Arizona
Monte Vista Hotel, Flagstaff
Haunted by
An outlaw and other phantoms

In the 1920s, two gunmen robbed the bank next to the Monte Vista Hotel. They made a promise to each other: After the heist they would have a drink in the hotel bar. But luck wasn’t with the two that day; a bank guard shot one of the robbers as they fled. Even so, the wounded man insisted on keeping the promise, and the bleeding thief shared his last drink with his friend. He died in the hotel bar.

Johnny Johnson, who once owned the Monte Vista, used to hear an eerie voice that said "Hello" or "Good morning" when he opened the bar each day. He suspects the mysterious greeting came from the dead bank robber. But since he never saw the ghostly gunman, he’s not sure.

The hotel has such a Wild West past-shootings, cowboys on horseback in the lobby, drunken brawls-that Johnny can’t be sure who any of the ghosts are. Employees and guests have heard band music coming from the second-floor lobby. Others claim to have seen a transparent bellboy who knocks on doors and disappears. On the second floor, a woman was murdered in her room. The hotel avoids putting guests with pets there because dogs go crazy with fear and tear up the room.

The most active room is also the most mysterious. In Room 305 there’s a rocking chair. No matter where in the room the cleaning staff moves the chair, the next morning it appears in the same place next to the window. Is this patient presence watching for someone on the street below, or does this ghost simply love a view? No one knows. Only the ghosts know the secrets of the Monte Vista.