Eureka Springs, Ar.

Photo Credit: Clinton Steeds
(Creative Commons)

Eureka Springs is a small town in Arkansas, located in the Ozark Mountains. It is extremely popular as a tourist destination, partly because of its Victorian style architecture and attractive scenery, including lakes and rivers. Many different forms of accomodation are available to visitors including nearby cabins, hotels and bed and breakfast (B & B) lodgings.

To those interested in the weird the town's attractions include the tales of its spring waters and ghosts.

Healing Spring

Legends about the alleged healing powers of the Eureka Springs water stretch back to the days of the native American peoples. The incoming Europeans first became aware of these in the second half of the 19th century.

The first recorded European experience with the healing spring water was in 1856 when one Dr. Jackson discovered the spring and claimed that its waters had healed his eye. A few years later, in 1879, Jackson's friend Judge J.B. Saunders claimed that the same spring waters had cured his crippling disease.

Jackson clearly saw the commercial potential in this and began marketing the water. The reputation of Eureka Springs for healing began to spread and people with a variety of ailments flocked to the town. This created a real estate boom which saw the town grow rapidly.

As the 20th century geared up, the reputation of Eureka Springs as a place of healing began to be treated with increasing scepticism and the town fell out of favour.

The Crescent Hotel Ghosts

Eureka Springs has a rather old-fashioned, Victorian feel. It's thus the sort of place that seems likely to harbour ghosts. There are indeed various reported hauntings and whilst on vacation you might want to buy a ticket on one of the local ghost tours. Probably the most haunted spot in Eureka Springs is the Crescent Hotel.

The Crescent Hotel was designed by Isaac L Taylor and opened in 1886 during the peak of the Springs' popularity. It catered for the wealthy visitors who would travel to Eureka Springs to take the waters or simply enjoy a luxury vacation.

Following the decline of the Springs' reputation people slowly stopped booking into the Crescent Hotel and it eventually ceased trading. Over the decades that followed it spent time as a College and a dubious "hospital"as well as being left empty. It was restored as a hotel after the end of WWII but then largely destroyed by fire in 1967. The hotel then passed through various hands until a major renovation scheme was begun in 1997, with the hotel reopening in 2002.

With so much history behind it the Crescent Hotel might be expected to host its share of ghosts and local legend confirms this.

The most frequently spotted ghost dates from the hotel's original construction. In around 1885 a construction worker fell from the roof and was killed. He died on the spot that now forms Room 218 of the hotel - reportedly the most haunted of all the rooms. Some have claimed to see phantom blood on the walls. The ghost also seems to be fascinated with modern technology and frequently turns televisions on and off.

Many of the ghosts appear to originate from the Crescent Hotel's time as a "hospital". The man in charge - Norman Baker - was not medically qualified and his "miracle cures" nothing but a scam for which he was eventually convicted. Some local legends say that he was more than simply a sham doctor but also carried out unpleasant experiments in the hotel. Even if that were not true it is likely that dozens of his "patients" met their end as the result of his scam. Could it be that many of the apparitions seen in the hotel are the ghosts of his victims? Could it be that the spring water does have some power after all and this is why some of them have not "passed over"?

Another ghost is that of a nurse, dressed in white, seen pushing a trolley through the hotel corridors. She vanishes into the wall at the end of the corridor.

And then there is the infamous "Doctor" Baker himself who is most frequently seen in the Recreation room. By all accounts he is rather confused - he died in Florida in 1958 and probably never expected to return to the Crescent Hotel again.