful – beautiful! 

Yellowstone National Park set attendance records AGAIN this year – over 4.5 million people had visited the park as of the end of November.  Amazing! 

For the first time, the Capitol Christmas Tree came from a forest in Wyoming – and the tree’s stop here in Cody was cause for celebration on a cold November day!

And 2010 brought me, Corrie N. Cody, an opportunity to express my enthusiasm for this amazing place!  I love to be able to blog about all there is to do and see here in Buffalo Bill’s Cody/Yellowstone Country.

So, until 2011, I’ll be…

Lovin’ life in Buffalo Bill’s Country!

Corrie N. Cody