The Hotel St. Michael

Posted: 11.01.2025 | Updated: 11.04.2025

Saddle up and ride back into the rich history of Prescott, AZ, surrounded by the majestic Bradshaw Mountain range. It’s an area that’s been home to Indigenous people going back more than 9,000 years.

In the Old West of the 1880s, Prescott was a dusty, tough mining town. It was a place where legends like Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers drank and gambled. Gold and silver helped make Prescott’s reputation, and it’s also home to the world’s oldest rodeo, started in 1888. 

Since 1900, a downtown landmark of Prescott has been the Hotel St. Michael. For well over a century, the hotel has hosted thousands of guests and seen a lot of notorious acts within its walls. As a result, many ghosts are connected to the hotel.

If you enjoy reading about the Hotel St. Michael, here’s something even better. Immerse yourself in a personal and up-close exploration of similar haunts when you book a tour with Phoenix Ghosts.

IS THE HOTEL ST. MICHAEL HAUNTED?

As 1930s film star and former guest Tex Ritter might reply, “Uh, yep.” The hotel is said to be inhabited by several ghosts, particularly on the third floor. Guests claim they hear whispers, knocks, experience sudden nausea, and see lights going on and off. 

Electromagnetic Field Detectors (EMFs) have surged from docile green to alerting red on countless occasions. Cameras, voice recorders, and other investigative equipment have convinced researchers that the hotel has more than one dimension of guests.

A HOTEL BUILT UPON THE ASHES OF ANOTHER

In 1864, Prescott was founded at the behest of Congress and President Abraham Lincoln. This was an effort to secure the area’s rich mineral resources for the Union during the Civil War. It was also the first capital of the Arizona Territory.

Because it was a mining town, Prescott had a rowdy downtown section called Whiskey Row. It was a collection of saloons, gambling halls, and hotels with ladies of ill repute. Pretty much anything could, and did, happen there.

At one point, Whiskey Row had no less than 40 saloons. Wyatt Earp, along with his brothers, James and Virgil, were drawn to this rough and tumble setting. The Earps lived in Prescott before moving to Tombstone and gaining infamy at the OK Corral. So did their friend, Doc Holliday.

Doc lived on Montezuma Street near where the Hotel St. Michael now stands. He hung out at the Palace Saloon, reportedly one of the oldest saloons in Arizona. He drank Old Overholt Whiskey, and you can still order a shot of Old Overholt at the Palace today.

Almost all of the old business district in Prescott consisted of wood buildings. On a Saturday night in July 1900, a devastating fire swept through a large part of the downtown area. 

But from these ashes, a new brick hotel was built over the site where the Hotel Burke once sat, the Hotel St. Michael. So, perhaps ghosts from both establishments haunt the same space.   

The hotel is known for its finely crafted wrought woodwork, Art Deco touches, and its western-themed rooms. It also features Prescott’s first elevator, installed in 1925, that still works. 

The hotel is filled with the atmosphere of yesteryear. Besides Tex Ritter, Theodore Roosevelt, and Barry Goldwater have stayed there.

GHOST SEEKERS WELCOME

The hotel staff are happy to talk about the many unexplained phenomena that have happened over the years.

One clerk tells the story of a female guest in room 325 who encountered a ghost named Mary. She described the apparition as wearing a corset and a bustle skirt. The guest said that Mary was harmless, but certainly unsettling.

Others who have stayed in room 325 have experienced strange occurrences as well. Some refer to Mary as the “Lady of the Night,” but this could be a case of mistaken identity. 

There is another hotel in Prescott called the Hassayampa Inn, and a ghost there is said to be the legitimate “Lady of the Night.” Not that we’re taking anything away from Mary, mind you.

Still other guests have reported smelling cigar smoke in the smoke-free facility. Some visitors report smelling perfume in their room that wasn’t theirs. 

Investigators have also recorded videos of strange lights floating out of, and then back into, the walls. Although it’s never been proven, there are persistent rumors about tunnels that exist under the hotel, perhaps built by Chinese laborers. 

The hotel additionally has a long history of guests who checked in but never checked out.

Back in earlier times, miners, lumberjacks, and other workers often rented accommodations by the week or month. The hotel is listed as the last place of residence on 32 death certificates. That is a lot more than the other hotels in the area. 

The deaths include 29 males and 3 females. Most were recorded as natural causes. But not all.

A COUPLE OF JOHNS

At two a.m. on the morning of January 7, 1945, a guest named John Opie was shot and killed in his room. He was shot with a rifle by John Smith. The death resulted from an argument over a couple of young women who were in the room with them at the time.

Both women were under 21, and one of them was married to another man not involved in the tryst. 

How did two young girls wind up with a couple of Johns (pun intended) at two a.m. in a hotel room? We’ll let your mind wander on that, just as the spirit of John Opie is said to wander the hotel.

A SAD SUICIDE 

On November 9, 1935, Douglas Burns, a 23-year-old salesman from Phoenix, checked into room 108 (no longer there). He committed suicide by ingesting cyanide. 

Why? We can’t say, but it was during the Great Depression, which was certainly not a good time to be a salesman. 

Douglas Burns makes for another candidate who could be behind the cold blasts of air that guests sometimes feel. Or, maybe he’s the presence of something unseen but standing close by, that other guests have reported. 

Haunted Phoenix

Phoenix is known as the Valley of the Sun. But at night, there are a lot of dark, mysterious, and cryptic cool places to explore. With Phoenix Ghosts, choose from both walking ghost tours and haunted pub crawls led by expert guides that bring the past to life. 

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Check out our blog and enjoy reading about lots of other spooky locations filled with history and things you never knew.

SOURCES:

• https://phoenixghosts.com/

• https://www.prescott.com/history

• https://vanityallisvanity.com/2018/09/11/historic-prescott-az-home-to-virgil-earp-whiskey-row-worlds-oldest-rodeo/

• https://www.prescott.com/whiskey-row

• https://www.visitwhc.org/great-prescott-fire.html

• https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g31323-d115330-r611601684-Hotel_St_Michael_BW_Premier_Collection-Prescott_Arizona.html

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2_tJGC3bnc&t=138s