Ghosts of Ogden, Brigham City and Logan by Jennifer Jones

Author:Jennifer Jones [Jones, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, West (AK; CA; CO; HI; ID; MT; NV; UT; WY), Travel, Special Interest, Haunted & Unexplained, Body; Mind & Spirit, Supernatural (Incl. Ghosts)
ISBN: 9781439662922
Google: RT4vDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2017-10-09T22:18:28+00:00

12

RAINBOW GARDENS

Rainbow Gardens is a unique collection of shops and a restaurant housed in the same building located at the mouth of Ogden Canyon. The building stands adjacent to the Ogden River and a natural spring. Not only does it have the reputation of being quite haunted, but it also has an unusual history. While the management of Rainbow Gardens has remained pretty tight-lipped about the paranormal activity there, I was contacted more than once by people who worked there and experienced unexplained activity.

The first mention I found of people coming to this location was in the Salt Lake Evening Democrat in 1885. People would travel to the hot springs at the mouth of the Ogden Canyon to soak in the mineral water. By 1895, a hotel was built on the site that also had a ballroom, restaurant and private mineral baths fed by hot spring water. People began to travel from not only Ogden but also Salt Lake City to visit the Ogden Canyon Sanitarium, and many were sent there suffering from tuberculosis in the hopes that the fresh air and water would help their condition. The building was enlarged numerous times from 1895 until it was finally completed in 1906.

When I start to research the history of a location, I keep my searches pretty broad, and some of the stories I come across are bizarre. One such story involved an incident that occurred in front of the sanitarium on August 6, 1907. A man named William Goda died in a freak accident. Aeronaut Goda, as he was referred to in the local paper, was performing a stunt in which he would ascend in a hot-air balloon and, upon reaching a certain height, jump out with a parachute, aiming to land in front of the sanitarium. The newspaper reported that Goda’s balloon reached a height of approximately two thousand feet, and then Goda jumped. Unfortunately, he landed on a power line and was instantly electrocuted.

The first reported death I could find at this site occurred on October 7, 1914, when the body of Ben Taylor, about whom not much was known and whose age was guessed to be about fifty, was found in one of the old concrete swimming pools. A local man searching the area for some cows that got loose happened upon the body and immediately notified police. The police found a gun next to Ben Taylor’s body and ruled the death a suicide. In his pocket, they found a scribbled note that read, “Too much asthma. Can’t stand.”

In 1927, the sanitarium burned to the ground. Only a pile of rubble was left. The following year, the property was sold and renamed “El Monte Springs.” It was rebuilt with brick and featured all of the same amenities as before, but with a much larger swimming pool and ballroom. El Monte Springs was incredibly popular in the 1920s as the place to go dancing in Ogden. Unfortunately, it did not survive the Great Depression and closed by 1932. In 1942, the property was purchased by Harman W.

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