The Crescent Hotel: America’s Most Haunted Hotel — The “Castle in the Air”

Perched high above Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the Crescent Hotel is marketed as America’s "most haunted hotel". Ghost tours tell of restless spirits, wandering patients, and a mad doctor who tortured patients. But before the Crescent became a haunted hotel, it was a luxury resort, a women’s college, and later, the setting for one of the most disturbing medical frauds of the twentieth century.https://citegeistpod.com/Have a ghost story you want to share? Leave a voice note or send an en email at https://citegeistpod.com/contact Podcast Instagram: http://instagram.com/citegeistpod Personal Instagram: http://instagram.com/joshua.spellmanChannel illustration by GiAnna Ligammari: https://virtualgia.com/ https://www.instagram.com/virtualgia.zipRoyalty Free Music: "Behind the Veil" by 8er41 Underwater sounds - loopable by carmsie -- https://freesound.org/s/329915/ -- License: Attribution 3.0SOURCES:“1881 Scotland Census - AncestryLibrary.Com.” n.d. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/1119/records/3140305?tid=15263771&pid=252477880169&ssrc=pt&_gl=1*6566rs*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTU4MDMxOTUzNC4xNzY2NDk2MDgy*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMSR0MTc2NjQ5NjEwNiRqMzYkbDAkaDA.*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMSR0MTc2NjQ5NjEwNiRqMzYkbDAkaDA.1886 Crescent Hotel, dir. 2017. Fountain Garden Wedding Crescent Hotel. 00:20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCFNUpUU1MY.1886 Crescent Hotel, dir. 2018. Crescent Hotel Garden Wedding. 01:15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En9U-E4uUUw.“1910 United States Federal Census - AncestryLibrary.Com.” n.d. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/7884/records/409559?_gl=1*fn84i2*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTcwMzAyMTg5OC4xNzY3MDYzNDAy*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czc1MjY5MDlmLTRiNTItNDMzYy1iNGQ3LWUwMGZhOGM4NjQ3OCRvMSRnMCR0MTc2NzA2MzQwMiRqNjAkbDAkaDA.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czc1MjY5MDlmLTRiNTItNDMzYy1iNGQ3LWUwMGZhOGM4NjQ3OCRvMSRnMSR0MTc2NzA2MzQwMiRqNjAkbDAkaDA.“1920 United States Federal Census - AncestryLibrary.Com.” n.d. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/6061/records/1885872?_gl=1*1mu4pin*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgzMTI4NzYyMC4xNzY2NTM5MDk4*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMSR0MTc2NjUzOTExMiRqNDUkbDAkaDA.*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMCR0MTc2NjUzOTA5NyRqNjAkbDAkaDA.“1930 United States Federal Census - AncestryLibrary.Com.” n.d. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/6224/records/113734436?_gl=1*1rv081i*_up*MQ..*_ga*NzA4OTM1Mjk5LjE3NjY1Mzg4MzQ.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMSR0MTc2NjUzODg0MyRqNTAkbDAkaDA.*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMSR0MTc2NjUzODg0MyRqNTAkbDAkaDA.“Another ‘Layer’ of the 1886 Crescent Hotel’s Days as a Hospital Surfaces | Arkansas.Com.” n.d. Accessed December 21, 2025. https://www.arkansas.com/another-layer-1886-crescent-hotels-days-hospital-surfaces.“Arkansas, Death Certificates, 1914-1969 - AncestryLibrary.Com.” n.d. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/61777/records/290106?_gl=1*1thzb0w*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgzMTI4NzYyMC4xNzY2NTM5MDk4*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMCR0MTc2NjUzOTA5NyRqNjAkbDAkaDA.*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czk4NzQzODIxLWFhMzMtNDI4NC04MjFiLTNlZjI1YzRkNTY4YSRvMSRnMCR0MTc2NjUzOTA5NyRqNjAkbDAkaDA.Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock, Arkansas). 1885. “Notice to Builders and Contractors.” May 7.Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas). 1918. “Breckenridge Thompson’s Obituary.” Obituary. January 24.Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas). 1939. “Baker Denies Ownership of Hospital.” November 23.“Colonel John Fremont Ellis (1856–1931).” n.d. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/G63H-LXK/colonel-john-fremont-ellis-1856-1931.“Crescent College History Project.” n.d. Accessed December 26, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/crescentcollegehistory/.Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas). 1886. “The Crescent Hotel.” May 21.Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas). 1910. “Crescent College for Young Women.” July 13.Encyclopedia of Arkansas. n.d. “Crescent College and Conservatory.” Accessed December 26, 2025. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/crescent-college-and-conservatory-5618/.Fayetteville Weekly Democrat (Fayetteville, Arkansas). 1885. “Obituary R P Pulliam.” June 17.Garbeaux17. 2024. “Chased by a Ghost at the Crescent Hotel.” Reddit Post. R/ParanormalEncounters, September 10. https://www.reddit.com/r/ParanormalEncounters/comments/1fd5g3t/chased_by_a_ghost_at_the_crescent_hotel/.“George Leggett Booker.” n.d. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/119137242/person/282131381203/facts?_gl=1*692znh*_up*MQ...