It’s election night, 1940. Our candidate for senate suffers a fatal heart attack. It’s an important election. In a desperate huddle, a plan emerges. His body, still warm from life, is put on ice, literally.
Will this desperate act, fueled by political ambition, work? We’re talking about the legend surrounding the demise of the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, in a Tonopah hotel.
TRANSCRIPT
The year was 1940, and the crisp November air crackled with the tension of an impending election. Senator Key Pittman, a towering figure in politics, faced a pivotal moment in his career. As he had done for decades, Pittman stood on the edge of securing his legacy and his party’s influence in the political landscape.
Pittman's journey to prominence began in 1902 when he arrived in Tonopah, drawn by the allure of a town thriving on silver. Starting humbly, he lodged at the Mizpah Hotel, which would later become central to a version of this haunting tale. From these modest beginnings, Pittman ascended to become a formidable political force.
Pittman died in 1940. There are two widely differing stories surrounding his death.
One story says that Pittman suffered a severe heart attack just before the election on November 5th, and two doctors told his aides before the election that death was imminent. To avoid affecting the election, the party told the press that the senator was hospitalized for exhaustion and that his condition was not serious. According to this story, Pittman died on November 10 in the hospital.
But another version of the story is much more sensational. On the eve of the election, Pittman and his team convened at the Mizpah, strategizing late into the night. A sudden heart attack seized Senator Pittman. He did not survive.
Pittman’s team was thrown into a panic. The stakes were high, losing this race could tip the scales against his party’s interests. In a desperate maneuver, a chilling plan took shape: Pittman's death would not be immediately disclosed. Instead, his body, still warm with life, would be preserved to conceal the true date of his demise. Ice was acquired in abundance and poured over the Senator’s body in his suite's grand bathtub. Here lay the Senator, kept on ice, quite literally.
For five tense days, the facade persisted. Outside, the buzz of election fervor swirled, oblivious to the chilling truth concealed within the Mizpah's walls. Meals were brought in quietly, consumed in anxious silence amidst a vigilant watch over the icy secret.
Every creak of a floorboard, every gust of wind heightened the fear of exposure.
At last, the announcement of Pittman's passing came, carefully orchestrated to veil the grim reality and the actual date of his death. The election, already secured in Pittman's absence, solidified his legacy, at least on the surface.
Across the world, tributes poured in for the fallen statesman, unaware of the extraordinary lengths his party had gone to for victory.
Yet within the Mizpah, a legend emerged, “The Senator on Ice.” Pittman's once-grand suite, a testament to his power, now bore the stain of a ruthless gamble. It echoed with the haunting memory of a political giant encased in ice.
Was this act a desperate bid for power, or a misguided display of loyalty? The truth remains elusive, shrouded in the complexities of ambition and duty.
The tale of the “Senator on Ice” serves as a chilling reminder of the extremes to which politics can push individuals and institutions. Whether factual or mythical, it resonates with the enduring fascination and unease surrounding the intersection of power and mortality.
As you consider which version of events holds truth, ask yourself: How could Pittman have been preserved for five days in a bathtub filled with ice? The medical feasibility of such preservation raises doubts about the tale's veracity.
Moreover, concealing someone's death for political gain raises ethical and legal concerns. Would there have been repercussions for those involved if the story were true?
If the less sensational story about dying in the hospital is true, wouldn’t that be just as disreputable, since doctors said that death was imminent before the election?
Regardless of which version you believe, the story of the “Senator on Ice” stands as a testament to the unforgiving nature of political ambition. In the opulent halls of the Mizpah Hotel, a lingering chill whispers of a night when a titan of politics may have drawn his last breath.
Also check out:
Wikipedia: Key Pittman
Mizpah Hotel: https://themizpahhotel.com/our-history
Historic Hotels: https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/mizpah-hotel/history-mystery.php
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