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The pink and white Belmar Hotel on Olas Altas in Mazatlán´s Centro Historico
is the stuff legends are made of. It was reportedly built by American mining
entrepreneur Louis Leonard Bradbury as an office, home and guest house for
friends in the late 1800s. As the port of Mazatlán prospered it drew world
travelers and Bradbury´s home expanded into an hotel long after Bradbury
returned to the States. Under President Porfirio Diaz (1876-1910) the railroad
arrived in Mazatlán bringing with it drifters, artists, entrepreneurs –
a veritable crossroad of the best and worst. With the Mexican Revolution
of 1910-1917 came the revolutionaries and army, and the distinction of being
the second city in the world to be bombed by airplane. Icebox Hill, a mere
quarter of a kilometer from the Belmar, was the target. The airplane missed
the Hill, and in error dropped a load of dynamite and nails on Centro Historico,
killing two Mazatlecos. By the 1920s the Belmar was THE place to stay in
Mazatlán. The wars were over and Mazatlán´s commercial fishing industry
was growing in international stature. At the conclusion of the World War
II, Mazatlán once again rose out of the ashes and began its slow climb as
a tourist destination, beginning with Hollywood celebrities such as John
Wayne and Tyrone Power who were lured to the port by the abundance of off
shore deep sea fishing. Through these tumultuous times, the Belmar was the
center of Carnaval activities. It was at the Belmar, during a Carnaval Ball
in 1944, that Sinaloa Governor Rodolfo T. Loaiza was murdered by the dastardly
Rodolfo Valdes, aka “The Gypsy” in the Salon Palmas. In the 1960s, an addition
to the Belmar was constructed which included a bar, restaurant, pool, lights,
trampoline and air conditioning, for a total of 86 rooms in the “old” section
and 110 rooms in the “new” section. As time passed, the tradition of open
doors at the Belmar during Carnaval ceased, necessitated by increasingly
rowdy behaviour by the revelers. When the Golden Zone grew in popularity
tourists abandoned the Centro Historico and eventually the Belmar once again
passed through the hands of successive owners, none of which had either
the means or will to lift it to its former glory. And so it stands today
- a somewhat shabby, somewhat neglected hostel for packbackers and tourists
on a tight budget. Yet, the Belmar is not a quiet place. Some ancient guests
appeared to have stayed around. With such a rich history, it is not surprising
that today´s guests and staff of the hotel whisper quiet stories of ghosts
in the halls. On several different occasions, visitors have reported hearing
water turned on in the shower and sink in their bathrooms long after they
had gone to bed, followed by persistent knocking on the bathroom doors,
but when they cautiously investigated – no one was there. And one night,
an irate guest called reception to complain about the noise by the pool.
Someone, he said, was having a very boisterous party |
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and would they
please check it out. Staff headed for the pool, opened the doors – the pool
area was deserted. They closed the door and left. A few minutes later the
guest, now quite furious, called again to complain about the pool party.
Once again, staff walked to the pool, and once again it was empty. The guest
changed rooms. Not too long ago, it is said, two young backpackers were
asleep in their ocean side room. One of the young men awoke in the early
evening to see two elderly men on their balcony looking out to sea. Quietly
he whispered to wake his companion, who sat up in bed and exclaimed when
he saw the men. The elderly gentlemen looked back at the boys in the room,
and slowly faded away. And then there is the legend of two sightings of
the mysterious lady in white. Late one evening, while lounging against a
car in front of the cave-like entrance to the Belmar, a staff member saw
a lady in a floor length white gown, with long black hair, gliding over
the floor across the reception area. She appeared to have come from the
bar, and held keys in her hand. When she disappeared out of sight, he ran
into the bar and asked the bartender if there had been such a lady at the
bar. The answer was, of course, no. The lovely lady in white appeared again
months later to another staff member, still gliding, still holding keys
in her hand. Without a doubt the vision of a very wealthy gentleman descending
the stairs one late night gave one staff member a jolt. The elegant gentleman
was dressed in a cape, hat, gold on his wrist, a flamboyant tie and carried
a riding crop. How strange, the staff member thought, I haven´t seen him
here before. He began to follow the gentleman, only to see him disappear
into nothing. Then one early morning, after a long shift, another staff
member headed for his car in the garage. As he approached his car, he saw
something out of the corner of his eye. Someone was trying to hide behind
the pillars. He turned quickly to look, and there before him was a revolutionary
with crossed gunbelts, pistols, boots and a sombrero reminiscent of the
early 1900s in Mexico. As the staff member moved to get a better look, he
called to the man but the revolutionary played hide ´n seek behind the columns
until finally he, too, disappeared. But perhaps the most interesting, and
the only malevolent ghost sighting, happened in room 419 of the Belmar.
A very weary staff member had decided to bed down there after a long shift.
He awoke to hear chains being dragged across the floor. Alarmed, he sat
up and to his horror felt someone sit down beside him on the bed. The aura
of this ghost was not friendly, and the staff member high-tailed it out
of the room. There are many other ghost legends surrounding the Belmar,
including goblins partying in the old well, rocking chairs moving without
benefit of a breeze, and strange messages in hieroglyphics written on the
misty windshields of cars parked in the garage. Whether you are a believer
in ghosts or not, the Belmar Hotel lives as a treasured legend in the Centro
Historico complete with mystery and a colorful history. |
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