Haunted Canyon: How a Spooky Name Became a Sales Pitch, 1893–1896

Haunted Canyon runs through the rough country of the Tonto National Forest, between Superior and Globe, at the edge of the Superstition Wilderness. It sounds like the setting for a ghost story. But this file isn’t about a ghost. It’s about a name, and what the record can and can’t say about where it came from.

The origin story (unverified)

In 2013 True West Magazine answered a reader’s question about the name. It said an August 1891 article in the Florence Arizona Enterprise told how a man named Pete Gann camped in the canyon during a ferocious monsoon. Boulders and rocks were crashing down around him, and he decided the place was haunted. The name stuck.

We haven’t been able to confirm this. The Enterprise is in the Library of Congress collection, but the research desk’s searches of the summer and autumn 1891 issues didn’t turn up the article. The issue may not be digitized, or the OCR may have missed it. Until someone finds the page, the Gann story is a modern retelling of an unseen source. The ledger doesn’t repeat the same article’s asides about the Superstition Mountains, which aren’t sourced.

What the papers show: 1893

What we can document is the name itself. On 1 April 1893, the Globe Arizona Silver Belt described a surveyed road line between Globe and the Salt River Valley. From Power’s Gulch, it said, the line ran “across the divide into the box of Haunted Canyon and continuing up the canyon” toward the divide above an old woodcutters’ camp. There’s no explanation and no ghost. By then the name was simply a landmark that a surveyor and his readers both knew.

1896: the resort pitch

Three years later the canyon got a sales pitch. On 5 August 1896 the Phoenix Arizona Republican promoted a new wagon road from Mesa to Globe, meant to capture Globe’s produce trade for Salt River Valley farmers. From the summit, the paper said, “the road runs through the Haunted canyon to Bloody Tanks, from thence to Globe.” The road would open the canyon up, since it could then “only be reached by trails.” And the paper made the case for going there: “It is a beautiful spot, there being plenty of water and trees, making an ideal summer resort.” The surrounding country, it added, was a rich but unexplored mineral region.

So, within five years of its supposed naming, the haunted canyon was being advertised for its water, its shade and its minerals. That fits a pattern in Western place names: a dramatic name attracts attention, and boosters use the attention.

Weighing it

Explanation	Evidence
A prospector’s stormy night (Gann, 1891)	One secondary source (2013), citing a newspaper article not yet found.
An older name, with the story added later	The name is used casually by 1893, with no explanation. That’s consistent with either reading, so the ledger doesn’t claim it.
An actual haunting	No period source we’ve read reports a sighting there.

Ledger status

Folklore (place-name history). The name is documented from 1893 and the resort pitch from 1896. The origin story is unverified.

Visiting

The Forest Service lists Haunted Canyon Trail #203, 8.5 miles between Forest Roads 287A and 287. Its western section enters the Superstition Wilderness, and the Forest Service warns that part of the trail crosses private property, so respect all boundary signs. Canyons here can flood fast in storms. The ledger doesn’t place a map pin. Use the Tonto National Forest trails page and check current alerts before you go.

Sources

• Arizona Silver Belt (Globe), 1 Apr 1893, p.3 (OCR checked) — loc.gov
• Arizona Republican (Phoenix), 5 Aug 1896, p.8 (OCR checked) — loc.gov
• “What is the origin of the name Haunted Canyon in Arizona?”, True West Magazine, 18 Mar 2013 — truewestmagazine.com
• USDA Forest Service, Tonto National Forest, trails list (“Haunted Canyon Trail #203”) — fs.usda.gov