Mr. Mackay was perhaps the richest man in the United States at one time.  He made his fortune in Virginia City, Nevada.

John Benneth, one of the people who live and work at the Mackay Mansion, invited us to come stay with him and see this beautiful masterpiece.

The craftsmanship within the mansion is second to none, for its time and for any time.  The work that went into the fireplaces, the tables, dressers, mirrors, furniture, and beds is breathtaking.

Tours run daily through the Mackay mansion but people don’t live on the upper floors anymore.  Or I should say they don’t normally live on the upper floors.  There is a path that leads through the rooms from the front door past the safe, into the living room.  From there you can exit a door to the east and, taking a flight of stairs, can ascend to the next floor.

This floor is where the bedrooms are.  The first room on the left at the top of the stairs is the master bedroom.  This is where Mr. Mackay slept.  The hallway runs from the east to the west and all the doors have little gates locked across them.  Visitors can see into the rooms but cannot enter them; that is unless someone unlocks the gates and allows them to enter.

Movie star Johnny Depp was one of the people they made this exception for.  Johnny Depp stayed in this room while shooting a movie in the Virginia City, NV area.

This is a third-hand story at the moment but I am told comes from the owner of the Mackay Mansion, Mr. Brian Bills.  I was told that while Johnny Depp stayed in that room he saw the ghost of a child in white.  John Benneth referred to the ghost as “The Child in White.”  This leads me to believe it may not have been the first time the ghostly child had been seen in this house, perhaps on this floor.  Just across the hallway from the master bedroom is a child’s room complete with child-size bed, toys, and even an old Singer sewing machine.

Mr. Benneth, AKA “Mark Twain”, led us through the rooms giving us the full tour with extras, even unlocking the gates and allowing us to follow him through the rooms where visitors seldom ever walk.  This allowed us to see things against the walls that visitors seldom ever see.

As Mr. Benneth walked through the rooms, telling the story of the Mackay mansion.  He pointed out the bed where Johnny Depp stayed.  Then he entered the next bedroom.  Like the master bedroom it was most impressive and connected through the adjoining doorway.  The moment he began telling about the ghosts of the Mackay mansion a small orb appeared floating near the ceiling.  The camera saw it but no one else did.  As he continued another orb appeared then another, moving a few feet then vanishing again.

He told the story of the child in white and how Johnny Depp had seen the child.  Then he showed us one of the first indoor “outhouses” in Virginia City.  He said this building was the first to have indoor toilets.  The bathroom was beautiful.  The water tank for the toilet was mounted high upon the wall with a pull chain hanging down to flush it.

On down the hallway headed back toward the stairs was another smaller bedroom on the left.  It could have been a child’s room.  Then the child’s room was the next on the left.

We shot video, we took pictures, and we did capture orbs.  It was a wonderful experience.  How I wish I had done more to investigate the ghosts of the Mackay Mansion.  Perhaps one day I will get another opportunity.