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EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain filmmaker is showing his Halloween spirit by creating a documentary-style TV series about the most haunted places in the U.S. — including a few right here in Utah.
James Cawley developed a love of photography and filmmaking when he was 15 years old and has been doing it professionally since 2005. The Eagle Mountain resident started his own local company, Centerstar Marketing, where he does advertising for several companies. But, on the side, he said he loves to make independent films and documentaries.
"I just like telling stories, stories of people's lives and places and travel," Cawley said.
In 2014, he created the "Secrets of the West" documentary and a 12-episode series, "Epic Mysteries," where he explored common legends and mysteries like Bigfoot and aliens. Now, he is working on creating a series featuring the most haunted buildings across the U.S.
"I've always been a horror fan, but moreover, I've been really interested in history," Cawley said. "Watching a lot of the other ghost shows it's just people running around in the dark with infrared cameras in the night. What I wanted to do was produce something in a highly cinematic style where it's based on the history, the location and the stories. … Why is this place haunted? What are the stories that could mean this place is haunted?"
Cawley said he plans to tell the history of each location by creating re-enactments. He began doing research about the different locations in July and started filming "Haunted Travels" in early September. Cawley and his crew have already visited and filmed two locations for the series: the Washoe Club in Virginia City, Nevada, and the Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada.
As denoted by its name, the Clown Motel is entirely clown themed and has hundreds of clown statues and figurines, Cawley said. People claim it's haunted because it is located right next to a graveyard that dates back to the 1800s. Tonopah was founded as a mining town and a lot of miners died while working and a plague epidemic killed a lot of children and residents of the town, Cawley said.
While he doesn't readily believe in folklore and the supernatural, Cawley said he had some unnerving experiences while filming at the Washoe Club that he hadn't anticipated.
"I'm intrigued by all this stuff, but I'm by no means going to jump into it and full-heartedly believe," he said. "I want to see the evidence and see for myself. … When we went to this place and were setting up … just walking in and going up the stairs to this building in the Washoe Club, the only way I can describe it is it almost felt like you were going underwater and the pressure changed, and you are kind of separated from the outside world. Which I didn't expect at all."
Cawley said while filming in the building he and the crew heard what sounded like people walking around upstairs when there was no one else in the building. He said he also had an experience where he randomly felt a concentrated cold breeze on the back of his neck and their camera caught the reflection of a man dressed in old-time clothing.
"I didn't know how much I believed going in, but that place is freaky," he said.
He plans to also feature several Utah locations, including the Great Saltair and Fort Bridge. He will also feature the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, the inspiration for Stephen King's book, "The Shining."
Cawley plans to release the 48-minute pilot episode in December and if it's picked up as a TV series, he will make 11 more episodes. However, if it's not picked up, he will release it as a documentary film in 2016.
