Gadsden Hotel

Douglas, Arizona

Property type: Hotel

Business Website:  http://www.hotelgadsden.com

Investigation Date: 06-2008

Property Description and History

Southern Arizona, the real old west in the year 1907. Wyatt Earp and Geronimo were still battling with blazing glory throughout this part of the country, Arizona had yet to become a state and the Gadsden Hotel first opened her doors, providing gracious hospitality to all who passed through. Named for the famous Gadsden Purchase, the hotel became home-away-from-home for cattlemen, ranchers, miners, and businessmen in the newly settling territory. Nearly every Arizona Governor has stayed in the Governor’s Suite, so did Eleanor Roosevelt.. .

The Hotel was leveled by fire and rebuilt in 1929. Purists question the tale of Pancho Villa’s impromptu ride up the stairs, noting the Mexican revolutionary was assassinated in 1923, six years before the new hotel opened. Management will be quick to point to newspaper accounts that indicate that the marble stairs survived the fire, and be just as quick to show you the chipped surface on the seventh stair that people talk about to this day. The Hotel nearly died again a decade ago, this time a victim of neglect. The Gadsden was rescued in 1988 by its current owners, North Dakota wheat farmers Doris & Hartman Brekhus.

Claims of Activity

Staff and guests alike have seen an apparition of a headless figure, caped and wearing army style clothing walking down the hallways.  Some employees have also seen a headless apparition in the basement, but this was a dark figure with no features.

The Investigation

We arrived mid afternoon and met with Robin, General Manager for the hotel.  Robin was very gracious and took us on a tour of the hotel showing us the claims of activity over the years.

In the evening we set up our equipment in the basement, Rooms 333 (supposedly the most haunted room in the hotel), rooms 103/104, 130 and in the hallways.  As this was a very large hotel, 160 rooms total we brought all of our investigators. 

Investigation Findings

During the investigation we checked for any EMF spikes, or any changes in the temperature.   We did not find any unusual readings, even in this older hotel.Some investigators had some personal experiences.   Throughout the night, there were also many personal experiences that happened, that we were unable to find explanations for.  All investigators that have an experience must record it in our command center notebook after their session and not discuss it during the investigation so that we may review and compare at a later date.

While down in the basement area they heard what sounded like footsteps walking around them in the boiler room, and were able to capture this on their audio recorder.

This hotel seems to have some paranormal activity, but unable to claim anything more without further investigation.