Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn’t mean my eyes
Will soon be turning red
Cryin s’not for me
‘Cause I’m never gonna stop the rain
By complaining…
It’s true that we were overdue for a little liquid sunshine. A lot of us were wondering what exactly had happened to leave Alaska so breathtakingly sunny in what’s usually the dankest time of the season. Today, the spell broke and we got our share. Skagway was washed clean by a heavy dose of chill August rain…
We found refuge in the local saloon (and yes it really is a saloon, used to be more than just that), and had an early lunch before heading back out into the elements to get to the theatre for one of the last showings of Days of ’98, which has been running since 1937 in the tiny little local Eagle Hall. Still a story that’s “mostly true” it’s a lot of fun to see a bit of history brought to life by a small but determined and talented cast – and at least this time they didn’t try to pull me up on stage. Which is good, because I had promised that if they did I would actually do it, and I was somewhat at a loss as to how to get out of that promise!
We were planning on getting Old Time Photos taken at the local studio, but my camera (which is the only one we had with us) is just about dead and I’m waiting for my replacement charger to arrive (please come in Vancouver please please please), and it was just too wet and rainy to wait for the photographer to open up again anyway – so we decided to leave that for next time. Instead we made our way back to the saloon and took the tour of the ‘upstairs’ museum…
The Red Onion used to be a house of ill-repute (so to speak), in fact one of the original red lanterns is kept hanging on the wall in the museum’s lobby. It’s a tiny little place, the walls for the crib rooms have been mostly taken out, but you can see where they would have been. 10×10 rooms, each decorated to the taste of the girl living and working there. In one room they found 18 layers of wallpaper! Apparently there was a very high turnover rate, which is not exactly surprising. It was a rough time and a rough town, and a very dangerous line of work. No resident doctor, no real medical knowledge of what precautions to take (latex hadn’t been invented yet, they used lambskin…and re-used it, because hey, things were expensive!)…
I can’t imagine…
Of course, the place is haunted, which should come as no surprise. I suspect the reason the girl in question is more prevalent in one particular corner is because she probably lived there, but she didn’t make herself known to me. Except for a vague feeling of someone smiling just over my shoulder. Like there was someone in the room sharing a joke with the tour guide.