HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 3 further entries on record
Opened December 1880 in Tombstone by the 'Angel of the Tombstone' — now a bed and breakfast where a murdered boarding-house resident is said to still rearrange the furniture
117 South 5th Street, Tombstone, AZ 85638
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Now operates as a bed and breakfast. Room rates vary by season. Walk-by exterior free.
Access
Limited Access
Historic two-story adobe-style building on downtown Tombstone streetscape. Stairs to upper rooms.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · Opened December 1880 by Sal Anderson and Jacob Smith · Operated by Nellie Cashman 1881–1886 · Cashman honored by US postage stamp 1994 and Alaska Mining Hall of Fame 2006 · Continuous use since 1880 — now a bed and breakfast
Sal Anderson and Jacob Smith opened the Russ House in December 1880, just as Tombstone was entering its most frenetic silver-boom period. The establishment — named after the well-known Russ House hotel in San Francisco — combined a large restaurant with boarding rooms, catering to the miners, merchants, and itinerants who flooded into Cochise County during the early 1880s.
Nellie Cashman arrived in Tombstone around 1880 and was already known across the American West for a remarkable 1875 rescue operation in British Columbia, during which she organized a party to transport 1,500 pounds of supplies through heavy snow to reach sick miners. In Tombstone, she and Joseph Pascholy took over the Russ House operation. Cashman charged 50 cents for a meal and $8 a week for a room — prices deliberately set to serve miners and the poor as well as paying customers. She became known locally as the 'Angel of Tombstone' and the 'Miner's Angel' for the combination of charitable work and practical hospitality she offered.
Cashman operated the Russ House until 1886, when she left Tombstone to follow mining booms elsewhere in the West and eventually into Alaska. She died January 4, 1925, from pneumonia at St. Ann's Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia. A U.S. postage stamp was issued in her honor in 1994; she was inducted into the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame in 2006.
The building at 5th and Toughnut Streets has passed through multiple owners since Cashman's departure. It currently operates as a bed and breakfast with five standard rooms and one master suite.
Sources
The haunting at the Russ House is not attributed to Nellie Cashman, who died in Canada in 1925 long after leaving Tombstone. Paranormal investigators who have examined the site concluded that the more probable source of activity is a woman who was murdered in the building during the boarding-house era after Cashman's departure. The woman was allegedly killed by another resident in a dispute; the specific details of the murder — the date, the names involved, the circumstances — are not documented in surviving historical records.
What is documented is the pattern of activity that staff and guests have reported across different ownerships of the building. Objects disappear from where they were left and turn up elsewhere. Unexplained noises — crashing sounds, as though something heavy had fallen — occur without visible cause. Muted voices are heard in empty rooms. Lights operate independently of switches. Temperature fluctuations, both cold spots and sudden warmth, appear in specific locations and recur.
Multiple visitors and staff have described seeing the apparition of a woman in the building. Most initially assume they are seeing Cashman; paranormal investigators consistently dispute that identification based on the timing and character of the activity. One account that circulates among Tombstone ghost-tour researchers describes a customer who openly mocked the haunting stories and then watched a mustard bottle leave the table and land on her clothing without being touched by anyone nearby.
A paranormal investigation team conducted a sub-hour session at the Russ House and documented results they described as indicating a 'very active site.'
Notable Entities
Five standard rooms and one master suite in the 1880 building at 5th and Toughnut Streets. Guests have reported objects relocating overnight, unexplained noises, muted voices, lights turning on and off, and temperature fluctuations. Reservations through the CloudBeds system.
The Russ House sits in Tombstone's historic commercial district, within walking distance of the Bird Cage Theatre, Boothill Graveyard, and the O.K. Corral. The 1880 building and its historical marker are visible from the street.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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