The Crescent Hotel sits high on a hill above Eureka Springs and looks exactly like the kind of place that would have a few ghosts.
The huge limestone hotel opened in 1886 and has been watching over the town ever since. During that time, it has been a luxury resort, a boarding school for young women, a con-man’s cancer hospital and, once again, a hotel.
That is a lot of history for one building and it has picked up a collection of ghost stories along the way.
The Crescent calls itself America’s Most Haunted Hotel, and guests and employees have reported everything from strange noises and moving objects to full-bodied apparitions.
I’ve stayed at the Crescent several times and have never experienced anything I would call paranormal. A little creepy? Yes. Paranormal? No. But many people say that they have.
So let’s get into the stories, starting with the hotel’s very first ghost.
Building the Crescent Hotel and Michael the ghost
The Crescent Hotel opened in May 1886. It cost $300,000 to build, which was a fortune at the time.
It was constructed using massive limestone blocks which were hand-cut from a quarry on the White River near the town of Beaver by a crew of Irish workers. It was slow, dangerous work.
According to Crescent Hotel legend, one of the stonemasons fell to his death during construction in what is now Room 218.
It is said that his ghost still haunts the room. The hotel calls him Michael and Room 218 is considered the most “active” room in the building. Guests report slamming doors, strange visions in the mirror, and drawers that open on their own.
Even so, it’s one of the most requested rooms in the hotel for people hoping to meet him. I’m not one of those by the way.
The Victorian Years
During its early years, the Crescent was a playground for the wealthy. And several of today’s ghosts still seem to be dressed for a fancy party.
The Crystal Dining Room is the epicenter of this activity. Staff have reported seeing Victorian-dressed ghosts dancing late at night, and decor rearranging itself when no one’s in the room.
One recurring ghost, a man in formal Victorian dress, has been seen sitting at a window, waiting. Staff say he’s been overheard saying, “I saw the most beautiful woman in here last night and I am waiting for her to return.”
Y’all, that was more than a century ago and he’s still waiting! She must have really been something else.
The Crescent College For Young Women
The Crescent College and Conservatory opened in the hotel in 1908.
The idea was that “fine young ladies” would be educated there during the winter months when the hotel had fewer guests and the hotel would go back to being a resort each summer.
At a time when few families invested heavily in educating their daughters, Crescent College was surprisingly exclusive. Tuition ran $375 a year, and several of its students went on to live notable lives.
But the school is also home to one of the hotel’s saddest legends.
One of the students died after falling, or perhaps jumping, or perhaps being pushed, from a third-floor balcony. She was reportedly pregnant at the time, and some speculate that the father was one of her professors.
There’s no actual record of who she was, or even if she existed, but it’s one of the ghost tour’s most-told stories.
Her ghost is said to appear as a misty figure in a nightgown, sometimes seen jumping from the balcony, other times just drifting through the hallway or the courtyard below.
Norman Baker’s Cancer Hospital
Crescent College eventually closed because of financial problems. It later reopened as Crescent Junior College for a few years before closing completely in 1937.
That same year the hotel was purchased by a man named Norman Baker and after that things got dark fast.
Baker had no medical training, but that didn’t stop him from opening what he called Baker’s Cancer Curing Hospital inside the old hotel.
He mailed out advertisements promoting a cure for cancer, and desperately ill patients came from all over the country hoping he could help them.
His treatment did not cure cancer.
Not surprisingly, a lot of the hotel’s creepiest stories trace back to this era, many of them centered on the basement, where Baker ran a makeshift morgue.
My favorite ghost is Theodora. She is said to still wander Room 419, sometimes introducing herself to guests as one of Baker’s patients looking for her lost room key. She’s also been known to tidy up guests’ belongings while they’re out. Sounds like something my own ghost might do.
Baker himself has reportedly been spotted in the lobby, wearing the purple shirt and white linen suit he wore in life.
Guests and staff have also reported hearing the squeak of a gurney’s wheels near the old morgue, and voices or screaming when no one else is around. Some visitors claim to feel faint on the third floor for no clear reason.
Baker’s scheme finally caught up with him in 1940, when he was convicted of mail fraud. Yep, it was those fancy, lying brochures that got him. You’ll be glad to hear that he was sent to prison.
Ghosts Without a Dark Backstory
I know it seems like all the ghosts at the Crescent have a dark story associated with them. But there are a few that just…hang around. Seems some people don’t want to leave the Crescent Hotel even after they’ve left this life.
There have been sightings of a young boy who the staff calls “Breckie.” He is believed to be the ghost of Clifton Breckinridge Thompson who was the son of the college president. He, sadly, passed away from complications of appendicitis, but still loves to bounce his ball in the hallways and hang out on the second floor.
Morris was the hotel’s beloved orange tabby for 21 years, from 1973 until 1994, and guests loved him. These days, people still report feeling a cat rubbing against their legs…even when there’s no cat in sight.
The Hotel Falls into Disrepair and Comes Back to Grandeur
In the years after Baker, the Crescent went through a string of owners and periods of restoration and neglect. A major fire in 1967 damaged the hotel’s fifth floor and dramatically changed its roofline.
Marty and Elise Roenigk purchased the Crescent in 1997 and began an extensive restoration. Among other things, they rebuilt the roofline that had been lost in the fire and helped return the old hotel to its former grandeur.
What Was Found on the Hotel Grounds in 2019
Decades after Baker was hauled off to prison, the hotel’s past came back in a very literal way.
In February 2019, the hotel’s landscape gardener uncovered a strange cache of old bottles buried in the ground. It didn’t take long to realize what she’d found. The bottles matched ones shown on one of Norman Baker’s old advertising posters.
The Arkansas Archeological Survey came in to excavate the site properly. What they found was Baker’s long-lost dump site. There were hundreds of bottles, along with medical artifacts that included a bone saw.
Some of the bottles appeared to contain tissue and medical specimens. Later testing confirmed that at least some of what had been preserved in the bottles was human tissue.
So no, the discovery didn’t prove the Crescent was haunted. But it did uncover very real, very unsettling evidence from the strangest and darkest period in the hotel’s history.
Staying at the Crescent Hotel Today
You probably need to know that the hotel leans heavily (and dare I say, happily) into its ghostly reputation. However, it is also a perfect place for those who just want to experience a stay at a great historic hotel.
Even if you are a skeptic you might like to take one of their ghost tours. In addition to learning about the ghosts you learn a lot about the history of the hotel.
We took the ghost tour and it was very interesting. You get to hear the stories of many of the hotel’s spirits, learn about the various sightings, and even see the infamous morgue from the Norman Baker years.
I’m not going to lie, it was more than a little creepy…but I tend to be a little jumpy.
You absolutely do not have to believe in ghosts to enjoy a get away at the Crescent. We have a review of what it’s really like to stay there.
And here is a list of some more of our favorite places to stay in Arkansas!
