According to local historians, the precursor to the Missoula Mercantile, known as "The Merc" was built in 1865 or 1866, a year or two after Missoula was founded, a small log building on West Front Street, just west of the current Florence Hotel. Construction of a larger building began in 1877, the same year that residents of Missoula, frightened by Nez Perce Indians in their flight from federal troops, took shelter in the half-finished store. The store was incorporated as the Missoula Mercantile Co. in 1885, growing until it reached its present size in 1890.
Now mostly empty, the old Missoula Mercantile has left in its wake many spooky stories of ghosts and spectres witnessed by a variety of people - even a crew of construction workers who worked on renovations in the store in recent years. A
Old Missoula Merc building
stores several tales
With the store being so old, there are an abundance of tales, and many of them are ghost stories.
There were many night watchmen who quit because they were so scared by noises or movements made while they were on the job. Back in those days, they were allowed to carry pistols. Gordon Swanson, who was an employee for more than 40 years, can think of only one time when the pistol was shot.
"There was a night watchman on the second story who was in the ladies department," Swanson said. "There was a male mannequin in the department, not something usual. The guard became very scared when the man did not talk or move and in the dark light he looked real, so he shot it." Swanson said that pistols were no longer allowed after the incident.
Although strange noises can be imagined, as Swanson said they often were, eyes don't often lie. There have been many instances of sightings in the building. Boberg offered several examples. "The most recent sighting was about a month and a half ago," he said. "One of our cosmeticians was downstairs and looked up. She saw a man with a mustache and a plaid, flannel shirt." The cosmetician originally thought that the ghost was Boberg, since he has a mustache. The figure was also non translucent, unlike most ghosts. The woman now refuses to go into the basement alone.
The next story was one that would throw anyone for a loop. "A maintenance guy was walking down what we call the 'catwalk' in the basement. He was going one way and suddenly he saw a man coming from the opposite direction," Boberg said. "The maintenance guy said the man had a mustache, a plaid, flannel shirt and coveralls." According to the worker, the man was again non translucent and seemed just as shocked to see him walking around as he was. "It was like they were in a parallel world," Boberg said.
Another story was told by a group of construction workers who had come from Spokane to update the store. None of the men had heard about the ghost. They worked at night so they did not disturb the customers. "They asked me one morning about the guy in the flannel shirt and coveralls," Boberg said. "I played dumb as they said he kept showing up in one area." The construction workers finally decided that the man that kept reappearing must be a ghost. Soon, they came across a strange light.
"They were on the second story when they saw a light coming from one of the employee doors," Boberg said. "They figured they should see what it was. Once in the room, they saw that the light was coming from a corner, one that did not have a light in it." Boberg laughs as he says that those big, burly construction workers would not return upstairs without someone else with them.
Many of his employees feel the same about the basement and another room upstairs where sometimes boxes being dragged across the floor or footsteps can be heard.
From The Missoulian