In 1937, a fake doctor bought an Arkansas hotel and converted it into a hospital. Many people died. Now spirits of the victims are said to haunt this place.

When a town has been abandoned for years, it earns the title of a ghost town. Perhaps the place was once bustling with people. But now what remains of it are empty infrastructure, standing buildings and wild shrubs growing through every property that once thrived. Sometimes, these eerie places also become the subject of ghost sightings and paranormal activities, popularised by the locals. The tale of the Crescent Hotel and Spa in the Arkansas mountains is one such chilling story.

A fake doctor who took life of innocents

The Crescent Hotel, built in 1886, was a luxury retreat for affluent travellers. The surroundings boasted natural springs, lush forests, and rugged cliffs. Soon, the place got a reputation for having healing properties, and travellers started flocking in, as per the official website. But the hotel’s popularity started to dwindle, with a man named Norman G. Baker purchasing the property in 1937. That’s when the story gets darker.

Baker, a self-proclaimed doctor with a criminal past, opened a fake cancer hospital within Crescent Hotel, despite having no medical license, as per Ghost City Tours. He promised worried patients a miracle cure, which did not require surgery, radiation, or chemicals. However, all of his treatments, ranging from colored liquids to useless injections, were a sham and many people died under his care.

Spirits roam the hotel

After the patients died, Baker kept the bodies in the basement morgue. Some of the corpses were exhumed decades later during renovations. The murderer was eventually exposed, arrested, and sent to prison for fraud. But many believe the spirits of his victims never left Crescent and still roam around the hotel. Out of the several entities believed to haunt the hotel-turned-hospital centre, an Irish stonemason is the most famous.

Legend has it that the stonemason, Michael, was one of the original workers who helped build the Crescent in the 1880s. He was believed to have fallen from the roof and landed in what is now Room 218 — widely considered the most haunted room in the hotel. Guests who stayed here reported flickering lights, slamming doors, and a feeling that someone was watching them. Some even claimed that they were being touched and their blankets were pulled twice.