The Ghosts You Might Encounter At This Arizona Hotel Will Haunt Your Dreams

The Hotel Monte Vista opened January 1, 1927 as the Community Hotel. Since then, it hosted overnight stays for plenty of weary travelers and even a fair number of famous guests, including Humphrey Bogart, Carole Lombard, and Freddie Mercury. In its early days, the hotel was home to bootlegging, speakeasies, illegal gambling operations, and even underground tunnels where less than savory activities often took place.

Stories of hauntings in the hotel have been present since at least the 1950s and at least 12 different ghosts have been sighted in and around the building. Apparently, one of the first ghosts reported was of a phantom bellhop by John Wayne during a stay in the 1950s. Since then, guests have reported ghosts on a regular basis, with the spirits ranging from friendly to menacing.

You can find a list and stories of the 12-plus ghosts on the hotel’s website but we’re going to highlight a few of them here. Enjoy the stories!

Let’s start with John Wayne meeting that ghostly bellhop. During one of his stays in Room 210, Mr. Wayne apparently heard a knock on the door and a voice state, "room service." He opened the door only to find no one nearby. He spotted the ghost on a few other occasions and mentioned that it seemed nonthreatening.

Since then, plenty of other guests staying in the room have experienced the same thing, with a phantom bellhop knocking on the door. Other guests and staff have reported seeing him walking down the hotel halls, perhaps waiting to complete his next task.

The room with the highest amount of reported ghost activity is Room 305. Once featured on the television show, "Unsolved Mysteries," it is the permanent home to an old woman, once a long-time renter, seated in a rocking chair by the window. Guests and housekeeping staff often report spotting the faint image of a woman seated in the chair while staring out the window or watching the chair rock on its own. In some cases, the chair will be moved back to its location in front of the window after a guest or housekeeping moves it to another location. While spooky, the encounter has a tinge of haunting loneliness with the old woman always alone, even after death.

Right next door, in Room 306, is considered the second most haunted room in the hotel. Guests often report the uneasy feeling of being watched or having their possessions moved around in the night. Male guests also report feeling someone touching their bodies. So what’s with all the activity?

In the 1930s and 1940s, Flagstaff’s red light district was located just a couple blocks from the hotel, on the other side of the railroad tracks. Once prostitutes found customers, they would head to places like the Hotel Monte Vista. On one occasion, two prostitutes were taken to Room 306 only to be murdered here.

Have you heard any of these stories before? If you've stayed at the hotel, have you spotted a ghost or had a spooky encounter you're unsure how to explain?