The Luxor Interesting Facts

How did the ancient Egyptians align the pyramids so that two sides ran so precisely north-South? That is only one of the mysteries that surround those far-away structures. The Great Pyramids of Egypt have been a source of mystery for many years. Of course, they were built as tombs to the great pharaohs, but they were much more than that. The pyramids were believed to possess some kind of supernatural powers that would help to lead the rulers into the afterlife. Today, there are those who believe that pyramids continue to display powers far beyond the understanding of present-day culture. Modern times have not abandoned the pyramid, though - you will find this glass-and-steel structure on the south end of the world-famous Las Vegas Strip.

The Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a marvel of modern engineering. The walls of the hotel are the hotel's rooms, with each hallway having an open balcony looking down into the interior of the pyramid. In each corner is an elevator designed especially for the Luxor that goes up at the angle of the pyramid. They have been dubbed "inclinators", since they take passengers on an incline instead of straight up. The exterior of their shafts are also visible, which is just inside the strip entrance to the pyramid. The casino can be seen under the archway, between the two huge statues, and the upper level has several 3-D and IMAX type attractions - with a Luxor theme, of course.

Getting back to the Luxor's Egyptian counterparts, when archaeologists were examining the inner chambers of the pyramids, they found that stray cats that had become lost in the tombs when they were sealed, and had mysteriously become perfectly mummified over the years. Because of that, a French explorer named Monsieur Bovis went home and constructed a precise, scaled-down model of the pyramid. When he placed a dead cat in his model, it mummified perfectly. Further experiments over the years found that razor blades placed inside a pyramid retained sharpness much longer than normal. It was also found to keep food fresher, tenderized meat, and aided in reducing headache pain - and possibly increased sexual ability. Some even believe that a pyramid somehow causes polarized microwave signals that could eventually be channeled in a form of electrical power!

So what does all this have to do with a hotel and casino in Las Vegas? Well, your guess is as good as anyone else's. There is one thing for certain: guests have reported seeing the misty forms of a spirit roaming the hallways of the hotel.

How such a relatively new location could be haunted? I suppose that it could be the spirit of one or more of the three people who have taken their own life at the hotel, throwing themselves over the railing of one of the higher floors. On the other hand, the haunting could be related to the two workmen who reportedly lost their lives in accidents during the construction of the hotel.

Many histories of Vegas state that, "there are many holes in the desert (Debbie standing beside the statue is not one of these ghosts.)," referring to the time when the city was ruled by mobsters and impromptu executions and burials took place away from the major hotels - the Luxor property is at the far south of the strip, where nothing stood in the old days, and could easily be the location of such activity. Spirits of any gangsters could be responsible for the apparitions seen in the hotel. Or maybe it is the power of the pyramid alone that attracts the spectres...

Quite a lot has changed at the Luxor over the last few years. In 1994, the registration desk was located along the southern wall of the pyramid. It has since been relocated; the original construction of the registration desk was made to look like a massive Nile River barge. Attention to detail in the Luxor is truly incredible. The first construction of TheLuxor was transformed into a bona-fide Nile River ride, where a narrator told stories of old Egypt while you floated around the inside base of the hotel. The Nile has since been filled in, and the riverboats are no more, I wished I would have gotten to see them.

The Luxor has been the scene of several traumatic events in its short history. But whether that is the case for its reported haunting, or its location at the end of the strip, or simply the cosmic energy that emanates from the pyramid shape, something supernatural seems to be happening at the Luxor. It is not only interesting from that perspective, but also from its design.

The pyramid reaches 350 feet (146.73 meters) into the sky and is 36 stories tall. Luxor is home to the world's largest atrium, measuring 29 million cubic feet. The hotel has 4,407 rooms, making it the third largest hotel in the world. The beam crowning the pyramid is the brightest beam in the world, and is comprised of forty-five Xenon lights. It is said that you can read a newspaper 10 miles in space by its light.

Robin, Jim and I arrived in Las Vegas on December 19, 2011. Mike, Debbie and Grady picked us up at the airport at 8:00 p.m., and then we were off. Mike and Grady were tire, so Jim, Debbie, Robin and I went out for an adventure. We walked from Excalibur to the Luxor; such an amazing sight to see, so much art.

We walked through the Luxor casino; I found out really fast that if you were gambling that you get free drinks, but if you purchase a drink that it's way/way expensive. We stopped at Flight within the Luxor Casino; two beers and two whiskey sours were $40!

The last night we were in Las Vegas we road the railway; you can catch this railway at the Luxor, and you walk out the pyramid with a Spinx head.