New owner hires Shamanic healer to ‘cleanse’ former Ted Binion’s home

Driving along Palomino Lane just west of Rancho Drive, one may notice an oversized white house behind a locked fence. There's an empty driveway, sparse front-yard landscaping, paint chipping under its eaves and a damaged air-conditioning unit along its side.

Although 2408 Palomino Lane may appear like a typical vacant home, what once happened inside is atypical.

If walls could talk, this 6,260-square-foot house would have quite a tale to tell. It is the home that casino executive Ted Binion built. He died with Xanax and heroin in his stomach in September 1998. Did Binion die of an overdose? Or, was his death caused by his live-in girlfriend Sandy Murphy and the man who authorities said was her lover, Rick Tabish? Both were found guilty of murder in a televised trial in 2000, both of their murder convictions were overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2003, and both then were acquitted of murder in a 2004 retrial.

The home's sensational history has stigmatized it and may be a reason why it has been vacant since Binion's death despite an investor purchasing it in 2002. Several attempts to resell were unsuccessful until it was bought in July for $845,000.

With its new owners comes a new era for the residence.

Sept. 30 marked a first step in moving the home beyond the Binion tragedy. It was the day of "spiritual cleansing" — the clearing out of stagnant and any negative energy — before its new owners plan to bring the home back to life through extensive remodeling.

Shamanic healer's ritual

During Real Estate Million's Sept. 30 visit, the air felt very warm and stale. (Remember the damaged air-conditioning unit?) It was void of furniture. Quiet. Outdated in style.

Shamanic healer Valarie Zuvuya, who has lived in Las Vegas since 1984, was preparing for the cleansing ritual by setting out white sage, Epson salt and 91-proof alcohol that would be lit on fire to help clear the energy by "smudging" each room.

"The Chinese use feng shui, and the Native Americans and different indigenous people use smudging, to clear and to correct the energy. Smudging has been done by all different cultures. Even the pope with frankincense does a type of smudging to clear the energy," Zuvuya said. "It's kind of like an energy reboot to release any stagnant energy. It's a cleansing and a blessing of the home."

Dani Bald of Realty Executives of Nevada said that the current owner — Summit Canyon Resources LLC, the company her husband works for — hopes that cleansing will lessen the home's stigma because of Binion's death.

"I just felt like the stigma of this house should be confronted head-on. There was so much hush-hush and 'did you hear?' about this home. I feel like it is one of those things that we need to bring to the forefront and address, and that's why we're having this cleansing," Bald said. "I don't feel any bad energy in this home. I just feel like the house is sad. It is unloved. It has been vacant for 17 years. We need to give it a breath of fresh air and a new life."

The cleansing ceremony began with Zuvuya at the center of the sunlit front living room, which is covered in white marble flooring and features a highly detailed white fireplace.

Before beginning, she said that "house cleansing is all about intention. You can do it any way, but I like to use angels, our creator, God or whatever you call it. My focus is on that and to better the place and to uplift the energy."

Zuvuya started by calling in energies, archangels and the elements of earth, fire, water and air, followed by announcing her intentions.

"We ask that all energies of argument, doubt, fear, any stagnation, anything that is not of the highest love and the highest light to be carried out on the wings of smoke and released."

After ensuring that windows and doors were open, sage was lit and its smoke fanned to all corners of the room to help absorb energies. Then it was fanned out of the home.

"Dense energy, stagnant energy, sadness, loneliness, any fear be released and let go of," she said.

Zuvuya visited each room of the three-bedroom, 4½-bath residence, including a 265-square-foot unfinished basement accessed by narrow stairs under a garage.

"All dense energy, stagnant energy of 17 years, we ask that you be healed, forgiven and released so that the new owners can be blessed in the space in a good way ... a loving way. That they can create their dreams come true here at 2408 Palomino Drive in Las Vegas," Zuvuya said.

In some rooms, like the den and the oversized master suite, the fanning of the smoke became more rapid and more words were spoken. These are the areas where afterward Zuvuya said she felt a stronger density of energy.

At the conclusion, the home smelled a bit smoky and no longer stale.

What were Zuvuya's impressions?

"This was my first time in the home, and there was a lot of stagnant energy, no vibrations, no happy feelings, and not lived in. It's typical that the energy is stagnant since the home has been sitting by itself here for 17 years. … I could sense feelings of fear and doubt. ... Down in the basement there was not a dense energy, just a dead energy. It could have been a storage shed. … There were no ghosts here."

Next chapter

Now that the former Binion home has had an energy reboot, the current owner is ready to take the next step: extensive remodeling with the intent to resell in spring 2016.

"This house just really needs a breath of life. That's our plan for the property — to bring it back to life per say, to give it a face-lift and hopefully find someone who will appreciate the home's luster before the stigma that was attached to it," Bald said.

The stigma obviously did not dissuade the current owner from purchasing it.

"We live nearby and drive by it every single day of our lives," Bald said. "It is just one of those sad properties that has become so dilapidated. When we saw it come back on the market, we were interested because we try to specialize in higher-end rebuilds. We saw this as an opportunity. It is a double lot, and it's an amazing community. It's an up-and-coming area where lots of people are trying to move. There are a lot of people who would love this exact location and this house, but just not with the stigma attached to it. We're removing the stigma and moving on."

She said Summit Canyon Resources hopes to have architectural plans completed in November and to start construction in December or January. They plan mostly cosmetic upgrades to the home, built in 1972, and an extensive redesign of the oversized backyard of the 1.38-acre property.

"We are going to give it a complete overhaul. We are going to tear it down to the studs and rebuild. … We'll blow out the walls, make it more open and give it a more modern feel," Bald said. "When we tear down some of the walls of the house, we will keep some of the wallpaper and some of the fixtures and then do homages throughout the house to keep some of its originality."

"I compare it to The Cromwell hotel and downtown Las Vegas in that we need to breathe life back into these things so that people are interested in them again."