The Most Haunted Places in Flagstaff, Arizona
Arizona has been home to many different cultures over the years. The area now known as Flagstaff was originally home to the Sinagua Indians as early as the 7th century. In 1876, Flagstaff established itself as a significant settlement in the “ Old West” and, in 1928, officially became a city in northern Arizona.
With so much history, it’s no wonder Flagstaff is the most haunted city in the state. From ancient burial sites to haunted hotels, this southwest city is a haven for the otherworldly. Check out Flagstaff’s most haunted locations. To see them in person, book a Flagstaff ghost tour with Flagstaff Ghosts!
The Orpheum Theater
The Orpheum operated successfully for over 80 years before closing in 1999. After only three years, it reopened and has been open continuously for the last twenty years. Over the last century, the Orpheum has seen many ghosts and spirits that have spooked guests and staff members. The most well-known ghost at The Orpheum is a dark figure roaming the building late at night.
This ghostly figure is often seen lingering in the projector room and is believed to be an employee who hung himself in the room in 1917. The projector room ghost is not the only spirit that haunts the Orpheum. Often, footsteps can be heard, but the source can not be located; however, when photographs are taken in the area, orbs are often captured. This theater is one of the most haunted buildings in Flagstaff and a must-see for ghost hunters and tourists alike.
Weatherford Hotel
In 1897, John W Weatherford began constructing the now-famous hotel. The original structure held a general store on the first floor and housed the Weatherford family on the second. A three-story hotel addition was initiated and opened the following year. Like many hotels that survived the days of the “Old West,” the Weatherford was bound to attract a few ghosts.
In the 1930s, a newlywed couple stayed in what was, at the time, room 54. They didn’t survive the night. How they died is still up to debate, but since then, the room has been haunted. On more than one occasion, employees swear they saw a couple sitting on the foot of the bed in that room when no one was there. Eventually, the noises and apparitions coming from room 54 became too much, and management turned it into a storage closet. Still, there are constant reports of phantom footsteps and doors that lock and unlock themselves from the third floor.
1926 Flagstaff Railroad Station
Constructed in 1925 and opened in January 1926, Flagstaff Station has been home to many a ghost over the last century. Today, half of the old station has been converted into an official visitor’s center, but before 1926, when the station was built, the tracks would have run right through the building. The foundation is allegedly directly above where an accident occurred in the first years of the twentieth century.
A brakeman was killed in an unfortunate but common accident on these original tracks. He was crushed between the couplings of two boxcars. According to employees at the station, he still haunts the sight of his untimely demise. The visitor center staff have frequently felt as if they are being watched as they climb the cold stairs to the station’s second floor, and a ghostly figure is sometimes spotted where the incident most likely occurred.
Voices have been heard in the station, and locked doors are mysteriously unlocked. Who knows how many ghosts survive at the station? Ghost hunters have explored the area in recent years, and all have varying theories.
Riordan Mansion
The staff at Riordan Mansion State Park consistently report that the building is not haunted but that there have been some strange goings-on in the past. Constructed in 1904, this 13,000-square-foot mansion was built by Irish immigrant brothers Timothy and Michael Riordan. According to historians, the Riordan family would tell stories of a particular ghost that repeatedly visited the mansion. The family would come home after being out and see the spirit in the billiard room.
More notable is the mystery behind the light in the family chapel. As the legend goes, the home contained a chapel where a light would always burn. After years of it being that way, it went out at the precise moment of Caroline’s death. Caroline and her daughter Anna were very close, and some believe Caroline’s spirit remains in the home, searching for Anna, yearning to take care of her. Some claim to have seen objects inexplicably fall off shelves, while others claim to have been “chilled to the bone” inside the building.
Doris Harper-White Playhouse
Built in 1923, this venue has a long history of strange occurrences. Originally home to the Elks Lodge and later a public library, it became the home of the Theatrikos Theatre Company. Among the ghosts that haunt this place is that of a former employee. According to locals, this angry young worker hung himself by the loading dock when the building housed the Flagstaff public library and still haunts the grounds. One of the most bizarre and frightening stories to come out of Flagstaff also occurs at this playhouse.
“Two volunteers were down in a narrow hallway in the basement in the early 2000s, and it inexplicably began to ‘rain’ inside with no apparent cause,” said Drew Purcell, the executive director of Theatrikos Theatre Company. Finally, the Doris Harper-White is home to the “ lady in white.” An elderly lady in a white dress is often seen materializing in the lobby by guests and staff; she is also seen sitting in the audience area when no one else is around by actors practicing their parts.
Flagstaff Public Library
Many of the ghosts in Flagstaff seemed tied to one library or another, and the site of the old Emerson School is no exception. The school was condemned in 1980, and the library was built in 1982. One major ghost story is connected to the school library with several variations. As the legend goes, a school employee went home one day and killed his entire family, then came to the school library, where he committed suicide.
Some say he was in the library with a handgun, others in the basement by hanging, and others still say he hung himself from a tree in the courtyard. Either way, the man’s ghost is said to haunt the grounds. Staff members have reported a ghost-like figure dressed entirely in blue in the library’s basement, and others have claimed to see a shadowy figure climbing a stairway that no longer exists. Since the 1980s, librarians and local readers have reported doors opening and closing of their own accord, strange noises when no one is around, and books being rearranged in the middle of the night at this spooky Flagstaff spot.
Hotel Monte Vista
This iconic hotel was built in 1927 and featured 73 rooms and suites over three floors. The building was used to film the iconic Casablanca and several ghost-themed TV shows. The Hotel Monte Vista has also been the site of many ghost sightings. One recurring story is of a “Phantom bellboy” who knocks on guests’ doors in the middle of the night and speaks to the guests through the door, but when the door is opened, he is gone.
Room 305 was once home to an elderly lady who would sit in a rocking hair by the window and just rock back and forth for hours. Today guests report seeing a rocking chair in that room move back and forth of its own accord. Two prostitutes are said to haunt room 306 next door. The women were supposedly killed there in the early 1940s, their bodies thrown from the third-floor window. Male guests have reported the feeling of cold hands over their mouths or throats and awakening, unable to breathe.
One man lived in room 220 for a significant time; when he passed away, he had been watching TV in his room, and he wasn’t found for over three days. Today, maintenance men and guests claim to enter the room to find the TV on and the volume up or going on and off randomly despite no one in the room. John Wayne frequently stayed in room 210 and reported phantom knocks at his door in the middle of the night on more than one occasion. The Hotel Monte Vista has nearly as many ghost stories as it has rooms, making it one of the scariest places in the city.
Morton Hall
This residence hall was built in the center of NAU’s vortex-like campus in 1913. Rumors of unexplained happenings, including so-called suicide closets, drowning tunnels, bodiless screams, water faucets with minds of their own, and every other unearthly manifestation one could think of, have plagued the school’s north campus for decades now.
Morton Hall is home to NAU’s most long-term resident, “ Kathy the Ghost.” Allegedly, in 1953, 19-year-old Kathy committed suicide in room 200A on the hall’s second floor. It was Christmas break, and Kathy’s parents couldn’t afford to bring her home due to unforeseen financial difficulties. Even worse, Kathy had expected a proposal from her boyfriend, who dumped her for another girl instead.
Depressed, abandoned, and tormented, Kathy hung herself with rope by the stairway to the attic. She was wearing a blue nightgown when the cleaning crew found her and has been seen in it ever since. It’s said she causes toilets to flush and faucets to run sporadically throughout the building and the day. Kathy is a well-known presence at Morton Hall and is known among residents for her love of the color pink. The students have painted over the area where she died, but the paint always peels off.
They’ve reported this occurrence as “ creepy,” Many do not go to the third floor unless absolutely necessary. The hall freaks students out as it is a bit of a labyrinth with mirrors in unexpected corners and stairwells. “There’s a lock to the door to the balcony because it’s been condemned,” according to a ‘2014 senior. “None of the residents have keys, and nobody ever goes out there. Sometimes, it’s unlocked at random.”
Haunted Flagstaff
Flagstaff, Arizona, is considered one of the country’s most haunted cities, and there is no better way to experience the city than by joining us on one of our ghost adventures in the area. Check out these hot spots in person on a chilling ghost tour with Flagstaff Ghosts!
Sources:
http://www.hauntedhovel.com/orpheumtheater.html
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-weatherford/
https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm8JF8_Haunted_Flagstaff_Railroad_Station_Flagstaff_AZ
https://emerginghorizons.com/riordan-mansion-haunted-or-not/
https://azdailysun.com/news/local/haunted-flagstaff-the-top-10-spookiest-spots-in-town/collectio
https://azdailysun.com/nau-ghost-stories/article_d3af1370-c2ac-56f8-b3b1-67dbb57eb32a.html
