In any town as old as ours, there are always tales of the unexplained and Cave Creek is no different. Frontier Town which certainly has some of the older buildings in the area has its own hair raising story to tell.
Pee Wee (who was called that due to the fact that she was about 4’9” tall) Simmons had resided in the same house since she moved to Cave Creek with her family in 1947. She owned and operated a guest ranch in what is now downtown Cave Creek.
In 1969 Pee Wee was getting a bit on in years and agreed to sell the guest ranch to Herman King who would develop it into Frontier Town. One of the stipulations of the sale was that Pee Wee would be able to live in her house until she passed away. That day happened exactly one year and one day after the contract was signed.
BUT…Pee Wee did not leave.
Throughout the 1970s there were reports of a pale glowing light that would move around different areas of Frontier Town. In the late 1980s however, things changed. One of shop owners at Frontier Town was working very late. Rounding a corner, just before the parking lot, he came face to ‘face’ (okay, well not a face, in fact it was more like stomach to ‘face’) with what he described the next day, as a torso. He freaked out. The ‘torso’ went its way and the shopkeeper ran his way.
Since then ‘Pee Wee’ has been seen on a frequent basis, including being caught on a security video and setting off motion sensors on a regular basis. Most recently, one of the shopkeepers (a different one) was working late and had the feeling that they were being watched. Looking up, he saw what he described as a “floating light about as wide as a torso.” It startled him and the “torso” disappeared.
Pee Wee loved her guest ranch and Frontier Town as well, several of the buildings were preserved and are in use today. We like to think that Pee Wee pops in to keep an eye on us and make sure that everything is okay.