This hotel designed by Isaac L. Taylor was built atop a mountain in 1885 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It was touted as “America’s most luxurious resort hotel.” Its purpose was to cater to the many tourists who came to partake of the “healing waters” of the Ozarks. It had a 500-seat dining room, swimming pool, tennis courts and beautiful gardens. The views from its terraces and rooms are spectacular.
At first the hotel was a great success but as time passed people slowly stopped coming to Eureka Springs realizing the healing waters in the area were not as effective as they were made out to be. The hotel no longer able to pay its bills closed.
By 1908 the former hotel was being used as a Women’s College but by 1924 this school closed down finding student tuitions were not enough to sustain the upkeep on the very large building. In 1930 a Junior College took ownership but they sold the old hotel shortly afterwards in 1934.
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| Normal Baker |
In 1937 a quack doctor who was a con man, Norman Baker bought the building. He reopened the structure as a cancer hospital and health resort. He advertised that the combination of the area’s healing waters in combination with his “miracle elixirs” could cure cancer without unnecessary tests or surgery.
Cancer patients from all over the country flocked to “Bakers Hospital” to be cured. Unfortunately, Baker was not a real doctor–in fact in 1936 he had been arrested in Iowa for practicing medicine without a license. The Federal authorities becoming aware of his false claims swooped down and arrested him in 1939 on charges of mail fraud.
“It is said he had each patient write home three times asking for more and more money.”
Baker was also mailing his “miracle elixir” around the country–it was estimated that he had conned 4 million dollars out of desperate cancer patients over the years he ran Baker Hospital. He served 5 years in Leavenworth and then moved to Florida were he died in 1958.
He had not cured one patient–instead he managed to shorten the life span of many.
New investors from Chicago bought the hotel and started to restore it but in 1967 a fire destroyed most of the hotel’s 4th story and south wing.
By 1997 when a couple, Marty and Elisa Roenigk purchased the hotel with the statement they were going to restore the Crescent Hotel to its original glory not many people in Eureka Springs believed them. But within 5 years and with millions of dollars they did exactly this. It has been over 100 years since the hotel’s original opening and the Crescent shines once more.
Today the Crescent Hotel is a popular tourist destination in the Ozarks. An added attraction is the hotel’s large assortment of ghosts.
The Fake Doctor
Norman Baker’s apparition has been seen. Witnesses have spotted him wearing a white linen suit and a brightly colored shirt. He is seen in the hotel’s recreation room in the basement– it is here it is said he coaxed patients to write home to request money. His ghost is also seen on the 1st floor stairway. When old photos are shown of Baker, these witnesses state he is the man they saw.
The Nurse
This ghost is believed to be a staff nurse that worked at “Bakers Hospital.” She is seen wearing all white on the hotel’s 3rd floor. She is spotted in the middle of the night pushing a gurney on this floor with a deceased patient. Many witnesses state that she just disappears as she reaches the end of the hall.
Other witnesses have not seen her but heard the gurney’s squeaky wheels as it passed their rooms late at night.
These sightings also fit in with the hotel’s history for the infamous Dr. Baker in the 1930s had his morgue in the basement–and deceased patients were always moved in the middle of the night from their rooms so others would not see them. The hotel still displays the morgue’s autopsy table and freezer.
Another ghost seen connected to this specific time in the hotel’s history is one of Dr. Baker’s unfortunate patients. The hotel’s cleaning staff sees this female ghost. They describe her as a shy elderly woman, oddly dressed who calls herself “Theodora.” She approaches these staff members and politely introduces herself to them then she vanishes right in front of them.
The laundry room on the 3rdfloor is also said to be active. The washers and dryers turn on in the middle of the night without cause.
In Part ll of this post entitled, The Crescent Hotel’s GhostsPart II I share more stories about the ghosts seen at this grand old hotel.