The Hotel Monte Vista is an iconic landmark in Flagstaff, Arizona, also hosting guests in their afterlife. Many ghost stories come from rooms, but how many of them are true?
The Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff, Arizona, has a reputation for having more residents than guests near Route 66. Built in 1927, this historic hotel is a center of paranormal activity. The Monte Vista Hotel on the corners of Aspen and San Francisco Streets was built as tourism increased and locals felt Flagstaff needed something first class.
Hotel staff are no strangers to haunted rumors about the hotel, and even encourage curious locals to explore its history, mentioning that it's the housekeeping staff who have the best stories.
Among the most incredible reports are Room 210, where a long-term resident used raw meat from the chandelier – a strange habit that even now remains in the air. Two women who were thrown from the third floor are said to haunt the halls, sitting with male guests in their sleep. Disturbingly, the cries of a phantom baby echo from the basement, sending shivers down the spines of those who hear it.
Couple dancing
One of the few hidden speeches in Flagstaff during Prohibition was the Monte Vista Hotel. They had secret tunnels built by Chinese railway workers and they ran underneath the hotel and it was known as the cocktail lounge. The moon, opium and other illegal activities can move freely in the city's underground world. The saloon was operated as a newspaper publishing house until local police closed it in 1931, although it reopened after Prohibition ended.
At the cocktail lounge, as it is called, staff and guests say there are couples dancing in the room in the early hours. Transparent and dressed in formal clothes, they smile and laugh as they dance through the afterlife.
When some employees asked about the dancing couple, it was said that it was a story made up of a TV show. Who knows where the legend comes from anymore, but it's certainly not the only haunting bar gossip.
Bank robber in a bar
According to this urban legend, the living room is also the eternal home of a man who has bled out his last drink. Three men robbed a nearby bank in 1970, robbed several towns, and a bank guard managed to shoot one of the men. Although they had one injured man with them, they decided to celebrate the robbery at a local bar and went to the Monte Vista Hotel. We were having a drink and a man was shot to death.
Since then, guests and employees have reported bar stools and drinks moving on their own. There is also a voice welcoming them “Good morning”, They think he must be a dead bank robber.
But was he ever a bank robber? Historical records can't really support this story because there aren't actually any reports of anyone bleeding to death in a living room or being shot by a bank guard. Some claim that this haunting rather comes from one of the many shootings that took place at the salon, but this is also without proof.
Rocking chair in room 305
According to itself, one of the most vigorous haunted rooms at the Monte Vista Hotel is room 305, and there has even been talk of TV shows, although some of the staff say the show has exaggerated the haunting experiences. But what does the legend actually say?
People who have stayed here claim to have seen a woman on a rocking chair near the window, which is said to be the same. There are also reports of hearing knocking from the closet. Some people say that the chair does not rock, but simply moved. Some even claim that the staff themselves started the gossip when several people entered the room and moved on the furniture, confusing each other.
But who rocks the chair from the legend? It is said that the room belonged to a long-time tenant, an elderly lady who sat at her window in chairs all day long. What she wasn't looking for, no one knows, but the legend has it, she's still looking.
Meat man in room 210
One of the most eminent incidents revolves around room 210, where a long-term resident had a macabre habit of hanging raw meat from the chandelier. No one really knows much about him or why he did it or even existed at all. Sometimes in the 1980s, a man was found dead in his room, three days after his death according to legend.
Although the tenant is long gone, the unsettling atmosphere of the room remains, with strange noises and inexplicable frigid spots sending shivers through guests who dare to stay. Shortly after his death, a maintenance worker was called in to make repairs. He left the room to get something, turned off the lights and closed the door. When he returned, the TV was at full capacity and the sheets on the bed had been torn and thrown across the room.
Even today, the hotel says guests complain about the TV turning off on its own. There are also some people who say that they can feel the frigid touch of a man's hands while sleeping.
Murdered women in 306
Two women who were allegedly thrown from the third floor haunt the halls, attacking guests. The Red Light District in Flagstaff was south of the train tracks two blocks from the hotel and one legend claims that two sex workers ended their days at the hotel.
In the early 1940s, there were two prostitutes who met a client in room 306. Inside the room, they were killed and thrown from a window.
Those who stayed on the upper floors reported waking up at night with the feeling that they were even talking about imperceptible hands trying to sit them down, mostly male guests say. These spectral women are said to be vengeful, unleashing their wrath on unexpected guests, making their presence terrifying through Phantom Strengths and whispered threats.
Were sex workers really murdered in the hotel? There is no corroborating evidence such as newspaper articles or police reports that can support this story.
Crying baby in the basement
Even more disturbing is the ghost of a baby whose cries echo from the depths of the basement. There is no clear history or theory to explain it, but people working at the hotel say they actually heard it.
Staff members, mainly maintenance and laundry staff, fled to the lower floors in panic after hearing the unmistakable cry of a baby. Despite searching, the source of the noise can never be found, leading many to believe that the cries belong to the baby long ago, but are somehow present. The other usual suspects are basically echo and how you can hear everything that's going on on the upper floors when you're downstairs.
John Wayne's paranormal experience with a ghostly bell
The Monte Vista Hotel was the place where many Hollywood stars went in the 1940s and 1950s, especially those involved in Western films who were shot near Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon.
Adding to the hotel's spooky legend, eminent actor John Wayne reported a paranormal encounter while staying at the Monte Vista Hotel. He claimed to have felt a ghostly presence in his room. Some even claim he was the first to ever publicly report ghosts. Many believe that he encountered the Phantom Bellboy who stalked the halls of the hotel.
They claim they heard a knock on the door followed by muffled “room service.” But when they go to open the door, there is no one there. Unlike many other ghosts, Phantom Bellboy is friendlier. A ghost is also said to have been sighted, with some saying it stands outside 210. Hoyseepers also claim to have encountered it while working in the halls, seeing a adolescent man in an old-fashioned red uniform with brass buttons.
Was there ever a adolescent bell boy who died in a hotel? Unclear. It's not even clear that John Wayne was really talking about ghosts in the overdue 1950s and all we have to go on is what comes from the hotel. It's also worth noting that Wayne filmed in Arizona in the overdue 1930s, not the 1950s, as the story wants to tell it as.
A night at the Haunted Hotel Monte Vista
Although without much evidence of this happening as stories go, legends and hauntings are said to continue at the Monte Vista Hotel. Employees often respond: it's not like the legend, but this time… and then they tell about something strange that happened to them at work. So what really happened over the years of the hotel, perhaps only the view of the mountain will know.
References:
Hotel Haunted Monte Vista | Haunted Flagstaff
Monte Vista Hotel Survey, Flagstaff, AZ.
Image Source: Pixabay.com
