Joan Rivers' Last Ride: A Visit to a Haunted Wild West Hotel in Wyoming

Joan Rivers and David Stewart, co-proprietor of the Occidental Hotel (Photo: Caroline Waxler)

As everyone knows, the best way to see civilization when on a remote ranch is to head into the nearest frontier town. In our case, it was Buffalo, Wyoming, the 5,000-person town best known these days as the real-life inspiration for the TV crime show, “Longmire,” A&E’s most watched original drama of all time. (The series was based on local author Craig Johnson’s novels, “Walt Longmire Mysteries.”)

The exterior of the Occidental, on Main Street (Photo: Discover Historic Buffalo)

This trip was special for many reasons, not least of which as it was the last full day I spent with my aunt, Joan Rivers. We were wrapping up a family vacation to the amazing HF Bar Ranch and Joan decided to take my husband and me out for a day out on the town. (I think she took pity on our sad attempts at horseback riding and decided that we two fish out of water needed to get some big-city action. Hello, Buffalo!)

The entrance to the HF Bar Ranch (Photo: HF Bar Ranch)

We hopped on a van run by the ranch for the quick ride over to town. We pre-gamed at an antique store Joan loved: the Treasure Chest Antiques & Collectibles run by Cece Walthers. There, the three of us picked up several treasures: a community recipe book for me, a vintage campaign pin for Michael. Joan even picked up a gift for her good friend Whoopi Goldberg.

Shopping done, we headed over to the nearby Occidental Hotel. Entering the lobby is like entering the Old West, with original wood floors and tin ceilings. The first floor is packed full of memorabilia, letters, pictures, and period furniture — so much so that it’s like a living museum. The 16 rooms, each perfectly restored to give that frontier feel, are catnip to the countless foreigners flocking there to be a part of American Wild West history.

Related: Joan Rivers, the Ultimate Traveler

David Stewart, welcoming you to his hotel, the Occidental (Photo: Caroline Waxler)

Founded in 1880, the Occidental was a destination for Old West travelers as they headed along the Bozeman Trail, by the side of the Bighorn Mountains. Originally a log structure with a few rooms upstairs and several outbuildings, it expanded over the years into three buildings, becoming one of the top hotels in the west. Incredibly well-preserved, the hotel still has bullet holes in the walls.

The Occidental welcomed Wild West luminaries like Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid. Occidental Hotel enthusiast Owen Wister, author of the novel “The Virginian,” pushed the concept of Wild West shootouts by writing about one in front of the Occidental. Fancier visitors included President Theodore Roosevelt, President Herbert Hoover (there’s a suite named after him), and Ernest Hemingway.

Then there are the inhabitants who never left.

We couldn’t have asked for a better guide and ghost storyteller than the co-proprietor of the hotel, David Stewart. (He also hosts the weekly Thursday Night Jam Session at Occidental’s Saloon.) He and his lovely wife Jackie, along with Dawn Wexo, own the Occidental. Since Joan loves history and ghost stories almost as much as I do, she was game to go through the hotel again. (She had had the same tour on her show “Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?” during the “Joan Knows Best” episode.)

Related: Joan Rivers: Horror Stories from the Road

Jackie Stewart, co-proprietor of the Occidental Hotel (Photo: Caroline Waxler)

The most sighted ghost is Emily, supposedly a prostitute’s daughter. (Prostitution was big in the Wild West and it is believed that it happened at the Occidental. No one knows for sure, since the prior owners swear that it didn’t happen there.)

Emily died of cholera at the age of 7, around 1900, but guests have reportedly seen her bouncing balls and giggling in the north wing. While she seems happy, the show “Dead Files” on the Travel Channel reported that there was an evil entity hanging about, too. But according to the hotel, no guests have reported any encounters. (The only disturbing thing we saw that afternoon was some bad lighting in our pictures.)

Related: Geico Caveman Turns Wild West Sheriff: 10 Questions With John Lehr

Joan Rivers and the author, Caroline Waxler (Photo: Caroline Waxler)

We popped into the Saloon where Joan had performed a set in a prior visit — if you tune into “Joan on the Range” episode of “Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?” you can catch it staring at 26:30 — but decided to grab a cup of coffee at the Busy Bee Cafe, another part of the hotel and a hotspot in “Longmire.”

The Busy Bee looks right out of the 1950s, with an old-fashioned soda bar and even a blender for malted milkshakes. We used it to get my aunt’s signature caffeine drink: coffee smoothies. I can’t give away the recipe, but — trust me — it should be a classic. We sat at the bar, having a great time, all three of us drinking our Joan coffee smoothies. I’ll remember that day as a classic, too.

WATCH: Joan Rivers 1933-2014

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