Powers, Arizona’s Haunted Hotel

The Gadsden Hotel, built in 1907, is listed on the National Historic Register. It has appeared in movies and early in its history served as a home and meeting place for nearly all of the region’s great movers and shakers. A white marble staircase and gold-leaf topped marble columns decorate the lobby. A 42-foot Tiffany stained-glass mural and stained-glass skylights illuminate the mezzanine. So what’s that translucent cowboy doing sitting on the couch?

There have been so many incidents that the hotel keeps a logbook to allow guests and staff to record their experiences, which seem to occur year round. There are so many reports that no one thinks much of them any more. The reports are kept in binders behind the front desk. Hotel employees take the ghosts in stride, and their unseen guests seem happy and not vindictive.

Room 333 seems to be a particularly active area. One woman reported that she was joined in bed by an invisible visitor. Apparently her experience was somehow soothing and not frightening, and she did not ask for a different room. One guest reported that his golf clubs flew across the room. Televisions sometimes turn on and off in that room.

Some of the spirits appear to be cowboys and someone saw a Mexican soldier. A young boy and a well-dressed woman have also been seen. A housekeeper reported being slapped in the face by an unseen hand. A Florida man checked into the governor’s suite but raced into the lobby a few minutes after entering his room, claiming that a woman was taking a shower in the bathroom.  When he and a hotel staffer checked, the shower was completely dry and empty. The guest decided not to stay.

While a few guests have left when they learned the hotel is haunted, many others come to stay when they find out about the ghosts. The hotel’s manager declined an invitation by a priest to conduct an exorcism. She believes the ghosts are actually good for business.

The Gadsden has been investigated by amateur ghost hunters and has appeared on television.  Visitors have sent eerie photographs of phenomena they say they witnessed, including a photo showing the image of a translucent cowboy sitting on a couch in the lobby.

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Thinking about booking a stay? Here’s the Gadsden Hotel’s website: