Old 1863 Masonic Lodge - Haunted Highway TV Episode

Hi all,

This is not my thing so I'm out of my realm, but after stumbling across some show called Haunted Highway (which I don't trust as a real, honest investigation among other SyFy shows...) Point is, they visit an old ghost town called Silver City, Idaho. It was an old mining town that ran out of luck.

In this town still exists an old mason lodge (which I found is now for sale) that still has many old symbols and what looks like an 'isolation chamber'? I don't know. The lodge was built in 1863. The current(?) owner said no strange activities happened until two pillars were raised in the middle of the room. Anyways, here we go with pics!



Old masonic lodge from the outside.



Inside of the mason hall. On the left side you will see the two pillars with globes on top of them. To the left in the smaller room is the isolation chamber, or whatever it is. No idea.



Close up of one of the pillars. I think one of the globes had symbols around it, while the other was an Earth globe. My speculation.



Some more of the symbol(s) on the other side.



This is the strange poster thing with a symbol I haven't found in my limited searching skills on this subject matter. I don't know what that is supposed to mean...



Isolation Chamber (?) Or whatever it is. Some small room with the door hinges on the top, so it closes top down. Shot during the daytime.



Another shot of the strange small room at night with the IR camera.

So, that's kind of my thread. Just some images and a clueless OP about this subject. I couldn't find it posted anywhere else in my searches, and I'm curious for answers (if anyone knows)

Thanks!

The poster with the lightning isn't Masonic. Those two pillars are.

The room could either be a Chamber of Reflection or just a candidate prep room.

reply to post by Philippines


Very interesting place. The globes on the pillars are explained here. As for that picture with the lightening bolts, no idea. Hopefully someone knows. The small room may be a chamber of reflection. I am not familiar with it as we don't use one in my jurisdiction or it's part of the York Rite. (or I just don't know, but I haven't seen it other than the Dan Brown book)

Thanks for posting and I look forward to learning more about this place.

Thanks for the info so far! The towers I should have mentioned earlier I did find in relation to masonry and the tree of life I think, but the poster symbolism I could not find. I think it is interesting that the owner of the place said no strange "activity" happened until those towers were erected.

Despite my reservations about how the show is actually produced vs. how they claim it is produced (2 person solo mission when it's really a crew), they do bring some good information to light for others to investigate / visit if they're inclined to do so.

I still am curious about that poster though.

reply to post by Philippines

I'm a member of that Lodge! Yes, last I heard it is for sale, but the past owner let us meet there when we wanted. We normally meet in Homedale as in the winter it is very hard to make the trek to Silver City due to the weather.

That weird black poster is normally not in the Lodge. As to the small room, we always just used it for storage. I have't been able to make it up to the annual Summer trek the last two years because of work, but its always a fun (warm) trip.

The black poster reminds me an awful lot of the Symbol of Chaos, the symbol of chaos magic.



Eight "bolts", eight "arrows", with a central point.

Originally posted by Philippines
I think it is interesting that the owner of the place said no strange "activity" happened until those towers were erected.

"Strange activities" is nebulous, at best. Normally those pillars are always up... they're part of the furniture of the lodge.

I still am curious about that poster though.

To me, there's something about the quality of it that just doesn't match the rest of the building... If the place hasn't been used by Masons in quite some time, I'm guessing someone added it much later. Personally, it looks like a piece of art made with a sharpie rather than something of any particular symbolic significance.

If it has something to do with chaos magic, it would make sense that they would go into a Masonic lodge, since it would hold some sort of magical significance.

Originally posted by FollowTheWhiteRabbit
The black poster reminds me an awful lot of the Symbol of Chaos, the symbol of chaos magic.



Eight "bolts", eight "arrows", with a central point.

I consider myself a practitioner of chaos magick, myself, but that 8-pointed arrow being attached to the idea of "chaos" was an invention of sci-fi/fantasy author Michael Moorcock in his Elric and Eternal Champion novels. It's funny how it has been embraced as a defacto symbol in the last 40 or 50 years.

Originally posted by KSigMason
reply to post by Philippines

 

I'm a member of that Lodge! Yes, last I heard it is for sale, but the past owner let us meet there when we wanted. We normally meet in Homedale as in the winter it is very hard to make the trek to Silver City due to the weather.

That weird black poster is normally not in the Lodge. As to the small room, we always just used it for storage. I have't been able to make it up to the annual Summer trek the last two years because of work, but its always a fun (warm) trip.

How interesting! What else can you say about any supposed paranormal activity in the lodge or the hotel or elsewhere? Have you heard of any strange things?

On the show the owner seems like a very nice guy, and the road does look treacherous if there is any snow. As for the poster, it may have been put up there for the show in particular. Also in the show, I think there was a dinner triangle hanging from the ceiling on the second floor in a corner of the room. Any idea about that one?

Thanks for your time and response!

reply to post by JoshNorton


I only say "symbol of chaos magic" because that's what it is called. Though, I've obtained some literature on chaos magic in which they use that symbol in the books themselves, so I just assumed it was sort of like the pentacle for the neopagans.

reply to post by network dude


They COULD have had a YR body that met there . In my Masonic temple , we have small rooms and hidden nooks and crannies that are used in the Capitular (Chapter) degrees where the candidate goes to find certain objects pertaining to the degrees .

It also could be a Chamber of reflection or it could simply be a small room for storage of degree paraphernalia .

ETA: Sorry , I missed KSig's explanation .

reply to post by Philippines


The symbols on the one globe are the Zodiac.

Originally posted by FollowTheWhiteRabbit
reply to post by Philippines

 

The symbols on the one globe are the Zodiac.

Ahh, that's where I have seen them before. Thanks for that. Does masonry align itself with any religion?

reply to post by Philippines


The lodge explicitly states that a fellow brother must believe in a higher power to be a member. They refer to this higher power as the Great Architect Of The Universe, which is an umbrella name for the various ideas of the one true God (God, Yahweh, Allah, Brahman, etc.).

Originally posted by whenandwhere
reply to post by network dude

 

They COULD have had a YR body that met there . In my Masonic temple , we have small rooms and hidden nooks and crannies that are used in the Capitular (Chapter) degrees where the candidate goes to find certain objects pertaining to the degrees .

It also could be a Chamber of reflection or it could simply be a small room for storage of degree paraphernalia .

ETA: Sorry , I missed KSig's explanation .

edit on 14-3-2013 by whenandwhere because: (no reason given)

A YR body means a once a year meeting?

Ok on the chamber, it didn't look like it was locked/gated from the outside in the show, it just seemed to close firmly shut.

And yeah on storage for who knows what throughout the many years

reply to post by Philippines


York Rite meets once a month , just like the lodge . Well at least my YR meets once a month .

We need storage just like any other building such as mops , mop buckets , brooms , vacuum cleaners , extra folding chairs , and the list goes on . The one shown in the show , the door is much to small to be used on a regular basis .

We have a room with a small door such as the on one in picture in the OP , that is used to store certain props that the candidates in the Royal Arch degree "finds" . It is only used a few times a year , the rest of the time we just cram all our paraphernalia in to get it out of the way .

reply to post by Philippines

Usually someone states that they've seen ghosts of dead miners, but the times I've been in that building were in the daytime and in those times I saw nothing strange.

The road in the summer is still bad as the snow carves it up so you can't take low sitting cars into the area. I usually take up towing gear with me as usually someone breaks down or thinks they can get their car in; I watched one nail a rock and damaged their oil pan.

The dinner triangle is used to signify when its time to eat. I know since I've been in that we always have a lunch break and dinner after the degree is finished. The summer trips up there are usually all day events. We do the same thing for the Idaho City and Placerville Lodges as well.

Originally posted by FollowTheWhiteRabbit
The lodge explicitly states that a fellow brother must believe in a higher power to be a member.

The stipulation is not a higher power but a Supreme Being, A.K.A God or Chuck Norris as he is sometimes known.

Originally posted by FollowTheWhiteRabbit
If it has something to do with chaos magic, it would make sense that they would go into a Masonic lodge, since it would hold some sort of magical significance.

Chaos magick has nothing to do with freemasonry so I'm not quite sure what you are getting at here...