I — I don’t know. I do know I spent a strange couple of nights there.
And you, dear reader, are asking me, “Is it really what?”
Haunted.
The 1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, has the reputation of being America’s most haunted hotel. I stayed here on a press trip following the NATJA (North American Travel Journalists Association) conference in April 2018.
I was so intrigued, I returned two days later to stay a second time, on my own dime.
Eureka Springs Haunted Hotel
We have historic hotels all over the United States, and nearly all of them claim a few ghosts.
None can rival the tales from one particularly morbid period of history at the Crescent Hotel, which might have been written for the cable series, American Horror Story.
From 1937 to 1940, the Crescent Hotel was the Baker Hospital, run by wealthy snake-oil salesman, Dr. Norman Baker, who had never set foot in medical school. Looking for a story idea?
It’s all here: Depression era cancer patients desperate for help, spending their savings for Baker’s fake cure in an imposing resort in the Ozark Mountains. Baker did not believe in using painkillers, so patients in late-stage pain were shut in a more sound-proof area.
Death was inevitable. Nurses wheeled bodies down to the basement morgue in the middle of the night, where they could be quickly disposed of without alarming the other residents. Following Baker’s federal conviction for mail fraud in 1940, the Crescent sat empty, then re-opened as a hotel in 1946 (Find a more complete hotel history and the end of the article).
While its run as cancer hospital was short-lived, this part of its history makes the Crescent different from any other old hotel in the United States.
We arrived at the Crescent Hotel around 11:00 a.m. After checking in, we dropped our bags in our rooms, and dashed back out for a full day of touring activities, including a visits to Crystal Bridges Art Museum and Thorncrown Chapel.
Following a winding drive back through the Ozarks, we paused on a ridge across from the hotel to take pictures.
We all headed upstairs for a little downtime before reconvening for dinner. I had Room 301, which is in one of the hotel’s towers, and shares a balcony with the room next door.
| Quick Links | |
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| Second Night at the Crescent | History of the Crescent Hotel |
| Practical Info for Staying at the Crescent | Things to do in Eureka Springs |
Ghost Tours at the Crescent Hotel
Tours begin in the hotel’s historic archives on the 4th floor. Our guide, Keith Scales, director of tours at the hotel, was waiting for us. He began with an overview of the Crescent’s history.
From there, the tour winds its way through the hotel, floor by floor, and you learn about all of the most active spirits, from Michael, the stone mason who fell to his death during the building’s construction, to the children who still appear to play as poltergeists in the laundry room. I won’t spoil the tales by relaying them here.
Come out, come out, wherever you are . . .
When we reached the third floor, we listened to Scales tell more stories, and I took several cell phone photos in different directions. When I looked, I saw light spots on one of the images, and went further down that hall to take several in succession.
Okay . . . there is definitely something there. Is it light reflections? Or are these the “orbs” that our guide mentioned frequently show up in photographs. Hmm.
I went back to the group and collared one of my friends holding an EMF meter, showing her the photo. Together we went to the place where the light spots were. I took the meter, running it back and forth, from near the baseboard up to shoulder height. The instrument twitched to life and began going off slowly, blinking and beeping, then increasingly more, and more, until the thing was going crazy.
The whole group stood transfixed. I asked whether there was some electrical thing in the vicinity that might be causing it. Scales said no, not in this location.
And then it just stopped. Alefiyah looked at me. “Oh, sh@&!”
The Morgue
Following the Crescent’s brief stint as a cancer hospital, the morgue space in the basement returned to use as a storage area, but is now cleaned out and accepting new visitors. Like to step inside?
After touring the entire hotel, the Ghost Tours lead people outside, and then back into the morgue area where you’ll sit to watch a clip of the Ghost Hunters episode on the hotel, and learn more about the Baker Hospital.
When we entered this room, the EMF meters went off in one area in the middle of the seating — which was unfortunately the one place left open. So, I sat on the ghost 🙂 . It was the only seat left! By the time we rose, the EMF activity had ceased, and nothing else occurred while we were in the morgue space.
When we finished the tour, Keith Scales offered to lend the writers the EMF meters for the evening. I volunteered for one of them, and then our group headed up to the Sky Bar for cocktails and some wind-down time. It had been a long day!
Time for Bed
I took the meter back to my room and eyed it dubiously. Did I really want to know whether it detected any ghostly activity right before I went to bed? Hmm. Well, yes I did. I swept my room, watching the sensor. Nothing except the activity from my cell phone. I promptly turned out the light, and fell straight asleep without giving it another thought.
At 5:00 am, I woke to a knocking sound inside my room, very near my bed. I lay there for a minute. The room was dark as dark could be.
Radiator? No, it wasn’t a metallic sound. After several minutes, with no more sound, I began drifting back to sleep, only to wake to more rapping, this time inside of the bathroom. A prickly feeling ran down my spine.
Enough of this! I switched on the bedside lamp and sat blinking. The air-conditioner was running full-tilt. The radiator certainly wasn’t on . . . even if it still functioned. I felt the radiator coils. Stone cold. After turning the A/C off I stood for moment, listening. Other than the clicks and little pops from the air conditioner machinery, all was quiet.
I crawled back into bed, snuggled under the duvet, and dozed off and on until it was time to shower.
And let the stories begin
I arrived in the Crystal Dining Room a little early, and found a seat at one of our group’s tables. There were fifteen writers on the tour. Five neither heard nor saw anything. But then two of them were so rattled following the ghost tour that they spent the entire night with their room lights on, and barely slept. Two of the others decided to sleep together in one room. Of course, they did better than Billy Bob Thornton, who is reputed to have refused to sleep at the Crescent after his ghost tour.
Most of the ten who thought they’d experienced something heard sounds they couldn’t explain. One felt something. The most interesting accounts follow.
The first writer who sat down with me described waking in the middle of the night two different times, to the sound of something being rolled down the hallway with squeaky wheels. He did not get up to investigate. Another heard the same thing, but did open the door to an empty hallway.
One was repeatedly awakened by the sound of metal rasping against rock — she described it as the sound of a heavy shovel making long scrapes along concrete or stone. She wasn’t afraid, just angry at being woken repeatedly — and finally got up, and stomped out into the hall to give the culprit what-for — to find nothing.
The last I’ll share: one of the women turned out her lamp, and when she was nearly asleep, something lightweight jumped onto her bed, walked across it, then returned to lay down near her feet. Her chihuahua sleeps with her every night, so the sensation seemed normal, until she realized with a start — that she was not at home. After of turning her light on, she found her bed empty.
All of this was too interesting to leave behind!
I had a few days before I was expected back in Houston, so after breakfast, I stopped at the registration desk and made a reservation for two nights later.
| Quick Links | |
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| Beginning | History of the Crescent Hotel |
| Practical Info for Staying at the Crescent | Things to do in Eureka Springs |
America’s Most Haunted Hotel
The Second Night
Two days later, I drove from Branson, Missouri, back to Eureka Springs to arrive at the Crescent in the late morning. I stopped by the registration desk, but it was too early for a room.
Perfect opportunity to try the hotel’s SkyBar for a local ale and some of their phenomenal pizza, while I enjoyed the view and did some writing. Following this, I wandered the grounds, poking about and taking more pictures. I found the grave of Morris the cat, read his poem in the lobby, and spent some time with the current Crescent Hotel feline — Jasper.
Afterwards, my room was ready, and I checked into 302 — a roomy suite in the same tower as my previous room, across the hall, and sharing the same balcony. The rolled armchairs were inviting, and I passed a great afternoon, editing pictures, writing, and doing some social media work.
Following a good dinner in the Crystal Dining room, I went on a second Ghost Tour. We had an engaging tour leader who told plenty of stories. He did not use EMF readers on the tour, which I found disappointing.
After checking with the Crescent the next day, they assured me that the ghost tours should all have EMF readers — so ask if you don’t see them. I again took photos throughout the tour, but saw nothing in the images. It was at an earlier time than the tour I took the first evening.
Later, I ordered a drink up at the Sky Bar and headed to the big sofa in front of the lobby fire. What a fine reading spot! Something brushed past my legs. Looking down, I saw Jasper, the current hotel cat, who hopped up on the sofa to offer a head-butt and some company. No ghostly kitties here! Not long afterwards, I retired to my room to sleep.
The night passed uneventfully, until sometime after 5:00 am. Something propelled me from a normal orientation — quickly shoving me so that I lay along the top of the bed, face pushed into the crack between the headboard and the mattress. I felt weighed down, and could not move. Nothing happened, but I could not change position, and I could not speak. I lay there what seemed a long time, immobile, alternately straining to get up and wondering what the hell was going on.
And then there was a hand that swept down my back and rested on my buttocks, while another hand grasped my neck. It was warm and I felt fingers. I began to panic, but try as I might — I still could not move.
The loud, beeping alarm on my cell phone went off.
I woke to find that I was right-wise around in bed and things were . . . normal. I lay there for a minute with my phone in hand. I’d been dreaming. You know, there are those dreams when you know that you are dreaming, even in the middle of them. This was not one of those, and I was perspiring.
I got up, opened the curtains, and started some coffee. To feel normal, you do normal things.
“Look,” I said to myself, “suggestion and imagination are powerful things.”
Yes. Let’s hold that thought.
I took my coffee outside to the balcony, and watched the sun come up over the trees. It was chilly, and the warm cup and heavy hotel robe were good. The feeling of the dream receded, and I put my hand on the stone wall of the old hotel and rubbed it, wondering.
“Is it you, or is it me?”
The pine needles whispered with a little breeze, and a starling began singing his morning song.
After a hot shower and a great breakfast downstairs in the Crystal Dining Room, I hit the road on my way back home, still unsure of what I thought.
Post Scriptum
So, is the 1886 Crescent Hotel haunted? I just don’t know.
There are practical explanations for most of my experiences:
- The “orbs” in my photographs? Quite possibly light reflections; however, they moved — although I did not, and then they were not in my images from the ghost tour on the second night.
- The knocking in my room? Old buildings make noise. Hey, I grew up in New Orleans, and I can tell you, old houses have lives of their own.
- The dream? After several days of thinking about ghosts and the Crescent Hotel, my imagination happily created one for me.
- The meters going off then suddenly stopping? No explanation.
- All of the writers’ different experiences? No explanation, other than the power of suggestion coupled with active imaginations.
But then there is another thing. I enjoy historic hotels and houses and have stayed in so many over the course of my lifetime that I’ve lost count. All of them are reputed to have ghosts; however, I have never heard, seen, or felt anything. It has always seemed to me that they were simply great stories — and who doesn’t love those?
My stay at the Crescent was . . . different.
In my gut, what do I feel? I believe the 1886 Crescent Hotel is haunted.
Would I go back? Yes. For even if it is, I believe the haunting is part of the Crescent’s life, not mine, and its ghosts are not demons that will drag me back into their netherworld. That is the stuff of horror films.
Additional Information: History, Visiting the Crescent, and things to do in Eureka Springs
America’s Most Haunted Hotel
History of Eureka Springs’ Haunted Hotel
When the Crescent opened her doors in 1886, she was the jewel of the Ozarks, drawing wealthy guests from around the country to enjoy vacations while they took the waters of the famed local springs. Her heyday was short lived. With changing medical knowledge and mild depressions in the early 1900’s, the resort season shifted to summers only, and the Crescent College and Conservatory for young women operated in the building during the off season.
The College was open from 1908 – 1924. A junior college tried to make a go of it from 1930-1934, but at the height of the depression, few had money for the niceties higher education or summer resorts. The great lady of the Ozarks closed her doors after a 48 year run.
In 1937, the people of Eureka Springs were overjoyed to have a Dr. Norman Baker purchase the property for the purposes of opening a cancer hospital. What a boon this would be for a community suffering from hard economic times!
Local business took out ads in the Daily Times-Echo expressing warm welcomes to the town’s savior.
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An actor and a dandy, and then an inventor of the Calliaphone and a millionaire . . . Norman Baker was many things, but he was no doctor. A schemer with a hatred of the American Medical Association, he’d set up an radio station where he liked to rant against the medical establishment. Baker had a huge following.
When authorities in Iowa shut down his first “cancer hospital,” and ran Baker out of the state, he started all over in Eureka Springs. Baker also opened a new, powerful 100,000 watt radio station to Laredo, Mexico, outside of U.S. jurisdiction, which enabled him to advertise cancer cures without surgery or radiation — a popular idea for anyone suffering from the disease. His cancer formula contained glycerine, carbolic acid, and alcohol, which was mixed with tea brewed from water melon seed, brown corn silk, and clover leaves. Patients underwent multiple injections a day.
Baker did not believe in pain management. As his patients grew worse, as they invariably did, he moved them to a floor on one wing of the hospital, behind heavy doors to mask any vocalization of their pain. When they checked in to the Baker Hospital, patients were required to sign several sheets of blank stationery — quite handy for sending family typed requests for additional funds, even after the patients were too sick to write — or had passed away.
And when they died? Can’t have this alarming other patients — oh, no, no. Would not do at all.
Nurses rolled the dead down to the morgue on gurneys in the middle of the night. The basement morgue was outfitted with an autopsy table. Baker liked to save tumors and internal organs in glass jars of formaldehyde in a back room.
In 1940, the Feds got him — on a charge of multiple counts of mail fraud across interstate lines promoting his cure. Baker did four years in Leavenworth prison and paid a fine of only $4,000, although authorities estimated he had defrauded patients and their families out of more than $4 million. Such a small price for the pain and suffering he caused for so many.
After trying, and failing, to restart his cancer business in Iowa, Baker lived out his days on a large yacht in Florida. What did he die of? Drum roll please — a jaundiced liver. This might have been cirrhosis of the liver, but was equally as likely liver cancer, as jaundice is a common symptom of both primary and secondary cancers in the liver. Oh, I hope it was cancer! And I hope it was painful. I am a stage III colon cancer survivor, and I lost my husband to late stage lung cancer five years ago. I find the Baker Hospital story horrifying.
Four businessmen from Chicago bought and refurbished the Crescent, and she re-opened as a hotel 1946. In the hotel archive area, you can read brochures from the early 1960’s. It’s fascinating to the see cancer hospital period glossed over. All of the locals knew the story. But who wants to advertise the horror?
In 1967, a fire destroyed most fourth floor, also heavily damaging the third level. The Crescent again sat abandoned. In 1972, a partnership bought the hotel, rescuing it from being turned into a chicken farm. After major construction and refurbishment, the Crescent re-opened in 1973.
When Marty and Elise Roenigk purchased the Crescent in 1997, she was in need of another major cash infusion. The Roenigks gave the hotel a much-needed multi-million dollar renovation, and the grand lady of the Ozarks remains under Elise Roenigk’s care today.
For a complete article focused on Norman Baker, read Norman Baker, A Life History, published in the magazine Carousel Organ Journal, a publication of the Carousel Organ Association of America.
Here is a complete timeline of the History of the Crescent Hotel.
1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs: Practical Information
Reservations, Dining, Ghost Tours, and Spa Information
Location: 75 Prospect Ave, Eureka Springs, AR 72632
Contact information: (855) 725-5720
Link to the 1886 Crescent Hotel website.
Food and Spirits (of the drinkable nature 🙂 )
The Crystal Dining Room serves breakfast and dinner daily (8:00 am to 11:00 am weekdays, 8:00 am to noon on the weekends). At breakfast on weekdays, you’ll find a great buffet with an egg and omelette station, and on the weekend the buffet is HUGE — they call it their Breakfast Feast. Guests may also order from the menu. The dining room serves dinner from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Note: The Crescent is a popular wedding venue, and the Crystal Dining room may be closed to the public during special events. Check with the front desk for information.
Head up to the fourth floor SkyBar, you’ll find a full bar with good selection of local ale, along with gourmet pizza and other casual fare. Their home made pizzas and calzones are great, and the view from the top of the Crescent makes this a wonderful place to relax and unwind. Check the menu and times — which do change in the winter season.
For full information on everything from rooms and spa treatments, to ghost tours and wedding planning, visit the Crescent Hotel website.
| Quick Links | |
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| Beginning | First Night at the Crescent |
| Second Night at the Crescent | History of the Crescent Hotel |
Things to do around Eureka Springs
Eureka Springs is charming — all Victorian and turn of the century buildings, full of shops and restaurants, and with regular live music offerings — a perfect spot for a long weekend getaway. Add to that list canoeing, hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking — and you have a long list of possibilities. Visit EurekaSprings.org for up-to-date information about activities, dining, and other lodging options.
For those who would like to SEE America’s most haunted hotel, and possibly have a meal and a ghost tour, but feel nervous about staying at the Crescent 🙂 — there are plenty of places to stay in Eureka Springs, great bed and breakfasts, and other hotels, including the 1905 Basin Park Hotel which belongs to the same owner who has the Crescent. I love people who save old hotels and go out of my way to support them!
Go take a drive! The winding roads through the Ozarks are both beautiful AND a blast to drive, whether you have a sports car or a motorcycle!
Visit Thorncrown Chapel, a beautiful structure designed by E. Fay Jones, who was mentored by Frank Lloyd Wright. Inspired by Saint Chappelle in Paris, the architect often referred to the style of the building as “Ozark Gothic.” The building has won numerous awards and is roundly considered an architectural masterpiece.
Explore the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, which is a short distance from Eureka Spring. Their mission: “To provide lifetime refuge for abandoned, abused, and neglected big cats with an emphasis on tigers, lions, leopards, and cougars.” Current estimates indicate that more than 10,000 big cats are living in private homes and backyards around the United States, often in deplorable conditions. Demand for exotic cats fuels domestic breeding programs to produce lions, tigers, and crosses between the two species (ligers and tigons), frequently leading to horrific inbreeding problems. The whole thing is appalling. In addition to caring for their cats, Turpentine Creek actively advocates for passing a federal law to regulate and limit the ownership of big cats.
Drive and hour to Bentonville, Arkansas, and explore the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. I spent an afternoon here, and what a lovely place! They have an impressive collection for such a new museum, including a Frank Lloyd Wright home, the Bachman-Wilson House. For more information: Architectural Digest, How Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House Ended Up in Arkansas. In 2015, they turned the art world on its ear when they purchased Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 for a record $44 million. I was really taken with the innovative curatorial choices — to display works of art from very different time periods together in the same space. Interesting articles for my arts readers: Is Crystal Bridges, in rural Arkansas, the most woke museum in America? (Washington Post).
Entertainment in the evening? In addition to a variety of live music, you might seek out the illusionist at the Intrigue Theater. Sean-Paul the Illusionist and Juliane Fay the Medium performed for us during the press trip — and they were amazing.
Summer visitors to Eureka Springs may also want to attend the Passion Play, celebrating 50 years of performance in 2018.
Looking for Eureka Springs Haunted Hotel? You’ve found it! A tale of a two night stay with the ghosts of the 1886 Crescent Hotel.
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| Keith Scales, director of tours at the Crescent, has recently published a book of ghost stories from the hotel. |   |
| I have ordered an EMF meter to take with me on other historic hotel stays — I found the whole thing fascinating. This is the same unit we used that night at the Crescent. |   |
I don’t watch things like ghost hunters, but after my visit to the Crescent Hotel, I looked up the Ghost Hunters’ visit. You’ll find the episode here:
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Disclosure: My first night here, I was a guest of Arkansas Tourism and the Crescent Hotel. My second night’s stay was at my own expense, but the Crescent upgraded me to a suite and had a welcome bottle of wine in my room. As always, opinions and experiences expressed on AnnCavittFisher.com are honest and my own. I’ll never recommend anything I didn’t love myself.
Eek! I definitely would have been one of the people dozing with the lights on if I stayed here after going on a ghost tour!
I stayed once in a hostel in Ottawa that used to be a prison (complete with death row and gallows), and after going on an evening ghost tour there I 100% slept with the lights on and kept waking up expecting to find someone sitting at the end of my bed. I’m a wimp when it comes to ghosts!
Well, the death row and gallows would do it for most people — in terms of worrying about ghosts and nightmares!
very brave! i wouldn’t have been able to do that! not a fan of all things haunted. looked like a great experience though!
Dave, it’s the first “haunted” hotel where I ever had feelings that it might be really haunted. I’m — I’m really still interested. I would definitely try it again.
Oh my, Ann, you’re a brave soul! I have done a lot of crazy things in my life, but ghosts are one thing that I couldn’t stand, let alone staying in a haunted hotel!! I have certainly stayed at a few places that made me feel “uncomfortable” (not sure if they are haunted). I either left the lights on the entire night, or rushed out of the room and seek another accommodation LOL
That’s pretty much what Billy Bob Thornton did 🙂 — and I don’t know if I’d had that dream the first night whether I would have returned for the second. After two nights there, I do think the Crescent is haunted, but my final feeling is more of interest that being scared. I’d like to go back to see what would happen on a third visit.
Oh how funny – in February I was in Eureka Springs in as well! I didn’t stay at the hotel but I did do the ghost tour and absolutely loved it! I would absolutely return and actually stay in the hotel 🙂
I loved the Eureka Springs area, and would love to return for a fall driving trip — and I would definitely stay at the Crescent again — although there are also some lovely bed and breakfast that I’d like to try as well.
you had me great in a trance and terror at the same time. I love your story and for some reason when I was in Edinburgh that was the first time I started to believe in ghosts. Doing the underground tour I felt something grab onto my leg when there was no breeze in those tunnels. So being able to experience something like this in that hotel you are a brave person to stay! I don’t think I would have stayed if I Saw those orbs or had that dream, bravo and thank you for sharing!
Well, I frankly would have felt much easier if I’d been sharing the room with someone else — but I’m glad I’ve done it. Would love to hear more about your experience in Edinburgh!
There are caverns under Edinburgh, Mercat ghost tours takes you on a tour in those caverns and tells you of the ‘watcher’ a ghost who wrecks havoc on the electrical system & now they put candles through the entire tour (always lit) so that if the electricity drops there is always a back up. Allegedly there are people who have heard someone whispering ‘get out’.
Once you enter the next few caverns you enter the cobblers room where it is the safest room in the caverns (away from the watcher). When I entered the room (before the stories started & has happened both times) I felt nauseated and as if something was not ok being down in the caverns (nearly turned around because it was that potent). It is said that people will often feel something near their shoes, or women (particularly motherly women) will feel a hand in theirs. This is suppose to be a little boy who stays with the cobbler & plays with something that sounds like a ball bouncing. There are no breezes in the caverns as they are sectioned off and it is quite damp and muggy under Edinburgh.
While listening to the story of the Cobbler (before the story of the little boy) I felt as if a small child was hugging my leg. It just felt exceptionally cold in some very particular and precise spots which made me feel as if it was different than a breeze would be. — It didn’t scare me because I just felt loved. Then she started telling us the stories and it all made sense. Now just to let you know….before this tour I did not believe in ghosts, spirits or those things that roam the earth to terrorize or haunt the living. After experiencing these things…..well now I do…… Edinburgh has soooo many hauntings…. especially in the Edinburgh Castle dungeons, and the Mckenzie Poltergist at Greyfriar’s Graveyard.
Now that’s a GREAT ghost story! Thank you so much for sharing — have you written about it on your blog? If so, please share a link.
I love your writing Ann and your choice of black and white photography was well done. I checked and double checked the credits. I could hardly believe that you took that photography. We have friends who always stay on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. They tell stories about the sounds she makes at night. One night, we visited them (they were staying in Winston Churchill’s suit) and they took an impromptu tour of ship at night. There were places I dared not go. I ended up waiting alone in the hallway outside of room B340, which was probably worse. My imagination was going wild by the time the group came back. I can only imagine the dreams I would have if I stayed at the Crescent Hotel
Thanks, you two! I did spend a lot of time taking photographs of the Crescent, and in the end I used the “cream” preset in Lightroom to create the “black and white” versions of the images.
I would LOVE to stay onboard the Queen Mary — something I’ve wanted to do ever since I first saw her in the 1980’s.
WOW! You are a BRAVE lady! Although the town of Eureka looks darling and the hotel looks lovely as well, I would not purposely stay in a hotel that was haunted – I would be too freaked out! I’ve never been one to watch scary movies or read scary books, can’t handle them! I would however join you for breakfast the next morning to hear all the stories!
LOVE this post!!! My husband and I used to seek out haunted places all the time and this is a place we would have definitely explored. The ghost tours sound great; I love getting the background stories and the whole premise of the Crescent Hotel sounds like breeding ground for angry souls who cannot rest after what happened to them. I have to admit, though, that hearing unidentifiable sounds is one thing. *Feeling* something is quite another. If I go, I think I’ll request to NOT be put in room 302. Except the sunrise view from the balcony is lovely…
I’m definitely keeping this place in mind if I head to Arkansas. It sounds too good to miss!
Glad you liked it 🙂 . I really think what I had was just a dream. The room you really want to avoid is room 218, where Michael the stonemason fell to his death when building the Crescent. It is supposed to have the most activity. — And if you want a balcony but don’t want my room, you could try the other tower.
Oh what a colourful hotel. I can only imagine people arriving here hoping to find a cure in such a grand establishment. So sad that all they found was a midnight trip to the basement.
Precisely!
Great story. I was one of the five writers who didn’t see or hear anything, but I believe the hotel is haunted. Are you really sure it was a dream? Haunted or not, I would definitely go back and stay at Crescent Hotel again. And Eureka Springs is charming!
Hi Donna, great to hear from you, and I’m glad you like the piece. I’m really sure it was a dream, but it just seemed SO real at the time. I found the experience at the Crescent interesting, and like I said, I’d go back.
I think the cat was the scariest sight of them all. LOL…
Jokes apart… I think to get the “best” out of this experience, one should go alone like you seem to have done. Try it again, this time try to take some videos.
Well, staying alone like I did definitely adds to the “creep” factor. It would be interesting to have video. I may try it next time.
So it is true! The haunted hotel had you in its spell that you were drawn towards it the second time 🙂 🙂 . I am sure I would love the experience of staying in the most haunted hotel in the US. More so after reading your story.. However first things first.. I need to get to the US of A 🙂 🙂 . One more time, that is.
Most definitely would be open to trying this! It is beyond perfect setting for a murder mystery party. And I love that you sat on a ghost – haha!
It would indeed be a fantastic place for a murder mystery party. And yes, sitting on the ghost 🙂 — perhaps I wasn’t respectful enough, and that’s the reason it left and the EMF readers went silent.
Oh my oh my! I would probably join this kind of tour, but, but, at least someone like another person sleeps with me like a female fellow writer/ blogger or anyone I could share the room with! This is really terrifying! The last story you shared, that woman! I just had goosebumps! You’re brave!
Truthfully, I wished I’d had a roommate!
This is so sad…I am an nurse (also lost my beloved mother to cancer) and to think they would wheel pt to sound proof rooms to scream in agony instead of ease their pain breaks my heart into a million pieces. This place must have such energy it goes beyond me.
It’s definitely a sad and disturbing part of the Crescent’s history. Interestingly though, the most active ghosts predominately come from other times in the Crescent’s past.
I’m not sure I would want to go on a ghost tour at a place I was staying overnight.
Those orbs!! 😮
The EMF meters really do take a ghost tour to a whole new level. I think I would have completely freaked out. No way would I have taken it back to my room, gahhhhhh. The knocking would have really cemented my freak out. There is no way I could have gone back to sleep.
After the stories you stay another night, omg you are brave. What a nightmare you had!
I was totally engrossed in your post, such a great read.
Well, you would be in good company — as I mentioned, Billy Bob Thornton was supposed to stay at the Crescent. He had dinner, went on the ghost tour, and returned to his room where he stayed about an hour. During that time he called his handler and told him to find another place to stay — because Billy Bob was NOT going to sleep there.
Glad you like the story!
Whoa! What a story! You are brave to go through those experiences!
I do believe ghosts exist and they try to get back to people who wronged them, others are left unharmed. 🙂 I stayed in one haunted hotel in Rajasthan.
I love historic hotels and am sure The Crescent will be on my agenda in the future. Really enjoyed this article! Paula
Thank you! Glad you like the piece 🙂 . I certainly look forward to returning to the Crescent. It’s a special place, and I’m completely intrigued rather than concerned about its ghostly goings-on. I would love to visit during the Halloween season. Eureka Springs is reputed to have some top-notch events at that time.
What a great story! And I certainly hope old Baker got his comeuppance too.
Would I like to stay? No, probably not, too creepy.
Well, you might be happier at one of the Crescent cottages or the Basin Park Hotel, which don’t have so much “activity” 🙂
Sounds a bit too scary for me! Thanks for writing about it though.