hotel "Haunted" Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah, Nevada hotel

A couple of years ago my husband and I visited the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah, Nevada on our way to Las Vegas. I was curious about the place because it was voted the number one most haunted hotel in the nation by USA Today. There was no way I was going to miss an opportunity to explore a place of such repute. The hotel opened in 1908 after replacing the original building that housed the Mizpah Bar and Grill that once stood there. Many celebrities have graced the premises over the years as well as tales of Wyatt Earp and Jack Dempsie spending time there. True stories of murder and mayhem at the hotel and reported supernatural experiences from many people that have stayed there, help to give the place its somewhat ominous atmosphere.

It is said that several ghosts haunt the hotel. There are the ghosts of two robbers in the root cellar that were double-crossed by a partner, murdered, and left there in the cellar. There is a puzzling story about U.S. Senator Key Pittman dying in the hotel in 1940, but his body was kept there on ice in a bathtub. There is a pair of ghost children that haunt the third floor where multiple guests have reported hearing doors opening and closing on their own and children giggling in the hallways. The most famous ghost there, however, is known as the Lady in Red, a prostitute named Rose, that lived on the 5th floor of the hotel. She was strangled and brutally beaten to death just outside her door by a jealous lover. Her room is the most haunted and so it is the most requested room by guests. People that have stayed in it have reported seeing her ghost, smelling her perfume, hearing her voice, seeing objects move on their own and sometimes, in the morning, they have told of finding pearls she left them by the side of the bed.

The front desk has a large binder full of narratives written by guests that have experienced strange occurrences while staying at the hotel. I spent some time going through the book and found the stories quite fascinating. I never saw a ghost while there, but I do have to say that a few times I did experience some strange sensations that gave me pause. I did notice, in my photo of the piano in the lobby, a rather strange “something” in the lower part of the piano. Perhaps it was a trick of the light or a reflection, or who knows…you decide.