In 1926, the residents of Flagstaff, Arizona pooled their money to build the town’s first proper hotel. With help from a donation by the novelist Zane Grey, construction began in June, and the Hotel Monte Vista opened on New Year’s Day, 1927 — its name chosen by a twelve-year-old contest winner. For the next three decades, it served as the base camp for Hollywood’s Western filmmaking era: John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Jane Russell, and Spencer Tracy all slept here while shooting in the red rock country nearby. Beneath the adjacent cocktail lounge, which disguised a bootlegging operation during Prohibition, tunnels connect to the old downtown core — alcoves still bearing the remnants of opium dens and gambling machines.
The ghosts at the Monte Vista are room-specific and extensively documented. Room 305 has a rocking chair that moves on its own — occupied, guests say, by the spirit of a long-term elderly resident who kept watch from the window. Room 306 is where two women were thrown to their deaths in the 1940s; male guests report hands at their throats in the night. Room 220’s Meat Man makes televisions switch on at full volume. The phantom bellboy knocks on the door of Room 210 — John Wayne’s room — and disappears before anyone can answer. Downstairs in the lounge, a dancing couple in 1930s formal wear appears to regulars, and a disembodied voice greets visitors with “Good Morning.”
The Hotel Monte Vista is still a working hotel, open to guests and day visitors alike. It sits in historic downtown Flagstaff on Route 66, its neon marquee lit above the corner of Aspen and San Francisco Streets. Book a named room — the John Wayne, the Zane Grey — or simply walk into the lounge and listen for the greeting. The housekeeping staff will tell you everything the website won’t.
Story Source: www.hotelmontevista.com
Address: Hotel Monte Vista, 100 N San Francisco St, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Accessibility Rating: Open to All — Freely accessible to the public with no advance requirement. Includes hotels, restaurants, bars, and public historic sites where visitors may walk in without prior booking.
Google Map
What Others Have Experienced
A guest thoroughly enjoyed his stay, found the hotel’s storied past made it memorable, and told fellow ghost-lore fans it delivers. He had unusually vivid dreams and a handful of moments that made him question what he had just seen or heard.
— from TripAdvisor
A guest booked the hotel specifically to sleep in one of the documented haunted rooms on the third floor, only to learn on arrival that it had gone to someone else. Staff promised a move once it opened up, but no one followed through.
— from TripAdvisor
Every time a travel blogger and her companion walked past Room 220, the television inside was blaring through the closed door. It remained the loudest spot in an otherwise quiet building for their entire stay.
— from Cactus Atlas
After reading the hotel’s in-room materials on where activity is most concentrated, a travel blogger made a point of walking the second and third floors. She tried to catch a glimpse of the rocking chair in Room 305, but the door only opened briefly as other guests came and went.
— from Cactus Atlas
On a family tour of the basement, a visitor heard what sounded like people dancing in the empty space, along with the infant crying that others have described. On the staircase a closed door swung open as they passed, and when she hurried down to the ground floor, the elevator doors slid open on their own.
— from HauntedPlaces.org
