Unraveling Misconceptions: The Incident in Circus Circus' Room 123, Las Vegas
A mother and son's spirits are said to inhabit Room 123 of the Circus Circus casino hotel, where she allegedly murdered him before ending her own life.
This series has explored around 50 myths about Las Vegas without delving into the supernatural - except for dismissing Zak Bagans, the owner of the Haunted Museum in downtown Las Vegas, as a fraud.
Supernatural stories don't usually leave room for debunking. Their nature simply makes them proof-resistant. True believers won't be swayed by any evidence presented against them.
Most of these legends are linked to real-life tragedies, like the Clark County Shooting or the 1980 MGM Grand fire. Addressing them from a paranormal perspective not only shames the memories of those who perished but also upsets the families they left behind.
However, there's an exception when it comes to Room 123 at the Circus Circus hotel.
Dissecting the Myth
"The Circus Circus was constructed in 1976 and is owned by Phil Ruffin; it's been home to numerous terrifying supernatural experiences for its guests," declares a website named vegasforall.com. "Room 123 was the scene of a bloodthirsty murder-suicide, where a mother killed her son and then committed suicide. The spirits of both the child and the mother are believed to roam the corridors nearby."
This sounds like a blend between "The Shining" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
The most haunted room at the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's 1977 bestseller, "The Shining," was Room 217 (changed to Room 237 in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 movie).
Some of the events in Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" took place at Circus Circus, which Thompson dubbed "the sixth Reich." The film adaptation, directed by Terry Gilliam in 1998, was shot at the Stardust and Riviera hotels because Circus Circus refused to allow production, preferring not to associate with the movie.
There's more information about Room 123 to share. Ghost City Tours claims, "Horrifying screams and a child's plea for help can be heard from this room and the halls around it, and the words 'Help Me' have materialized several times on the bathroom mirrors, remnants of a helpless child still imprisoned in the moments before his death."
Of course, a company offering ghost tours for $24.99 per person would have no reason to spread falsehoods, right?
Where to Start?
To begin with, Circus Circus wasn't established in 1976. It was built in 1967 and opened the following year without a hotel. The hotel component didn't debut until 1972.
Like any other Strip resort, Circus Circus has experienced its share of gruesome events.
On June 1, 2018, for instance, Sang Boi Nghia and Khoung Ba Le Nguyen, a Vietnamese couple on a group tour, were discovered brutally stabbed in their Circus Circus hotel room. Julius Totter, age 31, was arrested for their murders.
Although there's no recorded instance of a mother murdering her son and then taking her own life, not all violent crimes in Las Vegas resorts are disclosed to the media.
But one thing is undeniably true: no incident ever transpired in Room 123 of the Circus Circus hotel.
And that's because the hotel rooms at Circus Circus have never had five-digit numbers.
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Source: www.casino.org
