The Daisy Mae’s Stronghold building is one of the oldest structures in Cochise County in Southern Arizona. The location began as a trading post in the early 1870’s. It has served as an U.S. Post Office, a busy general store, and even a stop on the stage coach line. In the late 1800’s the building housed a brothel that catered to the soldiers stationed near by at Fort Huachuca. It began its current status as a restaurant in the early 1940’s. There were a series of different restaurant businesses housed in the large adobe building, the most famous being G & M Stronghold, until Daisy Mae’s took the reins in 1993. 
As you walk into the building, you will find there are many dining areas. There is a banquet area for that special family celebration, quiet tables, and booths for separate dining. There are booths near the bar where you can enjoy music and good company. If you want to be spooked while you dine at Daisy Mae’s, ask to be seated in the infamous “Charlie’s Room.”
MVD Ghostchasers: Kenton Moore, Chris and Shiela Mc Curdy, Mark Christoph, Brenda McIntyre and I, met for dinner at the Daisy Mae’s Steakhouse in August 2008. I immediately asked to be seated in “Charlie’s Room” so we could be near the reported haunted area of the building in hopes of a “Charlie encounter”.
Charlie is said to have been one of the loyal patrons that frequented the facility when it was a brothel servicing the soldiers at Fort Huachuca. The brothel was conveniently within walking distance near the Main Gate of the Fort. Charlie was standing near the bedrooms or cribs in the brothel one evening when a knife fight erupted over the virtue of one of the soiledes. Charlie was fatally stabbed and murdered. He was found dead on the floor near one of the ladies rooms. It is said Charlie’s ghost has been present in the building ever since. Numerous sightings and incidents have been reported through the years.
I headed over to chat with the wait staff to gather some of the well known ghost stories. One waitress said she was alone in the banquet area—yet she didn’t really feel she was alone. As she headed to the supply room, it felt like she had walked into a thick spider web. She tried to brush it off, but nothing was there. She suddenly felt very cold and the hair on her arms stood up on end.
Another waitress escorted me to one of the back dining areas to show where some of the entrances to the cribs once stood. She explained there were doors going into bedrooms where a solid wall now stands. You could see a faint outline of the old doorways. The secrets beyond these doors are now bricked up and silent . There was also a set of bedrooms on the opposite side of the building.
I followed the girl to a section of the restaurant where one needs to step down to a lower level of the dining room--near the banquet area. When they remodeled the building, the owner found a hidden staircase and a tunnel under the ramp walk way. They say the soldiers from the Fort used the tunnel as a getaway when their wives came looking for them here at the brothel. The wives would come in, look around, and when there was no sign of their man, they headed back home feeling a false sense of relief.
A few more photos were snapped in the area of the bedrooms where Charlie met his demise. The dark area near some of exposed old bedrooms made one think Charlie would be in view at any moment.
I spoke with one of the owners of Daisy Mae’s and asked her about her experiences with Charlie’s ghost. She told me her father use to see him all the time in the area they call “Charlie’s Room”. She had seen him a few times herself. Some times ghosts are merely stories, but in this case, there have been several witnesses to his appearance. She described Charlie having long hair, wearing a flannel type shirt, and always has on baggy pants. He is always in the same section of the building--then simply walks away and disappears into the wall.
Whether Charlie was a soldier, defender, or an ordinary man who came to the brothel to seek his pleasures, we don't know. Be seated for dinner in one of the brothel cribs and keep a watchful eye out for Charlie…and that’s an order!
DAISY MAE'S STEAKHOUSE
332 Garden Avenue
Sierra Vista, AZ 85613
520-452-8099
For more info: www.mvdghostchasers.com
Debe Branning nazanaza@aol.com
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