The Haunting of Whiskey Pete’s
There’s a legend about Whiskey Pete’s Hotel & Casino in Primm, Nevada. People say old Whiskey Pete still haunts the place. Guests and employees report an eerie feeling, as if someone watches them. When they turn, they see an older man in old-fashioned western clothes. Before they can react, he vanishes. The legend claims Whiskey Pete’s ghost haunts his former property because construction disturbed his grave. He wants everyone to know he’s still here.
I’d heard the story before and dismissed it. There were never details—no names, no dates, just vague ghostly sightings. I didn’t even realize Whiskey Pete was a real person. It all sounded like an urban legend. But Pete existed, and they really did disturb his grave.
Who Was Whiskey Pete?
Long before Primm’s hotels stretched across the freeway, a small gas station stood there. The State Line Station belonged to Pete McIntyre, better known as Whiskey Pete. A notorious moonshiner, Pete ran the place with a reputation for taking no nonsense.
Whiskey Pete’s Run-Ins with the Law
Las Vegas locals knew him well. Some hated him, thinking he got away with too much. Tracing Pete through records proves difficult. He doesn’t appear in the 1900, 1910, or 1920 U.S. Census. But in January 1918, he landed in the Tulare County jail for running a “blind pig,” another name for a speakeasy.
Pete couldn’t make bail at first, so his 30-day sentence stretched to two months. The jail records list his birthplace as Arizona and his occupation as a miner. In 1922, Nevada authorities caught him bootlegging, and he spent six months in jail.
An Infamous Reputation
By 1930, Pete had settled in Crescent, Nevada, a small mining town near the California border. That year’s census lists him as the proprietor of a service station. He first made Las Vegas newspapers in 1928 when the Chamber of Commerce read a complaint letter from a woman traveler.
She had stopped at Whiskey Pete’s station around 11 p.m. to get gas and check her oil and water. When Pete realized the car only needed water, he turned hostile. He refused to let her have any and forced her to drive to the next station with an overheated engine.
The Chamber of Commerce had already received complaints about Pete from other tourists. One claimed Pete shot at them. Another said he threatened to. Authorities passed the reports to the Las Vegas sheriff, hoping he would deal with Pete.
A Violent Encounter
Pete’s temper may have cooled for a while, but by March 1931, he faced charges for assault with a deadly weapon. He had shot Elgin postmaster Rube Bradshaw in the shoulder.
Each man told a different story.
Bradshaw claimed he stopped at the gas station with his two sons. He walked inside, asked Pete for coffee, and got a hostile response. Instead of arguing, he turned to leave. When he reached the door, Pete called him a vile name. Bradshaw turned back, and Pete shot him.
Pete insisted he fired in self-defense, claiming Bradshaw reached for his hip pocket, making him think he was armed. After realizing Bradshaw had no weapon, Pete did what he could to help, insisting he be taken to Las Vegas for treatment. He resented the way the press portrayed him, saying he wasn’t as dangerous as people believed. Locals who knew him claimed Pete often helped stranded travelers and wasn’t as ruthless as his reputation suggested. To make amends, he even paid for Bradshaw’s hospital expenses.1Las Vegas Age | Mar 28,1931
A preliminary hearing was set, and Pete pleaded not guilty. Bradshaw failed to show up in court three times. The charges were dropped.
Trouble at Home
In early 1932, Pete married Lauretta Frances Enders. By October, she had taken him to court on charges of insanity. She claimed he flew into rages and accused her of all sorts of things.
Pete didn’t deny the rages. He had an explanation.
“Who wouldn’t,” he said, “when they find their wife running around naked in the hills with other men?”
Pete’s Final Days
By September of 1932, Lauretta had taken Pete to a sanatarium in Banning, California. News reports at the time called it the Stillwell Sanitarium, but no records of a facility by that name exist. It may have been a mistake, confusing it with the Southern Sierras Sanatorium, a well-known tuberculosis treatment center in Banning. Whatever the case, Pete told reporters he was doing okay.2The San Bernardino County Sun | Sept 25 1932
While he was gone, Lauretta was supposed to look after the service station. Instead, Pete said, she neglected it and ran around with other men. Doctors found Pete sane but diagnosed him with miner’s consumption. They gave him only days to live. The judge denied Lauretta’s motion to have him committed. She disappears from the record after that.
Buried Standing Up
By December 1932, Pete joked that he was too busy to die. He told reporters he had already outlived his own funeral date. Pete McIntyre died on November 11, 1933. News of his funeral in Las Vegas soon followed, and that’s where things got strange.
Before he died, Pete made his burial wishes clear.
“Bury me up on the hill, standing up, facing the valley so I can see all those sons of bitches going by.”
His friends honored the request. Using dynamite, they blasted a six-foot hole in the limestone cliff behind his service station. They buried Pete standing up, just as he wanted.
His grave marker disappeared over the years. Thieves took it again and again until no one bothered replacing it. The service station changed hands multiple times. By 1977, the location had been transformed into Whiskey Pete’s Casino.
Rediscovering Whiskey Pete’s Grave
On February 2, 1994, construction workers began grading land for a new railroad track. The line would connect Whiskey Pete’s to Buffalo Bill’s across the freeway. While digging near the old State Line Station, a worker struck a crumbling wooden coffin.
Inside lay the skeletal remains of Whiskey Pete.
Some legends claimed Pete was buried with a ten-gallon hat, six-shooters strapped to his sides, and a jug of whiskey. But all they found were bones, a bit of hair still clinging to his skull, dentures in his mouth, and a couple of shirt buttons. The coffin was about 80% intact, buried at an angle to the highway. The project manager said they had always known Pete was buried nearby, but no one knew exactly where.
“The tractor caught the edge of the box,” he said. “The skull popped out. There was Whiskey Pete staring at us.” The resort promised to rebury him on the property and place a memorial. No sign of a memorial exists today, and no one knows where Pete was laid to rest.3Las Vegas Review Journal | Feb 5, 1994
Rumors say his remains were placed inside one of the caves where he once made moonshine. If that’s true, Pete got what he wanted—watching travelers pass through the valley he once ruled.
What do you think?
Did Whiskey Pete’s restless spirit stick around after his grave was disturbed, or is it just a tall tale? Have you ever experienced anything strange at Whiskey Pete’s Casino? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments!
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