One of El Paso's Most Haunted Building | Wigwam Museum Downtown El Paso

[00:00:02]Welcome to our channel. We're Julian and Wren, and we're excited to take you along with us today here in the Sun City, El [music] Paso, Texas.

[00:00:17]Okay, but before we get started, coffee.

[00:00:20]And today's coffee spot is 210 Coffee to kick off the day right.

[00:00:27]We ordered a breakfast sandwich, got coffee in hand, the energy is right, and now [music] we're ready to start the video.

[00:00:34]>> I got to make sure I smile this time because the people think I'm mad when I'm eating.

[00:00:41]>> [music] [laughter] >> Are you trying to be all happy?

[00:00:48]So, basically, we ran into someone at the Walmart on the northeast side, and he was he was really, really nice, but he was like, "Yeah, when you put the camera on Wren, it looks like he's grumpy when he's eating."

[00:01:00]And we got a kick out of that, so that's why. Anyway, so we stopped here at 210 Coffee because we do love this place. We grabbed something, as you can see, something quick to eat, our coffee, and then we're headed downtown because we have a really cool place that we're going to be checking out today. Think history with a twist.

[00:01:20]In this video, we're heading to the Wigwam Museum, located [music] right here in downtown El Paso.

[00:01:29]>> [music] [music] >> This historic building has worn a lot of hats over the years, opening as a saloon back in the late [music] 1800s, then later renamed the Wigwam.

[00:01:47]>> Hi.

[00:01:49]>> [laughter] >> I know.

[00:01:54]>> [music] >> Okay, meet the team, Our volunteers and paranormal investigators. This is Bonnie, Peter, Martin, Frank, and of course the one and only Wilson, our lead pet [music] investigator.

[00:02:09]>> You're a cutie pie.

[00:02:13]>> Oh, and did we mention ghosts? [music] This building is also known to be haunted, and honestly, we have no idea what to expect walking in here.

[00:02:26]>> [music] >> So, we pretty much came prepared as far as camera equipment goes, but one thing we noticed right off the bat, my camera was missing the SD card, and we ran into some technical difficulties.

[00:02:38]Then we were told that things like [music] this usually happen inside the museum. Like I said, we really didn't know what to expect after [music] all.

[00:02:48]>> You know what? Before you go on, husband, there's no SD card >> Are you kidding?

[00:02:52]>> We got the camera issue sorted out, but then we were told that if we asked permission to film, actually asked out loud, things might go smoothly. So, we did, and just like that, everything was back in order. And we were only just getting started.

[00:03:08]>> the lights on.

[00:03:10]>> Can we have the lights on?

[00:03:11]>> [laughter] >> Okay, before we get too spooked out, [music] Bonnie will first walk us through the different displays. They depict saloons, brothels, Chinatown, [music] Sun Eli, and a few more. And she will tell us a little bit about each one.

[00:03:26]>> This building was built in 1883, and it opened up as the Fashion Saloon.

[00:03:30][music] And the Fashion Saloon was the first saloon in El Paso to have electric lights.

[00:03:39]1889, it became the Wigwam. And the Wigwam was one of the top [music] five elite saloons here in town.

[00:03:46]And it was actually owned by John Wesley Hardin for about a month of the more or less 6 months that [music] he lived here. So, that's how this building started.

[00:03:59]1909, it became [music] the Wigwam Theater.

[00:04:02]A lot of the old saloons shut down and became theaters. That's just [music] what happened. And then in 1912, that old building was renovated by um Henry Trost. So, this is a Trost renovation.

[00:04:13]Then in the 1940s, it became the State [music] Theater.

[00:04:16]And I actually saw Carrie here. I didn't know I was in a historic building. It's cool this because [music] we're not taught local history. We should be, but we're not. And then in the '80s, it was put back into retail space and it's been many different things since then. And we've been in this building since 2014.

[00:04:39]>> [music] >> And so basically, your whole mission is to ensure that people know the history in the building >> Exactly. Well, as a nonprofit, our mission statement is for the preservation and restoration of local historic landmarks. So, we do that by educating people. But we are paranormal investigators as well. We do it with a little bit of a twist, as we say, because you know, [music] a lot of times people say, "Well, history's boring."

[00:05:04]Well, not the way we teach it, I hope.

[00:05:07]Right. We tell a lot of stories about local history, but then we're also affiliated with Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters World's Hottest Affiliate.

[00:05:15]It brings people in. If you're not interested in the history, well, maybe you're interested in the paranormal. So, that's really who we are. We try to teach history. [music] Like we've created Well, Peter's created small vignettes about the history that we try to teach. So, this talks about hotels because El Paso has always been a crossroads. [music] So, this is this building in 1883.

[00:05:36]That's what it looked like. And the saloon was on the far right-hand [music] side.

[00:05:41]You see how it has that half circle on the top?

[00:05:44]>> Uh-huh.

[00:05:44]>> That was the original building. When they renovated, if you look at the far left-hand side, you see how the brick is on this side, but on that side there's a little sliver.

[00:05:53]>> Uh-huh.

[00:05:54]>> That's that old original building. So, they renovated half of the building.

[00:05:58]That's why we have there's [music] an I-beam here in the middle, and and this is also old structural brick.

[00:06:04]>> So, the [music] brick is original to the building?

[00:06:07]>> Yes. If you go in the basement, you'll see there's some things down there that are original to the 1883. What you have here is a collection of Leon Metz books.

[00:06:15]He's a very well-known author, worked [music] here. He worked for the Asarco, he worked for the newspaper, he was a police officer, many different things.

[00:06:22]He passed in 2020 from Alzheimer's. But luckily, he wrote so many books [music] about El Paso history. Most of the stories that we tell, a lot of them come from his books. We always credit him for our stories. But then we have several notable women who were part of El Paso [music] history. We have uh Miss Nixon. She was married to Dr. Dr. Nixon. Very well-known African-American woman here.

[00:06:46]>> [music] >> And this is Saloons. If you didn't notice, the title of that book is Hell Paso. We were known as Hell Paso.

[00:06:52][music] The six-shooter capital of the world. In the railroad era, the railroads got here in [music] 1881, El Paso went crazy. We were um wild. We had more than 90 saloons on two streets.

[00:07:06]We were a border town, and we were at the party [music] town. If you wanted, you know, the Wild West, this was it.

[00:07:13]So, this is Saloons. That's what we talk about. [music] So, with the railroad and then with the military here, yeah, it was kind [music] of wild.

[00:07:21]And then this is our Gunfighters, and we talk about the Gunfighters. That's a tour that [music] we do. And John Wesley Hardin, we talk about him. We talk about John Henry Selman. We talk about Pat Garrett. We talk about Dallas Stoudenmire.

[00:07:34]Because [music] um Hardin was actually part owner of the Wigwam. Um after this was the Fashion, [music] it became the Wigwam. Owner for about a month of the six months that he lived here. He was actually shot and killed over where the Acme saloon [music] was down the street by uh Mr. Selman in 1895.

[00:07:54]Selman was a bouncer here in the [music] Wigwam. So, we're pretty sure they interacted quite often with each other.

[00:08:00]August 19th, 1895, Selman killed [music] Hardin in the saloon. There was a a conflict between them because of [music] Hardin's girlfriend. He walked in and shot Hardin in the back of the head. It was said he actually shot him above the eye. That's why Selman was acquitted. There was conflicting [music] testimony. He said it was self-defense.

[00:08:20]But, unfortunately for him, in 1896, [music] he was shot outside here in the alley and died four days later. Pat Garrett, of course, is um famous for killing Billy the [music] Kid.

[00:08:33]He lived here in El Paso for a while at the Sheldon Hotel.

[00:08:36]>> Mhm.

[00:08:37]>> And he was a customs officer in the customs building that was right across the street. [music] But, he unfortunately was shot and killed outside of Las Cruces coming back from Mesilla.

[00:08:47]Um [music] he stopped to use the restroom. His friends who were with him, one of them shot him in the back.

[00:08:53]>> Okay.

[00:08:53]>> So, he actually is buried in the [music] Masonic cemetery in Las Cruces. But then, we talk about Dallas Stoudenmire.

[00:08:59]Stoudenmire was um city marshal.

[00:09:03]Was here three days and was embroiled in a gunfight [music] called four dead in five seconds.

[00:09:08]And his claim to fame here is that he's the one who kind of started cleaning up El Paso. We had that, you know, Hell Paso, six-shooter capital of the world reputation. And he's really the one who is labeled as being the one who kind of started cleaning it up.

[00:09:24]So, that's our gunfighters.

[00:09:27]And again, everything you see, this is Peter.

[00:09:30]And this is our brothel. Now, if we had 90-plus saloons on two streets, we most definitely had a red-light district >> [music] >> and it was known internationally. I mean we were Vegas before Vegas was Vegas. So if you wanted to have a good time [music] >> You came here.

[00:09:46]>> This is where you came but we had this building was a little different. It did have a brothel upstairs >> [music] >> which was not the norm because it was considered to be illegal but it was legal >> [music] >> as long as it was done in the zone of tolerance. There was a red light district where they called it the tenderloin.

[00:10:05]>> [music] >> That was over on Mesa Street at the time it was known as Utah Street. And on that this we talk about the top five madams here in town but there were many more than that [music] and they probably had a madam or at least a >> Can we say someone that >> A place where you could rest >> [laughter] >> Somewhere within that saloon. This book is called the my dog got a hold of the book. I apologize.

[00:10:28]Is the gentleman's club and that's by Gordon Frost. That's all about [music] El Paso and the the brothels.

[00:10:35]Now I was born and raised here in El [music] Paso. I didn't even know we had a Chinatown.

[00:10:40]Much less at one point the largest Chinatown [music] in Texas. 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Area Act >> [music] >> which basically said thank you very much but we don't want any more of you and it was exclusively about the Chinese. They were [music] it was very biased.

[00:10:56]We had more than 900 Chinese who after the railroads came through they decided [music] to stay and I think that's because El Paso as a tendency to be more tolerant because they were not well treated. [music] You know 1849 Gold Rush in California we had more than 900,000 [music] Chinese come into the United States. They were massacred. They were treated horribly and railroads left so they said we're leaving too. I wish we still had a Chinatown [music] because I I imagine in my head the sights and the colors and the sounds and when you have the Lunar New Year celebrations I mean, [music] you know, that you could have the dragons and the it would just be so cool.

[00:11:36]>> It would be.

[00:11:37]>> But again, um after this was a saloon, it became a theater. [music] But these are items again, we talk about the theater here. These are items that were found down in the basement.

[00:11:51]>> [music] >> But that's who we are. We talk about history. We teach a little bit cuz we still have people to this day I didn't know.

[00:11:58]>> Wow, Rain, you have no idea. Well, I'm sure you got your own >> You have no idea.

[00:12:03]>> Yeah.

[00:12:04]>> Okay, don't don't.

[00:12:06]>> [laughter] >> I'm having a good time.

[00:12:09]>> A lot of people have come in and told us there's trauma. You know, they say that they're sensitive and they say that there's trauma down there. Something happened.

[00:12:16]>> Yeah.

[00:12:17]>> And I don't know what, but we do believe that there's a female, there's a child.

[00:12:22]>> We've had other names come up.

[00:12:24]>> Mhm.

[00:12:24]>> We call the female Lily because we got her name doing EVP sessions out in the alley. We call her Lily and she seems to respond to that. If that's your real name or she's just learned to respond, yeah.

[00:12:37]And she can be aggressive. [music] >> Yeah.

[00:12:39]>> She loves men.

[00:12:41]>> I heard that she likes Fort Bliss soldiers and [music] policemen.

[00:12:45]>> She'll come. She'll come. We have an SLS and I thought I saw Martin here. Martin has an SLS.

[00:12:51]And yet that's [music] a camera that they use for gaming.

[00:12:54]>> Mhm.

[00:12:54]>> And it maps human figures.

[00:12:56]>> Uh-huh.

[00:12:57]>> And we have things pop up. So we've had that happen many times downstairs. She's there. Young women get scratched.

[00:13:04]>> I'm not I'm not I'm not young anymore.

[00:13:07]>> No, that's why I'm like, okay, I'm I'm not going to take offense at this because >> I know. Thank you.

[00:13:12]>> [laughter] >> Rain will testify to this. I won't even watch a scary movie.

[00:13:17]>> You're going to go in the basement?

[00:13:19]You guys want to go in the basement?

[00:13:21]>> Right.

[00:13:22]>> Did they sign the release?

[00:13:25]All right, we're going downstairs.

[00:13:28]Yeah, we're going to the basement. You can come over that too.

[00:13:31]>> I I can't even function right now. I was just told that my hair may get pulled.

[00:13:35]>> Okay, I'm behind you.

[00:13:37]>> Oh my gosh, it's like that.

[00:13:39]>> Lilly, behave.

[00:13:40]>> No.

[00:13:41]>> This is the evil dead lord.

[00:13:44]I'll take some pictures. Check this out.

[00:13:46]>> Oh my gosh, it's so cold in here.

[00:13:49]Okay, you take pictures.

[00:13:52]>> And then move out of your way.

[00:13:54]Behave, [music] Lilly.

[00:13:59]>> [music] >> You guys are going to have some fun.

[00:14:02]Have your cameras running.

[00:14:03]Cuz if you see something, don't startle.

[00:14:06]Have your body camera, have your cameras [music] running cuz >> You're You're not making this easy on me.

[00:14:10]>> You're not >> It don't last forever.

[00:14:12]>> I don't even know that I can.

[00:14:14]>> I can't see any This camera can't see anything.

[00:14:28]Okay.

[00:14:37]>> Oh, this is so cold in here.

[00:14:39]Do you know what this is?

[00:14:46]>> Are you shaking?

[00:14:47]>> I am shaking, but I'm but I'm but I'm doing this.

[00:14:50]>> Uh-huh.

[00:14:57]>> At any point can I stop?

[00:14:58]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:14:59]>> Yeah, like it's not going I'm like breathing and >> Yeah, you can already feel the the I'm missing you.

[00:15:05]>> Oh, yes. I'm like sweaty, but the basement is where most of the paranormal activity happens. The crew isn't sure exactly why, but some believe trauma from the building's long and turbulent past may still be trapped down there. And honestly, for a building that's been standing since [music] the 1800s, that explanation makes a lot of sense.

[00:15:27]What's in that? Like, is it a room? I know it's a door. What's in there?

[00:15:33]>> There That's uh what I call Lily's corner. We have a little table and chairs set up for >> I'm going to respect I'm going to respect her [music] space.

[00:15:41]>> So, it's always open.

[00:15:42]>> I I I know it. I I'm sure of it. I don't even know that I can go further, guys.

[00:15:46]I'm like frozen here.

[00:15:48]>> It's fine. You don't want to stay in there?

[00:15:50]>> Can you just wait for me to go up?

[00:15:51]>> Why don't you stay?

[00:15:52]>> No.

[00:15:53]I cannot stay alone.

[00:15:55]>> Come with us.

[00:15:55]>> No, Ren.

[00:15:58]Okay.

[00:16:03]>> There was a one time when me and Peter were down here.

[00:16:06]>> Mhm.

[00:16:07]>> We were we were sweeping. I heard a woman's voice, but I thought he was on the phone cuz you know, like here it's quiet. So, when you answer the phone, you can hear somebody. I thought it was Bonnie.

[00:16:15]So, I was like, "Okay, I hear the woman the woman's voice." And then I look over and then he's like I was like, "Dude, I thought you were on the phone. It sounded like the my phone." He was like, "No."

[00:16:27]>> So, why do you keep doing this on like like an honest question?

[00:16:31]>> I've always been into stuff like this, but also, you know, just like people.

[00:16:35]You know, I like interacting with people and just kind of seeing, you know, what their take is on it, you know? But also, too, I wanted to catch what was real and what was fake cuz there's a lot of people who kind of played it up.

[00:16:47]>> This is so out of my comfort zone, you don't even understand. Because there are a lot of people who really love this kind of stuff. So, like if we want them to come out, like then we have to experience it, you know? So, um you're welcome because I don't do this all the time, but they've been super great with us. I'm I'm like I'm like slowly bringing myself to do more and more, but so far, so good. I'll be honest, at this point, the paranormal side of things was a little too much for me. So, we shifted over to the historical side of the building instead.

[00:17:24]Frank took us around and showed us their setup, including the old coal chute still in the building. There is so much to learn and see in this place, but this is something that you just have to come and experience for yourself.

[00:17:37]I will say I got pretty lucky that day because nothing too crazy happened. And maybe that's because our intentions coming in were more about the history than the haunting itself.

[00:17:48]>> We love paranormal, we love it, but at the same time we like we have so much pride in also just the history.

[00:17:53]Paranormal's happening, but it's because of the history. It's all tied back to what was here before.

[00:17:58]>> that were here before, and I think we're ready to go upstairs.

[00:18:02]>> You're going to feel the the shift.

[00:18:05]>> I did it, Peter.

[00:18:09]Okay, we wrapped up the tour of the basement, but there's just one more thing Peter wants to show Ren before we call it a day.

[00:18:16]>> You have no idea. Come with me.

[00:18:19]Oh, boy.

[00:18:21]Ren, I'm going to go lights up.

[00:18:23]Be nice, Lilly.

[00:18:26]Just don't scratch me in the face.

[00:18:35]Hey, hi. Can you sit in that chair?

[00:18:39]Come on.

[00:18:40]There you go. There you are.

[00:18:48]Where are you?

[00:18:53]Thank you.

[00:19:00]Anywhere else?

[00:19:02]You're back there?

[00:19:05]Thank you.

[00:19:06]Anywhere else?

[00:19:08]Just there?

[00:19:10]And here?

[00:19:12]Show yourself on the chair again, please.

[00:19:15]Don't be bashful.

[00:19:19]Thank you.

[00:19:22]And underneath the stairs on the foundation, you're going to see two coal chutes.

[00:19:27]Just like the ones over here. The coal chutes have been pushed in this way from the other side of the original foundation.

[00:19:36]>> And nobody ever tried to open this up.

[00:19:39]>> They can't We can't guarantee safety here. What's What kind of What's on the other side?

[00:19:45]>> So, even if you're not into like the paranormal stuff and you were you're not interested in that so much, I really think it's still cool to come and check out all the little stations they have and hear what they have to say about it.

[00:19:59]Book your own tour, walk around town with a bunch of other people, and just learn about all the history that lies in our city.

[00:20:08]>> After the tour, we worked up quite an appetite. So, we headed over to El Fogón restaurant. Ren got the Mexican style burger and I went with flautas [music] verdes. And let me tell you, they were both amazing. If you're looking for that Juarez style menu, you definitely need to come check this place [music] out.

[00:20:31]>> This place [music] is called El Fogón.

[00:20:33]Right on the corner of Paisano [music] and Mesa. It's right across from a McDonald's. You can not miss it. Damage report.

[00:20:45]Okay, so [music] after a really fun and unique experience earlier today, we also decided to come to Nation Tobin's [music] Park out in Northeast El Paso to check out an event commemorating Juneteenth. And so, >> [music] >> I don't know if you can hear that. The music's already playing. There's a like there's supposed to be vendors and food trucks. [music] There's a lot of people, so we're going to walk around and show you what it looks like.

[00:21:17]Oh, did you? Hi.

[00:21:20]Yeah.

[00:21:22]Hi, nice to meet you.

[00:21:24]Hi.

[00:21:25]>> [screaming] >> Julie, nice to meet you.

[00:21:29]We were saying we need to get you guys to come visit our booth at the Upper Valley Market one Sunday. Everything in our booth He draws. Like oh.

[00:21:39]Oh, no way.

[00:21:43]Yeah.

[00:21:45]We appreciate that and I have to say you are beautiful.

[00:21:49]>> Thank you. I didn't catch your name?

[00:21:50]>> They call him Orlando. Okay, OJ. Well, we'll we'll look you guys up. So, it's always a lot of fun to run into all [music] of you.

[00:22:00]>> They did both DO A GREAT JOB. THEY DID AN AMAZING JOB. They're like on fire.

[00:22:03]Another round of applause.

[00:22:07]>> Make sure to visit some of your booths.

[00:22:08]We got a lot of free goodies to give out as well. We have some of our food trucks out there as well. Do you want to give a big shout out to the city of El Paso?

[00:22:15]Let me hear it for the city of El Paso for organizing this as well. Along with the Parks and Recreation Department.

[00:22:21]Parks and Rec, where you at?

[00:22:26]>> We were out at the park walking around and caught a whiff of someone smoking meat, but they weren't selling, so it did get us hungry and we went ahead and stopped at a food truck on our way home.

[00:22:38]We got the They have two white style hot dogs. One is $9 and the other one's $11.

[00:22:44]We got the 11 one because it's all beef.

[00:22:47]It's like 100% beef.

[00:22:48]>> White style burger and hot dogs.

[00:22:51]>> It has beans, onions. It looks like melted cheddar cheese.

[00:23:01]Hot.

[00:23:02]>> [laughter] [snorts] >> Mhm.

[00:23:09]>> So, the grilled onions on top Oh, are so good. And and chiles toreados.

[00:23:16]>> Mhm.

[00:23:25]Ooh wee.

[00:23:32]Really good, right?

[00:23:33]Yeah, we're going to need a napkin.

[00:23:36]Ooh. This one is a double cheeseburger, right? What is style? Oh my god.

[00:23:41]>> That is style.

[00:23:50]>> Smile.

[00:23:52]>> No.

[00:23:53]You guys, I have food all over my shirt.

[00:24:00]Mhm.

[00:24:01]>> I got to say that one is really good.

[00:24:02]>> I think I'm going to take another bite of the hot dog. That was really good.

[00:24:06]And I'm not I will always probably choose like I would always choose a burger over a hot dog every time. But, this hot dog is really good.

[00:24:14]>> Come check it out.

[00:24:15]>> Yeah.

[00:24:16]So, with that being said, this is the end of this video. I hope that you enjoyed coming along with us. Thank you so much for being with us, following us, following our content, um interacting with us. We love it all. Please make sure if you did enjoy this video that you like it and that also you subscribe to the channel and we'll see you on the next one.

[00:24:36]>> And tell us where you're watching from.

[00:24:38]>> Oh gosh, yes. Please let us know where you're watching from. And as always, if you know of anything happening in the community, um you got a business that you want us to maybe like go try, let us know and we're happy to do so.