Crescent Hotel

The Crescent Hotel, located in historic Eureka Springs Arkansas, prides itself in being called America’s “most haunted” hotel. While other hotels may lay claim to that title, I can’t argue with the moniker due to the personal experiences I had while staying there in its most famously haunted room – 218.



The Crescent was built in 1886 and has served as a hotel, experimental cancer hospital, and community college over its 120+ year history. Abandoned for several years in the 1940s the hotel was restored to its Victorian opulence in 1972.

Employees of the hotel are accustomed to odd sightings. Several spirits seem to have taken up permanent residence there – that of a woman roaming the hallways and another of a little boy displacing cookware and cutlery in the Crystal Dining Room kitchen.

While hauntings have been reported throughout the hotel, room 218 is perhaps the most famously haunted area. The room is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a stonecutter named Michael who fell to his death in the area where the room is today. Reports of toilets flushing on their own, lights flashing on and off and guests waking in the middle of the night feeling an unseen hand pushing on their backs are quite common.

The Crescent Hotel gained national notoriety in recent years after being featured on the SciFi Channel’s show “Ghost Hunters” and given the hosts’ seal of approval as a legitimately haunted place. Infrared footage of a dark silhouette was captured during their investigation.

During my stay at the Crescent, I couldn’t escape an eerie feeling that enshrouded me during my visit. My wife felt it too and claimed she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. In the morning our bath water wouldn’t heat up while the rest of the hotel enjoyed hot water. Certainly strange…but perhaps the strangest occurrence of all was the fact that our daughter was conceived there – and born on Halloween.