How do you feel about historic buildings with gorgeous architecture? How about ones with a… strange and uh, vivid history? How about if they’re said to be haunted? If you got more and more excited with each question, this is a place you HAVE to visit. Let’s go ghost hunting the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas!

The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs Arkansas is said to be considered “Americas most haunted hotel”.
If that’s the type of thing that you’re into, it’s a great place to stop by while roaming around North West Arkansas.

If you’re going here, you better check out the rest of the area. The entire top left section of this state is beautiful and worth a road trip!

Ghost Hunting the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs

There are tons of options on how to make the most of your time here. You can do what we did and just pop in and wander around on your own, maybe stopping for a drink or some dinner upstairs. If you’re into the ghost scene, they also offer a ton of tours. If you’re REALLY into the ghost scene, you can book a few nights here and see if you experience anything spooky.
From what I hear, room 218 is supposed to be the most haunted in the hotel.

The good news and bad news about our time here.
The good? This haunted hotel is dog friendly!!!
The bad? We know our dog. There is absolutely no way I could have convinced this cattle dog (who likes to make her own decisions and use her voice because she’s an independent woman ~snort~) to keep quiet and calm long enough to do any of the ghost tours.

If you have the time and opportunity, take a crescent hotel ghost tour, through the hotel itself. It was the one thing we really wish we were able to do. They have a few different tours and dive deep into the history of the building.
A walking ghost tour, one where you can join paranormal investigators, an expert tour, a midnight tour, and even a kid friendly specific one!
On these you get access to spaces that you can’t wander around in on your own like the morgue.

Crescent Hotel History

This place has a pretty crazy cool history of its use as a resort for the rich, a college, a hotel, and hospital health resort. That last one is where a lot of the stories come from, since the guy running the hospital was NOT a doctor, but liked to practice medicine on cancer patients without a license.

Originally built in 1886, this space was meant to be a resort for the rich and famous. Take a wild guess at the reason the town was named “Eureka Springs”. I’ll give you a hint, it’s the second word in the name. Somehow though, this resort for the elite only lasted 15 or so years before failing and closing up.

In 1902 it was leased out to the railroad, and in 1908 it opened for a second life, this time around as a college for women. This lasted until 1924 when it closed down… and then opened back up again as a junior college in 1930. Theeeeeen that one closed down just a few years later, where it was leased out as a hotel again, before it wasn’t anymore.

Now onto the good stuff! 1937 is really the year everything gets a little wild. Norman Baker bought the hotel.. err college… um… building. He bought the building. At this point I think I’ve even confused myself because it has been so many different things. Anyway.
Baker was a popular radio personality and millionaire who called himself a doctor.

Baker insisted he was a doctor though, and not only that… but that he could cure just about anything, especially cancer.
This started years earlier when he looked at a VERY failed study (on 5 people, all of which died) and concluded it worked. He would inject random things into people like corn silk and watermelon seeds. After what looked like a wild ride of cult like outdoor healing sessions, an exile to Mexico, and more… Iowa ran him out of the state.

[Note from narrator: He was NOT a doctor]

[Eureka Springs, Arkansas enters the chat]
The Crescent Hotel was the new place where Baker wasn’t known and he could continue his shenanigans of crazy injections and drinking the miracle cure. Spoiler alert: it was just the towns spring water. While he had everyone convinced he was some miracle doctor, he must not have convinced himself of it because he had an escape route and hidden staircase built into the his office.

When visiting today, you can see one of the more recently dug up sites where a bunch of vials and containers were buried during this time.

Baker was seen as a quack within a few years, but even then he didn’t go to jail for it. In 1939 he was sent to prison for charges of, wait for it, BANK FRAUD. He only ended up serving 3 years before trying to return to being a “healing” doctor. Thankfully, it didn’t quite work out for him and he ran off to Florida to retire.

Alright! A quick rundown of what happened next.
In 1946 the hotel was bought by a handful of others who turned it back into an amazing luxury hotel.
In 1972 it changed hands again and got a big remodel. This is also when the paranormal stuff was said to have started happening.
1980 it changed hands again.
1997 it changed hands AGAIN and became the hotel it is still today.

Now that we’re done with the history (seriously, do you know how much google work I had to do in order to lay all that out? ACK), let’s move on to the fun stuff!

Today, the Crescent Hotel is known as America’s Most Haunted Hotel. It’s been the star of tons of paranormal tv shows. If you’re interested in keeping the ghost theme alive, you can always book more hunts elsewhere in the city here.

Exploring The Crescent Hotel

We opted for a self guided “tour” since we couldn’t do any of the guided ones. I did inquire at the front to make sure we could bring Lily in and they said yes! Three cheers for dog friendly fun!! (just as a disclaimer, if your dog is a jerk… don’t do this and ruin it for everyone else.)

For the first part of our tour: Beer.
Did you expect anything less?!

There are multiple dining options in the hotel. We opted for the Skybar Gourmet Pizza on the top floor. They allowed us to bring Lily QUICKLY through the dining room and sit out on the balcony to enjoy the view. I didn’t get to try any of their pizza, but did get a flight of fairly local beer and their brownie dessert.
It was worth it just to get to sit with that view and say you did it.
Well, as long as you don’t mind fighting off the birds and the bees. Both of which were a little annoying, but still worth it.

Instead of going straight back out when we finished up, we wandered the halls a little bit.

I can see how this place gives off the “haunted” vibe, just because it’s so dated inside (intentionally) and gives off some creaky creepiness. It was very cool to walk the hallways a bit. The art on the walls was interesting as well.

The main floor/entry area has a lot to look at too. The architecture is absolutely stunning.

Outside the Crescent Hotel

After exiting, we did a lap around the outside of the building.
In the back garden area you’ll find big lifesize board games, swings, and more! It was such a cool space. I think that if I stayed in this hotel overnight I’d probably spend a LOT of time out in the garden area.

I wanted to snap a photo of the life size chess board, but there were people playing and I was a bit too nervous to ask them if they would mind. Ah well. The better I get at this travel blogging thing, maybe the more outgoing I’ll become with strangers.

Looking at the list of activities, the hotel partners with a sporting club for things like hatchet throwing. They also offer some cool things like nature walks, yoga classes, wine tasting, and art classes. If you stay here, there’s probably a dozen ways to spend your day without ever leaving the property!

Now onto the cool thing we came across while walking.

A small “building” covered in plexiglass with a giant hole in the middle. Strewn about everywhere in there? Small containers and vials and bottles.

In 2019 there was some excavation going on and they uncovered a site that Baker used. Hundreds of bottles of his formulas were in there, as well as bits and pieces he removed from his patients in jars.

They preserved the site so guests can see it… and this probably also helped add to the creep factor that attracts so many ghost loving people.

All in all, this hotel is absolutely beautiful.

It has a colorful history, but even without that it was still a great stop. Beer, wine, food, architecture, giant chess, AND ghosts?
Yes please! I’d gladly go back and get in some ACTUAL ghost hunting at the Crescent Hotel!

Dog Friendly Eureka Springs, Arkansas

If you brought your pup with you like I did, there are so many dog friendly things to do besides the crescent hotel spa eureka springs.

There are lots of restaurants with patios, breweries, parks, and more.
I wrote an entire post dedicated to bringing your pupperoni with you over here.

If you’ve taken the trip, swing over to instagram and let me know what your favorite part was!