Casper the Las Vegas Gambling Ghost

Don't be terrified now, but I am going to rip the lid off a problem that has been haunting Las Vegas for years now — ghosts! That's right, ghosts, as in Casper the Gambling Ghost. As in spirits of the night, the day; ghosts in the rooms, walking in the lakes and fountains, and hallways and bathrooms and….

Las Vegas is home to great singers, comedians, hypnotists, magicians, beautiful showgirls, gambling, fine foods and drink but it also has sometimes bubbly spirits that have not come out of a champagne bottle.

I am sure that most of our readers think, "Oh, well, those old time miners are probably still haunting the caves and valleys. No need for me to worry about that. I stick to the hotels." Sorry, the hotel-casinos, even the new ones, have plenty of ghosts. No need to gamble on that fact.

OK, so I cannot prove that any of the assertions in this column are true. But I can say that I received this information from reliable sources, that is to say, from sources other than my imagination. Make of it what you will.

The great musician and comedian Liberace is still floating around Vegas. He loves to appear at the Tivoli Gardens where he plays jokes on the customers. He once owned that venue and he obviously doesn't want to leave. Sometimes he is seen with the ghost of Elvis — the old Elvis, that is, of the star-spangled flaming suits.

Elvis also likes to make occasional appearances at the Las Vegas Hilton, where he performed in his last years.

Another great entertainer who died this year, Danny Gans, has a seemingly haunted bathroom near the former "Danny Gans Theatre" at the Mirage. Seems a wall fell down there and cold spots are felt when you, well, when you know-what. Is it the ghost of Gans returning to his old venue? Or bad pipes?

Mandalay Bay and Luxor seem to have Native American ghosts dressed as workmen wandering their grounds. Could they be the ghosts of construction workers who passed away but don't want to leave the job undone? Luxor also has a problem with two ghosts who walk the balconies over the registration area. Both are young men who seem distracted. Who wouldn't be with all the action around them?

Now those of you who follow ghost stories know that most ghosts are pretty stupid. They walk up and down; in and out of walls; make noises, cause cold spots but they don't seem to have much in the way of IQ or humor. Not so with the ghost of the old Stardust Hotel. This one, dressed in the late 1950s formal style with bowler hat, showed up when guests came off the elevator. He would dance, doff his hat, laugh and walk right through the wall. He seemed to be totally aware of what he was doing, perhaps more so than some of the people staggering off the elevator.

OK, so these stories aren't too scary, right? Fine, you asked for it. Planet Hollywood, which took over from the New Aladdin, which was rebuilt on the ruins of the old Aladdin, has a shocking story. Stay in the Panorama Suite on the 7th floor and see what you see, feel and hear. Oh, yes, the reports are that several ghosts haunt this room — perhaps looking to audition for a Hollywood horror movie. Or trying to find Aladdin's lamp.

Cheating on your wife can have dire consequences, as some of you men know. Several conventioneers who were staying at the Sahara Hotel a few decades ago told their lovely wives that they were going golfing but went to a house of ill repute instead. On their way back to the hotel after all that illicit fun, they got into a crash and were killed. Not such a bad fate since their wives would have killed these guys (slowly) anyway had they found out about their preferred entertainment.

But these conventioneers didn't just fade away into lore. No sir, they just kept going to the rooms where they were staying and knocked on the doors to be let in. They are still knocking on those doors. So if you stay at the Sahara and hear someone knocking on the door and when you look through the peep-hole and no one is there… those husbands are coming home to roost!

Many of you might know the story of the haunted craps table at Caesars Palace. Casinos judge the amount of money they should make based on a formula that uses number of decisions times amount wagered to come up with an estimate of how much they should win each month.

But this craps table lost month after month after month for 13 months straight. That is unheard of. One month, yes; two months, OK; three months, maybe… but 13? No way! So the superstitious casino executives took the table out back and set it on fire. No table since has ever lost money for such an extended period of time.

Now I am going to close with truly terrifying story that will curdle your blood and make your eyes bob out of their sockets. This story will make you feel like a five-year old kid knowing something is under the bed other than the dust bunnies. It is… darn, I ran out of word space. But I know you would have liked that story!